H EADLINES
Jewish Judge Runs for Pa. Supreme Court
L OCA L
JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
THE TRAVEL. Th at’s what
Pennsylvania Superior Court
Judge Maria McLaughlin
remembers from her last bid
for statewide offi ce, almost
more than anything else: the
interminable drives.

In her last campaign,
McLaughlin left straight from
work on a Friday and didn’t
return home to Philadelphia
until Sunday night, driving
for hours to every corner of
the state. Lackawanna County,
Luzerne County, wherever, if
you had an audience for her
to speak to, she’d give them
an hour.

Now, a s Mc L au g h l i n
prepares for another statewide
campaign, this time for a seat
on the Pennsylvania Supreme
Court, she admits that there’s
at least a little bit of a silver
lining to the travel and crowd
restrictions of the pandemic.

Such is the power of Zoom.

“I can be in western
Pennsylvania and eastern
Pennsylvania in the same
night,” she said.

McLaughlin, 54, regrets
that she won’t get to meet as
many voters in person as in
her previous campaigns, and
sees the relationships she made
during her visits as integral
to her upcoming eff ort. But it
does make it a little easier for
her to do her day job while she
runs for offi ce.

Democrat McLaughlin
announced in December that
she would seek the open seat
on the Pennsylvania Supreme
Court. Th e court is already
Name: Simpson House
Width: 3.625 in
Depth: 5.5 in
Color: Black plus one
Comment: Jewish Exponent
Meet BARRIE SZEMLER
Model SHE’S CALLED SIMPSON HOUSE HOME SINCE 2018
By the time she took up residence in Simpson House in 2018, Barrie Szemler
had already lived on two continents and experienced a rich and varied career.

The former Barrie Redfearn was raised in Chicago and earned a bachelor’s
degree from Loyola University. On a blind date to the ballet in 1956, she met
George Szemler, an author and professor of Greek and Roman history.

In addition to being a wife and mother, Barrie worked at the Loyola University
Library, taught ballroom dancing, hosted a radio show in Chicago and worked
as a model, appearing in TV commercials.

How has she managed to age so well? She credits a happy marriage and
learning to think things through before making decisions. Plus, she says,
“It helps to have good genes.”
Call us today at 215-999-8293, or visit SimpsonHouse.org/JE-BS to see
for yourself why Barrie and so many other worldly people choose
Simpson House for retirement living.

2101 Belmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19131
SimpsonHouse.org/JE-BS • 215-999-8293
8 MARCH 18, 2021
weighted 5-2 with Democratic
justices, and with Chief Justice
Th omas Saylor, a Republican,
set to retire at the end of the
year, McLaughlin’s eleva-
tion would further enshrine a
Democratic majority.

Ultimately, what spurred
McLaughlin to run was a
combination of good timing
and a little gumption.

“When I was in college, I
said, ‘Why not law school?’
When I was in law school, ‘Why
not prosecutor?’ When I was a
prosecutor, ‘Why not be the
trial judge?’ When I was a trial
judge, ‘Why not be the superior
court judge?’ And now it’s no
diff erent,” McLaughlin said. “I
never envisioned — I never
dreamed, as a little girl — that
I would be a Supreme Court
justice.” McLaughlin grew up in
Overbrook and attended West
Catholic High School. Aft er
graduating from Delaware Law
School-Widener University,
she spent nearly 20 years as an
assistant district attorney in
Philadelphia, rising to chief of
the Child Support Enforcement
Unit. She ran for offi ce for the
fi rst time in 2011, winning a
seat on the Philadelphia Court
of Common Pleas, and served
there until 2017. Th at year,
McLaughlin was the leading
vote-getter among all nine
candidates for the Superior
Court. As McLaughlin prepares for
her upcoming campaign, she
said that her motivations for
seeking higher offi ce are the
same as they were back in 2011,
but to a greater degree: a sense
of responsibility.

“It’s their offi ce,” McLaughlin
said of the public. “It’s every-
one’s offi ce, it’s not mine.

Th e black robe is mine. But
it belongs to everyone in
Pennsylvania, not just the ones
who voted for me, not just
the ones who got me elected.

Everyone.” In early conversations
JEWISH EXPONENT
Judge Maria McLaughlin is running for the Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania Photo by R.D. Gallego
with voters, McLaughlin has
found that they’re asking the
same questions of her that
she’s always been asked, with
the added aspect of COVID.

