NATHAN STRAUS AND FAMILY

Nathan Straus

American Jews, in the beginning dominated by the Sephardim, have maintained a connection to the Land of Israel since the mid 18^th century and through America’s early years. Then when the German Jewish community became dominant in the mid 19^th century, this connection continued.

Another aspect that both groups had in common was slavery. Jewish participation in the slave trade was miniscule, but that didn’t mean that no Jew participated in some aspect of it. There were German Jews, as well as Sephardi Jews who had slaves. Some were hypocrites – they opposed slavery even though they themselves were participants. Among this group was Lazarus Straus, a merchant and patriarch of the wealthy Straus family who came over from Germany and settled in the town of Talbotton GA. When the Southern states voted to secede from the Union, he refused to vote for secession. During the Civil War, Jews had experienced anti-Semitism in both the Union and the Confederacy, and even though Jews fought loyally on both sides, they still suffered accordingly. Because of this, the Straus family eventually had to leave Talbotton in 1863 and they settled in Columbus, about 35 miles to the west. After the Civil War, because of the financial ruin of the south, the family settled in New York where they engaged in business investments and enterprises. In 1888, Lazarus, including his sons Isidor and Nathan, acquired a general partnership with Macy’s Department Store. Five years later, they bought a dominant interest in the Wechsler & Abraham store and changed its name to Abraham & Straus. Eventually, Macy’s and Abraham & Straus merged into 1 entity – Macy’s, which later became owner of Bloomingdale’s. These business dealings made the family very rich which allowed Nathan to embark on philanthropic activities. Among these activities, assisting Jews in the ancestral homeland was not a very high priority but upon touring the Mediterranean with his wife Lina in 1904, the couple made a stop in Palestine, expecting it to be but one stop of many. But the country made such a deep impression on them, especially as Jews, that he and his wife decided to focus their philanthropic activities there. During the period 1912 to 1917, Nathan set about building soup kitchens for the aged and the blind and the physically disabled. He supported workrooms so that unskilled laborers could find employment. He built health stations that ministered to the victims of malaria and trachoma. But in the midst of all this, fate intervened. On a visit to Israel in 1912, he had intended to later join his brother Isidor and his wife on the RMS Titanic. But while in Israel, he broke his leg and couldn’t join him.

In 1927, he provided $250,000 for the establishment of the Nathan and Lina Straus Health Center in Jerusalem for the Hadassah Hospital, which opened 2 years later, and also made possible the founding of a local branch of the Pasteur Institute. In 1929, the city of Netanya, established to the north of Tel Aviv, was named in his honor. Rehov Straus in Jerusalem, which was Chancellor Avenue during the British Mandate, was also named for him. Nathan Straus had lived 2 more years to enjoy the legacy he left behind but died in New York in 1931 at the age of 82.