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52. Jewish Heritage Collection: Oral history interview with Ruth Barnett Kaye
- Date:
- 6/14/1996
- Description:
- Ruth Kaye, born in 1913, grew up in Sumter, South Carolina, the granddaughter of Estonian immigrant, B. J. Barnett who fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War. The Barnetts became landowners and cotton farmers, and ran a general store. Ruth’s mother, Emma Klein, was born in Hungary and raised in Pennsylvania and New York. Ruth recounts her family history on both sides, and describes her visits with the New York Kleins.
53. Jewish Heritage Collection: Oral history interview with Barry Draisen and Ellen Cherkas Draisen
- Date:
- 6/19/2010
- Description:
- Barry Draisen was raised in post-World War II Anderson, South Carolina, where his parents owned a jewelry and music store. After working in several states as an engineer for General Electric, he returned to his hometown with his wife, Ellen Cherkas of Atlanta, to help run the family business. The couple decided to remain in Anderson where they took over the store, raised their children, and became active members and leaders of Temple B’nai Israel.
54. Jewish Heritage Collection: Oral history interview with Doris Lerner Baumgarten
- Date:
- 12/4/2006
- Description:
- Doris Baumgarten tells the story of how her husband, Peter, and his family escaped Vienna in 1939 after the Nazi occupation of Austria. Peter and his brother, Hans, left on the Kindertransport and were taken in at a boarding school in Bournemouth, England. Their mother worked in London as a maid, but was able to join her boys in Bournemouth when the school hired her to clean their facilities. Their father was in Sweden during the German annexation and was unable to return to Vienna because of an invalid passport. Instead, he made his way to New York, arriving in the United States a year before his wife and children.
55. "People Are Such 'Beautiful Things'"
- Description:
- Transcriptions of Rabbi Padoll’s typewritten and handwritten sermons and addresses from his various rabbinates, including Charleston’s Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim. A civil rights advocate, Padoll discusses ongoing struggles for social justice, contemporary events such as the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, and parables related to the Sabbath and holiday celebrations. Padoll stored his sermons in nine binders, and the transcriptions reflect this original order. Burton L. Padoll (1929-2004), was born to Leah and Charles Padoll in Canton, Ohio. Padoll attended the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was ordained in 1957 and received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity in 1982. After his ordination, Padoll served as assistant rabbi in Brookline, Massachusetts. In 1961, Padoll took a position as rabbi of Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim (KKBE) in Charleston, South Carolina, where he served for six years. During this time, Padoll strongly advocated for civil rights and criticized Charleston's Jewish community for their failure to aid the struggle for racial equality. After leaving Charleston in 1967, Padoll moved to Peabody, Massachusetts, where he became the rabbi of Temple Beth Shalom in 1969 until his retirement in 1989. Padoll lived in Mount Jackson, Virginia, until his death in 2004.
56. "What Are The Things That Make Life Beautiful?"
- Description:
- Transcriptions of Rabbi Padoll’s typewritten and handwritten sermons and addresses from his various rabbinates, including Charleston’s Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim. A civil rights advocate, Padoll discusses ongoing struggles for social justice, contemporary events such as the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, and parables related to the Sabbath and holiday celebrations. Padoll stored his sermons in nine binders, and the transcriptions reflect this original order. Burton L. Padoll (1929-2004), was born to Leah and Charles Padoll in Canton, Ohio. Padoll attended the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was ordained in 1957 and received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity in 1982. After his ordination, Padoll served as assistant rabbi in Brookline, Massachusetts. In 1961, Padoll took a position as rabbi of Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim (KKBE) in Charleston, South Carolina, where he served for six years. During this time, Padoll strongly advocated for civil rights and criticized Charleston's Jewish community for their failure to aid the struggle for racial equality. After leaving Charleston in 1967, Padoll moved to Peabody, Massachusetts, where he became the rabbi of Temple Beth Shalom in 1969 until his retirement in 1989. Padoll lived in Mount Jackson, Virginia, until his death in 2004.
57. Jewish Heritage Collection: Oral history interview with Sophia Marie Friedheim Beers
- Date:
- 9/22/1999
- Description:
- Born in 1927, Sophia Marie Friedheim Beers was raised in the Protestant faith in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Her grandfather Arnold Friedheim, a German Jewish immigrant, settled in the town after the Civil War. His brother, Julius, followed him to Rock Hill and together they ran A. Friedheim and Brother. The department store, which supplied uniforms to Winthrop College students, closed its doors in 1964 after nearly a century in business. Sophia recounts the story of her cousins, the Schwartzes, who escaped Nazi Germany in 1938 and came to Rock Hill.
58. Jewish Heritage Collection: Oral history interview with Helen Laufer Berle
- Date:
- 11/19/1998
- Description:
- Helen Berle, a daughter of Harry and Tillie Hufeizen Laufer, immigrants from Mogelnitsa, Poland, reminisces about her parents’ business, Laufer’s Kosher Restaurant on King Street in Charleston, South Carolina. Popular among local merchants and military servicemen stationed in Charleston and Beaufort, the eatery served Jews and non-Jews for about two decades beginning in the early 1930s. Berle describes some of the kosher-style dishes that Jews from the Old Country brought with them to America. “Everything was just good, plain, old, basic cooking. . . . I think seasoning had a lot to do with it.” While blacks could not eat at Laufer’s, they were hired to work in the kitchen, and she recalls that the relationship between members of the Jewish and black communities of Charleston were good in the years before the Civil Rights Movement. She briefly mentions a branch of her mother’s family, the Hufeisens of France, who were also in the restaurant business. Note: the transcript contains additions and corrections made by Helen during proofing.
59. Jewish Heritage Collection: Oral history interview with Henry Berlin
- Date:
- 2/13/1997
- Description:
- In this brief interview, Henry Berlin, a son of Charleston, South Carolina, natives Sam and Bertie Livingstain Berlin, describes growing up in the coastal city where his grandfather, Henry Berlinsky, a Polish immigrant, opened a dry goods store on lower King Street in the 1880s. The family name was changed from Berlinsky to Berlin when Sam Berlin and his brother took over the store. Their father, an observant Jew, did not want his name to be associated with a business that opened on the Sabbath. Sam was active in political and civic affairs, and was one of the first Jewish Charlestonians to become a member of the St. Andrews Society, a charitable organization. A big sports fan, he owned Charleston minor league baseball teams and supported local boxing matches. Henry notes that they were one of the few Jewish families living south of Broad Street and, as a result, most of his friends were gentiles. Nevertheless, the Berlins attended the Orthodox synagogue Brith Sholom, and Sam led the effort to merge Brith Sholom and Beth Israel. Henry mentions the split that occurred prior to the merger, resulting in the creation of Emanu-El, Charleston’s Conservative congregation. Note: the transcript contains additions and corrections made by Henry during proofing.
60. Jewish Heritage Collection: Oral history interview with Judith Draisen Glassman and Bernice Draisen Goldman
- Date:
- 6/19/2010
- Description:
- Judith Glassman and Bernice Goldman, daughters of Hyman and Eunice Poliakoff Draisen, share memories of growing up in the 1950s in Anderson, South Carolina. Among the topics they discuss are the familys music business, their religious training, and the anti-Semitism they encountered. They also describe their careers and immediate families.