During the pandemic, she
assumed the role of liaison
between the Pennsylvania Bar
Association and the Superior
Court, which has made her a
go-to for those with questions
about the practice of law in
lockdown. McLaughlin, who is married
to former
Philadelphia controller Jonathan Saidel and
converted to Judaism in 2017,
said that she draws on her
Jewish identity in her work.

In 2017, she told the Jewish
Exponent that this was the case
because Judaism “is based on
laws. It’s the laws that govern
our society, the laws that are
the foundation of our national
conscience. So that in and of
itself makes Judaism have an
impact on what I do on a daily
basis.” As her engagement with
Judaism has deepened, she’s
proud to sit down to Shabbat
dinner each week and to feel
love for Israel. At a time when
Judaism has oft en been “a
target,” McLaughlin said, she’s
never hidden the fact of her
faith, and has no plans to do so.

With the May 18 primary
approaching, McLaughlin is
amazed at the opportunity
before her.

“Th e diff erence that I can
make, the fact that I even had
the opportunity to run in this
kind of an election, let alone
be a justice on our Supreme
Court, it’s just amazing,” she
said. “It’s not an opportunity
that I ever thought I would
have.” ●
jbernstein@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



H eadlines
Women’s History Month: Remembering the
Philadelphia Shirtwaist Strike of 1909
L OCA L
SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
THOUSANDS OF JEWISH
women in Philadelphia walked
out of their jobs in 1909 to
protest unsafe working condi-
tions and exploitation.

Their strike, which became
known as the Philadelphia
Shirtwaist Strike,
drew national attention to the
dangers workers faced in a
rapidly industrializing society.

The strike derived its name
from the shirtwaist, a style of
blouse designed to resemble a
men’s shirt that was popular
in the early 20th century. They
were mainly sewn by young
women and children, many
of whom were immigrants, in
sweatshops and factories.

“It’s hard to overstate how
terrible the conditions were
in the factory,” said Rebecca
Davis, professor of history at
the University of Delaware.

“We have to remember that
this is taking place before any
of the labor legislation that we
all take for granted.”
Fire escapes were locked
due to fears of workers stealing
fabric. Days could be as long
as 14 hours, and the work
week was six days long. There
were few sanitary facilities
for when workers needed to
relieve themselves. Spaces were
crowded and hot in the summer
and freezing in the winter.

Children as young as 10 worked
alongside young women in their
teens and early 20s.

An anonymous edito-
rial published in the Jewish
Exponent detailed the exploita-
tion workers experienced in
Philadelphia’s garment facto-
ries, including the owners’ lack
of liability for unsafe working
conditions and low wages that
were often paid late.

“The average salary of the
most skilled operator is not
more than $6 a week when it
is considered that sometimes
for three months at a time
there is no work to be had,”
the contributor wrote. “If she
wants to leave the shop for a
time she is refused permission.

She makes a dollar perhaps
after waiting all day; or fifty
cents. The price paid these girls
is pitiful.”
Workers were also expected
to buy their own sewing equip-
ment and many were sexually
harassed and assaulted by male
managers. The strike began on Dec. 20,
1909, when garment workers
in Philadelphia realized
a recent influx of work was
due to factory owners in
New York City outsourcing
manufacturing in response to
a shirtwaist strike there. This
protest would later become
known as the Uprising of the
20,000 after the number of
workers who participated.

Workers in Philadelphia
decided to strike after repre-
sentatives from New York
encouraged them to join the
cause, according to Julianne
Kornacki, author of “Revealing
Division: The Philadelphia
Shirtwaist Strike, the Jewish
Community, and Republican
Machine Politics, 1909–1910.”
They demanded an increase
in wages, regular and consis-
tent payment, a 50-hour work
week, sanitary working condi-
tions, union recognition and
free work materials like needles
and thread. They also issued an
informal demand for freedom
from workplace harassment.

Approximately 85% percent
of the 7,000 shirtwaist strikers
were Jewish women and girls
who had immigrated from
Russia. Davis said they were
encouraged to work outside the
A group of shirtwaist strikers volunteer for picket duty.

Photo courtesy of the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives at
Cornell University Library is licensed under Creative Commons license CC-BY-2.0.

Name: Masonic Village
Width: 5.5 in
Depth: 5.5 in
Color: Black plus one
Comment: JE
See History, Page 11
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM JEWISH EXPONENT
MARCH 18, 2021
9