JTS Alumna and the Israeli Flag

“Affachiner, meanwhile, grew up in New York City, where in 1907 she was the first woman to graduate from the Jewish Theological Seminary. She became principal of a school for Jewish girls in New York, then a director of Jewish charities in Hartford, Conn., and Norfolk, Va. In 1934, she sailed for Palestine.

She was 64 years old in May 1948, when an American consular official urged her to leave Jerusalem immediately due to the expected outbreak of hostilities. Affachiner refused.

“I cannot abandon my sisters and brothers,” she told the newspaper Ma’ariv. “I have waited my entire lifetime to see the rebirth of a Jewish state. I do not intend to miss it.”

Affachiner cut up a bedsheet and sewed it into a flag with a six-pointed star and stripes. She colored it with a blue crayon.”

Continue reading “Homemade Flag to Honor Independence” in the Philadelphia Inquirer.