{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/m61bk18v7n/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Fabian Schonfeld Oral History"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/010/original/Aviary_QPLlogo_192x192.png?1578574261","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eRabbi Fabian Schonfeld (1923-2020) brought enormous benefits to his local community in Queens, and the Jewish world at large, and his connection to Yeshiva University ran deep throughout his life. He lived in two distinct worlds—that of “Old World,” pre-war Poland, where he was deeply influenced by Chassidic rebbes, and that of modern, post-war America. He worked as a youth director in a New York synagogue and taught at Yeshivah Zichron Moshe in the Bronx.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough he was offered a position as rabbi in a large congregation in Worcester, Massachusetts, he turned it down in favor of a new, unheard-of synagogue that barely brought together a minyan in a basement in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens. From a small core group in 1953, when he assumed the rabbinate, the congregation, later named Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, numbered 800 members by 1955. He was heavily involved in the national Orthodox organizations. He was president of the Rabbinical Council of America; president of Yeshiva University’s Rabbinical Alumni association; played many roles in the Young Israel movement; led the Orthodox Union kashrut division; and served as chairman of Poalei Agudas Yisrael of America.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHis local involvement led him to establish the Queens Vaad Harabbonim, or rabbinical council, while owing to his prominence on the national stage he gave the invocation at the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas before President Ronald Reagan.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn this series of interviews conducted in the last years of his life, Rabbi Fabian speaks primarily about the beginnings of the Jewish community in Kew Gardens Hills in the early 1950s and the expansion of amenities for Jewish life there over the next several decades. He also speaks about emigrating to the United States from England and studying for rabbinical ordination at Yeshiva University.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNovember 27, 2017 interview\u003c/strong\u003e:\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn the first of three interviews, Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld speaks briefly about his life in England before coming to the U.S. in 1950. He talks about what the Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, neighborhood was like when he arrived. He discusses his studies for rabbinical ordination at Yeshiva University, his stint as a teacher at an afternoon Hebrew School in Great Neck, becoming the first Rabbi of Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills (the synagogue for which he was the Rabbi for 60 years) and other job possibilities he had then, as well as bringing Jewish amenities to Kew Gardens Hills.\u003cbr\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFebruary 5, 2018 interview\u003c/strong\u003e:\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn the second of three interviews, Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld discusses the Hebrew School of Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills and the families who sent their children there. He also discusses the Conservative movement in Judaism at the time and its differences with Orthodoxy, using the Jewish Center of Kew Gardens Hills and its Rabbi, I. Usher Kirshblum, as an example.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMarch 20, 2018 interview\u003c/strong\u003e:\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn the last of a series of three interviews conducted with Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld, he speaks about Jewish life in the Kew Gardens Hills neighborhood in the 1950s and 1960s. He focuses on the kosher stores (particularly butcher shops and Sam Brach, who became the owner of the largest shop), the building of the Kew Gardens Hills mikveh, the founding of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens, and the construction of the Kew Gardens Hills eruv and its effect on the growth of Jewish Life in the neighborhood.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePhoto\u003c/strong\u003e: Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld, late 1990s. Photo courtesy of Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eRabbi Fabian Schonfeld received the posthumous honor of a street co-naming at the intersection of 150th Street and 70th Road in Flushing. To learn more about Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld Way, visit \u003ca href=\"https://nameexplorer.urbanarchive.org/pr/nameexplorer/post/697c0f06-9bf8-45bb-8325-0dc41b012b71\"\u003ehttps://nameexplorer.urbanarchive.org/pr/nameexplorer/post/697c0f06-9bf8-45bb-8325-0dc41b012b71\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e (supplement)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eCC BY-NC-SA Contact digitalarchives@queenslibrary.org for research and reproduction requests.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2017-11-27 (created)","2018-02-05 (created)","2018-03-20 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Type"]},"value":{"en":["Audio"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["Fabian Schonfeld (Interviewee)","Rebecca Rushfield (Interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Coverage"]},"value":{"en":["1923-2018 (temporal)","Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, NY; England (spatial)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eRabbi Fabian Schonfeld (1923-2020) brought enormous benefits to his local community in Queens, and the Jewish world at large, and his connection to Yeshiva University ran deep throughout his life. He lived in two distinct worlds\u0026mdash;that of \u0026ldquo;Old World,\u0026rdquo; pre-war Poland, where he was deeply influenced by Chassidic rebbes, and that of modern, post-war America. He worked as a youth director in a New York synagogue and taught at Yeshivah Zichron Moshe in the Bronx.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough he was offered a position as rabbi in a large congregation in Worcester, Massachusetts, he turned it down in favor of a new, unheard-of synagogue that barely brought together a minyan in a basement in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens. From a small core group in 1953, when he assumed the rabbinate, the congregation, later named Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, numbered 800 members by 1955. He was heavily involved in the national Orthodox organizations. He was president of the Rabbinical Council of America; president of Yeshiva University\u0026rsquo;s Rabbinical Alumni association; played many roles in the Young Israel movement; led the Orthodox Union kashrut division; and served as chairman of Poalei Agudas Yisrael of America.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHis local involvement led him to establish the Queens Vaad Harabbonim, or rabbinical council, while owing to his prominence on the national stage he gave the invocation at the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas before President Ronald Reagan.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn this series of interviews conducted in the last years of his life, Rabbi Fabian speaks primarily about the beginnings of the Jewish community in Kew Gardens Hills in the early 1950s and the expansion of amenities for Jewish life there over the next several decades. He also speaks about emigrating to the United States from England and studying for rabbinical ordination at Yeshiva University.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNovember 27, 2017 interview\u003c/strong\u003e:\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn the first of three interviews, Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld speaks briefly about his life in England before coming to the U.S. in 1950. He talks about what the Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, neighborhood was like when he arrived. He discusses his studies for rabbinical ordination at Yeshiva University, his stint as a teacher at an afternoon Hebrew School in Great Neck, becoming the first Rabbi of Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills (the synagogue for which he was the Rabbi for 60 years) and other job possibilities he had then, as well as bringing Jewish amenities to Kew Gardens Hills.