Tag Archives: Jewish American teachers

Henrietta Szold: Teacher, activist, founder of Hadassah

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Teacher and activist Henrietta Szold at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, circa 1920. Photo Credit: Jewish Museum of Maryland

I love to tell stories about exceptional educators who have made significant contributions to the world community. One of these is Henrietta Szold, a Baltimore teacher and activist who worked tirelessly with an organization that helped save thousands of Jewish children from the Nazis.

Henrietta was born on December 21, 1860, in Baltimore, Maryland, the eldest of eight daughters. Her mother was Sophie (Scharr) Szold, and her father was Benjamin Szold, a local respected rabbi. As a young girl, Henrietta attended Western Female High School, where she graduated in 1877.

After her high school graduation, Henrietta taught courses in French, German, botany, and mathematics at both Miss Adam’s School and Mrs. McCulloch’s School at Glencoe. She taught in these schools for 15 years. When Henrietta saw a need to educate newly-arrived immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe, she urged the Hebrew Literary Society to sponsor a program to teach them English. As a result, the first evening adult classes in Baltimore were established. This was the beginning of adult education in the city, and the program became a model for adult education in other American cities. Henrietta also taught courses in history and Bible studies for adults at Oheb Shalom Religious School.

In addition to her classroom duties, Henrietta served as her father’s literary secretary for many years. She became the secretary of the editorial board of the Jewish Publication Society (JPS), a position she held until 1916. She translated works, wrote articles, edited manuscripts, and oversaw the publication schedule. In 1899 she was instrumental in producing the first American Jewish Year Book, of which she was sole editor from 1904 to 1908. She also collaborated on the compilation of the Jewish Encyclopedia.

Henrietta is probably best known, however, for founding the international volunteer organization known as Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America. With the Nazis rise to power in Germany, Henrietta recognized the extreme danger the party presented to European Jews. In 1932, a plan called Youth Aliyah was developed to send German Jewish Adolescents to Palestine to complete their education. Youth Aliyah was able to save between 22,000 and 30,000 Jewish youths from World War II death camps.

Sadly, Henrietta passed away from complications from pneumonia on February 13, 1945, in Jerusalem, Israel, at the age of 84. She is buried in the Jewish Cemetery on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Following her death, Israel issued a coin and a stamp in her memory, the first American woman to be featured on Israeli currency. Inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2007, Henrietta Szold is truly a Chalkboard Champion.

You can read more about this remarkable teacher in the Jewish Virtual Library.org.

Former elem teacher Susie Fishbein becomes famous author of Jewish kosher cookbooks

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Susie Fishbein

Susie Fishbein: Former elementary school teacher and celebrated author of Jewish kosher cookbooks. Photo Credit: Grow and Behold Kitchen

Many gifted classroom teachers also make a name for themselves in professions outside of the classroom. This is true of Susie Fishbein, an elementary school teacher who is also a famous author of Jewish kosher cookbooks.

Susie was born Susan Beth Fishbein in Oceanside, New Jersey, in 1968. She was raised in a strictly kosher household. After her graduation from high school, she earned her Bachelor’s degree and then her Master’s degree in Science Education. Following her college graduation, Susie taught fourth-grade science in a public school in Oceanside for four years.

In 2000, when her first child was a student at Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in Livingston, New Jersey, Susie co-edited The Kosher Palette: Easy and Elegant Modern Kosher Cooking, a community cookbook produced as a fundraiser. Within two years, the book had gone through four printings and sold 36,000 copies.

After the success of this project, Susie decided to improve her knowledge of cooking. She took lessons and collected recipes from a number of professional chefs. She then produced a series of kosher cookbooks of her own she named the Kosher By Design series. Between 2003 and 2016, Susie wrote nine cookbooks in the series. The recipes appeal to an audience of American Jewish women who want to produce contemporary kosher meals.

While she was writing her cookbook series, Susie also established herself as a celebrity chef, appearing at cooking demonstrations at Jewish events, bake sales, food festivals, and kosher cruises. In addition to her cooking demonstrations, Susie has led “culinary tours” to Israel, France, Italy, and other international destinations. This summer, she launched a culinary institute for kids for the New Jersey Y Camps.

Susie’s efforts have garnered media attention and honors. She has been a featured guest on many TV and radio shows, and she was named to the Forward 50 as one of the most influential Jews in America. She has been featured at the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival at Disneyworld. In addition, she was an honored guest at the White House in recognition of National Jewish Heritage Month.

Maryland teacher and community activist Rose Sommerfield

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Many dedicated educators work diligently on humanitarian projects to improve conditions for others in their community. One who did this was Rose Sommerfield, a teacher from Baltimore, Maryland, who was an activist and social worker for the Jewish community in her city.

