Ivriah Head Gets Things Done by Rising Early in Morning

Granted that proverbs are trite, it is also a fact that they are true. We may have heard too often for our taste the old Dutch saw: “Morning Hour has Gold in its Mouth,” until we find one day that a life lived along this principle is really golden—golden not only in material possessions but in the intangible wealth of deep spiritual satisfaction that comes to those who work creatively for the benefit of humanity.

Mrs. Gabriel Hamburger proves our point. There is a woman who lives a life so crowded with activities that one marvels how she achieves everything she does in the mere twenty-four hours of an ordinary day. Yet she is unruffled, unhurried, willing to give her chance visitor all the time in the world, and she ascribes all this to the salutary habit of rising early in the morning and doing in the young hours of the day those routine duties which clutter up the days of other women.

Mrs. Hamburger is not only the interested and understanding wife of a successful physician, not only the mother of two unusually gifted children of whom she is inordinately and justly proud, but she is also a woman-leader of the first rank, the president of two of the most important philanthropic-educational organizations of our city. In addition to all this, she studies Jewish history, takes courses in Hebrew and Jewish cultural subjects and gives lectures about the art and science of organization management: If so much gold is hidden in the morning hours, we all would do well to become early risers.

Mrs. Hamburger is an East Side child, a graduate of Hunter, and in college days she already showed her interest in social welfare work. She became president of the Penny Provident Fund of the Educational Alliance and taught a kindergarten class in this institution during the vacation months. After graduation she taught school under Julia Richman, married a young physician, had two lovely children, worked for the suffrage movement and always had time for every demand made upon her. Fifteen years ago, a group of women asked her to become their leader in the philanthropic work of the East Side Jewish Center, and that their choice was an ideal one is proved by the work which the Center under the guidance of Mrs. Hamburger has accomplished. The Center founded and maintains one of the first nurseries and kindergartens on the East Side; it provided a dining room in which undernourished, poor, anaemic school children receive luncheon as well as supper, and where in a library containing 4,000 volumes they are able to do their homework and engage in outside studies. The Center in addition opened playrooms for children, built a roof garden and a gymnasium, offered the children free Hebrew classes, instituted a dental clinic where to every East Side child, regardless of color or creed, free service is rendered, and has altogether made 128 Stanton street a cultural and spiritual oasis for the East Side youngsters and their parents.

When Ivriah, sponsoring adult Jewish education needed a leader, Mrs. Gabriel Hamburger was, of course, the choice and she was elected president of this organization. What Ivriah has accomplished and does accomplish we need not dwell upon.

“We make the Jewish mother conscious of her racial heritage,” says Mrs. Hamburger, “and in doing so we insure that the spirit of true Judaism is kept alive in the children.” And when one marvels how she can ever do all she does, she says smilingly: “I get up early in the morning.”

In appearance Mrs. Hamburger is youthful despite her grown children. She has blonde, well-cut hair alive with golden lights a faultless complexion, a low-pitched, pleasant voice and very gracious manners. Her recipe for happiness and success is simple: “Work for others, be vitally interested in something of value to your people, and—use the precious hours of the young day.”