Rose Goldsmith Stern (October 19, 1866 – January 24, 1931) was an American clubwoman. She was a chair 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, the NCJW describes itself as the oldest Jewish women's grassroots organization organization in the USA and currently has over 225,000 members. ...

and an advocate for

deaf education Deaf education is the education of students with any degree of hearing loss or deafness. This may involve, but does not always, individually-planned, systematically-monitored teaching methods, adaptive materials, accessible settings, and other ...

and for supports for deaf veterans of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Early life and education

Rose Goldsmith was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, the daughter of Abraham Goldsmith and Cecilia Adler Goldsmith. Both of her parents were German-Jewish immigrants to the United States. Her brother Milton Goldsmith was a writer; her sister Emily married journalist

Felix N. Gerson Felix Napoleon Gerson (October 18, 1862 – December 13, 1945) was a Jewish-American author, journalist, and newspaper editor from Philadelphia. Life Gerson was born on October 18, 1862, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Aaron Gerson and ...

."Mrs. Rose Goldsmith Stern"
''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' (January 25, 1931): 17. via Newspapers.com

Career

Stern was chair of Welfare Work for the Deaf of the National Council of Jewish Women, and wrote several articles for national publications on deaf education and on the needs of deaf veterans of World War I. "Is it not time that the public should be enlightened on the subject of the ability and efficiency of those who, normal and intelligent in every respect, lack only the sense of hearing?" she asked in 1918. "It is this misunderstanding and consequent lack of sympathy that forms the greatest obstacle in the path of the deaf, and that, in the interest of our returning heroes, must be avoided."Stern, Rose Goldsmith
"Our Deafened Soldiers: A Problem of the Near Future"
''The Survey'' 40(23)(September 7, 1918): 627–630. In 1919, Stern visited the military hospital at

Cape May Cape May consists of a peninsula and barrier island system in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is roughly coterminous with Cape May County and runs southwards from the New Jersey mainland, separating Delaware Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. Th ...

, and arranged for the printing of a Jewish prayer book for deaf soldiers. She organized the Jewish Deaf Society of Baltimore in 1920, and was manager of the Beth Israel Association of the Deaf.

Publications

* "The Problem of the Training of a Deaf Child as Viewed by a Mother" (1918) * "Our Deafened Soldiers: A Problem of the Near Future" (1918) * "The Problem of the Deaf: From an Educational Standpoint" (1922)

Personal life

Rose Goldsmith married jeweler Sidney Morris Stern in 1892. They had three sons, Sylvan, Allan and Howard. Their firstborn son, Sylvan, was deaf, and attended the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb in Philadelphia. She died in 1931, at the age of 64, in Philadelphia. Her brother-in-law Horace Stern was chief justice of the

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Judiciary of Pennsylvania, Unified Judicial System. It began in 1684 as the Provincial Court, and casual references to it as ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, Rose Goldsmith 1866 births 1931 deaths People from Philadelphia Jewish women activists Clubwomen Jews from Pennsylvania