H eadlines
History’s Lessons: Jewish Anarchist Doctors
Cared for Philadelphia’s Immigrants
L OCA L
SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
FOR HISTORY BUFFS,
mentions of Jewish anarchists
often conjure images of polit-
ical activist Emma Goldman’s
fiery speeches or assassination
attempts. However, many influen-
tial members of Philadelphia’s
close-knit Jewish anarchist
community in the 19th century
have flown under the radar due
to their relatively quiet occupa-
tions: providing health care to
underserved communities.

“In Philadelphia in the late
19th and early 20th centu-
ries, there was a large group
of professionals who practiced
medicine or pharmacy as a
livelihood, while committing
great energies to the anarchist
movement,” labor activist
and historian Robert Helms
wrote in his Clamor Magazine
article “Doctors and Druggists
Among the Early Philadelphia
Anarchists.” These profes-
sionals, many of whom were
Jewish, treated patients,
provided public
health education and contributed
financially to political causes.

Anarchist health care was
rooted in immigration and labor
activism. In the late 19th century,
Russian Jews flocked to the United
States to escape deadly pogroms
and anti-Semitic laws. Many
settled in South Philadelphia,
which was also home to Italian
and Irish immigrants and African
Americans. The new immigrants, most
of whom were poor, took jobs
in the factories that grew during
the rapid industrialization of
American cities. The govern-
ment imposed little to no
regulations on these businesses,
which resulted in starvation
wages and hazardous condi-
tions for workers. In his memoir,
Philadelphia Jewish anarchist,
Yiddish orator and labor activist
Chaim Lein Weinberg recalled
seeing Jewish bakers at union
meetings who were so exhausted
after their 16-hour shifts they fell
asleep in their chairs.

Anarchism, or the political
theory that deems govern-
mental authority unnecessary
and advocates for a society
based on voluntary coopera-
tion, appealed to members of
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JANUARY 7, 2021
The Southern Dispensary for the Medical Relief of the Poor opened in
1816 on Shippen (Bainbridge) Street.
Photo by Steven Peitzman
this growing working class,
who saw no use for a govern-
ment that failed to protect
them. It also appealed to
members of the Jewish intellec-
tual elite, many of whom came
from immigrant backgrounds
themselves and wanted to help
their comrades.

Anarchism and health care
intersected in the dispensary
movement. Dr. Steven Peitzman, a
retired physician and part-time
professor of medicine at Drexel
University College of Medicine,
said while middle class and
wealthy Philadelphians could
afford to hire family physi-
cians for home visits, health
care options were limited for
residents of these immigrant
communities. The responsi-
bility of caring for the sick and
injured fell disproportionately
on women of the household.

“The first level of care would
usually be one’s home remedies,
or what we would call over-the-
counter remedies, many of which
during that period were probably
worthless and spiked with
alcohol, and some even cocaine,”
Peitzman said.

Rather than hiring a doctor or
going to a hospital, immigrants
often turned to dispensaries,
or free health care clinics.

These institutions emerged in
Philadelphia and other cities
during the 1800s and provided
outpatient medicine for coughs,
“rheumatism,” dyspepsia and
other ailments. Dispensaries
in industrial areas also treated
cuts and burns. Young doctors
fresh out of the city’s medical
schools often used them to
gain experience, and the clinics
reflected anarchist commit-
ment to individual cooperation.

According to Helms, a group
of Jewish anarchist physicians
founded Mt. Sinai Dispensary at
236 Pine St. in 1899. The founding
members included Max Staller,
Leo Gartman, Bernhard Segal
and Simon Dubin.

“It’s not unexpected that
some young Jewish physicians
See History, Page 22
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H eadlines
Har Jehuda Cemetery Struggles as Business Declines
While Jacob Albert’s grave is
in good condition, Silverman’s
grave is partially obscured by
tree vines and vegetation the
family says is poison sumac. The
Alberts’ efforts at genealogy are
thwarted because they can’t read
the Hebrew inscribed on the
tombstone, which dates to 1926.

“I can’t get within 10 feet of
it,” Jeff Albert said.

The Alberts said they’ve
been in touch with cemetery
management and are willing
to be patient, but are frustrated
nonetheless. “It’s been a three-year slog,”
Jeff Albert said.

Meantime, Gail Dubin of
Wynnewood and her sister, Faith
Reese, said they have gotten no
response as they seek to have the
area around their parents’ graves
updated. Beatrice R. and Louis
L. Gershman died within three
weeks of each other in 2012.

L OCA L
ANDY GOTLIEB | JE MANAGING EDITOR
HAR JEHUDA CEMETERY
President Larry Moskowitz
knows conditions at the Upper
Darby cemetery are a bit
shabby. He knows that complaints
are on the rise and that mainte-
nance has been deferred.

And he knows that this
article will prompt even more
complaints. But he said his skeleton staff
is doing the best it can, despite
changing economics that make
running and maintaining a
cemetery increasingly difficult.

“It’s very emotional for me
because I’ve been around it so
long,” Moskowitz said. “I love
it and it’s in our blood. I was
charged in 1981 with taking
care of the place, and that’s
what I will continue to do.”
Moskowitz is the fourth
generation in his family to care
for the 30-acre cemetery along
Lansdowne Avenue that holds
20,000 graves. His great-grand-
father, Jehuda Moskowitz, was
part of the chevra kadisha that
founded the cemetery in 1896.

The cemetery’s sheer age
increases the need for upkeep,
but so is the decline in the
number of people being buried.

A decade ago, the cemetery
buried 150 people a year; last
year, there were just 30.

“When your burial revenue
drops by 70%, you don’t have
what you think you have,” he
said. Older cemeteries with few
new burials have less money
coming in and tend to exhaust
their perpetual care funds.

Those trends may worsen,
according to the National
Funeral Directors Association
Cremation and Burial Report.

The 2020 cremation rate was
56%, up 8% from 2015, and the
organization projects that by
2035 nearly 80% of Americans
will be cremated.

Poor cemetery conditions
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Toppled tombstones at Har
Jehuda Cemetery
Photo by Andy Gotlieb
aren’t limited to the Philadelphia
area — or strictly to Jewish
cemeteries, as the Lebanon Daily
News and The Morning Call
have reported in recent months.

The Exponent previously
wrote about poor conditions at
Har Jehuda in September 2018.

At that time, overgrown grass
obscured many tombstones
and some markers had fallen
to the ground. Vegetation had
sprouted in the sidewalks and
weeds grew uninhibited in the
cemetery. A visit to the cemetery
on Jan. 3 showed the grass
only slightly overgrown, but
markers here and there had
fallen or were leaning. On one
edge of the cemetery, in an
older section, many tombstones
were engulfed with vegetation.

That’s what’s frustrated
Karen and Jeff Albert of
Dresher. His great-grand-
mother Mollie Silverman and
his great-uncle Jacob Albert are
buried there.

Dubin said conditions were
fine at first, but have deterio-
rated in the past 18 months.

“It’s a lack of respect,” she
said of the cemetery conditions.

Moskowitz said the end of
growing season will enable the
cemetery to catch up on some
of the maintenance.

“We’re in a tough spot, but
we’re working our butts off,” he
said. “It takes us a while to get
from point A to point Z.”
Har Jehuda is far from the
only older Jewish cemetery that
has drawn complaints in recent
years. In 2015, the Exponent wrote
about poor conditions at Har
Zion Cemetery in Darby. In
2020, both Har Nebo Cemetery
and Mount Carmel Cemetery
in Philadelphia were criticized
because of poor conditions and
See Cemetery, Page 22
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JANUARY 7, 2021
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