[1] Through her mother, Sara was the great-granddaughter of Veitel Heine Ephraim, who served Friedrich the Great as a "Münzjude" or mint master.
The well-known Jewish scholar and Enlightenment thinker Moses Mendelssohn, a close friend of the family, was consulted on Sara's education and upbringing.
The couple lived in Berlin, and Sara led one of the most important literary salons of the time and exchanged letters with Goethe.
[6] Alongside other salonnières Henriette Herz and Rahel Varnhagen, Sara Grotthuis led one of the most influential literary salons in Berlin around 1800.
[8] Moses Mendelssohn, a close friend of the Meyer family, disapproved of Werther and considered Goethe a bad influence on youth.
[12] Grotthuis for her part connected Goethe with certain important figures including Prince Karl Joseph von Ligne, among others.