18 | OCTOBER 7 • 2021 

E

rin Gruwell was a student English 
teacher in an inner-city school in 
Long Beach, Calif., when a racist 
event in her classroom changed the tra-
jectory of her career. One student drew a 
horrific racist image of another student, 
who was African American. 
 When Gruwell mentioned 
that this type of prejudice led 
to the terrible events of the 
Holocaust she was greeted 
by blank stares, and so began 
Gruwell’s mission: to educate 
her students about antisem-
itism and other forms of 
racism and then to inspire them to write 
about this new-found knowledge and 
become voices for change. 
The success of her work, which both 

empowered her students to speak up for 
what is right, and which also contributed 
to their academic success, was eventually 
published in a book called The Freedom 
Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 
Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves 
and the World Around Them. Hollywood 
took notice and in 2007, Oscar-winning 
actress Hilary Swank portrayed Gruwell 
in the movie Freedom Writers.
Gruwell will be the keynote speaker 
at National Council of Jewish Women, 
Michigan’s (NCJW|MI) annual fundrais-
ing event “Women of Vision,” being held 
virtually this year on Thursday, Oct. 14. 
She will be talking about her career 
and the importance of combatting hate. 
“My message is that you can’t stand by 
idly in the face of injustice,” said Gruwell, 

who took her earliest students to see 
Schindler’s List and brought Holocaust 
survivors to the school for her students 
to hear firsthand of their experience. 
“The first Holocaust survivor I ever 
worked with is now 97, lives in LA and is 
such a wonderful person. Her story and 
others show that evil prevails when good 
people do nothing,” explained Gruwell.
Since her early groundbreaking work, 
Gruwell founded the Freedom Writers 
Foundation where she works with stu-

Erin 
Gruwell

OUR COMMUNITY

Erin Gruwell to speak at Oct. 14 event 
of National Council of Jewish Women.
Inspiring Educator

ALISON SCHWARTZ SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

DETAILS

Tickets for the “Women of Vision” 
Annual Benefit Event on Thursday, 
Oct. 14, are available at a range of 
different donation levels starting 
at $54 and there is also a 50/50 
raffle. 
For more information go to 
www.ncjwmi.org. Proceeds will 
support NCJW|MI’s many commu-
nity-service projects and social 
justice advocacy work.

NCJW Steers One Local 
Family to Love, Marriage and 
a Life of Helping Women
Temple Israel’s Rabbi Marla Hornsten will be awarded 
“The Woman of Vision Award” on Oct. 14 by NCJW|MI 
because of her advocacy for equality for women, her 
efforts for women’s programming, studying women in 
texts and her work with domestic abuse organizations. 
“I am thrilled to be honored by an organization that 
has been at the forefront of so many progressive visions 
for women and families in generations past, 
and ongoing today,” she said. Hornsten’s 
impressive work includes serving on many 
boards and coalitions including past co-chair 
of the Jewish Women International Clergy 
Task Force Against Domestic Violence. She 
is also co-chair of the Coalition for Black and 
Jewish Unity and serves on the Board of 
Directors at Jewish Family Service and the Henry Ford 
Hospital in West Bloomfield. 
Hornsten’s ties to NCJW also have a very personal 

element: Her own mother-in-law was a recipient of an 
NCJW student scholarship which brought her in 1950-51 
from Morocco to the U.S. to study education and led to 
her marrying the love of her life.
Claire Stern was born and raised in Casablanca, 
Morocco, and attended the University of Wisconsin/
Milwaukee for a year on her NCJW scholarship. While 
in the U.S., she often spoke to the NCJW membership 
about her experiences living in Morocco and her teach-
ing. One woman who graciously helped her with her 
presentations, since English was her second language, 
said she wanted to introduce Claire to a local man, Burt 
Stern. Claire and Burt became fast friends, and one of 
the things she really enjoyed was how he included her 
when his cousins and family would get together every 
Shabbat. 
After her year in Milwaukee, Claire returned to 
Morocco to teach other teachers what she learned in 
the U.S. Prior to her return, Claire and Burt made a deal: 
If they still loved each other after she fulfilled her obliga-
tions of the scholarship, they would get married.
Claire taught nursery and elementary school in 

Rabbi Marla 
Hornsten

