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Rebecca Gratz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rebecca Gratz (March 4, 1781 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania - August 27, 1869 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was a preeminent Jewish American educator and philanthropist. Gratz was the seventh of twelve ...
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As the founder and secretary of Philadelphia's earliest women's philanthropic organizations, Rebecca Gratz helped define a new identity for American women. Like other women of her era, Gratz believed that benevolent work was an appropriate extension of women's roles so long as it was done quietly.
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In 1820, Sir Walter Scott published the novel, Ivanhoe, whose heroine Rebecca, was a beautiful Jewess who refused to marry out of her faith. Soon after the book was published, it was rumored that Rebecca Gratz was the model for Scott's dashing medieval Rebecca.
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Rebecca Gratz was a devout Jew who dedicated her life to the service of the less fortunate in America. She was born in Philadelphia in 1781 into a wealthy and highly esteemed family that supported the American Revolution.
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Encyclopedia article about Gratz, Rebecca. Information about Gratz, Rebecca in the Columbia Encyclopedia, Computer Desktop Encyclopedia, computing dictionary. ... daughter of Michael Gratz. Well known for her philanthropies in Philadelphia, she is remembered chiefly as the probable prototype of Rebecca in Scott's Ivanhoe,
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Rebecca Gratz was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the seventh child and fourth daughter of Miriam and Michael Gratz. Michael Gratz was a native of Langendorf, Silesia. He emigrated to America in 1752, and in 1769 married Miriam Simon, the American-born daughter of Jewish merchant Joseph Simon.
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The teachers' and parents' assistant; or, Thirteen lessons conveying to uniformed minds the first ideas of God and his attributes - Gratz, Rebecca, ...
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Much of Rebecca Gratz's life was focused on charity work and educational activities. With her mother and older sister, in 1801, she founded a charitable society for women, the Female Association for the Relief of Women and Children in Reduced Circumstances, and was elected its secretary.
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Rebecca Gratz (1781-1869), the best-known member of the prominent Jewish family in 18th-19th century Philadelphia, was reputed to have been the model for Rebecca in Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe. The content for this feature is taken from the Rebecca Gratz exhibit on the Jewish Women's Archive website.
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Medal by Gerta Ries Wiener (1981), Rebecca Gratz, Philanthropist. ... Rebecca Gratz achieved literary immortality when, after hearing of her charm, beauty and goodness, Sir Walter Scott introduced a Jewish female character into the work that was then in progress.
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