[Jewish True Tales] LILLIAN WALD

[Lawrence J. Epstein]

[http://www.jewishtruetales.com]

Lillian Wald (1867-1940). She was known as “the Angel of Henry Street.” The Lower East Side’s Jewish community at the turn of the 20^th century had its share of political rebels and even criminals, but it also had more than its share of heroes. Lillian Wald was one of the most heroic.

Wald was born in Cincinnati. Her wealthy German Jewish family supplied her with all the luxuries of the day, and in doing so shielded her from the dirt, poverty, and disease all too common on New York’s East Side. But Lillian Wald walked away from the comfortable life. At age 22, she went to New York and trained at the New York Hospital School of Nursing.  Her first job was at the New York Juvenile Asylum. The children she saw were unlike any she had ever come across. She was simply horrified.

Vowing to take action, she began teaching nursing to Jewish immigrant women at the Louis Technical School located on Henry Street on the Lower East Side. One day a little girl came up to her and asked that she accompany the girl back to a tenement to help someone there who was ill. Wald went to the typical tenement with its seven family members and boarders crammed into the two rooms.

She was at work for half an hour and then Lillian Wald had a revelation. She had found her life’s work. She would help the poor, sick Jews of the Lower East Side. Unwilling to separate her life from her work, she moved to the area to be closer to her task.

In 1893 she joined with a woman named Mary Brewster. Together they established the Visiting Nurse Service. Wald provided nursing services of whatever kind a family needed. The service was free if the family could not afford to pay.

During the summer of 1895, Wald moved into a redbrick row house at 265 Henry Street. The house had been a gift from the banker and philanthropist Jacob Schiff. The service was originally called the “Nurses Settlement,” until a young boy encouraged them to change the name. The boy, Ernie Bronsky, was on the Settlement’s soccer team. He complained that other boys were mocking him and other team members for being on the “Noices” Settlement. The organization promptly re-named itself the Henry Street Settlement.

Expanding her notion of what constituted health, Lillian Wald went beyond simply taking care of the sick. She opened one of New York City’s first playgrounds. She provided whatever service was needed. If new immigrants didn’t know how to unclog drains, they were taught. She was there to help the newcomers get rid of garbage and vermin. She became a psychologist to teach the new immigrants how to take medicine that didn’t always taste good.

Unsurprisingly, Lillian Wald became a beloved figure. When people asked her why she engaged in such difficult work, she had a ready answer which she provided in the form of a question: “Have you ever seen a hungry child cry?”

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Posted By Lawrence J. Epstein to Jewish True Tales at 12/23/2010 01:00:00 PM