Julia I. Felsenthal (October 4, 1867 – November 21, 1954) was an American social worker based in Chicago. She was one of the founders of the

National Council of Jewish Women The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization. Founded in 1893, NCJW is self-described as the oldest Jewish women’s grassroots organization in the United States, now comprised by over 180,000 members. As of ...

Early life

Julia I. Felsenthal was born in Chicago, the daughter of

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

Bernhard Felsenthal Bernhard Felsenthal (January 2, 1822 – January 12, 1908) was a German-born Jewish-American rabbi. Life Felsenthal was born on January 2, 1822, in Münchweiler, near Kaiserslautern, the Rhenish Palatinate, Bavaria, the son of Simon Felsenthal ...

and Henrietta Blumenfeld Felsenthal. Both of her parents were born in Germany.

Career

Felsenthal was a social worker and Jewish community leader, based in Chicago. In 1893 she served on the Jewish women's committee at the

Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

. She was one of the founders and leaders of the National Council of Jewish Women, president of the Chicago chapter of the Council of Jewish Women, and vice-president of the National Association of Jewish Social Workers. She was superintendent of the Sinai West Side Sabbath School, and taught correspondence courses through the Jewish Chautauqua Society. Felsenthal worked one summer at

Hull House Hull House was a settlement house in Chicago, Illinois, United States that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located on the Near West Side of the city, Hull House (named after the original house's first owner Cha ...

with

Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author. She was an important leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage ...

. Much of her social work involved the diverse needs of Jewish immigrants. In 1914, she was superintendent of the Jewish Welfare Society in Minneapolis. In 1930 Felsenthal endorsed the Griffin Bill, which would have allowed qualified applicants for naturalization to take the oath of United States citizenship without denying their religious or philosophical reservations about "the lawfulness of war as a means of settling international disputes."

Personal life

Felsenthal remained active with Jewish women's organizations in Chicago until the last year of her life. She died in 1954, aged 87 years, in Chicago.

References

External links

* * Julia I. Felsenthal
"The Influence of the Jewish Religion in the Home"
''Papers of the Jewish Women's Congress'' (Chicago, 1893): 122-128. * Julia I. Felsenthal
"Links of a Chain"
''The Advocate: America's Jewish Journal'' 41(May 6, 1911): 481.
Letter from Julia I. Felsenthal to Jane Addams
(October 25, 1908), in the Jane Addams Papers Project, Digital Edition. {{DEFAULTSORT:Felsenthal, Julia I. 1867 births 1954 deaths American social workers Jewish women People from Chicago