Yiddishe Mamas (28 page)

S
ince the very start of United States history, Jewish mothers, as all mothers, felt pride and also suffered grievous loss when their children went to war, or fought within our own country for justice. What many may not know is that Jewish mothers also courageously participated far more directly in the war effort.

During the Revolutionary War, Mordecai Sheftall became the highest-ranking Jewish officer of the American Revolutionary forces. He attained the rank of Deputy Commissary General to the Continental Troops in South Carolina and Georgia. Sheftall and his son were captured by British forces and imprisoned in Antigua but eventually traded for two captured British officers.

Mardecai was such a militant rebel during the American Revolution that the British put a price on the head of his wife, Frances “Fannie” Sheftall. Just before the British arrived—when her husband and son were captured and imprisoned—Mrs. Sheftall fled to Charleston, South Carolina, home to the largest Jewish community in America at the time. Despite the danger, Frances not only nursed the American troops, but also took care of those affected by a smallpox epidemic.

Esther Hays of Westchester, New York, was one of the most courageous mothers of the American Revolution. Her village was burned by the British, yet she refused to disclose the whereabouts of patriots—including her seven-year-old son, Jacob—who were driving a herd of cattle through British lines. Both Jacob and her other son Benjamin grew up to be celebrated members of their communities. Arthur Hays Sulzberger, Benjamin’s grandson, was the late publisher of the
New York Times.

Abigail Minis, her husband Abraham, and their daughters Leah and Esther left Europe and arrived in Savannah, Georgia, on July 10, 1733. She eventually gave birth to three more daughters, Judith, Hannah, and Sarah, and four sons, Phillip, Minis, Joseph, and Samuel.

Her husband, an influential farmer and businessman, died in 1757, appointing Abigail as the executrix of his estate—an unusual vote of confidence for an eighteenth-century woman. The horses and mares went to his surviving sons, and his cattle to his daughters. All other possessions went to Abigail to “… enable her (Abigail) to maintain, educate, and bring up our children.”

Abigail was allowed to start the Minis Tavern in her name, which proved highly successful.

When the American Revolution came to Savannah, her son Phillip (the first white male child born in the settlement of Georgia on July 7, 1734), and her friend Mordecai Sheftall were firm patriots, although her loyalties were unclear at the time.

Mrs. Minis, as she was always referred to, was one of Savannah’s great matriarchs. She owned property in three different Georgia counties when she died.

Eleanor Cohen Seixas, a Southern patriot in South Carolina, kept a diary for ten years, from age sixteen to twenty-six. The following are excerpts from the last year of her diary (from February 2, 1865, to January 1, 1866)—as she discusses her transition to womanhood against the backdrop of the Civil War.

Eugenia Levy Phillips was an educated and determined woman, and an important figure in Alabama history. She was also a staunch supporter of the Confederacy.

Eugenia was born in 1820 in Charleston, South Carolina. She was one of six daughters born to Jacob C. Levy and Fannie Yates Levy. At sixteen, she married Philip Phillips, a prominent Mobile lawyer and businessman, and had nine children.

Her husband served two terms in the Alabama State Legislature. When Philip was elected to Congress in 1853, the family moved to Washington, D.C.

Although her husband was opposed to secession, Eugenia was a firm supporter of the South, and aided Rose O’Neal Greenhow, the famed rebel spy. Eugenia’s family shared her views, and her sister, Phoebe Yates Pember (widow of Thomas Pember) was one of the South’s most dedicated nurses.

Her support of the Confederate cause wasn’t without consequences, however. When the Phillips’ home was ransacked by Union troops, Eugenia managed to “destroy” incriminating papers: The maid hid them in her bodice.

Although taunts were the only evidence of her treason, Eugenia and two of her daughters were imprisoned in the attic of Mrs. Greenhow’s home. It wasn’t until Edwin M. Stanton, later Secretary of War, intervened that they were released, forcing the Phillips family to move to New Orleans.

However, when New Orleans fell to General Benjamin F. Butler, Eugenia became Butler’s nemesis. In May 1862, shortly after he assumed control of New Orleans he issued his infamous Order #28 condemning the women for their insults, which enraged the entire South. Yet, Eugenia’s defiance continued, as she threw a party for her children and laughed during a funeral procession for a deceased Union soldier. This so enraged Butler that he sentenced Eugenia to Ship Island, Mississippi, for the duration of the war—without judge or jury.

Although the conditions were horrific on Ship Island, and Eugenia’s health declined, she never asked for special favors and continued her campaign for the South.

She was so frail when she was released that a servant slammed the door in her face, thinking she was a stranger. Her husband and children, having been given little information about Eugenia’s status, were both shocked and overjoyed at their reunion. The
famous battle between Eugenia Phillips and General “Beast” Butler that had drawn international attention was finally over.