\u003cbr /\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFebruary 5, 2018 interview\u003c/strong\u003e:\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn the second of three interviews, Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld discusses the Hebrew School of Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills and the families who sent their children there. He also discusses the Conservative movement in Judaism at the time and its differences with Orthodoxy, using the Jewish Center of Kew Gardens Hills and its Rabbi, I. Usher Kirshblum, as an example.\u003cbr /\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMarch 20, 2018 interview\u003c/strong\u003e:\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn the last of a series of three interviews conducted with Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld, he speaks about Jewish life in the Kew Gardens Hills neighborhood in the 1950s and 1960s. He focuses on the kosher stores (particularly butcher shops and Sam Brach, who became the owner of the largest shop), the building of the Kew Gardens Hills mikveh, the founding of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens, and the construction of the Kew Gardens Hills eruv and its effect on the growth of Jewish Life in the neighborhood.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePhoto\u003c/strong\u003e: Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld, late 1990s. Photo courtesy of Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eRabbi Fabian Schonfeld received the posthumous honor of a street co-naming at the intersection of 150th Street and 70th Road in Flushing. To learn more about Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld Way, visit \u003ca href=\"https://nameexplorer.urbanarchive.org/pr/nameexplorer/post/697c0f06-9bf8-45bb-8325-0dc41b012b71\"\u003ehttps://nameexplorer.urbanarchive.org/pr/nameexplorer/post/697c0f06-9bf8-45bb-8325-0dc41b012b71\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e"]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eCC BY-NC-SA Contact digitalarchives@queenslibrary.org for research and reproduction requests.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Queens Public Library"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Queens Public Library"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/010/original/Aviary_QPLlogo_192x192.png?1578574261","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/308/176/small/schonfeld_fabian_portrait_resized.jpg?1778697526","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 3 - schonfeld_fabian_20171127_edit.mp3"]},"duration":2054.736,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/308/176/small/schonfeld_fabian_portrait_resized.jpg?1778697526","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-queenslibrary.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/308/176/original/schonfeld_fabian_20171127_edit.mp3?1777582787","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":2054.736,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Full Transcript (November 27, 2017) [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW WITH RABBI FABIAN SCHONFELD CONDUCTED BY REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT ON MONDAY NOVEMBER 27, 2017 AT 3 PM AT HIS HOME IN KEW GARDENS HILLS ON 153RD STREET. HIS DAUGHTER GEORGIE LONDON SAT IN FOR PART OF THE INTERVIEW.\n\nTRANSCRIPTION BEGIN","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=0.0,4.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: I’m here with Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld. It’s Monday November 27th and I’m going to ask him about the history of Kew Gardens Hills and the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills. I’m wondering. Where did you live before you came to Kew Gardens Hills?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=4.0,28.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: In London.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=28.0,30.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: London. So you came straight from London to Queens.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=30.0,33.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: More or less.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=33.0,35.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Now your parents were here first or you came first?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=35.0,37.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: My parents came first.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=37.0,39.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: What brought them to Kew Gardens Hills? What brought them here to Queens?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=39.0,45.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Well they lived in England and had family here. My father’s family. And in England he couldn’t really find a place for himself in terms of work. His work was mostly intellectual. He was Secretary of the European Agudah. Which in those days was a big organization. Then he came here and he finally decided that working for the Jewish Community is not going to give him parnassah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=45.0,80.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Ah, so what did he do here?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=80.0,84.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Well in England towards the end, he worked for a printing company. A type, a linotype setter.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=84.0,97.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Oh, linotype?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=97.0,98.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Linotype. For a Jewish newspaper. A Jewish printer. Called Narod. N-A_R-O-D. [Note: THE NAROD PRESS, 129-131 Bedford St, London E1] And then he decided to try maybe in America he would find it. Lots of family here.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=98.0,120.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Anyone was living in Queens?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=120.0,123.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: No. They were living in Manhattan and in Brooklyn.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=123.0,126.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Because I think of Queens as being kind of empty then.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=126.0,129.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: And they, cousins of his, lived in Manhattan. At that time, the end of Queens really was what’s today 150th Street. The rest was all—this house—potato fields.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=129.0,149.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: I think some golf courses and things.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=149.0,151.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: The Pomonok Golf Course. That’s where the housing [New York City Housing Authority project] is right now. It was all wild, untamed land. And then he and my mother decided to find some kind of work. A cousin of his was in the jewelry business. Another was in the printing business. So he was able to get a job. And then, he wasn’t really at home in his field which was community work. But he never got into it except on a voluntary basis. And so they moved here. And my brother and I had decided to make aliyah. We were in England. I founded the Poale Agudah Youth Movement. I worked together with the Mizrachi organization youth groups. Bnei Akiva.  At that time, I was a youngster so to speak.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=151.0,233.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: So you were not married yet.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=233.0,235.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: No. No. I got married in London. I met my wife, A”H, in the summer camp. We were counselors at the camp. And in London, we gave birth to two children-- Aviva and Vicki. Aviva was born in Windsor. Why? Because during the War the Germans blitzed London with bombs every night so during the nighttime people used to go down to the subway, called the Underground. The trains were cut off and they even slept on the rails with mattresses. That sort of thing.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=235.0,280.