Faith and Antisemitism

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“Yes! My family was very Jewish. Although my father had the highest Jewish education, he graduated from one of the finest religious schools in Europe called the Yeshiva. But, for business reasons, except for the high holidays, that’s the only time he would close the store.”   

“Well, we knew antisemitism existed.  When we were six or seven years old, we moved to a different neighborhood with the rest of the majority of Jewish families. And it was a mixed neighborhood.  Most of the non-Jewish homeowners and renters were Southern Baptists. But everybody seemed to get along fine. So, [we] never experienced anything antisemitic in that neighborhood that I remember. And there were reasons for it, because we lived close to the synagogue, and had there been, there would have been some kind of activity in that neighborhood, but it wasn't. My twin brother and my best friend, Clayton Johnston, his family was not Jewish. His father, especially, was a very nice, but hard on his children type father. And he let it be known that he would not put up with anything that resembled antisemitism.  He had a dry-cleaning agency, he had a lot of Jewish customers, and maybe that was a reason why it was a great experience. One thing our mother reminded us that I remember very well, and she told my older brother and myself and my twin brother, that when we were out and about, we would go downtown on Saturday to a movie. She said, 'when you're walking, just remember, you do not represent only yourself, but you represent all Jewish people in the area.  

Because if you do something wrong, it's going to be a reflection not only on you, but all the Jewish neighbors as well. We were always on our best behavior anyway, but that reinforced, the way we conducted ourselves.'”