…עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל וְעַל רַבָּנָן וְעַל תַּלְמִידֵיהוֹן וְעַל כָּל תַּלְמִידֵי תַלְמִידֵיהוֹן
“Upon all Israel, upon all its teachers, and upon all their students, as well as the students of their students…”
— Kaddish D’Rabbanan
As part of Women’s History Month, the National Archives Museum develops opportunities to discover women from American history who have helped shape our nation. Tomorrow, the museum presents author Mary Sarah Bilder, who looked to the 1780s to investigate the rise of female intellectualism in the English-speaking world with her book, “Female Genius,” which explores the life and contributions of Eliza Harriot O’Connor.
As George Washington waited for the Constitutional Convention to begin in Philadelphia in 1787, he sat in on a lecture delivered by O’Connor—the first female public lecturer in the Americas—at the University of Pennsylvania. She and other reformers believed that the absence of female education was solely responsible for female non-participation in governance. Though her ideas found their home in the academies she founded for women, it would take nearly 150 years for her dream—of women as equal citizens with the right to guide and participate in our democracy—to gain a secure foothold.
Her qualifications, her advocacy, and her impact remain a gift that our nation will always cherish, reminding Jewish Americans that the sacred Jewish commitment to study and the pursuit of knowledge must be shared with all, lest we deprive our nation and our world of the countless contributions its inhabitants may offer.
As a bedrock of education in subjects both religious and secular, Stephen Wise Temple and Wise School take this responsibility seriously, through our embrace of members from all faiths, races, and backgrounds, as well as our commitment to sharing our educational resources with communities across Los Angeles through our Wise Readers to Leaders program.
Participating in these endeavors represents but one way to share the gift of inclusive education, honoring the teachings of our tradition, our national heritage, and the memory of Eliza Harriot O’Connor.
— Rabbi Josh Knobel