One of the difficulties that Aaron had to deal with was anti-Semitism.
One day, soon after he entered Professor Smith’s office as a pupil, he walked into the university infirmary and found a note, unsigned, making an insulting reference to his religion. He immediately wrote underneath the scrawl “The man who wrote the above lines is as great a coward as he is a scoundrel, or he would have signed his name”; and then added his own, “A. Friedenwald.” In a short time he was confronted by a number of students, one of whom demanded menacingly to know if he had written those words. He emphatically affirmed that he had, and stood so plainly ready to answer for what he had done that his opponents left the room one by one not daring to molest him.
Upon completion of his studies at the University of Maryland, Aaron decided to continue his medical education in Europe before returning to Baltimore where he intended to practice medicine. This was a most unusual step to take in those days, given the difficulties of travel to Europe. Nonetheless, on May 1, 1860 he sailed from New York on the steamship Hammonia.
Shortly before leaving for Europe, Aaron became engaged to Bertha Bamberger. The engagement was kept secret with the understanding that they would marry upon his return.
Bertha was born in Germany into a poor family and was the youngest of her father’s five children from his second marriage. Three of her stepbrothers immigrated to Baltimore and became fairly successful in the clothing business. Based on this, they convinced their father and the rest of the family to start a new life by joining them in Baltimore.
After her thirteenth birthday, Bertha had to leave school for employment in the family store where she worked until a few weeks before her marriage. She apparently never ceased to regret leaving her studies and made a habit of supplementing her learning with reading throughout her life.
Bertha and Aaron were married in Baltimore on June 14, 1863.
While in Europe, Dr. Friedenwald studied at the Universities of Berlin, Prague and Paris.
He especially devoted himself to the diseases of the eye under Von Graefe, and made this branch of medical science his specialty in after [sic] life. He was a member of the· Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland for twenty-five years, and was elected its President in 1890. He was the first President of the Maryland Ophthalmological Society. At his suggestion, a convention was called to consider the improvement of medical schools, resulting in the formation of the American Association of Medical Colleges. Doctor Friedenwald was its first Vice-President. From 1873, he was Professor of Diseases of the Eye and Ear in the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
He was well known as a lecturer and frequent contributor to the medical journals and proceedings of medical societies. In fact, it is not too much to say that every useful cause in medical education and science, everything that advanced the Jewish religion, which Doctor Friedenwald practiced as well as advocated, and everything tending to the amelioration of the condition of his people, found in him a tireless and efficient champion. [i]
Aaron Friedenwald passed away on August 26, 1902. At a meeting held in his memory he was described as “a Jew to whom the yoke of the law was a joyous privilege and not a grievous burden.”
In our next column we will discuss Dr. Friedenwald’s many activities on behalf of Orthodox Judaism.
[i] “Aaron Friedenwald” by Cyrus Adler, Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society (1893-1961); 1903; 11, AJHS Journal, pages 206-207. This article may be downloaded at no cost at www.ajhs.org/reference/adaje.cfm