Raymond Lifchez was born in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1932, to Jennie Burkom and Isaac Lifchez. He talks about his two older sisters and growing up in the capital city where his father ran Liberty Loan and Luggage on Main Street. Raymond did not feel very connected to the Jewish community in Columbia, although the Lifchezes were members of the Orthodox synagogue, House of Peace. After his mother, Jennie, died, Raymond, only nine years old, became very close to his neighbor Lula Belle Campbell, and they remained lifelong friends. As a teen, he began to notice instances of antisemitism and remembers feeling frightened by stories of Jews being rounded up by the Nazis in Europe. Raymond earned his architecture degree from the University of Florida and taught at Columbia University in New York City as a graduate student. He met his wife, Judith Lee Stronach, at Columbia; they married in 1967 and moved to California three years later. He joined the faculty at University of California, Berkeley, which, he notes, "was one of the first schools to really open its doors to the disabled." He describes his work in architectural accessibility. The interviewee discusses aspects of his spirituality, including the appeal of Sufism, his return to Judaism, and his attendance at a number of churches and synagogues. He offers his view of American Jews and how he sees himself in terms of his Jewish identity.