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: And then… cousins of his went into the real estate business. So they said, “Come along. I’ll lend you some money. And you’ll invest it. And you’ll pay me back if and when.” And that’s what they did. The Schreiber family. So then we came. My brother and I decided to go on aliyah. And my parents were not happy. In those years…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=280.0,316.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: It was hard.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=316.0,317.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Israel just got started. Israel was itself economically not viable. So my brother and I agreed that my parents should go to Israel and see what was going on there. Before we decide. We decided to go anyway. But we wouldn’t leave our parents. So finally, we came to America. Following my parents.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=317.0,343.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: This is what? 1950ish?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=343.0,345.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: 1950. I came to America. I came to America with three children.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=345.0,354.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"GEORGIE LONDON: No.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=354.0,356.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Two. Vicki and Aviva.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=356.0,357.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Right. Joey was born here.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=357.0,361.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Joey was born here. You think I remember all these things?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=361.0,364.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: [laughs] But what was Kew Gardens Hills like? You moved to Kew Gardens Hills?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=364.0,367.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: I have an old rule. I’ve been interviewed hundreds of times. If you don’t know, fabricate.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=367.0,374.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: [laughing] Okay.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=374.0,376.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: But I’m not fabricating to you.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=376.0,378.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Okay. But when you moved, you moved straight to Kew Gardens Hills? You were living?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=378.0,383.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Moved straight to Kew Gardens Hills because my parents. At that time 150th Street and Melbourne where you live was all potato fields.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=383.0,394.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: So where did they live there?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=394.0,397.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: And then somebody bought the land and put up housing. Where you live today and others. There was big farm called-- on the corner where we put up the shul—Campbell. Campbell Farm.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=397.0,412.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: That’s where the shul is.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=412.0,414.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Where the shul is today. It was empty. And then there was a little white house there. Your father would have remembered it. We had another small building.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=414.0,430.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Right. I remember there were two small buildings in the, that lot.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=430.0,433.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: A shed to keep coal in. And the other was office, school. We had a lot of children.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=433.0,442.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: So, can I ask you a question? It was all potato fields and whatever. So there was nothing where Kissena Boulevard is? It was all just… fields. And Main Street though, had some stores?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=442.0,454.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Main Street looked the way Main Street. Not much traffic. You could walk in the street and the cars would stop for you.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=454.0,463.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: So who was living here then? Was it soldiers who after World War II who needed housing.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=463.0,469.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: There was the famous, the GI Bill of Rights. Mostly when the soldiers were discharged, they got mortgages and then the housing started to go up. The garden apartments and private houses. People started moving in.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=469.0,485.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/47","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Because I remember Mr. Zellner, Milton Zellner saying once that when he first got married  they lived in a Quonset hut like in Flushing Meadows P ark. There were Quonset huts there. Waiting for things to be built.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=485.0,501.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/48","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Today, it’s a soccer field. Anyway, so we came here, my wife and the two kids.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=501.0,509.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/49","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Right. Now did you come here to get a job in the rabbinate?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=509.0,512.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/50","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: I decided. Don’t forget, in England I was a high school teacher. For a Jewish high school. And I taught Chumash, Gemorah, French, Latin. I took Latin in college in London. I forgot most of it. And Greek. Greek I can’t even read any more. My Latin is so-so. I’d never pass an exam today. But I had decided while still in England to enter the teaching profession or the rabbinic profession. I had a very good old friend of mine from England who lived in America before named Izzy Krieger. The famous butcher store in Washington Heights—Krieger and Sasson. That’s when the Breuer kehilah was just coming up.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=512.0,569.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/51","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Anyway, so we came here. I entered Yeshiva University. Since I already had my academic degree from the University of London… The University of London had a system which some universities have with an Honors Degree and a General Degree. Honors degree you had to pick one subject—let’s say French. In addition, you had to have two other topics and you had to qualify in all three. You stressed the honor. I was advised by educators if you want to enter the teaching profession, it pays to have a general degree. In that degree, you took three topics, three departments. The Honors Degree was more for scholars where they go up to the masters or PhD. I knew I was going to work as a teacher. So I had a General Degree in French, German and Hebrew.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=569.0,643.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/52","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: But I also had decided that I was going to go to Yeshiva University. In England, I had been a rabbi in a small shul. What’s interesting is, England, no school gave you the title, yeshiva-- “Rabbi”. Because the Chief Rabbis of England many years before that, the Adler Family, said “no rabbinic degrees are given to anybody. There’s one Chief Rabbi. Nathan Adler and Marcus Adler. The shuls were served by they called “Ministers”. You’d get a certificate of Minister, Religious Minister. You could learn for semicha but you couldn’t get semicha. Rabbis wouldn’t bother to get semicha.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=643.0,700.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/53","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: So when you came here and you went to Yeshiva University, were you learning full time? Or were you working as a teacher?