In this interview conducted by her sister-in-law Sandra Lee Kahn Rosenblum, Caroline Rosenblum talks about growing up in Anderson, South Carolina, one of five children of Freida Bain and Nahum Rosenblum. Polish immigrants who arrived in New York in 1919, the Rosenblums moved first to Orangeburg, South Carolina, where they joined Nahum's brother Sam. Later they spent time in Miami, Florida, then the small South Carolina towns of Blackville and Greenwood. By 1932, the family had settled in Anderson where they ran a dry goods store. Caroline discusses her first experience with antisemitism as a schoolgirl; the difficulty of keeping kosher in a small town; and her father's reaction to the Holocaust. She recalls that the news of what happened to the Jews of Europe during World War II stirred an interest in Judaism among some of Anderson's gentiles. There were about ten Jewish families living in Anderson while Caroline was growing up. She describes their High Holiday traditions and notes that her father was cantor for the congregation, Temple B'nai Israel. For a related interview, see Mss. 1035-324, featuring Caroline and her brothers Raymond and Irvin.
Benedict "Dick" Rosen, in the third of three interviews, talks about his children, Andrew, Greg, and Heidi, and his grandchildren. He identifies primarily as a southerner, rather than a Jew. "That's because being Jewish has never made any difference in my life." And yet, interviewer Dale Rosengarten observes, he and his children married within the faith. He revisits the subject of growing up in Georgetown, South Carolina, noting that he did not experience any antisemitism. "I never had a feeling I was different than anybody else." The same has been true for him as an adult. Rosengarten speculates about the reasons why that may be so. Dick's recollection of segregation prompts a discussion of present-day issues of police brutality, black-on-black crime, mass shootings, gun control, and the death penalty. Dick and Dale share their personal views on Israel. Dick has no special affinity for Israel and doesn't see it as a Jewish homeland. "Being Jewish is not a nationality. It's a religion." Both Rosen and Rosengarten have served as trustees on the board of the Belle W. Baruch Foundation of Hobcaw Barony in Georgetown. Dale raises the question of how their Jewish identity might have been considered useful to the board's mission. Both touch on the effect the Holocaust has had on their lives. The transcript contains corrections made during proofing by Dick's son Andy. For a related interview, see Sylvan and Meyer Rosen, Mss. 1035-035.
Blanche McCrary Boyd (pronouns: she/her/hers) describes the events that lead to her becoming an acclaimed novelist and professor at Connecticut College. Born in Charleston, SC in 1945 to working class parents, she lost her father at age 15, one of the crucial events of her life. Living with family on a 400-acre plantation near Rantowles, SC, she became “radicalized” by events seen on television, realizing, unlike other members of her family, that she lived in a racist society, finding a “sense of horror” and a “sense of beauty” in the South. She attended Duke University and met Dean Boyd, the man she married, while attending Harvard University summer school. Boyd credits her husband for helping her mature and encouraging her writing once she decided upon that as a goal. Moving to California, Boyd began writing seriously at Pomona College, and won a Wallace Stegner Fellowship in creative writing at Stanford University. Her marriage unraveled, as she discovered feminism, and her attraction to women, bringing her to a “different reality.” She had starting drinking alcohol soon after her father’s death and she spent over a decade abusing it and drugs as she moved to New York and became a “radical lesbian.” She helped set type for the classic novel Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown, and founded Sagaris, an “institute for feminist thought,” associating with leading feminists, including accused bomber Patricia Swinton. She published essays, mostly about the South, in The Village Voice, learned how to “seize” her authority, and published books on popular musicians under the name Vivian Claire. She returned to Charleston, continuing writing and publishing novels, becoming sober in 1981. She discusses how a teenage car wreck involving a Black man’s death became the “fulcrum of my understanding of life” and how it serves as a metaphor for America as she wonders “what white people who are anti-racist are going to do about white supremacy.” She and her wife Leslie are the mothers of twins, James and Julia, and Boyd reflects on parenting, Leslie’s life-threatening illnesses, and how her novel Tomb of the Unknown Racist has capped her fiction writing career. As retirement from Connecticut College looms, she assesses her accomplishments, notes satisfactions, and the many surprising turns her life took.
Benedict "Dick" Rosen was born on April 20, 1936, in Columbia, South Carolina, the first of two children, to Erma Levkoff and Sylvan Rosen. Sylvan completed law school a month later, and the Rosens moved to Sylvan's hometown, Georgetown, South Carolina. In this interview, the first of three sessions, Dick talks about the different branches of his South Carolina Jewish family tree, including the Suraskys, the Weinbergs, the Schneiders, and the Lewenthals. He notes that he lacks information about the Rosens. Dick describes growing up in Georgetown. At that time, there were no other Jewish children to play with, and he didn't belong to any Jewish youth groups. As a young child, nothing he ate agreed with him, and he was not thriving. When the doctor told his mother that bacon was the solution, her mother, Jennie Surasky Levkoff, who kept a kosher kitchen, stepped in to help. Rosen married Brenda Wekstein of Massachusetts. He says all his kids have Jewish spouses, but his grandchildren are marrying outside the faith. Dick discusses his father's education, political career, and involvement in Jewish organizations. Sylvan Rosen opened a law practice in Georgetown, where he served as councilman and mayor. For a related interview, see Sylvan and Meyer Rosen, Mss. 1035-035.
