sake, but, unlike her, she was a devout Jewess. Writers have hinted that it was her devotion to her faith that Was the sole cause of her remaining unmarried. Her beauty, refinement and wealth of noble qualities, made her beloved by all who knew her, so that we may well look upon her as the ideal American lady and Jewish woman.
Miss Gratz had been the close friend of Matilda Hoffman, Washington Irving's first and only love. Her charm and nobility of character so deeply impressed the great American author, and so enthusiastically did he describe them to his friend, Sir Walter Scott, during his European trip, that the latter is said to have found in her the character he so beautifully depicted as the Rebecca in "Ivanhoe." Among her intimate friends were some of the leading statesmen and writers, Henry Clay and Sully, the artist, among others. This noble woman from the start took a keen interest in every charitable endeavor. Her name is inseparably associated with every benevolent movement in Philadelphia during the first half of the nineteenth century.
In 1819 two Jewish women, Mrs. Aaron Levy and Miss Hannah Levy, happened to witness a case of distress in a Jewish family, and at once resolved to call upon other ladies for aid. Their appeal led to the formation of the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society of Philadelphia, in which Miss Gratz at once took a leading part. In 1838 she organized the first Hebrew Sunday School in America, and to it devoted her best efforts. She appealed to the ladies of other cities as well, and thus led to the establishment of similar institutions in New York and Charleston.
As early as 1850 Rebecca Gratz advocated a society to take care of Jewish orphans. Her appeal was finally answered in the organization of the Jewish Foster Home in 1855. She was also active in the Ladies' Hebrew Sewing Society and the