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=700.0,708.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/54","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: That’s a good question. Yeshiva University. I was married. I had two children already. Three. As Joey was born later on. I needed to make a living. My parents weren’t making enough to support me. However, they bought a house—147-56 70th Road—across the street from where YCQ is today. At that time it was a…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=708.0,736.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/55","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: YCQ was greenhouses?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=736.0,739.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/56","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Greenhouses. Correct. Correct. And the houses across the street. My aunt’s two other friends bought the house. It was a three family house. Starting  as you walked in. First floor. And second floor.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=739.0,761.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/57","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: So were you living in one floor of that house?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=761.0,766.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/58","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Meanwhile, my mother had died and my father was alone. My wife A”H and I decided to move in with him to keep house for him. Meanwhile, I went to Yeshiva University. She ran the house. My father at that time had gone into the real estate business. Sort of. Made enough to support himself and us.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=766.0,798.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/59","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: When you went to YU, did you right away get into Rabbi Soloveichik’s shiur?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=798.0,803.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/60","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: That’s a good question. When I went to YU, I already had the minister’s certificate. And I came in to see Dr. Belkin, the President, who had never seen me before. Did I see him before? I heard of him. Came in. I said, “Look. I come from England. I did this and the other. I’d like to get semicha and become a student at YU. I showed him letters of recommendation I had from rabbonim in England. We spent an hour together talking. And apparently I made a good impression to him. He made a good impression on me. We sort of hit it off right then and there. He said, ”You know, become a student here. We’ll find a job for you. Part-time job.” Which they did for many students. Many students came from Europe. Had gone through the War. Had no chance to get any education. So they had to get a job. So, I got a job. I was accepted by YU and was put into the shiur of Rabbi Dovid Lipschitz. A very fine man. He had letters of recommendation from rabbis in England who he knew. So Dr. Belkin said, “Look, you’ll. We’ll accept you as a student.” No formalities. They accepted you as a student. And you have letters of recommendation from rabbonim in England. I’m assigning you to Rabbi Dovid Lipschitz. Rabbi Dovid Lipschitz was the first year semicha shiur. I said, fine. And he said, “Anything else I can do for you?” I said, “Yes. I was hoping to get into Rabbi Soloveichik’s shiur.” We’d heard of it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=803.0,929.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/61","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Mendel Zacks, the son-in-law of the Chofetz Chaim, was in charge of assigning students to shiur. I said to him, “Reb Mendel, I want to be in the shiur of Rabbi Soloveichik.” He said, “Okay.” So they assigned me to the shiur of Rav Soloveichik, but in the afternoon, I didn’t have to go to the college. I had a degree already from the University of London. I didn’t have to get one from YU. I wanted semicha. So, the next few years, I was in the shiur of Rav Soloveichik. Officially for almost three years. Unofficially, for the rest of my life and his life. So then I got a job. Assigned to teach in a yeshiva in the Bronx. Zichron Moshe, I think it was called. They were looking for teachers. I went to Rav Soloveichik’s shiur and Rav Dovid Lipchitz’s shiur.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=929.0,1004.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/62","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Oh, so you went to both shiurs.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1004.0,1006.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/63","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Tuesday and Thursday. And Monday and Wednesday. Then, after yeshiva I taught in the afternoon. In fact, there are one or two people in shul who were students of mine in the yeshiva in the Bronx. So then I got this job in Great Neck. Temple Israel of Great Neck was looking for an Assistant Principal in the Hebrew School and for Youth Director.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1006.0,1042.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/64","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: And this is about what year? This is all happening together quickly?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1042.0,1046.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/65","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: All together quickly. I came to Great Neck. I didn’t know much about the Reform, Conservative. In England, either you were Orthodox or nothing.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1046.0,1060.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/66","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Right. I know. Michael says in South Africa that’s what it was.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1060.0,1063.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/67","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: They had one Jewish school for the liberal Jews which was Reform. Another school called Jews Free School. There were three or four schools in all. The English Jewish population wasn’t that big.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1063.0,1081.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/68","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Right. So at Temple…?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1081.0,1085.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/69","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: So I got this job as Assistant Principal in the Hebrew School and Director of Youth Activities. At that time, the Jews in Great Neck were very wealthy Jews who originally came from the Bronx and other places. And the rabbi there was a man called [Mordecai] Waxman. His father [Meyer Waxman] was professor of Hebrew literature at the Chicago yeshiva [Hebrew Theological College]. Anyway, I started working there as Youth Director. We were living in my father’s house across the street from YCQ. And it went on for a little while. Then, I was saying Kaddish for my mother. The only place where you could find a minyan was the Jewish Center on Main Street. I went there during the week. Shabbos we went to Rabbi Gelernter’s stiebel which was on the other side of Parsons. By the time we came, he moved closer to 78th. So Shabbos we davened there. And they had about twenty people. And during the week, I davened at the Jewish Center.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1085.0,1165.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/70","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: And Rabbi Kirshblum was there then?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1165.0,1167.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/71","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Kirshblum’s original center was on Park Drive East. Then they moved onto Main Street and he started the Jewish Center of Kew Gardens Hills. Being a capable, personable man, Rabbi Kirshblum, and personally frum, the Jewish Center became THE center in Kew Gardens Hills. They had twelve to thirteen hundred families. That was the time when the Jews who historically lived in the Bronx and in Brooklyn, East New York…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1167.0,1206.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/72","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Moved here.