Jewish Heritage Collection: Oral history interview with Melvin Solomon, Judith Mendell Solomon, Naomi Solomon Friedman, Morris Friedman, and Frances Solomon Jacobson
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- Title:
- Jewish Heritage Collection: Oral history interview with Melvin Solomon, Judith Mendell Solomon, Naomi Solomon Friedman, Morris Friedman, and Frances Solomon Jacobson
- Date:
- 1996
- Interviewer:
- Rosengarten, Dale, 1948-
- Interviewee:
- Solomon, Melvin, 1919-2009;Solomon, Judith Mendell, 1925-2011;Friedman, Naomi Solomon, 1914-2003;Friedman, Morris, 1914-;Jacobson, Frances Solomon, 1921-2008
- Description:
- Siblings Melvin Solomon, Frances Solomon Jacobson, and Naomi Solomon Friedman—three of five children of Sophie Prystowsky and Sam Solomon — are joined in this interview by Melvin’s wife, Judith Mendell Solomon, and Naomi’s husband, Morris Friedman. Sam Solomon (Checzewski was the family name) immigrated to the United States in 1902 from Zabludow, Russia. After working for a time in New York, Sam moved to Charleston, South Carolina, following the Prystowsky family, friends from the Old Country. He opened a wholesale dry goods store that offered credit to peddlers, and married Sophie Prystowsky. The siblings and their spouses tell stories that impart a sense of daily life, including descriptions of Sam and Sophie, various Prystowsky family members, and the African Americans who worked for them at home and in the store. For decades, Sam employed a black man in his business who learned to speak Yiddish with the customers. Melvin, Frances, and Naomi grew up on St. Philip Street, surrounded by cousins and other Jewish families. To escape the heat of the city, they spent summers at their beach house on Sullivan’s Island. They recall Joseph “Jew Joe” Truere, the Mazo family, and gathering minyans on demand in Sam’s King Street store. Melvin talks briefly about Brith Sholom and Beth Israel, the two Orthodox synagogues, before their merger, and the formation of Emanu-El, the Conservative congregation, in the mid-1950s. Judith, a New Jersey native who was not raised in a kosher household, describes her experiences as a new bride, trying to follow the rules of kashrut in the South. Morris and Naomi discuss the circumstances of their marriage and how their mothers’ points of view differed. Note: for related collections, see the Prystowsky-Feldman family papers, Mss. 1016, and the Solomon-Prystowsky family papers, Mss. 1013. See also interviews with Gertrude Sosnick Solomon (Mss. 1035-188 and Mss. 1035-193) and Shirley Feldman Prystowsky (Mss. 1035-508).
- Collection Title:
- Jewish Heritage Collection Oral Histories
- Contributing Institution:
- College of Charleston Libraries
- Media Type:
- Oral Histories
- Topical Subject:
- Jewish merchants--South Carolina--Charleston--History, Jews--South Carolina--Charleston--Religious life, Jews--South Carolina--Charleston--Interviews, Jewish Sects--South Carolina--Charleston--History, and Jews--South Carolina--Charleston--Social life and customs
- S.C. County:
- Charleston County (S.C.)
- Language:
- English
- Shelving Locator:
- MSS 1035-073
- Date Digital:
- 2012-02-15
- Digitization Specifications:
- Mp3 derivative audio created with Audacity software. Archival masters are wav files.
- Format:
- audio/mpeg
- Copyright Status Statement:
- Copyright ? College of Charleston Libraries.
- Access Statement:
- All rights reserved.
- Access Information:
- For more information contact Special Collections at Addlestone Library, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, 29424.
- Admin ID:
- 246446
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