Gratz, Rebecca. Autograph Manuscript. Annual Report of the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society of Philadelphia. Titled in another hand (possibly Isaac Leeser).

Created in 1819, Rebecca Gratz’s Philadelphia-based Female Hebrew Benevolent Society inspired the creation of the New York Female Hebrew Benevolent Society a year later. Jacob Rader Marcus referred to the seminal founding of such aid societies as the origin of “a new woman - the Jewish social worker.” See Marcus “The American Jewish Woman, 1654-1980” p. 48. The present report clearly displays the fiduciary responsibility with which Gratz took her calling. Her charitable work was a labor of love and religious devotion and her report is imbued with words of kindness and sympathy towards her less fortunate brethren with nary a trace of condescension from one more fortunate. Gratz deems her work “a privilege” and a cause for “rejoic[ing] that the Spirit of Judaism is spreading its influence through various channels.” Gratz calls here for the founding a foster home for Jewish children and predicts that it will be a place for rearing “future artisans and mechanics… [who] will bless another generation.” Gratz speaks of bright hopes, and suggests that “the prayers of the poor, & those who were ready to perish bring down blessings on their benefactors.” Rebecca is justly remembered as an accomplished and engaged exemplar of an early American Jewish woman deeply imbued with notions of benevolence and generosity of spirit.