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1206.0,1207.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/73","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Who had a pretty good Jewish background—but not strong enough. But this was the only game in town during the week. Shabbos we went to Rabbi Gelernter.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1207.0,1222.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/74","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: So when did people start to want to start Young Israel?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1222.0,1226.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/75","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Okay. Now, two or three years before, a few people not here anymore, Moshe Propp and others, said let’s build, have a Young Israel. This is the right place and time. It failed after a few weeks. Couldn’t get a minyan. And when I came, I remember one Shabbos in Rabbi Gelernter’s shul. Simchas Torah. I met Leon Blatt. And Leon Blatt and I hit it off right away. He said, “You know, maybe we should start a Young Israel again.  And I was at YU in the semicha program. Just the right kind of a person at the time. That’s how they got started.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1226.0,1279.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/76","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: I know Nat Saperstein was one.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1279.0,1281.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/77","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Nat Saperstein was among those. There were eleven families interested. One was the Lopatas. Simon—not his parents. Dave Lyman. There were about a dozen people. So where are we going to daven? The Sapersteins-- in an incredible act of … vision-- had a basement and that basement became the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills. That time the National Council—your father would have remembered—was a very important organization. Today it’s not. Today, it’s what it is. So we started Shabbos Bereshis.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1281.0,1334.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/78","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: 1951? I think.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1334.0,1336.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/79","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: 1951. So we davened in Nat Saperstein’s basement. I acted as the unpaid rabbi. I didn’t have semicha yet. This was six months before. We had a little shul. We davened Shabbos in the morning only. The minyan. We started some activities. The rest is history.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1336.0,1367.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/80","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: And Kew Gardens Hills then. I mean was getting more built up.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1367.0,1370.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/81","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: More built up.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1370.0,1371.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/82","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: More people were coming.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1371.0,1373.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/83","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: More people were coming. And the people who were coming in were two kinds. Actually three. Some Chassidic people. Not many. They davened in Rabbi Gelernter. Then we had the average American Jew who knew he was Jewish. Yom Kippur. Maybe Shabbos once in a while. But they wanted their children to be Jewish and needed a Hebrew school. And the Hebrew school of the Jewish Center was either too far for them or they didn’t want it in the Conservative temple. They weren’t Orthodox, but still the name. So we decided. I got semicha then.’52.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1373.0,1422.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/84","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Now, it was a given that you were going to stay and be a rabbi here?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1422.0,1426.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/85","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Well, be a rabbi, but the question is where. When I got semicha, Yeshiva University wanted to send me to Portland, Oregon.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1426.0,1436.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/86","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Oh gosh.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1436.0,1438.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/87","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: There’s a nice Jewish community. They needed a young rabbi. I don’t know if it really had…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1438.0,1444.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/88","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: You’d be far from your father.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1444.0,1446.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/89","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Exactly. At that time we had started the Young Israel. My father said, “Look. This Young Israel is not going to go anywhere. It’s too small. You go to Portland. Portland has Jews.” I didn’t want, thank G-d. My father didn’t have confidence that a handful of people could make a shul. So we had to buy some. We had to put up a building to begin with. The early years, we used the big shul of today you had a basement with an office, but we tried out best. But we worked very hard to get someplace.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1446.0,1487.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/90","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: I guess by the time you built the big building, there were more families.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1487.0,1491.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/91","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: It was built in 1956.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1491.0,1494.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/92","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: There were more families by then.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1494.0,1496.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/93","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: More families had come and the Young Israel attracted people. We ended up at that time with seventy, eighty families. Then it took off like a plane.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1496.0,1511.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/94","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: So how did you raise the money to build the building?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1511.0,1515.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/95","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Good question. You could ask this about any Jewish institution. How did we raise the money? Some people gave generous building fund gifts. You had a-- were you at the funeral for Ruby Ulman?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1515.0,1531.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/96","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: No. My husband was.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1531.0,1532.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/97","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Oh. So we decided to have a drive to buy bonds. Redeemable bonds. Ruby Ulman was one of those first ones that did it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1532.0,1544.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/98","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Was Mr. Gluck living here then?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1544.0,1546.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/99","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Nooo.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1546.0,1547.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/100","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Not yet. He didn’t come.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1547.0,1548.