Three Influential Jews of the Past and Some Lessons for Today

Samuel Gompers – Pursuing Social Justice Samuel Gompers was born January 27, 1850, into a traditional working-class family in London. The family was previously from Amsterdam and involved in the cigar-making trade. His parents (Sarah and Solomon Gumpertz) seem to have come from a traditional Jewish perspective and saw to it early on that Samuel would receive Jewish training. Therefore, at age six he was enrolled in the Jewish Free School, where he received a basic secular and religious education. Things drastically changed, however, when at age ten Samuel was forced to quit school to financ