Joan Weisblum Steinberg Loeb, born in 1918 in Brooklyn, New York, married Matthew Steinberg and moved to his native city of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1936. Joan, a daughter of Elsie Aleskowitz and Philip Weisblum, recounts some of her family history, and describes how she met Matthew, who earned his M.D. from the Medical College of South Carolina, and their wedding in the Weisblum’s Brooklyn home. Her mother-in-law, Anna Bell Kaminski Steinberg, taught her how to keep a kosher home. The interviewee, who had no formal religious upbringing, recalls attending High Holy Day services at her husband’s Orthodox congregation, Brith Sholom. She notes that Matthew served as mohel for the congregation following Reverend Feinberg, who was also the cantor and the shochet. Interviewer Sandra Rosenblum reports that her husband, Raymond Rosenblum, a urologist, later assumed the role. In 1947, Joan and Matthew left Brith Sholom and joined roughly seventy families in becoming founding members of the Conservative Synagogue Emanu-El. Joan points to the leadership of Charleston native, Macey Kronsberg, the congregation’s first president, as pivotal in organizing the faction that was dissatisfied with Orthodox practices. Joan notes the source of discontent: “It was the fact that the women were not part of the service at all, and the families did not sit together. This didn’t satisfy this generation. They wanted the children to be part of it and to learn and to have an interest, and not to have to just be banged over the head in Hebrew school to learn enough for a bar mitzvah, and goodbye Charlie.” Joan and Matthew donated the first sanctuary, an army chapel, for Emanu-El’s Gordon Street property. Joan lists many of the names and professions of the charter members. She discusses the differences among Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Judaism, and some of the changes that have taken place in her lifetime. Participants recall the mid-twentieth century practices and attitudes of Charleston’s Reform congregants (Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim) and the two Orthodox congregations, Brith Sholom and Beth Israel, and they examine their own, and others’, experiences of keeping kosher—or not. Joan briefly mentions the three women’s organizations she joined in Charleston: the National Council of Jewish Women, the Daughters of Israel, and the Happy Workers. She goes into some detail about why her father thought U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the “biggest hypocrite and enemy of the Jews.” Matthew Steinberg died in 1968. Three years later, Joan married B. Frank Loeb of Montgomery, Alabama, where she was living at the time of the interview. She provides a brief history of Montgomery’s Reform congregation, Temple Beth Or.
"Gianni Leonardi, Daniel ""Danny"" McCann, and Adam Tracey speak about their experiences as Irish immigrants in the United States. Gianni and Danny are the owners of two Irish pubs in the Charleston area while Adam works at a pub on Johns Island. Gianni hails from the rural, Irish-speaking parish of Gweedore, in County Donegal. He first came to the United States in 2009 as part of a sponsorship by a pub in Michigan through his university in Ireland. He wanted to come to the U.S. for the opportunity to make a living in the hospitality industry and relocated to Charleston from Ann Arbor to open an Irish pub. He speaks of the vast difference between his rural upbringing and his life in a more suburban/urban environment. He makes a point to discuss the authenticity of Irish hospitality, and how, in owning and operating a pub, he tries to further that sense of genuine Irish warmth. Danny is from Lurgan, County Armagh. He came to the U.S. in 1998, to Detroit, to work in the same pub that later sponsored Gianni. Having grown up in Northern Ireland, he has the most firsthand experience of the Irish Troubles. He speaks briefly about Irish politics and witnessing some of the violence in the North in the 1990s. Adam comes from County Offlay, outside of Tullamore. Before working in hospitality, he had worked in construction in Yonkers, New York. Though he has little firsthand experience with the Troubles, he tells the story of a grand-uncle who was killed young by a bombing in the North. All three speak to their experience within the small community of Irish immigrants in Charleston, and how the community works to bring newly-arrived Irish immigrants together with those who are already established in Charleston. They agree that without the support of the Irish community, their experience in Charleston would have been very different."
