H eadlines
Academic, Lawyer Phyllis Lachs Dies at 88
O B I TUA RY
SELAH MAYA ZIGHELBOIM | JE STAFF
PHYLLIS LACHS, who died
March 1 at 88, was a woman
ahead of her time.

She spent most of her career
on the faculty at Bryn Mawr
College, where she received a
master’s and Ph.D. in history
and then became the college’s
first general counsel after grad-
uating from the University of
Pennsylvania School of Law.

She clerked for a Pennsylvania
Superior Court judge and did
a postdoctoral program at Yale
Law School.

“Phyllis epitomized work-life
balance and having it all, phrases
that have now become common-
place in our culture,” daughter
Susanna Lachs Adler, board
chair of the Jewish Federation
of Greater Philadelphia, said in
a eulogy. “She was a pioneer who
made it look effortless, when as
we know, it was anything but
effortless.” Lachs was born in 1930,
the oldest child of a native
Philadelphian and a Russian
immigrant. She attended
Reform Congregation Keneseth
Israel and went to Camp Akiba.

During her childhood, her par-
ents sponsored an Austrian fam-
ily fleeing Nazi Germany, who
lived with them for a time. This
had a profound impact on Lachs’
Jewish identity.

As an adult, she belonged
to Temple Beth Hillel-Beth
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Phyllis Lachs
El in Wynnewood. Later, she
joined Adath Israel in Merion
Station. She was a supporter of
the American Associates, Ben-
Gurion University of the Negev
and the Israel Guide Dog Center.

Tradition was important to her,
and she hosted many Shabbat
dinners and seders.

Lachs’ decision, in 1959, to
work while she still had four
children at home, was not an
easy one, as she recalled when
her granddaughter, Sara Adler,
interviewed her for a college
paper. She faced discrimina-
tion from employers and col-
leagues, and other mothers in
the neighborhood made disap-
proving comments.

That decision may have
been informed, Lachs Adler
supposed, by her experience at
Philadelphia High School for
Girls and Wellesley College, as
well as the fact that both her
own mother and grandmother
worked. In Sara Adler’s paper,
Lachs said she was inspired by
iconic feminist Gloria Steinem,
who, when asked if well-
qualified women entering
the workforce would make it
harder for average men to get
Photo courtesy of Susanna Lachs Adler
jobs, replied, “I hope so.”
Her daughter, inspired by
her mother’s example, also
became a lawyer. “She was the
first attorney in Pennsylvania
to have her bar admission
to the Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania moved by her
daughter,” Lachs Adler said.

Lachs brought her pioneer-
ing spirit to other parts of her
life, starting a needlepoint busi-
ness called The Blue Thread.

“She was very kind,” Lachs
Adler said. “She had dignity,
treating other people with
kindness and with dignity, giv-
ing tzedakah and making sure
we felt that it was part of who
we were to give back.”
Lachs is survived by her
children, Susanna Lachs Adler
and husband Dean, Michael E.

Lachs and Joshua Lachs; her
brother, Robert Seltzer and his
wife, Ellen; and grandchildren
Anna Tykocinski and her hus-
band David, Sara Adler and
Matthew Lachs.

Donations can be made to
the Jewish Federation. l
szighelboim@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0729
2/22/19 1:18 PM
JEWISH EXPONENT
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H EADLINES
Barrack Continued from Page 4
support for the union and as a
nod to the Red for Ed movement,
a grassroots campaign that has
galvanized teacher activism
across the country in states
like West Virginia, Kentucky,
Colorado and Arizona.

“We started [wearing red]
as a show of our solidarity,”
Ziskind said. “Th ese are small
gestures that we can make. We
can walk around the halls, we
can see each other and know
that we’re not alone. We’re
together. Th at’s really what we
want is this sense of commu-
nity and collectiveness, and
that’s what the union does.”
Last month, the union also
started a Facebook page as a
place for teachers and their
supporters to interact and
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which led to a strike.

“I would hate to think that
that’s something that would be
on the table again,” Ziskind said.

Th e situation with Barrack’s
union isn’t unique. Across the
country, the number of Jewish
day schools with unions has
dropped. Perelman Jewish Day
School, located just a few miles
from Barrack, withdrew recog-
nition of its own union in 2014.

Susan Miller, a Perelman
teacher who retired in 2016
aft er 25 years at the school,
said the decision drew a lot of
concern from teachers at the
time. She was not too con-
cerned personally because she
felt confi dent in her standing
both with the administration
and the community.

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We’re together. That’s really what we want is
this sense of community and collectiveness, and
that’s what the union does.”
MINNA ZISKIND
share information and support.

Th e page has so far garnered
more than 270 followers. Th e
page shares photos of teachers
wearing red and encourages
parents and alumni to share
stories of how Barrack teachers
have made a diff erence.

Gary Kaplan, a parent of an
alumnus and the spouse of a
teacher, said that his daughter
got a lot of one-on-one time
with Barrack’s teachers. He is
concerned that teachers might
not be able to keep doing that if
they have to teach more classes
as a result of this decision.

“I went to a big high school,
and I never had any one-on-one,”
Kaplan said. “It’s a great thing.

Education comes fi rst. I really do
love that part of Barrack, and I
think that will change.”
Ziskind also wondered how
the decision would aff ect the
school’s contributions to teach-
er’s retirement funds. In 2009,
the school attempted to make
cuts to the retirement program,
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Aft er the decision went into
eff ect, the school off ered senior
teachers a buyout, which put the
school in a position to hire more
teachers with less experience,
Miller said. She herself was not
in a position to take the buyout,
but many of her colleagues did.

She said the decision did not
impact her benefi ts.

The school, she noted,
encouraged and paid for her
to study at the University of
Pennsylvania and Columbia
University, both when the
union was there and when it
wasn’t, Miller said.

“My advice to the Barrack fac-
ulty is pretty much there’s noth-
ing you can do about it,” Miller
said. “It’s not going to change,
unfortunately. ... Keep your focus
on the job that you love and the
kids that you love that you teach.

Continue on. Th ere is life aft er
loss of a union.” ●
Call 215-814-0355 today to register for an info event,
arrange a personal tour or ask about special Charter Member perks.

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ABOUT JEWISH PHILADELPHIA.

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MARCH 14, 2019
9