Jewish Heritage Collection: Oral history interview with Leila Rosenfeld Einstein
Date:
2014
Interviewer:
Rosengarten, Dale, 1948-;Rosenblum, Sandra Lee Kahn
Interviewee:
Einstein, Leila Rosenfeld, 1936-
Description:
Leila "Sugie" Rosenfeld Einstein, born in Asheville, North Carolina, in 1936, grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, at a time when there were few Jewish youth in the small Upcountry city. One of three children of Cyvia Shapero and William Rosenfeld, Leila talks about her childhood. Her family belonged to Congregation Beth Israel, the Orthodox synagogue that later affiliated with the Conservative Movement. She attended Women's College in North Carolina for a year, then transferred to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where she met her husband, Nathan Einstein. They married in 1957 and raised three sons in Greenville. Nathan joined Leila's father in his business, William Rosenfeld Insurance, and later, with their son Dan, formed a new insurance company, Rosenfeld Einstein. The interviewee discusses several aspects of Greenville's organized Jewish community, including cemetery upkeep and changes in practices at Temple of Israel, Greenville's Reform synagogue (she and her husband are members of Temple of Israel and Congregation Beth Israel). She considers the possibility of a merger of the two congregations, a topic that has been raised among members of both groups in the past. Einstein and interviewer Sandra Lee Rosenblum describe the effect Chabad's presence has had on the Jewish community in their respective cities of Greenville and Charleston. Leila recounts her impression of events surrounding Autherine Lucy's enrollment as the first black student at the University of Alabama.
Leila Rosenfeld Einstein, audio interview by Dale Rosengarten and Sandra Lee Kahn Rosenblum, 10 July 2014, Mss 1035-401, Special Collections, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, USA.
Personal or Corporate Subject:
Beth Israel (Greenville, S.C.), Temple of Israel (Greenville, S.C.), Habad--South Carolina