Mary Lourie Rittenberg was born in 1927 in St. George, South Carolina, the fourth of six children of Anne "Annie" Friedman and Louis Lourie (Luria). Mary describes growing up in St. George, where the family lived over their store. She recalls one other Jewish family in town, the Widelitzes. She felt like an outsider, "particularly on Sundays." The Louries used to take the bus to Savannah, where, as a teen, Mary made a few Jewish friends. Mary discusses the influence her grandmother Baila Friedman had on her sense of Jewish identity. Baila was on hand to help Annie with the house and children. At some point, Annie had to assume responsibility for the store after Louis became too ill to work. He died when Mary was in high school. The interviewee shares memories of her siblings. Sol, the eldest, settled in Columbia with his wife, Toby Baker, and opened a store. Sara, the second eldest, married Sherman Gordon, and it was at their son's bris (circumcision) that Sol met Toby. Mick, who had helped his mother, Annie, in the store after Louis died, joined Sol in running the new Lourie's in Columbia. Annie closed the St. George store and also moved to the capital city. Herbert married Betty Brody and became a neurosurgeon. His life ended tragically when he was murdered at his home in Dewitt, New York, in 1987. Isadore, the youngest, married Susan Reiner, and became a South Carolina state senator and the founding president of the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina. Mary recounts how she met her husband, Alvin Rittenberg, of Charleston, whom she married in 1952. She mentions Alvin's brother, Henry, and their parents, Sadie Livingstain and Sam Rittenberg, who was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1912, and then again in 1924, when he won the first of four consecutive terms. Alvin, an M.D., established his practice in Charleston Heights. Mary talks about their children: Sam, Sadye Beth, Harris, William, and Michael, and their grandchildren. The interviewee touches on her fifteen years working as a guidance counselor at Garrett High School in North Charleston. Transcript contains comments and corrections by Mary's relative David Askienazy. See also Rittenberg's interview from December 8, 2012, Mss. 1035-424. For related materials, see the Lourie family papers, Mss. 1034-042, and interviews with Larraine Lourie Moses, Mss. 1035-487; Libby Friedman Levinson, Mss. 1035-016; Henry Rittenberg, Mss. 1035-104; Henry and Sarah Rittenberg, Mss. 1035-350.
Leonard Cohen grew up in Latta, South Carolina, the son of dry goods merchants, Isadore and Hannah Horowitz Cohen. Isadore emigrated circa 1910 from Lithuania and, after working briefly in Baltimore, followed his brother Harry’s advice and came south. His train ticket got him as far as Dillon, South Carolina. He peddled first, and then worked for Mr. Blum in his Latta store. Baltimore Bargain House extended credit to Isadore to start his own business, which prospered, enabling him to expand his store and, eventually, buy his own building. Two other Jewish families lived in Latta at that time, the Blums and the Kornbluts, and Leonard recalls being the only Jewish child in his classes at school. The Cohens attended services in Dillon, with Rabbi Jacob Raisin of Charleston officiating. Leonard remembers the Fass family, prominent members of the Dillon congregation. At Camp Osceola in Hendersonville, North Carolina, Leonard studied Hebrew with Rabbi Solomon and prepared for his bar mitzvah. He attended The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, from 1941 until 1943, when he was drafted into the army. He describes his experiences in the military, particularly the action he saw in Europe as a soldier serving in the 102nd Division. After the war, on a visit to Baltimore, he met Mildred Friedman, daughter of emigrants from Poland. Leonard and Mildred married in 1948 and settled in Latta, where he had already joined his father in business. They raised three children in Latta and were members of Temple Beth Israel in Florence, South Carolina. Faced with competition from discount chains, the Cohens closed their store in 1987. Other topics mentioned in the interview include: Baltimore Bargain House and changes in the wholesale industry, Charleston Jews Leonard met while attending The Citadel, Mildred’s mikvah experience before her wedding, and the first bat mitzvahs at Temple Beth Israel.
Sam Rogol, born in 1914 to Gussie Roseman and David Rogol, talks about growing up in Williston, South Carolina, nearly forty miles east of Augusta, Georgia, where his maternal grandparents lived. Sam describes his father’s store in Williston, a dry goods business David ran from 1911 until his death fifty-two years later. The interviewee recalls the wholesalers his father patronized and the drummers who came through town, hoping to sell their wares. A number of Jewish families lived in Williston or in nearby towns; Sam remembers the Bergers, Gaisers, Garbers, Mazurskys, Shapiros, and Wengrows. He discusses the Great Depression and speculates as to why his father fared as well as he did. The Rogols didn’t keep kosher, but observed the Sabbath at home and attended High Holiday services in Augusta, where Sam also studied for his bar mitzvah. After graduating from law school in the late 1930s, Sam and his first wife, Lillian Katz, settled in Darlington, South Carolina, where Sam worked for Samuel Want. Rogol was drafted by the army during World War II and served as a court martial clerk. He then graduated from Officer Candidate School and was assigned to the war crime trials in Japan. After discharge from the army, he returned to Darlington and Want’s law practice, leaving it to open his own office upon Want’s death in December 1953. When the Rogols moved to Darlington, there were established Jewish congregations in Darlington and Florence (about ten miles to the southeast), but neither had a building. Sam and Lillian tended to go to Florence for services since the congregation had a younger membership. Sam observes that after World War II ended, the city of Florence expanded—and with it the Jewish population—while the Darlington congregation began to shrink. When Florence’s Beth Israel built a synagogue in 1949, the Rogols joined the congregation. Sam remarks on the status of the congregation at the time of the interview and discusses his involvement in civic affairs in and around Darlington, noting he has not experienced antisemitism. Sam talks about his son, Marshall, and daughter, Martha, and Lillian’s illness that led to her death in 1974. Sam’s second wife, Beatrice “Bea” Katz Sodden Rogol, who joins him for a portion of the interview, is Lillian’s cousin. The interviewee comments on the Darlington school system and the degree to which it remains segregated. Regarding Jewish involvement in civil rights: “We Jews kept quiet. We didn’t stick our neck out for the blacks.”
