Libbie Levin Braverman (1900-1990) was a nationally prominent teacher, author, lecturer, and consultant in the field of Jewish education. Braverman was the daughter of Orthodox Rabbi Morris A. Levin. Born in Boston, the family relocated several times before moving to Cleveland. Braverman's father encouraged Libbie's interest in Jewish education and, in addition to tutoring that she received from him, she studied Hebrew and Torah at the Talmud Torah in Chicago where she was often the only girl in the class. When Braverman was in high school, the Levin family moved to Cleveland where Rabbi Levin served the congregation Anshe Grodno and headed the Community Hebrew Schools, and Libbie began teaching Hebrew at Euclid Avenue Temple (Anshe Chesed), a Reform congregation, and B'nai Jeshurun, a Conservative congregation.
Braverman received a teaching certificate from Cleveland Normal School (ca. 1920) and a B.S. degree in Education from Western Reserve University (1933). After teaching and supervising at the Euclid Avenue Temple school, one of the largest in the country, she served as director from 1946 1952. Throughout her career she did educational consulting, lectured, and led educational institutes throughout the United States. Beginning in 1931 she visited Palestine/Israel eighteen times, trips that provided material for many of her books and articles. In 1924 she married Sigmund Braverman, an architect, who became a partner in the firm of Braverman and Halperin, best known for its synagogue buildings. (See WRHS MSS. 3807 Sigmund Braverman Papers, MSS. 4537 Sigmund Braverman Papers, Series II, and PG. 210 Sigmund Braverman Photographic Collection.)
In 1945 Libbie Braverman became the first woman elected to the Board of the National Council for Jewish Education and, in 1952, the first woman engaged to lecture by the Jewish Chautauqua Society. She was the author of two children's books, Children of Emek (1937, 1964) and Children of Freedom (1953), and an autobiography, Libbie (1986). In addition, she was the co author of at least eight other books and the author or co author of numerous articles. Among the publications that Braverman co authored with Nathan Brilliant (principal of the Euclid Avenue Temple school from 1927 1946, and director of the Bureau of Education from 1946 to 1960), were the following books: Religious Pageants for the Jewish School (1941), High Holy Days Children Services (1943), Children's Services for Sabbath, Holiday and Special Occasions (1948), and Activities in the Religious School (1951). In 1969 Braverman and Rabbi Samuel M. Silver co authored a book for adolescents, The Six Day Warriors: An Introduction to Those Who Gave Israel Its Vigor and Its Victories. Libbie Braverman received honors from numerous Jewish groups and, in her later years, established several educational awards and funds in Jewish centers and schools both in America and in Israel.
The Libbie L. Braverman Papers, Series II, 1923-1985, consist of a scrapbook containing newspaper clippings, correspondence, teacher institute programs, synagogue bulletin articles, a certificate, and a curriculum vitae.
This collection is of value to researchers studying the development of Jewish education in twentieth century America. Libbie Braverman was a pioneer in this field in Cleveland, Ohio, primarily at Anshe Chesed Congregation, and throughout the United States.
The collection is arranged alphabetically by document type and then chronologically.
The researcher should also consult MS 4566 Libbie L. Braverman Papers; MS 5169 Libbie L. Braverman Papers, Series III; and PG 508 Sigmund and Libbie L. Braverman Photographs.
Processed by Evy Rosenblum in 1999
None.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4812 Libbie L. Braverman Papers, Series II, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Estate of Libbie Braverman, 1998
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.