FacT-A-DaY
6. JOEL SPRINGARN (1875-1971)
was a literary critic, poet and pro-
fessor. In 1905, he helped found
the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People.
NAACP president from 1940-
1965, Springarn throughout World
War II advocated the creation of a
training program for black officers.
He also established the Springarn
Medal, for African-Americans who
gave extraordinary service to other
blacks within the U.S.
7. NATHAN BARNERT (1838-
1927) was a native of Prussia who
came in 1849 to the United States.
Settling in Paterson, N.J., he
opened a clothing store, then later
invested in real estate. A successful
businessman, Barnert put all his
money back into Paterson, where
he created various mills and donat-
ed money for the establishment of a
nonsectarian hospital, a nurses'
home and the town synagogue
B'nai Jeshurun. President William
McKinley was among the guests at
the opening of the new synagogue.
Barnert, who also funded a
Hebrew school and a home for
orphans in Jerusalem, was a politi-
cian, a Democrat and an observant
Jew who never worked on Shabbat
or holidays.
8. JANUSZ KORCZAK (c1878-
1942) was the pen name of Hen-
ryk Goldszmidt, who was the son
of wealthy, assimilated Polish-Jewish
parents. From his earliest days, Kor-
czak was committed to improving
the lives of children; in 1901, he
wrote Children of the Street, which
detailed the horrible existence of
orphans forced to live on city
streets. Later, Korczak became
director of a Jewish orphanage in
Warsaw and saw to the establish-
ment of a gentile orphanage, as
well. Korczak established a nation-
al reputation as an author and
advocate for children. He believed
children should be constantly nur-
10/22
1999
tured and encouraged to think for
themselves. In 1940, with the rise
of Hitler, Korczak's orphanage for
Jewish children was moved to the
Warsaw Ghetto. Two years later,
all 200 children were sent to Tre-
blinka. Because of his fame, Kor-
czak was offered the chance to
live. But he would not abandon the
children and went with them to the
gas chambers.
9. EDITH ROSENWALD STERN
was the daughter of Julius Rosen-
wald (a founder of Sears, Roebuck).
She spent her considerable fortune
not on herself, but toward improv-
ing the world. Together with her
husband, Edgar, she donated mil-
lions of dollars toward such causes
as scholarships for black students,
voter registration and studying the
effects of nuclear energy. She also
supported numerous arts organiza-
tions, including the New Orleans
Symphony and the New Orleans
Museum of Art, and helped estab-
lish the Fund for Investigative Jour-
nalism. In 1961, President John
Kennedy appointed her to serve on
the National Cultural Center Adviso-
ry Committee on the Arts.
10. ERNESTINE LOUISE ROSE
(1810-1892), the feminist daughter
of a rabbi, moved from her native
Poland to the Uni.ted States in the
1 840s. A friend of Susan B. Antho-
ny, she wrote a series of articles not
only on feminism, but also in sup-
port of Judaism and denouncing
slavery. (Even a slave treated extra-
ordinarily well would never be
happy, she said, because as a
slave he did not have the God-
given right to belong to himself.)
Rose died 28 years before passage
of the 19th Amendment, which
granted voting rights to women.
11. FELIX WARBURG (1871-1937)
spent much of his fortune to help
New Yorkers (and Jews everywhere)
at the turn of the century. He used
his funds to create a babies' and
children's tuberculosis center in
New York, helped found the Feder-
ation for the Support of Jewish Phil-
anthropic Societies, generously
donated to the New York Philhar-
monic Orchestra and the Juilliard
School of Music, and raised funds
to help Jews in Nazi Germany.
12. YOCHANAN BEN-ZAKKAI (1st
century C.E.) was a student of Hillel
and head of the Sanhedrin in
Jerusalem. He was so revered as a
teacher that he couldn't even conduct
his classes indoors; there wasn't
enough room. Instead, he gave
lessons outside the plaza at the Holy
Temple. In 66 C.E., ben-Zakkai set-
tled in Yavneh, where he established
a school. During the Jewish revolt of
70 C.E., Emperor Titus destroyed
much of the country, including the
Holy Temple. Yet ben-Zakkai and his
fellow scholars stood strong and sur-
vived. After the revolt, ben-Zakkai —
virtually singlehandedly — reestab-
lished the Sanhedrin and rebuilt Jew-
ish life in Palestine.
13. REBECCA GRATZ (1781-
1869) is today best known as the
inspiration for the "Rebecca" char-
acter in Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe.
In her time, she was noted both for
her beauty and intelligence (among
her close friends was Washington
Irving, who probably told Scott
about her). Among the philanthropic
causes to which she was devoted
were the Hebrew Sunday School
Society, the Philadelphia Jewish Fos-
ter Home and Orphan Asylum and
the Female Hebrew Benevolent
Society.
14. SIR MEYER ADAM SPIELMAN
(1856-1936) was a descendant in
a long line of British-Jewish educa-
tors and supporters of the arts. He
was active in child welfare, includ-
ing the establishment of a reformato-
ry school for Jewish boys, and was
knighted in_1928 for his work to
prevent juvenile delinquency. He
and his wife, Lady Emily (the first
woman elected to the Board of
Deputies of British Jews), also sup-
ported many Jewish charities.
15. HELEN SUZMAN (1917- ), a
university lecturer in economics, was
elected in 1953 to the parliament
You can learn a lot by learning a little. In Fact-A-Day, AppleTree pro-
vides you with fascinating tidbits about any Jewish subject, past or pre-
sept, This month, we highlight 31 — one for each day of October —
Jewish philanthropists, social activists and moral leaders.
Do you have a suggestion for Fact-A-Day? If so, please drop us a
line at AppleTree Facts, 27676 Franklin Road, Southfield, MI 48034;
fax (248) 354-6069; call (248) 354-6060, ext. 308 (voice-mail
only), or e-mail: philapple@earthlink.net.
With special thanks to Eden Cooper Sage who suggested this topic
for Fact-A-Day. Sage, who lives with her husband, Jeff, in Los Angeles,
is a former West Bloomfield resident who appeared in several produc-
tions on the JET, Attic and Purple Rose Theatre stages. A longtime mem-
ber and teacher at Temple Israel, she supervised the temple's Shcrlach
Mitzvot program for b'nai mitzvah candidates and established TIME
(Temple Israel Musical Ensemble). Sage works today as an actress and
teacher at Temple Israel of -ollywood. She looks forward to using this
column to help a class project on Mitzvah Stars, saying, "We're plan-
ning a brunch next spring to honor those in our own community [that]
the students feel embody the mitzvot and Jewish values exemplified by
those we have studied."