The family then moved to LaGrange, Georgia, where Eugenia devoted the rest of her life and fortune to supporting and clothing the poor and ill soldiers of the South.

Matilda Blaustine and her daughter, Bernice, both served in the WAAC (Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps) during World War II. Prior to the war, Matilda Blaustine was district deputy of New York in the Masonic Order, the highest position a Jewish woman could hold in that organization. In 1942, she was inducted as a staff sergeant into the first contingent of the WAAC and served as a radar spotter for U.S. Naval Intelligence in the First Fighter Command in New York until her discharge in 1945.

After the war, Matilda was an ardent fund-raiser for the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. She worked for the release of refugee families from the Displacement Camps and their subsequent resettlement.

Her daughter, Bernice Blaustein, joined the WAACs in 1943 and received basic training at Fort Bliss, Texas. She also served until 1945.

“What is a nice Jewish girl from Brooklyn doing in the Marine Corps?” In a lecture in 2000, sponsored by the JWV Department of Florida, Col. Wendy Fontela, USMC, and Maj. Debra Powell, USAF, both Jewish mothers, provided answers.

Col. Fontela has been in the corps for over twenty-eight years and was mobilized for Desert Storm. As of 2000, she was serving as legislative affairs officer at the Southern Command. She and her husband have two sons.

“It’s a challenge and a career for anyone to be in the military,” she said, and then discussed how the military has changed over time. “When I entered the service, a girdle was a required uniform item. I was in an organization that had little use for mothers. In 1977, you still needed permission to get married. Today women serve in all fields except those that are direct ground combat. We are no longer women marines. We are marines!”

At the time of the lecture, Maj. Debra Powell was head of the Requirement Section for Reserve Affairs for the Southern Command. The military had provided her with the opportunity to go to college, and after graduating from high school, she entered the University of Florida’s Air Force Officer Reserve Training Corps. Her friends thought she was crazy for enlisting.

Debra is married to Maj. Shawn Powell and is mother of two sons. She has said: “Being Jewish, in my experience, hasn’t affected my career. It is a great career and has opened opportunities that I don’t think I would have had.” But more, “I will do what it takes to secure our country for my children and grandchildren.”

In a 2004 e-mail, Diane F. Godorov, D.O. CPT MC, U.S. Army, wrote about her experience in Iraq.

“… I have continued to be busy with doctoring our troops and humanitarian missions….

“Many here go out of their way to help others and that is passed along from soldier to soldier. … Like any Jewish mother I have to mention my children Wolf-Ekkehard [eighteen] and Sieglinde [fifteen].

“They are both wonderful students with challenging classes and magnificent grades. Wolf will be entering West Point, class of 2008. I am very proud of both of my children. … I am known to the Iraqis as ‘Doctora Diana’ and to the soldiers as ‘Doc Combat.’ I have cared for camel herders and ridden their camels, been to the tank graveyard of the former Republican Guard base in Tikrit, been invited into homes for tea and flat round bread, seen the Tigress River from a village that has a sheik with seven wives and over 120 children! I have even seen the inside of a mosque. Oh, the stories I can now tell. … Thanks to Wolf, I was able to bring my favorite movie of all time with me,
Auntie Mame.
… In the movie Mame declares, ‘All of life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death! ’Not me!”

Barbara Diamond Goldin puts white socks, an alarm clock, and a hairbrush with some of the things she sends to her daughter, Josee, and son-in-law, Phillip Radzikowski, both stationed in Iraq.

“It’s something I can do,” says Goldin, “it makes me feel better,” reports Rahel Musleah, an award-winning journalist, author, singer, speaker, and storyteller, in an article in the winter issue, 2003, of
Jewish Woman.

“Other than one phone call in the middle of the night, Mrs. Goldin communicates with her daughter by short and sometimes infrequent e-mail. “I think about her and her husband every day. I say the traveler’s prayer and a personal prayer for them every day,” said Mrs. Goldin, a children’s book writer who has become a news junkie. “When I tell people my daughter is in Iraq, they give me a blank look,” she said in the article.

Angry about media coverage, she’s a volunteer with an organization called Media Reform. But, she says, “I don’t mention politics with Josee. I am in support mode. Few members of the Jewish community know much about Jewish women in the military beyond what they saw in
Private Benjamin.”

Political activism motivated Josee at an early age. She was alarmed at the genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and circulated petitions and lobbied her legislators. Following a physics degree from George Washington University, she attended Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia. Commissioned in 2001, she married Phillip Radzikowski, a captain, who was deployed in Iraq. Her first assignment in South Korea was a grueling year spent ten miles from the demilitarized zone. Sent to Iraq in 2003, the couple, stationed one hundred miles apart, saw each other when on supply missions.