In pursuit of justice

PAULA SOBOL

Lawyer and social activist Ruth Finn was recently honored by the Jewish Community Relations Coun-cil of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix for her efforts on behalf of Jewish parents, students and staff in public schools.

The forum is not a new one for this longtime community member, since she is a past chairwoman of the Joint Task Force on Religion in the Public Schools.

"We are trying to stimulate sensitivity around the diverse religions represented in our public school system," Finn says. "It's not just about Christmas and Hanukkah, it deals with issues of being aware and respectful of the religious practices which students represent. It's about education." And when she talks about child growth and development, she also talks about the inequities which beset disadvantaged and minority children, ranging from deficient child care to problems with standardized testing.

This is not a new thing for Finn. She has long held the belief that she had to help change things that were unjust.

Finn, who was born in New York City, recalls hearing about the poverty of her father's family - he and his siblings had to find their own food as children. Her family lived with their poor relatives and she remembers that, despite being poor, her life was enriched because for the first eight years of her life, she lived with her parents, aunts, uncles and her grandmother in a big ram-shackle house - surrounded by love and attention.

The story of her grandmother's Shabbat and holiday tables remains with her. Viennese cobalt blue glasses were placed in order of family importance, Finn's being the smallest.

"But it was MY glass," she says, "I saw it and knew I belonged in this circle of love and caring." Her sense of Judaism came from those days, as did her conviction that children must feel prized and celebrated.

She met her late husband, Herb Finn, at a Young Socialist's meeting in New York City. He immediately impacted her life with his passionate commitment to social justice. She worked 48 hours a week while at Hunters College, Brooklyn College. She graduated from George Washington University. She and Herb married and had their first child, Ellie, now a presiding judge in the Glendale Court System. They moved to Phoenix in 1948 and had a son, Bill, a commercial science writer and also a writer for a San Diego Jewish publication, and a daughter, Alice, currently house council for the Arizona Education Association.

Ruth and Ellie went to Arizona State University School of Law together, and Ruth became a law clerk for Judge Carl Muecke.

Ruth Finn talks about women lawyers in the early '60s and recalls a successful lawyer friend who apologized to her for not being able to give her a job, since his firm had already hired their "woman" for the year. The law firm of "Finn, Finn and Finn" was born.

Herb Finn's commitment to social service affected the whole family, and Ruth felt she had to do more to help change things. She ran for and won the presidency of the Phoenix Union School Board. Phoenix schools had been segregated, and although minority children might have had the same ambitions as children in better schools, their test scores and behaviors, according to Finn, showed inequality in teaching as well as the lack of family systems supporting learning.

She has received the B'nai B'rith Woman of the Year Award, and she and daughter Ellie were honored by the "100 Women and Minority Lawyers Association." In 2001, she received both the American Jewish Committee Award for Community Service and the Arizona Civil Liberties Union award as, "A Pioneer in Racial Justice."

"The 2001 awards were great," she says. "I only had to buy one outfit."

Finn doesn't believe she needs to leave any messages for her family to remember.

"Their character lessons have been learned and observed. They are socially responsible people, as are my grandchildren," she says. "They know that life is about doing good things for people."

Finn has been married to Dr. Art Schwartz for more than 20 years, and is retired, but still active in the community. She still hears the admonition, "Justice, justice, shall thou seek."

Paula Sobol is a 52-year Phoenix resident and was the Jewish News theater and movie critic in the 1960s.