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