From Australia’s Jewish past

Reca (Rebecca) Stone – a true woman of worth

Last week’s story was about Julius Stone – a premier legal theorist, brilliant scholar, philosopher, and writer.  This week is Reca’s story – an amazing wife, her husband’s ‘filler-inner of gaps’, staunch community worker, and mother of three and, in time, grandmother of seven.

Rica was born in Leeds, England, on 26 June 1906.  She was the second youngest of eleven children of Jewish parents who had a passion for education.  She won a state scholarship and graduated with degrees in chemistry and zoology from the University of Leeds.  She followed this with a degree in dentistry.  She met Julius through the British Inter-University Jewish Students Federation, and they married on 15 August 1934 in Leeds.  In June 1936, having been denied tenure at Harvard University, Julius returned to Leeds, having secured a lectureship at the University.  Reca was not prepared for what was to happen next. In 1938, Julius accepted the appointment as Dean of Law at Auckland University. With bags packed and their baby son, Michael, in tow, they left Leeds for Auckland, arriving in 1939.  Next came the move to Sydney in 1942 and Julius’s appointment at the University of Sydney.  Their son, Jonathan, was born before they left Auckland, and their daughter, Eleanor, was born in Sydney.  Julius took up his position at the University of Sydney, with Rica managing the children as well as assisting Julius with his writing, entertaining students, and other tasks.

In the book Beginning with Esther and in an interview with the author, Lysbeth Cohen, Reca remembered typing Julius’s first Australian-written book, The Province and Function of Law.  The first draft consisted of 3,000 pages, and the second of 2,000 pages; finally, 1,000 pages went to the publishers.  She proofread the book as well and helped with the indexing, which, she said, took six months to do.  The book was dedicated to her.  She was always available to do anything her husband needed, and referred to herself as the filler-in of gaps.

Reca worked together with her husband, supporting Jewish communities worldwide, and he was involved in numerous university and other activities.  During the Nazi period, an organisation known as Youth Aliya rescued as many of the children of Europe as possible.  From 1938 until the end of World War II, Reca spoke and worked on these issues with Jewish and non-Jewish groups in New Zealand.  When the family left New Zealand and came to Sydney, she became president of the organisation.  For her, it was a full-time, although honorary position, in addition to raising her family, helping her husband, who at that stage was part-time in the army.  Another task to add to her many, Reca organised religious classes for children living in Sydney’s upper North Shore.  These classes became part of the North Shore Synagogue, with Reca and Julius as founding members.  Julius had a long tenure with the University of Sydney, and after retiring, he joined the University of New South Wales in 1972 as a Visiting Professor of Law.

Reca’s work among the Jewish community included inaugurating the North Shore Synagogue’s Parents’ Auxiliary and taking on the presidency.  From this role, she became one of six members of a commission of enquiry into Jewish education to the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies.  Nothing was too much trouble, and her committee work grew to her holding vice-presidencies of both National Council of Jewish Women and WIZO NSW.  She also taught Right-of-Entry classes in schools for many years.

Her other interest was nutrition, which she initially pursued through her dental training.  At the time, there was little interest in this area, and it was regarded as an adjunct to home economics.  Reca read widely and deeply on the subject, shared her knowledge with family and friends and the wider community.  She became an inspiring public speaker during the 1950s and 1960s and lectured to schools, pensioners, and other groups, explaining how to prepare nutritious meals on a low income.  She also broadcast on ABC Radio’s ‘Women’s Session.

Her leisure activities included tapestry, embroidery, reading, and she enjoyed writing poetry.  She published one book, Revolt in the Ghetto (1944), which raised funds for Youth Aliyah, and is a moving account of the story of the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto.

In December 1985, the Inaugural Reca and Julius Stone Oration, an initiative of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, was delivered by the Prime Minister, the Honourable Robert J L Hawke, at the University of New South Wales.  Many distinguished parliamentarians, legal colleagues and friends attended.  At discussions about the Oration before Julius’s death earlier on 6 August 1985, he particularly requested that Reca’s name should be bracketed with his.  The following are the Prime Minister’s opening remarks: ‘’I am deeply moved and honoured to present The Inaugural Julius and Reca Stone Memorial Lecture. Julius Stone, with the aid and assistance of his beloved wife, Reca, did more than contribute to the development of Australian intellectual life. In later years, I came to admire and love Julius, and I was honoured when he wrote the introduction to Hawke on Israel. It is impossible to speak of Julius and his work without reference to his beloved wife, Reca.  She was his boon companion and intellectual support from the time they met in a resource library for poor students in Leeds, and Julius carried her books home. This act of kindness was the beginning of a lifelong partnership between two individuals of great intellectual and spiritual strength. Like her husband, Reca grew up in the desperately underprivileged slums of Leeds. Like him, Reca earned success in life through academic ability and sheer hard work. From the earliest days, Reca fully participated in her husband’s work, discussing the content of his projected writings, editing the manuscripts as they saw the light of day, and providing the strong intellectual, moral, and emotional support he needed. ‘’

The second oration, two years later, was delivered by The Hon Justice Gordon J Samuels AC.  His opening remarks are as follows: “Australia, and the world, are immeasurably the better for the contribution of people like Julius and Reca. Their ideals and their contribution to humanity will continue to be a treasured resource and inspiration of us all. Reca, your husband’s great contribution lives on. It lives on in his work and in the many who were touched by his writings, his teaching, his examples of intellectual vigour, his breadth of interests, his concern for current issues and, as in my fortunate case, his friendship.”

Reca passed away on 6 August 2005 and is survived by her children and grandchildren.

The Reca Stone Postgraduate Scholarship in Legal Theory, supporting postgraduate research in the field of legal theory, is presented annually.  This scholarship was established by the generous donation of the Wolfensohn Family Foundation and is awarded through the Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence within the University of Sydney Law School.

 

The AJHS acknowledges the following references in the preparation of this story:

Beginning with Esther – Lysbeth Cohen; Australian Dictionary of Biography – Anthony Blackshield; Reca and Julius Stone Oration – The Honourable Robert J L Hawke; National Library of Australia

 

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