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feldman, shimshon simon
elementary school on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. In
1966 Feldman became a full-time field representative for New
York City’s United Federation of Teachers. She worked her way
through the ranks following in the footsteps of her mentor, Albert
*Shanker. In 1986, she became the first woman president
of the largest local union in the United States. She served until
1997, when on May 6, the national American Federation of
Teacher’s executive council unanimously elected her the 15th
president of the national organization. In the same month, she
was also elected a vice president of the American Federation of
Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).
As a public school educator, Feldman devoted herself
to improving the working conditions of teachers, promoting
higher educational standards for students, and strengthening
curricula in the schools. During her tenure as president
of the American Federation of Teachers, the organization experienced
record growth, representing more than one million
educators, healthcare professionals, public employees, and retirees.
Feldman’s second husband was Arthur Barnes, former
president of the New York Urban Coalition.
Feldman supported the rights and concerns of children,
women, and workers on local, national, and global levels
through her association with the Council on Competitiveness,
the International Rescue Committee, the A. Philip Randolph
Institute, the Jewish Labor Committee, the Coalition of Labor
Women, the New York Urban League, Women’s Forum, Women’s
Committee on Refugee Children, Child Labor Coalition,
the United States Committee for UNICEF, and the National
Council of Americans to Prevent Handgun Violence.
Bibliography: R. Holub. “Feldman, Sandra,” in: P.E. Hyman
and D. Dash Moore (eds.), Jewish Women in America: An Historical
Encyclopedia, vol. 1 (1997), 404–5; “Feldman, Sandra,” in: Who’s Who
in America 2004, vol. 1, 1568–69. Website: www.aft.org.
[Peggy K. Pearlstein (2nd ed.)]
FELDMAN, SHIMSHON SIMON (1909–1995), leader of
the Jewish Ashkenazi community of Mexico. He was born in
Skvira, Ukraine, and studied in a talmud torah, and in a Russian
public school. His mother died before his 13th birthday,
and in 1924 he immigrated alone to Mexico. During his first
years there he worked as a peddler. In 1928 he opened his first
shop and brought his father and brothers to Mexico. In the
1930s he prospered and at the end of World War II owned a
number of factories. In 1942 he joined the Board of the Ashkenazi
Nidhei Isroel congregation. In 1942 he became its president
– a position he held for 50 years. In this role he dedicated
himself to the strengthening of Jewish education and to the
development of Jewish schools, to religious community life, to
supplying Jewish and non-Jewish needs, and to giving moral
and material support to the State of Israel.
[Efraim Zadoff (2nd ed.)]
FELDMAN, WILHELM (1868–1919), Polish author and
critic. Born in Zbaraz, Galicia, he was of ḥasidic origin, but
advocated assimilation and was in fact converted before his
death. As editor of the Cracow monthly Krytyka (1901–14) and
as a literary critic, Feldman was prominent in the progressive
literary movement, Mloda Polska (“Young Poland”). His
critical works include Współczesna literatura polska (“Contemporary
Polish Literature,” 1903, 19308), a study which
roused considerable controversy owing to his radical opinions;
and Współczesna krytyka literacka w Polsce (“Contemporary
Literary Criticism in Poland,” 1905). Among Feldman’s
political books are Stronnictwa i programy polityczne w
Galicji, 1846–1906 (“Political Parties and Programs in Galicia
1846–1906,” 2 vols., 1907); and Dzieje polskiej myśli politycznej
w okresie porozbiorowym (“History of Polish Political Thought
since the Partitions,” 3 vols., 1920). Although Feldman wrote
novels on Jewish themes, his unsympathetic attitude became
increasingly evident. Two works on Jewish problems were
Asymilatorzy syoniści i polacy (“Assimilationists, Zionists and
Poles,” 1893); and Stosunek Adama Mickiewicza do Żydów
(“Mickiewicz’s Attitude to the Jews,” 1890).
Wilhelm Feldman’s son JóZEF (1899–1946), historian,
was professor at the Jagellonian University of Cracow. His
books include Polska i sprawa wschodnia 1709–1714 (“Poland
and the Eastern Question 1709–1714,” 1926) and Problem polsko-niemiecki
w dziejach (1946, tr. of previous version Polish-
German Antagonism in History, 1935).
Bibliography: Pamęci Wilhelma Feldmana (1927), incls.
bibl.; E. Mendlesohn, in: Slavic Review, 18 (1969), 577–90; Księga
Pamiątkowa ku czci Józefa Feldmana (= K. Tymieniecki and Z. Woyciechowski
(eds.), Roczniki Historyczne, no. 18, 1949), incls. French
summaries; Polski Słownik Biograficzny, 6 (1948), 396–404. Add.
Bibliography: E. Mendelsohn, “Wilhelm Feldman ve-Alfred Nosig,
Hitbollut ve-Ẓiyyonut be-Lvov,” in: Galed II, 89–111.
[Moshe Altbauer]
FELDSHUH, TOVAH (1952– ), U.S. actress. Born Terri Sue
Feldshuh in New York, she attended Scarsdale High School,
Sarah Lawrence College, and the University of Minnesota,
studying drama under Uta Hagen. She switched to using her
Hebrew name Tovah when a boyfriend in college complained
that Terri Sue sounded too Southern, in marked contrast to
generations of Jewish actors who changed their names. She
made her stage debut in July 1971 playing small parts in Cyrano
de Bergerac at the Guthrie in Minneapolis. Her Broadway debut
followed in 1973, when she played two parts in the musical
Cyrano. In 1974 Feldshuh appeared as Myriam in the comedy
Dreyfus in Rehearsal on Broadway, in the title role in Yentl at
the Brooklyn Academy of Music Playhouse, and in the musical
revue Rodgers & Hart at the beginning of 1975. In October
1975, she reprised her role in Yentl on Broadway at the Eugene
O’Neill Theater, which earned her a Tony nomination and a
Theater World Award. Feldshuh’s extensive and acclaimed film
and television career includes appearances on the soap opera
Ryan’s Hope (1975) and in the made-for-TV movie The Amazing
Howard Hughes (1977) as Katharine Hepburn, followed
by her role as Czech freedom fighter Helena Slomova in the
1978 TV mini-series Holocaust. Years later, Feldshuh would
748 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6