The only Jew in FDR’s cabinet, the influential politician was in a position to stand up for being a Jew and help save Jewish lives during the Holocaust.
On the holiday of Purim, Jews worldwide celebrate the salvation of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian empire. Haman, royal vizier to the Persian King Achashverosh, plotted “to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jewish people, young and old, men and women, in a single day” (Scroll of Esther, 3:13).
In the face of Haman’s imminent genocidal decree upon the Jewish People, Mordechai directed his niece, Queen Esther, to approach the King and beseech him to save her people. Esther was understandably reluctant because she could be killed immediately for entering the king’s chamber without being summoned.
In the face of her demurral, Mordechai responded with strong words, telling her, “If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, while you and your father's house will perish. And who knows, perhaps it is precisely for this opportunity that you became queen” (Esther 4:14).
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Henry Morgenthau Jr. in a car on Feb. 9, 1934. The inscription by FDR reads “From one of two of kind.” | Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
Understanding that this was the reason she had ascended to royalty and influence, Queen Esther made an immediate about-face. Rising to the occasion, she instructed Mordechai to tell all Jewish residents of Shushan to fast and pray for three days and nights and upon the conclusion of the three days, she would approach the king uninvited. “And if I am to perish, I shall perish..." (4:16)
Her strategy worked, Haman and his 10 sons were hung, and the Jewish people were saved by G-d.
Fast forward two millennia, another Jewish leader named Henry Morgenthau Jr. (1891–1967) would experience his Queen Esther Moment when the Jewish people were being threatened with annihilation. He was born in New York City to a prominent family of German Jewish descent. His father, Henry Morgenthau Sr., was a successful real estate investor and diplomat and had served as ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during the presidential administration of Woodrow Wilson.
Henry Morgenthau Jr. served as the United States treasury secretary in the Roosevelt and Truman administrations from January 1, 1934, until July 23, 1945. Morgenthau stabilized the US dollar during the Great Depression, helped finance the "New Deal," prepared the US economy for war, and later funded the war effort by selling war bonds.
He was the only Jewish person to serve as a cabinet member during Roosevelt's administration. He was very devoted and loyal to Roosevelt, despite the President’s failure to take concrete actions to save European Jewry from the Holocaust or allow Jews to save themselves by immigrating to the United States.
In 1943, several months after the US State Department confirmed Nazi Germany’s mission to annihilate all the Jews of Europe, Morgenthau became directly involved in the rescue of the Jews in Europe.
The catalyst for Morgenthau’s new-found involvement was the advocacy of two Jewish groups: The Vaad Hatzalah (The Rescue Committee), led by America’s leading Orthodox Rabbis, and the “Emergency Committee for the Rescue of European Jewry” led by Hillel Kook.
Meeting with the President
The Agudath HaRabbanim (Union of Orthodox Rabbis), led by Rabbi Eliezer Silver of Cincinnati, founded an organization specifically devoted to the rescue of European Jews called the Vaad Hatzalah ("Rescue Committee"). The Vaad was supported by all of Orthodox Jewry (Agudath Israel, Young Israel, Mizrachi, etc.). It was led by three of the greatest Sages of America: Rabbi Eliezer Silver, Rabbi Avraham Kalmanowitz, and Rabbi Aharon Kotler. The leaders of the Vaad were
