Ruth Marcus Patt
May 06, 2008
Ruth Marcus Patt can still remember the swirl of excitement that swept through the southern Middlesex County Jewish community in 1948 when Israel became a state.
A lifelong resident of New Brunswick until moving to an adult community in Monroe 10 years ago, she said the YM-YWHA of Raritan Valley, then located in New Brunswick, served as UJA headquarters.
“I can remember listening to the U.N. voting on that particular night and it was so exciting,” recalled the 88-year-old. “I didn’t do dancing in the street, but I tell you the next morning I went down to the Y office, because that’s where the Jewish community came out of in those days, to see if I could help. I was newlywed, already very active in the Jewish community through Hadassah and what was then called the United Jewish Appeal. The office was a madhouse.”
Patt said this was a before the formation of what was to become the Jewish Federation of the Greater Raritan Valley, which coalesced shortly thereafter as a result of the founding of Israel.
“People were coming in from all over to help,” recalled Patt, who has been an active member of Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick for decades and is founder of the Jewish Historical Society of Central Jersey.
“People were coming in with boxes of money,” she said. “People who had never been involved in Zionist activities we got money from. People who had never given any money we got huge sums from. Children came in with money they went house to house to collect. I’m not even sure they knew what it was for. Christians came in with money.”
However, the immediate attack by surrounding Arab nations put a damper on the celebration, said Patt, recalling, “No one could ever dream that poor Israel could withstand those Arab armies.”
Patt, whose family roots go deep into the local Jewish community, recalled her parents, Joseph and Bessie Laurie Marcus, were active in local Jewish organizations. Her aunt and uncle, Blanche and Irving Laurie, founded the Laurie Foundation in Roseland, which funds Jewish and secular causes in New Jersey and where Patt remains a trustee.
Patt is also author of eight pamphlets and five historical books on the Central Jersey’s Jewish community, including, The Jewish Scene in New Jersey’s Raritan Valley 1698-1948. She continues to research and lecture for the historical society.
She recalled that also spurred by the creation of Israel, the New Brunswick chapter of Hadassah — now known as the Raritan Valley chapter — saw a large infusion of members as did other Jewish organizations.
“Everybody had to jump on the bandwagon,” said Patt.
Because it was considered somewhat dangerous to travel to Israel, the first to do so became local celebrities.
“I remember them so well,” said Patt. “The Home News had to write up a story and one — I think it was Adele Brody — was interviewed on radio by WCTC (New Brunswick) about her experience in Palestine. That’s what they called it. It was like a huge adventure. It was treated like a big news story by all. It seemed like such a strange trip that anybody that would make it in 1948 was pretty brave.”
She and her husband went to Israel early on in its history, although not in 1948, and the couple felt “the guides always took good care of us. We always felt safe.”
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