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She has been called "The Idol of Her Generation" and is said to
have been the inspiration for the heroine of Sir Walter Scott's famous novel Ivanhoe,
the beautiful woman who chose to remain a spinster rather than wed a man of another faith.
That is the legend of Rebecca Gratz. The reality, in the biography by Dianne Ashton of
Rowan University, reveals a highly intelligent and deeply religious woman who devoted her
life to promoting Jewish education and the welfare of the poor.
Rebecca Gratz was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the seventh child and
fourth daughter of Miriam and Michael Gratz. Michael Gratz was a native of Langendorf,
Silesia. He emigrated to America in 1752, and in 1769 married Miriam Simon, the
American-born daughter of Jewish merchant Joseph Simon. As a member of an elite class of
wealthy, educated Philadelphians, Rebecca and her brothers and sisters moved with ease in
both Jewish and non-Jewish society. The Gratzes, although of German heritage, worshipped
at Philadelphia's Mikveh Israel synagogue, founded by Sephardic Jews who settled in the
New World as refugees from the Spanish Inquisition. Like many other early American Jewish
families, intermarriage with Christians co-existed precariously with stringent observance
within the same family. Of the ten Gratz offspring who lived to adulthood, five, including
Rebecca, never married. Rebecca Gratz's sisters all married Jewish men, but her brothers
chose Christian partners.
Rebecca's public service began when she was twenty years old, when she and
her sisters, together with twenty other Jewish and non-Jewish women, established the
Female Association for the Relief of Women and Children in Reduced Circumstances. This
non-sectarian women's organization was founded to help women from formerly affluent
families who had suffered a reversal of fortune. In order to make sure that the
organization's funds remained in the hands of its members, the bylaws stated that the
treasurer "must be chosen from among the UNMARRIED LADIES" of its membership.
The civil laws of that time gave a woman's husband complete control over any funds she
handled. Ironically, Jewish women could own property and enter business contracts on their
own even after marriage, but once they became "emancipated" and subject to
secular law, they lost their property rights.
Many of her non-Jewish friends in these intellectual circles were active
members of the Protestant Church, and strongly influenced by the Evangelical movement.
Gratz's response to the conversionary attempts of her friends was to strengthen her
commitment to her own faith. In 1819, in an effort to combat evangelizing activities
targeted at poor Jews, Rebecca Gratz organized the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society.
Although the core membership came from the Sephardic Mikveh Israel synagogue, the FHBS
reached out to Jews of all backgrounds.
Later, she established the Hebrew Sunday School as the Jewish equivalent
of the Evangelical American Sunday School Union. Ever conscious of Christian
proselytizing, Gratz felt that the best remedy was to strengthen Jewish young people in
the knowledge and observance of their own religious tradition. Female education was
another high priority. Evangelical propaganda aimed at converting Jewish women harped on
the alleged inferior status of women in Judaism--ironically, a favorite theme of today's
Jewish feminists.
The educational materials used in Gratz's Sunday School were written in
English, and intended to provide American Jewish youth a solid understanding of their
faith rather than repetition and translation of Hebrew text.
Catechism For Jewish Children, reproduced
on this website, developed by Isaac Leeser, explained the essentials of Judaism in an
easy, question-and-answer format.
As an educated, upper-class woman, Rebecca Gratz was an avid patron of the
arts and a voracious reader of poetry, essays, and popular fiction. She was concerned
about the portrayal of Jews in popular literature, often writing to an author to correct a
misconception or inaccuracy. She was especially impressed by Sir Walter Scott's Jewish
heroine in his 1820 novel Ivanhoe, but, Prof. Ashton argues, there is no
evidence to support the suggestion that Rebecca Gratz herself provided the model for
Scott's Rebecca. Gratz encouraged Jewish women writers like Grace Aguilar, Marion
Moss-Hartog,
and Celia Moss in their favorable portrayal of Jewish loyalty and family life. One wonders
what Rebecca Gratz would think of some of the popular Jewish fiction of the present day,
in which religious Jewish men are portrayed as brutal tyrants, and quaint religion is
used as an exotic backdrop for lurid crime stories filled with explicit sex and graphic
violence.
Throughout her long, service-oriented life, Rebecca Gratz led both Jewish
and secular benevolent and educational organizations, including the Philadelphia Orphan
Asylum, the Jewish Foster Home, and the Hebrew Education Society. She received the full
support of the traditional Orthodox leadership of Philadelphia--from men like Isaac Leeser
and Rabbi Sabato Morais. Ironically, the tireless efforts of this dedicated Jewish women
drew scorn and ridicule from radical Reform Rabbi David Einhorn, who sneered at her
Orthodox faith as weibliche theologie--"women's religion." Gratz
focused all her efforts on strengthening Jewish loyalty through education, and remained
perfectly faithful to traditional forms worship. Different responsibilities, assigned by
gender, in no way insinuated that one gender was inferior to the other. All souls are
equal in G-d's eyes.
