Schechter, Mathilde Roth, 1859-1924

<p>Born in Guttentag, Germany -- now Dobrodzien, Poland -- Mathilde Roth Schechter grew up in the Breslau Jewish orphans' home. A gifted student, she attended the Breslau Teacher's Seminary, then studied in England.</p>

<p>Working as a tutor in the home of Michael Friedlaender, principal of Jews College, London, she met the scholar Solomon Schechter, and they married in 1887. Their home quickly became a center for Jewish intellectual life, largely due to Mathilde Schechter's legendary hospitality.</p>

<p>A gifted writer herself, she edited the works of local scholars and engaged in other literary pursuits, including translating the German poet Heinrich Heine. In addition, she edited almost everything her husband wrote.</p>

<p>The Schechters went on to live in Cambridge, England, where their three children were born, and then in New York, when Solomon Schechter became president of the Jewish Theological Seminary. As her husband laid the foundations for the Conservative Judaism in America, Mathilde Schechter founded its women's organization in 1918. The National Women's League of the United Synagogue of America -- now Women's League for Conservative Judaism -- grew to become one of the largest Jewish women's organizations in the United States.</p>

<p>Mathilde Roth Schechter (also Matilda; December 16, 1859 – August 27, 1924) was the American founder of the U.S. National Women's League of Conservative Judaism in 1918.[1]</p>

<p>
Schechter was born in Breslau, Prussia (now Wrocław, Poland).[2] She was married to Dr. Solomon Schechter, a prominent rabbi who was chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTSA). They lived in Cambridge, England before immigrating to the United States in 1902.[3][4]</p>

<p>She founded and taught at the Columbia Religious and Industrial School for Jewish Girls. After assisting Henrietta Szold in creating Hadassah, Schechter later served as its national chairwoman of education. The Mathilde Schechter Residence Hall formerly contained undergraduate housing for students of the JTSA's List College.</p>

<p>She died at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan on August 27, 1924, following an operation.</p>