THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 2016
4:00 pm
Dr. Cynthia Gensheimer
Independent Scholar
The Bernard and Audre Rapoport Fellowship
“Firm in my Beliefs, Vague and Indifferent as They Are:”
Helen Solomon’s Letters Home from Wellesley College, 1901–1902
During her junior year at Wellesley College, Helen Solomon kept up an active correspondence with her
family in Chicago. Her charming letters provide an intimate glimpse into the assimilation of a Jewish girl
immersed in a decidedly Christian environment. Among Helen’s happy stories of everyday study and play
are accounts of the seductive Christian life on campus and Helen’s occasional doubts concerning her
responses to such challenges to her upbringing. Helen’s mother, Hannah Greenebaum Solomon, founder of
the National Council of Jewish Women, offers reassurance and advice on many topics, including the proper
comportment of a young Jewish woman. This correspondence presents an unusual opportunity to
understand the dilemma of Jewish parents who wanted their children to attend elite colleges yet to retain
their own “family traditions . . . and Jewish customs,” in the words of Hannah G. Solomon. The letters of
Helen and Hannah Solomon help us understand this family’s religious beliefs and commitment to Judaism,
even in the face of a significant pull to full assimilation.
All seminars are held in the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati Seminar Room, located on the 3rd
floor of the Jacob Rader Marcus Center
of the American Jewish Archives, on the Cincinnati campus of:
Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion
Cincinnati – New York – Los Angeles – Jerusalem
3101 Clifton Avenue
Cincinnati, Ohio 45220