Dianne Ashton also addresses the enigma that Rebecca Gratz presents to
some Jewish scholars: why is it that so devout and dedicated a woman chose to remain
single? Judaism discourages celibacy, and everyone is supposed to marry. In the Eastern
European tradition, and in Orthodox circles today, arranged marriages and large families
are the norm. Ashton does an excellent job of explaining the social environment in which
Rebecca Gratz lived. In her American society, marriage was expected to come through
romance. Many Victorian-era women, not finding a grand romantic passion, were satisfied
with a life of public service. Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton are good examples.
Ashton could find no evidence to support the myth that Gratz remained unmarried because
she harbored a secret passion for a Christian. Her voluminous correspondence reveals many
warm friendships with non-Jewish men and women, but no long-standing unrequited love
affair. It must here also be pointed out that there have been a few extraordinary Jewish
women whose dedication to public service kept them from enjoying married life--such as
Selma Meyer, the legendary nurse of Jerusalem's Shaarey Tsedek Hospital, or Sara Schnirer,
founder of the Beth Jacob movement for female education.
I just re-read Ivanhoe for the gazillionth time.
According to the "Gratz Legend" (debunked by Dianne Ashton), the heroine of this
novel chooses to remain loyal to her faith rather than marry the Christian hero. But that
is a legend of a legend. There is no romantic attachment between
Rebecca and Ivanhoe. All the scenes in which Rebecca and Ivanhoe are together, he is
incapacitated, tended by her. While his feelings during his recovery are those of any
normal man in the company of a beautiful woman, his romantic attachment and affection is
all for Rowena. "He calls me dear Rebecca," said the maiden
to herself; "but it is in the cold and careless tone which ill suits the word. His
war horse, his hunting hound, are dearer to him than the despised Jewess!"
There is a man who has a very great passion for Rebecca, a man so consumed
with desire for her that he even offers to convert to Judaism if only Rebecca will return
his love. "Nay, by Heaven! When I gaze on thee, and think when and how we
are next to meet, I could even wish myself one of thine own degraded nation--my hand
conversant with ingots and shekels instead of spear and shield, my head bent down before
each petty noble, and my look only terrible to the shivering and bankrupt debtor;--this
could I wish, Rebecca, to be near to thee in life, and to escape the fearful share I must
have in thy death." It is Brian, not Wilfred, who saves Rebecca by
sacrificing his own life for hers. In Scott's novel, Brian succumbs to a fatal stroke at
the moment Wilfred's spear touches his shield. A recent film version portrayed the scene
somewhat differently--as Brian and Wilfred are engaged in mortal combat, Brian gives one
last longing glance at Rebecca, and throws himself on Wilfred's sword! (this was the film
version with Sam Neill as Brian and Olivia Hussey as Rebecca.) A reader of modern romance
fiction will easily identify Brian as a complex, dark hero whose passion is more of a
match for Rebecca than the wimpy Ivanhoe. And the conflict! And the sexual tension!
But in the interest of a happy and kosher ending--even if Brian were to
sling Rebecca over his saddle as he threatens to do, and carry her off to Palestine--he
would be a convert "like Shechem". Fortunately, Sir Walter Scott left in the
possibility of a Jewish hero for Rebecca.
"Let us go," Isaac said, "my dear daughter, my
recovered treasure--let us go to throw ourselves at the feet of the good youth."
"Not so," said Rebecca, "oh, no--no--no--I must
not at this moment dare to speak to him. Alas! I should say more than--No, my father, let
us instantly leave this evil place."
"But, my daughter," said Isaac, "to leave him
who hath come forth like a strong man with his spear and shield, holding his life as
nothing, so he might redeem thy captivity--and thou, too, the daughter of a people strange
unto him and his--this is service to be thankfully acknowledged."
"It is--it is--most thankfully--most devoutly
acknowledged," said Rebecca--"it shall be still more so--but not now--for the
sake of thy beloved Rachel, father, grant my request--not now!"
"Nay, but," said Isaac, insisting, "they will
deem us more thankless than mere dogs!"
"But thou seest, my dear father, that King Richard is in
presence, and that--"
"True, my best, my wisest Rebecca! Let us hence--let us
hence! Money he will lack, for he has just returned from Palestine, and, as they say, from
prison; and pretext for exacting it, should he need any, may arise out of my simple
traffic with his brother John. Away, away, let us hence!"
And hurrying his daughter in his turn, he conducted her from
the lists, and by means of conveyance which he had provided, transported her safely to
the house of the Rabbi Nathan.
Nathan Ben Samuel, who appears very briefly in the novel, is not described
in great detail. The reader only knows he is a respected Rabbi and a physician. His age is
not mentioned, nor his physical description other than he wears traditional Jewish
costume. The reader supposes he is the same age as Isaac, although there is no reason to
assume he is not much younger, and a suitable match for Rebecca.
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