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/101","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: He lived in … Brooklyn.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1548.0,1553.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/102","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Oh. He didn’t come here for a while.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1553.0,1555.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/103","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: No. Not for a while. As time went on, people moved in. The Kraut family. Some with money. Some without money. With the help of G-d, that’s where it all began. Meanwhile, I was serving as the part time rabbi. When I got semicha…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1555.0,1577.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/104","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Were you still working at the Hebrew School as the principal?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1577.0,1580.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/105","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Yeah. At that time, Dr. Belkin called me up again and he said, “Look. You have semicha now. Now we can send you to bigger congregations.” One was in Canada. What was it called? Way up. Deep into Canada. Not Wilmington. Ah… You know the town.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1580.0,1608.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/106","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Um…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1608.0,1609.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/107","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: It’s a big town.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1609.0,1611.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/108","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Out west. Out west in Canada?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1611.0,1614.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/109","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1614.0,1615.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/110","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Um. I’m blanking but I know what you mean.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1615.0,1617.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/111","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: With a “w”. Winnipeg. Winnipeg is where my father had a good friend who lived. I wasn’t going to go to Winnipeg. So later, Rabbi Soloveichik said—by that time I’d become close to him—“I’m in Boston. Boston is surrounded by a lot of Jewish communities. Smaller communities. I always like to place my students around me.” Newton, Massachusetts. Brookline. At that time I was a serious candidate in Worcester, Massachusetts. A nice Jewish town. And I told the people here I went to Worcester for Shabbos. I saw what it would be like to be in Worcester. The rabbi. An interesting experience. At that time Worcester had two rabbis. One was Lubavitch and one was an old time rabbi from the Old Country whose name was Ginsburg. The rabbi from Lubavitch moved, went to Passaic. The other rabbi retired. He was an old man. He was going to just sit by and do nothing. At that time Rabbi Soloveichik said to me there’s a shul available in Worcester. I’d like you to apply for the job. That’s where I met for the first time Shifra Witty. How did I meet her? There was. The shul that I went to for Shabbos was Orthodox. The shamos, his name was… Cohen, I think. And this Cohen was from Yerushalayim. And he had little children running around. One of them was Shifra Witty… Yes, that’s how it all began. Things did not then develop. If G-d helps you, they develop in the right direction.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1617.0,1760.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/112","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: But you didn’t take the job in Worcester.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1760.0,1762.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/113","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: No. Why didn’t I take the job in Worcester? Well, at that time, I was already at the Young Israel. Unpaid. And we had started our Hebrew school and charged tuition. Seventy dollars a year. And that enabled us to cover the budget. We didn’t need too much. And we had drives...","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1762.0,1786.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/114","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: So who did take the job in Worcester? Do you know?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1786.0,1790.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/115","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Yes. A friend of mine. Rabbi Joseph Gold. Who swore to me he’ll never be a rabbi. He didn’t like it. He took the job and was there many, many years.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1790.0,1803.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/116","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: So you stayed here with the Young Israel.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1803.0,1806.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/117","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: So I said to my father, “I like it here. I see a chance of growth here for the community, for me.” My father wasn’t that…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1806.0,1818.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/118","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: At that time were there any kosher? Was there a bakery? A butcher?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1818.0,1820.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/119","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: I’ll tell you.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1820.0,1821.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/120","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: I’m sorry.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1821.0,1823.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/121","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: I saw my father wasn’t too hopeful. You’re never going to get anywhere. In Worcester you’ll have all sorts. Another shul in Oregon. I didn’t take any. So I put my trust in the Young Israel. A man called Ciner, Moe Ciner. A large family. Simon Lopata. A young man, young married couple. They convinced me to stay. “Take your chance with us.” And I did. It developed.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1823.0,1866.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/122","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: The community developed?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1866.0,1868.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/123","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: The community developed. New housing came up. New housing.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1868.0,1874.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/124","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Now, when did the kosher butcher come? The one before Sam Brach.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1874.0,1877.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/125","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: When I came here to Kew Gardens Hills, don’t forget Kew Gardens Hills ended at 150th Street. Where we are sitting here today was not potato fields…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1877.0,1888.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/126","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: It was where the buses used to turn around.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1888.0,1892.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/127","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: And there was Queens College. Which was not much of a college in those days.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1892.0,1897.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/128","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: I’m thinking in terms of for a Jewish community to grow, it has to have amenities, so. And a butcher is a big one.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1897.0,1908.