March 27, 2026
With Women’s History Month drawing to a close, I wanted to take a moment to share one of the most inspiring stories I recently learned about a young Jewish woman who lived in Brooklyn in the early 1900s. I learned this story from historian Pam Nadell, PhD, who was our Scholar-in-Residence a year ago and will return to Columbus on April 28 to teach at the JCC’s Gaynor Lecture about her new book, Antisemitism, An American Tradition. This book won the 2025 Jewish Book Council Award in the American Jewish History category.
Nadell’s book is not merely a history of antisemitic events that have occurred in America since Peter Stuyvesant was the governor of New Amsterdam, but it recounts the impact of antisemitism on countless Jewish Americans and how they responded to anti-Jewish discrimination.
One such individual was Gussie Herbert, who lived in Brownsville, a neighborhood in Brooklyn with a population that was mostly Jewish or immigrant. She was a student at P.S. 144. On December 19, 1905, Frank Harding, the principal of the school, held a holiday assembly. At the assembly, he read Bible verses and then said, “Now, boys and girls… Christ blesses all but the hypocrites, and the hypocrites are the people who do not believe in him. He forgives all but those. So, boys and girls, be like Christ.” Nadell describes Gussie Herbert as a “plucky thirteen-year-old daughter of Jewish immigrants” who was stunned by what her principal had just said. She arose from her seat, walked to the front of the auditorium, and said, “Mr. Harding, don’t you think that preaching on Christ belongs in Sunday school or church and not in a public school?”
Prior to reading Nadell’s book, I would venture to say that few of us had heard of Gussie Herbert, and as I understand it, no one is quite sure what happened to her. However, investigations ensued following Harding’s remarks, the Jewish community became infuriated, and in 1906 there was a large boycott by the Jewish community of the upcoming Christmas pageants. After the boycott, the Board of Education banned singing hymns, reading religious books (except for the Bible), and assigning essays on religious topics. As Nadell writes, “A brave adolescent had stood up against anti-Judaism and won.”
I love Herbert’s story because it shows that the voice of a thirteen-year-old girl can make a difference. So many of our young people face antisemitism in school. I hear these stories annually from countless teenagers. How they respond varies. Some go to their parents; some come to me; some choose to stay silent out of fear of further isolation; very few speak up to their principal. Every one of our young people should know Gussie Herbert’s story and ask themselves what they can learn from her.
History offers us insight into a plethora of lessons—including how people respond in times of adversity. What I learned from reading Pam Nadell’s excellent book is that antisemitism is not new; it is not a 20th-century phenomenon. It has existed in some form or another since the first Jews arrived in America in the 1650s. There were times in the 1920s and 1930s when antisemitism seeped into immigration laws and university quotas, and there are moments like today when antisemitism is becoming normalized. Its virulent discourse appears on both the left and the right, forming a horseshoe with a common theme—hatred expressed toward Jews.
While we may not be able to eliminate antisemitism, what would it look like if we had Gussie Herbert’s courage to stand up to hate when it stares us in the face?
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Rick Kellner