Strong-willed women in the family bent their more religious husbands to Ethical Culture

Evidence

If the relationship seemed similar in general to that of Bella’s own parents, there were more specific parallels, too. Like Rosalie, Bella had especially strong feelings about religion: she did not believe in it. She did not want her sons to be circumcised, to be bar-mitzvah—or to have any training whatsoever in the Jewish faith. She wanted her family to be members of the Society for Ethical Culture. Her husband was more religious, but Bella’s feelings were the ones which prevailed, as her mother’s had prevailed. When Rosalie had joined the Society for Ethical Culture, Bernhard had joined, too. When Bella joined the Society, so did Emanuel. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 144

Categorization

• XREF: The pattern of the strong woman dominating the milder husband recurs across generations (Rosalie/Bernhard, Bella/Emanuel), and may anticipate dynamics in Robert’s own life. — connects to: A wife’s intellectual convictions could steer a devout husband from religion to ethical culture — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 119