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/129","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: The first year or so, people who were really strict Orthodox bought their meat elsewhere. Ashenberg brothers who had a butcher store on the Lower East Side. Others. Some kosher butchers here, frankly you couldn’t trust. They were closed Shabbos because this is a butcher store. I used to come home from shul and see their trucks make deliveries and the butcher is standing there. There was no bakery. So people got their kosher food supplies going elsewhere. They’d go to Manhattan. Going to Brooklyn.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1908.0,1951.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/130","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: So when did the first trustable kosher butcher come in?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1951.0,1955.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/131","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: I forget what year, but I remember the name of Hermann. He later became very wealthy in real estate. Shevach High School, when you pass next time, it says Hermann. He was the one who gave the money.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1955.0,1973.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/132","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: So when did Sam Brach come to work?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1973.0,1975.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/133","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Good question. Sam Brach bought Hermann’s store which was near the cemetery and opened a butcher store. Nobody knew who he was.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1975.0,1990.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/134","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: We have this funny story in my family about Sam Brach—which is out of line here, but… When he was thinking of opening the kosher pre-packaged meat business, he asked my father what do you think I should do. [PAUSED WHILE FS TOOK A TELEPHONE CALL FROM ESTHER LOPATA]. I’ll tell you the story and I won’t keep you longer. Maybe we can do another part. So, Sam Brach asked my father, “Should I go into the packaged meat business?” My father said, “Sam, you have a nice life. Why do you need the aggravation?”  Sam went into the packaged meat business. Became very wealthy. So we always called it the misnagdische bracha. You do the opposite of what the person tells you. Then one day I was in Brach’s and I heard his daughter talking with someone and saying that when her father was going into the business, he asked the Satmar Rebbe what he should do and the Satmar Rebbe told him to go into the business. And he listened, so it’s not really the misnagdische bracha.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=1990.0,2047.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/135","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: So you had all these stores. You couldn’t buy there.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=2047.0,2053.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176/transcript/93520/annotation/136","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Until Hermann came along. [INTERVIEW ENDED BECAUSE FS RECEIVED A CALL FROM HIS DAUGHTER AVIVA IN ISRAEL]\n\nTRANSCRIPTION END","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308176#t=2053.0,2054.736"}]}]},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 2 of 3 - schonfeld_fabian_20180205_edit.mp3"]},"duration":2603.688,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/308/448/small/schonfeld_fabian_portrait_resized.jpg?1778697543","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/content/2/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-queenslibrary.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/308/448/original/schonfeld_fabian_20180205_edit.mp3?1777582819","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":2603.688,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Full Transcript (February 5, 2018) [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW WITH RABBI FABIAN SCHONFELD CONDUCTED BY REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT ON MONDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2018 AT 3 PM AT HIS HOME.\n\nTRANSCRIPTION BEGIN","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=0.0,0.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Last time we had gotten up to, we were talking about Sam Brach and amenities coming to the neighborhood. But I was wondering with the shul, maybe you can speak…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=0.0,12.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: I’d rather answer questions.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=12.0,13.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Okay. Well, I was wondering. This is for my own personal self. The Hebrew School and my father. Him coming there. How did you come to decide that the Hebrew School needed a principal? Things were growing?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=13.0,28.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: That’s a very good question. It came rather as a surprise. Other shuls were growing. People were starting to move into the neighborhood. And so we decided that we need a building, a youth building. To house the Talmud Torah and the youth groups. It was right in the middle of very important activities. And we had over 400 children in the Hebrew School at that time. The Hebrew School, not only did it do what it was supposed to, but it basically supported the entire community because it brought in some money. That’s not why we did it. We did it because we wanted to have, shall I say, a basis onto which to build a shul. Orthodox shul.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=28.0,96.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Originally, you were the only teacher?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=96.0,100.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: At that time, we did not have the Youth Building. At that time we had the big building of the shul. Next to it, a house that was called the White House. A wooden old building. Because the whole area was part of an estate called the Campbell [Estate]. And because of the enthusiasm and the drive that our members had—there weren’t too many of them then. Especially the Saperstein family and the Lymans. Blatt. A group of people. Believe it or not, in the big building and the small building, we were able to house over 400 children.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=100.0,166.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Wow.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=166.0,167.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Not to be believed.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=167.0,171.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: So after you, who were the first teachers to come? Was it Mrs. Ashenberg?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=171.0,176.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: I used to hire teachers from people I knew.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=176.0,190.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: So I think my father came in 1955.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=190.0,195.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: I’m not very good at dates.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=195.0,196.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: But when he came, how did you find him?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=196.0,199.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: That’s another good question. Remember it was the height of the activity of Young Israel nationally. Every few weeks another Young Israel grew. Sprouted up. In different parts of the country. And Queens was the natural site on which to build. As I told you the other day—which was a long time ago [RRW laughs], it started with eleven families. And I began to realize that we have an obligation to the younger people in the community who at that time were young people. And today are great grandparents. Those who survive. And I needed somebody to run the Hebrew School. The Hebrew School in those days, the Talmud Torahs—whatever you call them-- was a movement not to be read as a movement. A means to [unclear]. Therefore, we decided let’s find somebody who can ease the burden for me and can really be important in the continued growth of the shul.