The Rabbi's Wife: The Rebbetzin in American Jewish Life

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments This book has been more than a decade in the making, and I am pleased to acknowledge the assistance, encouragement, and support of the many individuals who helped make its completion possible. First and foremost, I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to learn from many rabbis’ wives. My first goal in interviewing was to hear directly from the rebbetzins, and I am grateful to the many women who graciously agreed to speak with me, especially: Joan Lipnick Abelson , Hadassah Carlebach, Janet Chiel, Naomi Cohen, Sylvia Geffen, Rae Goodman, Blu Greenberg, Hilda Greenberg, Zipporah Jacobs, Reba Katz, Maurine Kessler, Eileen Kieffer, Edith Kling, Eudice Lorge, Zipporah Marans, Hadassah Nadich, Eveline Panitch, Louise Reichert, Lilly Routtenberg, Roz Stein, and Miriam Arzt Teplitz. I am also indebted to the women who participated in the Retired Spouses session of the 2000 National Association of Retired Reform Rabbis Convention and the Rabbis’ Wives session of the 2000 Rabbinical Assembly Retired Rabbis Convention. To supplement these stories and to learn about rebbetzins who had died, I also interviewed their congregants, family members and associates: Balfour Brickner, Irma and Abraham Cardozo, Judah Nadich, Jack and Jean Stein, David Waxman and Eve Keller, and Mordecai Waxman . I am grateful for the thoughtfulness and candor with which they reflected on the role of the rebbetzin and its place in their lives. I am also indebted to the many individuals who generously shared personal files, family papers, correspondence, scrapbooks, and photos with me in the hope that I might be able to capture the essence of the rabbi’s wife role: Bailey Bloom, Balfour Brickner, Shulamith Elster, Jeremy Goldstein, Hilda Greenberg, Agnes Herman, Zipporah Jacobs, Reba Katz, Edith Kling, Sylvia Lieberman, Michael A. Meyer, Peggy Pearlstein, Marjorie Pressman, Aaron Reichel, Charlotte Rothman, Lilly Routtenberg , Hillel Silverman, Adrienne Sundheim, Helen Tomsky, Jonathan Waxman, and Miriam Wise. ix Others also assisted me in tracking down sources, and I am grateful to them for their efforts. J. J. Schacter and Norman Lamm shared materials and insights on Irma Jung. Sara Sager shared recollections and helped me track down contacts on Rebecca Brickner. Joellyn Zollman alerted me to important materials by Miriam Wise. Marjorie Lehman shared materials on Tamar de Sola Pool. Jeffrey Gurock shared valuable sources from Yeshiva University. Mel Scult generously shared unpublished materials on Mathilde Schechter. I also want to acknowledge the assistance of rabbis’ wives, including Annette Botnick, Carol Poll, and Rivkah Lambert, who conducted their own research into the role of the rebbetzin and who openly shared materials and insights with me even as they encouraged me to forge ahead with a full-length study on the topic. Research on a project that has never been explored before requires ingenuity in uncovering obscure material. For successfully recovering so much rich material, I am indebted to several superb archival professionals who generously aided me in my quest: at the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, Gary Zola, Kevin Proffitt, Elise Neinaber, and Camille Servizzi; at the Joseph and Miriam Ratner Center for the Study of Conservative Judaism, Julie Miller and Ellen Kastel; at Women’s League for Conservative Judaism, the late Edya Arzt and Selma Weintraub; at the Spanish-Portuguese Center, Susan Toben; at the Hadassah Archives, Susan Woodland; at the Yeshiva University Archives, Shuli Berger; at the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington , Laura Cohen Apelbaum and Wendy Turman; and at the Cleveland College of Jewish Studies, Jean Letofsky. I was fortunate to receive the Joseph H. Fichter Research Award, 1999–2000, from the Association for the Sociology of Religion; the Rabbi Levi A. Olan Memorial Fellowship, 1999–2000, from the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives; and a summer fellowship in 1999, from the Myer and Rosalie Feinstein Center for American Jewish History. These grants enabled me to further my research at a crucial point in the process, and I am pleased to acknowledge this support. I am also grateful to the research assistants who ably transcribed interviews, tracked down materials, and checked sources: Toby Appel, Naamit Kurshan Gerber, Shoshanna Schechter, Aviva Schwartz, Tali Schwartz, Deborah Skolnick, Hadara Stanton, and Lauren Strauss. They not only provided invaluable assistance but also came to share my x | Acknowledgments enthusiasm for the project. Ed Walthall has provided critically important , steadfast administrative support throughout the process. I am grateful to many colleagues, including Dianne Ashton, Naomi W. Cohen, Jeffrey...