ROTENBERG, MATTIE LEVI

ROTENBERG, MATTIE LEVI (1897–1989), first woman and first Jew to receive a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Toronto (1926); founder of Toronto's first Jewish day school; Canadian journalist and award-winning national radio commentator. Born in Toronto, the eldest of 10 children, Rotenberg was a brilliant student who also received a B.A. (1921) and M.A. (1922) from the University of Toronto and was the recipient of several National Research Council Scholarships. Her research focused on photo-electric properties of fluorescent crystals. In 1924, she married Meyer Rotenberg, with whom she had five children between 1925 and 1934. Rotenberg's doctoral thesis, "On the Characteristic X-Rays from Light Elements," was published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada (1924). In 1941–42, she was appointed an assistant demonstrator in physics at the University of Toronto at a salary of $1.25 an hour. Rotenberg was a demonstrator from 1947 to 1962 and an instructor from 1962 to 1968. In 1929, committed to her children's being both observant and knowledgeable Jews, she founded Hillcrest Progressive School, despite community resistance from parents who protested against the "segregating" of Jewish children and the study of Hebrew. She was the school's director for several years and remained active until 1944, when her youngest child left the school. From 1930 to 1932, Rotenberg was editor of the women's section of The Jewish Standard, published in Toronto and edited by Meyer *Weisgal, the political representative of Chaim *Weizmann in North America. Rotenberg also wrote a weekly column, "As the Woman Sees It," for The Standard. From 1939 until 1966, she wrote and broadcast regularly her commentary on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (cbc), Canada's national radio, on a program devoted to women's issues called "Trans-Canada Matinee." On April 12, 1943, she gave a detailed report about the Final Solution, condemning the Western nations, including Canada, for their indifference. "Asking themselves the question, 'Am I my brother's keeper?' the democratic nations of the world, our country among them, answered: 'No.'" She concluded her talk: "Some action must be taken at once. If it is not, within a few months six million people will have been murdered, and the nations of the world will not be able to escape the charge of being accomplices to the bleakest crime in history." In 1945, she won the Canadian Women's Press Club Memorial Award for a radio broadcast titled "The Post-War Woman." It was the first time in its 10-year history that the award was given in the field of radio writing. In February 1947, she covered the United Nations Status of Women Commission at the first formal session of the un at Lake Success, New York. She attended the un annually for several years, broadcasting for the cbc on the position of women around the world.

[Nessa Rapoport (2^nd ed.)]