Into the Promised Land: Rebecca Gratz, Mother of Jewish America Starring Lisa Bansavage Playwright L.E. McCullough Actress Lisa Bansavage §______________________________________________________________§ Rebecca Gratz (1781-1869) established the first American Jewish institutions run by women. As the founder and secretary of Philadelphia's earliest women's philanthropic organizations (Female Hebrew Benevolent Society, Jewish Sunday School Society, Philadelphia Jewish Foster Home and Orphan Asylum), Rebecca Gratz helped define a new identity for American women as she integrated her American experience and Jewish identity. She devoted her adult life to providing relief for Philadelphia's underprivileged women and children and securing religious, moral and material sustenance for all of Philadelphia's Jews. An observant Jew throughout her life, Rebecca was social reformer and was the model for Rebecca in Sir Walter Scott's novel IVANHOE.