Narrator from Weaving Women's Words: Baltimore Stories

Ruth Surosky Levy

Ruth Surosky Levy is passionate about her family and her Judaism. She was born in 1922, just one year after her Russian immigrant parents settled in West Baltimore. During her childhood, Ruth's mother convened meetings of the Zionist group, Pioneer Women, in their family's store, Surosky's Butcher Shop. Absorbing her family's dedication to Zionism, Ruth has been involved in Zionist schools, camps and organizations throughout her life. With war looming shortly after her graduation from the University of Maryland, Ruth left her teaching position to enlist in the Navy's WAVES program (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) and worked as a communications officer. In 1943, she married Stanley Levy and assisted him in his dental practice before having their children, Stevan, Michael, Edward, and Laura. An active volunteer in many civic, Zionist, and Jewish communal organizations, she returned to teaching and interior design work after her children were grown. Since their retirement in 1980, Ruth and her husband, who recently celebrated 60 fulfilling years of marriage, continue to explore their mutual interests in family, theater and travel.


	We were Zionists before it was fashionable to become Zionists. My parents were Labor Zionists. We always believed that there was going to be a Jewish homeland. I am intensely Jewish. I've been that way as long as I can remember. Israel's very important to me. I feel that you can embrace many other things in the world, but your Jewish identity is important and distinctive.
Ruth Surosky Levy Ruth Surosky Levy is passionate about her family and her Judaism. She was born in 1922, just one year after her Russian immigrant parents settled in West Baltimore. During her childhood, Ruth's mother convened meetings of the Zionist group, Pioneer Women, in their family's store, Surosky's Butcher Shop. Absorbing her family's dedication to Zionism, Ruth has been involved in Zionist schools, camps and organizations throughout her life. With war looming shortly after her graduation from the University of Maryland, Ruth left her teaching position to enlist in the Navy's WAVES program (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) and worked as a communications officer. In 1943, she married Stanley Levy and assisted him in his dental practice before having their children, Stevan, Michael, Edward, and Laura. An active volunteer in many civic, Zionist, and Jewish communal organizations, she returned to teaching and interior design work after her children were grown. Since their retirement in 1980, Ruth and her husband, who recently celebrated 60 fulfilling years of marriage, continue to explore their mutual interests in family, theater and travel.
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© 2004 Jewish Women's Archive. Photograph by Joan Roth