Anna Olswanger is 56 and childless, but she doesn’t want to sit around being sad about it. A few weeks ago, Olswanger, a New York-based literary agent and children’s book author, started yerusha.com, a Web site with resources, forums and support for Jews who don’t have children.
“I just want us to find our worth and to know that we do have something to contribute, even if we have been led to believe, or have convinced ourselves, that we don’t have anything to contribute to the Jewish people because we’re childless,” said Olswanger, who married for the first time at 55.
Yerusha means legacy, and part of Olswanger’s mission is to help childless Jews leave a legacy without having children.
On her site, she has created a page of notable people without children, who’ve left an imprint on the Jewish world: Rabbi Akiva of the Mishna, Hadassah founder Henrietta Szold, Bais Yaakov girls schools founder Sarah Schenirer, scholar Nechama Leibowitz, and Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
Olswanger chose to write children’s books in part to carry on her family’s traditions. “Shlemiel Crooks,” selected as a PJ Library book and honored by the Jewish Library Association, tells the story of when her great-grandfather’s St. Louis saloon was held up in 1919.
The Web site is only a few weeks old and already has gotten thousands of hits, but so far only a few have posted on the forums page. Olswanger thinks it’s because of the pain and shame many feel for not having children.
“We’ve gotten so public about so many things that used to be very personal, but maybe it will take time for people to feel comfortable talking about this,” she said.
Olswanger hopes the site will spawn in-person groups around the country. “I don’t want to stop with, ‘Aren’t we sad.’ I want to go on to the next step.”
