The twenty-third of Teves is the yahrzeit of Nathan Straus (1848-1931). Born in Bavaria, his father, Lazarus, came to the United States in 1852 to seek his fortune; the rest of the family followed two years later. Living in Georgia, the family lost everything during the Civil War and moved to New York after the war’s end, where Lazarus Straus founded a crockery and glassware firm. In 1875 Nathan Straus married Lina Guthertz and they had six children. Two of them died before their third birthday, a third died as a teenager.
By 1888 the family had entered into a partnership with one of their largest customers, RH Macy, purchasing the entire company outright a few years later. In 1893 Nathan and his brother Isadore purchased the Abraham and Wechsler department store, which was renamed Abraham & Straus. During these years Nathan became very involved in philanthropy and public service in New York, serving on the Board of Health, but turning down an invitation to run for Mayor. Shortly after one of his children died, the cow that had been providing them with milk died as well. The cow was cut open and it was discovered that the cow had tuberculosis, which is what had killed the child. Realizing that there probably was a connection between the diseases carried by cows and the death of children (infant mortality rates in New York then were around 25%) he studied Pasteur’s research on how to produce safe milk. He and his wife opened the Nathan Straus Pasteurized Milk Laboratory to provide pasteurized milk to combat infant mortality. He also opened a Preventorium for children in Lakewood, New Jersey.
Although doctors had long suspected a link between milk and infant mortality, his efforts faced much opposition. Farmers and other milk distributors who didn’t want to invest in pasteurization opposed his efforts. Some scientists and politicians who feared new ideas also resisted. However, when statistics showed that infant mortality dropped significantly among those who lived near his milk distribution sites, the opposition caved. In 1893 during a financial panic, he used his milk stations to sell coal at the very low price of $0.25 for 25 lbs. to help the poor. If they couldn’t even pay that, the coal was provided for free. He opened lodging houses and subsidized over 50,000 meals daily.
In 1904 on a tour of the Mediterranean, he and Lina visited Palestine for what was meant to be a short visit. However, “On reaching Jerusalem, we changed our plans. All that we saw in the Holy Land made such a deep impression on us that we gave up the idea of going to other places. Visiting the holy sights of which one hears and reads since childhood, watching the scenes in life as pictured in the Bible, was most soul-stirring. From that time on we felt a strange and intense desire to return to the land.” They began to provide large sums for the poor and Torah scholars in Israel.
In the spring of 1912 Nathan and Isadore and their spouses visited Palestine again. They toured farms and settlements, but Nathan was most interested in the Orthodox community of Jerusalem. Despite not being Orthodox himself, and lacking a Torah education, he was inspired by the people who were living in poverty, studying Torah, and apparently very happy. The Strauses were scheduled to return to England to travel to the United States on a new luxurious cruise ship, but Nathan didn’t want to leave Yerushalayim. Eventually, Isadore and his wife, concerned about catching their ship back to America, left, while Nathan along with his wife and daughter remained in Palestine. It is possible that a broken leg delayed their trip as well.
Nathan’s daughter Anna explained how her father’s efforts differed from those of Moses Montefiore. Montefiore tried to develop industry in Eretz Yisrael so that the inhabitants could both learn Torah and make a living and his efforts were opposed by many of the members of the Yishuv HaYashan who did not want people to minimize their Torah study. Nathan Straus understood their mindset, that Torah study was an endeavor in its own right, even if it was not one that produced a marketable product and supported the study of Torah. The news came to them, still in Palestine, of the sinking of the Titanic and to Nathan Straus it was a clear divine sign that he had been saved for a higher purpose. One day as he was wandering the streets of Yerushalayim, handing out cash to anyone who appeared needy, he saw an old man dressed in rags carrying a heavy sack. He pulled some coins out of his pocket and placed it in the hands of the man without being asked. The man did not acknowledge him but turned around and walked down the block where there was a person sitting who was missing a leg, and handed him the money that he had just been given. Nathan stood there, mouth agape at what he had witnessed.
He recognized that whereas in America there was always an aspect of shame attached to being poor and receiving alms, the Jews of Yerushalayim were not like that. They were confident in their lifestyle of Torah study and understood that it was appropriate for others to support their divine efforts. He also realized that the needy would help the needier and he needed to step up his game. Returning to New York, he retired from business life and devoted the rest of his to philanthropic efforts. The Straus Soup Kitchen in Batei Warsaw and the food bank that he founded changed the economic conditions of the inhabitants of Yerushalayim. He worked to improve the sanitation of Yerushalayim to prevent disease and opened a clinic as well. Overall, he spent two-thirds of his fortune on helping causes in Eretz Yisrael, and in 1927 built the town of Netanya. Rechov Straus in Yerushalayim is also named for him.
In the United States he continued his efforts to improve public health. Among his many civic minded activities, he paid for improvements for a monument to former North Carolina governor and senator Zebulon Vance, who also fought on the Confederate side in the Civil War, because Vance had fought against antisemitism and Straus found it necessary to repay his support for Jews.
