“A Household That Held Social Action As Essential”–Esther Saks at JCUA’s 2010 Annual Dinner

Esther Saks with her four daughters

Esther Saks’ remarks at this year’s Rabbi Robert J. Marx Social Justice Awards Dinner, Nov. 18, 2010 at the Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel, Chicago, Ill.

[Learn more about the Saks Family]

When I was thinking about what the remarks should be that I would make tonight, I remembered an incident that happened to me and Alan quite a number of years ago.

We were on one of our trips, one of our annual trips to England, business trips that we took at that time, and we were invited to spend a weekend with some new business associates in their house in the country in London.

And while we were having some “get acquainted” conversations, our host said to me, “Um, we hear that you’re a do-gooder.” And I said, “Hmmm.” And I suspected that he meant that I was one of those village ladies that are so disdained in British novels that know everybody else’s business and run flea market sales.

And then I remember saying, “Well, you know, if you mean that I want to know, that I need to know, about the issues that are shaping my community and my society—that affect me and my family, and that I can affect, then I guess I’m a do-gooder—and Alan is too.”

One wonders how that need—really that impulse, to be involved starts. For us I think it started in the generations before us.

For Esther Saks and Family, Social Justice is a Way of Life

A colorful quilt by the artist Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson, hangs on the wall in the dining room of Esther Saks’ Chicago apartment in Lakeview. Its elements are finely detailed—down to the images of people woven into the fabric. And like the images woven into the quilt, so has the desire to do social justice work been woven into the fabric of who Saks is.

“Living a self-sustaining and self-supporting life is a given, but above that offering one’s resources, time and intelligence to your communities, takes the meaning of life next level,” said Saks. “Our family has always felt that one owes something to your community,” she said.

Saks, 80, shared this passion for social activism with her late husband Alan Saks, and in their 50-year marriage, the couple were deeply committed to many political and social justice movements and activities, and raised four daughters who followed in their footsteps.

“Both my parents and Alan’s parents led by example – we always tried to do the same,” said Saks.

Esther and Alan Saks