Rose was born into a middle-class German Jewish family in Baltimore in 1874. From 1889 to 1899 she taught in public schools in Baltimore. During those years, Rose became interested in the First Grade Teachers’ Association, and greatly influenced the organization’s policies. In addition, she established the first Mothers’ Meetings held in a Baltimore public school.

Rose was instrumental in the organization of her city’s Daughters of Israel and the Baltimore Section of the Council of Jewish Women. In fact, she was the first secretary of both organizations. She was also involved in a day nursery, the First Jewish Working Girls Club, and the Maccabeans, an association of men who did volunteer work with Jewish boys. In addition, Rose authored many published articles on educational and philanthropic subjects.

In 1899, Rose relocated to New York, where she organized the  vocational course for the Clara de Hirsch Home for Working Girls. She was instrumental in the development of the Home, where she served as Resident Director from 1899 to 1926. In addition to this work, Rose also organized the Clara de Hirsch Home for Immigrant Girls, the Welcome House Settlement house, and the Model Employment Bureau. And, as if all this were not enough, she helped to reorganize the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society and the Virginia, a non-sectarian hotel for working girls.

The indefatigable teacher and activist passed away on August 5, 1952. She was 78 years old. To read more about her, see this article published by Women of America.

Former English teacher Annette Meyers is a well-known mystery writer

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Former high school English teacher Annette Meyers is also a talented and well-known mystery writer. Photo Credit: Annette Meyers

Many talented authors were once outstanding classroom teachers. This is true of Annette Meyers, a mystery fiction writer who was also a high school English teacher.

Annette was born on January 31,1934, in New York City. She was raised on a chicken farm in Toms River, New Jersey. After her graduation from Toms River High School in 1951, she earned her degree in English from Douglass College in 1955. From 1955 to 1960 she works as a high school English teacher. From 1960 to 1976 she worked as an assistant to Broadway theater director and producer Harold Prince.

After her marriage to writer and actor Martin Meyers, Annette focussed her efforts on her writing career. She published her first book, The Big Killing, in 1989.

Since then, Annette has become well-known for her Smith and Wetzon series. In these books, the author features headhunters Xenia Smith and Leslie Wetzon, who stumble over bodies on Wall Street and Broadway.

Annette’s Olivia Brown series, which includes the novels Free Love and Murder Me Now, is set in the 1920’s in Greenwich Village. This series features a young woman poet in the mode of Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Then there is the Dutchman series, which she co-wrote with her late husband and published under the joint pseudonym Maan Meyers. To date, there are seven history mysteries in the series, and numerous short stories that feature characters from the novels.

Her stand-alone novel Repentances is psychological suspense. In this book, the setting is 1936, in New York’s Jewish immigrant community. One of Annette’s short stories was included in Best American Mystery Stories, 2002.

To examine the author’s website, click on this link to www.meyersmysteries.com.

Former teacher Lisa Niver authors award-winning memoir

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Former science teacher Lisa Niver has published an award-winning memoir entitled Brave-ish which  won multiple awards! Photo Credit: medium.com.

Lisa Niver, a former junior high school science teacher from Los Angeles, California, is a podcaster, sought-after motivational speaker, travel agent, and travel writer. In fact, she has been recognized as one of the top five female travel bloggers. And now, the former teacher is a published author. She has released her new memoir entitled Brave-ish: One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless after Fifty. The volume has already garnered multiple awards, including being named as a Nonfiction Book Award Gold Winner.

Brave-ish tells the story Lisa’s expeditions to far-flung corners of the world, including Vanuatu, Nepal, Myanmar, Cuba, Morocco, Kenya, and Mongolia. But her book is more than a travelogue. Her story is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of perseverance. Brave-ish inspires readers to dream big, take risks, and embrace the unknown in order to create an exciting and wonder-filled life, even when courage seems out of reach.

Lisa has published many articles in online and in print magazines, including National Geographic, The Huffington Post, The Guardian, and The Jewish Journal. She was a 2012 nominee for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching (PAEMST). In 2018, she was nominated in three categories of the Southern California Journalism Awards: Science/Technology Reporting; Travel Reporting; and Personality Profile. To learn more about unique travel experiences, check out Lisa’s website at We Said Go Travel.

As for Lisa’s former career as an educator, she is well-known in science teacher circles for her instructional strategies that emphasize the use of technology in the classroom. She’s also noted for using students’ real world connections to explore their passions, and for teaching them to work towards solving today’s most complex issues. In 2009, Lisa founded the Los Angeles Science Teachers Network (LASTN),  a professional development network that by May, 2012, involved over 70 teachers and 40 schools. The effort was praised by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.