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=199.0,301.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: So, did you go to the National Council to ask for…?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=301.0,309.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Yes. I called my friend Rabbi Sturm and he said, “I have a young man by the name of George Rushfield who I know from my days in Yeshiva Chaim Berlin. Who himself came from a home that was so-so in terms of Yiddishkeit. His mother, particularly his mother, is a very devoted Jewish mother. And his father was a shul-going Jew.”","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=309.0,347.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Incidentally, and maybe not quite so incidentally, the American Jewish community went through a crisis. At that time, the strong movement among traditional Jews was the Conservative Movement. Probably the strongest in the country. Reform and Liberal movement. You know, people joined Reform temples. I always say when the newspapers tell you that the Reform movement is the largest movement of Jews in America, it’s a half truth. Because to be a member means to be involved and do what the organization expects of you. Today, you ask somebody, “Well how come you don’t keep Shabbos?” “Well, it’s difficult, but I’m religious because I go Shabbos to a Conservative temple.” And so forth and so on. And today, even more so. When the newspapers speak about statistics, they tell you the Reform Movement is the largest Jewish religious movement in the country. It is absolutely nonsense.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=347.0,436.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: And even then, it was nonsense?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=436.0,440.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Nonsense in the sense of you say to a Jew, “Why don’t you keep Shabbos properly?” “Well, I’m Conservative. I only go to shul whenever I can. I’m not really.” “Why do you eat a ham sandwich for breakfast?” “Oh, I’m reform.” So a newspaper reporter who is not involved in the truth—like the media usually is—says “American Jews are mostly Reform”. And they mean, mostly non-observant and care little about Yiddishkeit. And they’re right. Find a Jew eating treif in a restaurant and say, “Oh, how come?” “Well, I’m Reform”. It is absolutely untrue. Anybody who does not keep the mitzvos is considered Reform.  That was then and it’s still today. On the basis of this, the Reform Movement in America claims to be the largest Jewish legitimate movement in the United States. And therefore, it should be accorded recognition.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=440.0,539.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Right. Right. But back then in the ‘50s and ‘60s, there were a lot of Conservative shuls coming along?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=539.0,543.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Yeah. At that time, Queens had and every borough had three or four Conservative temples.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=543.0,554.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Like the Main Street Jewish Center.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=554.0,557.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Yeah. The Main Street Jewish Center was more traditional because its rabbi, Rabbi Kirshblum was more traditional. But it allowed itself the freedom, the liberty to practice Judaism the way they saw fit. The Reform Movement, on the other hand, was Jews who had no interest in Judaism. Had an interest in Jewish people. But not in the [unclear].","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=557.0,617.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: If I can ask you, the Jewish Center on Main Street? Did it have a Hebrew School?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=617.0,623.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Oh yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=623.0,624.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: And a big one?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=624.0,625.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: I think about 1,200.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=625.0,630.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: So they were competition for the Young Israel Hebrew School.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=630.0,633.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Well, I wouldn’t say competition. They were in contradiction to. The Conservative Movement up to this very day, depends upon the observance or lack of observance of its rabbi. Now we had at that time in Kew Gardens Hills  a very interesting situation. Rabbi Kirshblum, A”H, came from a very traditional home. Very. And on a personal level, I would say he was really what we would call today “observant”.  But he made his own rules, his own regulations. The Conservative Movement said, “Look. As long as you belong to a temple and you attend services and you observe basic laws such as kashrus.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=633.0,692.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Shabbos.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=692.0,694.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: That sort of thing. Taharas hamishpacha was not on this agenda. Now, at that time, the leader of the Conservative Movement was Rabbi Gordis. A professor at JTS. The JTS, Jewish Theological Seminary, it shouldn’t surprise you, was rooted in Orthodoxy. Jewish Cemetery. Cemetery!","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=694.0,725.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: [Laughs] That was a Freudian slip [FS begins coughing]. The Theological Seminary [pause in the interview for FS to recover from coughing].","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=725.0,773.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Rabbi Kirshblum himself was Orthodox. He came from such a family.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=773.0,781.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Well, their. At that time their shul, Conservative shuls had separate seating or not? Or they had mixed seating but only men participated in davening?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=781.0,794.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Women came too.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=794.0,796.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: No. But they went up for aliyahs back…?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=796.0,800.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: At that time, the Conservative Movement was quasi Orthodox. They deviated. And they deviated in whatever direction the rabbi wanted. For example. I’m sort of rambling on.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=800.0,820.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: But it’s interesting.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=820.0,822.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: When we started the mikveh, Rabbi I. Usher Kirshblum was very, very helpful. On a personal level, his wife, Selma, was observant. And he helped build the mikveh by assisting in fund raising. Because he believed in it. Others would say, “Ah, mikveh, smikveh. Why do you need it?” He kept a strictly kosher home. I would have to say that he was kind of Orthodox personally.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=822.0,862.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: So, an Orthodox person who took a job in a Conservative shul because it was a good paying job? Rather than he believed in the philosophy.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=862.0,871.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: That’s another good question. Many of the Conservative rabbis in those years were Orthodox people who went to the yeshivas. Chaim Berlin, Torah Vodas. Mostly real [unclear]. I would say, Yeshiva University. Every rabbi did what he wanted to do. Officially, they were traditional. The faculty that taught there was traditional.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=871.0,908.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: JTS.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=908.0,910.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: JTS, yes. So Rabbi Kirshblum was very much involved in building the mikveh. And when people asked him how come, he said, “I need a mikveh.” And that created a lot of, I wouldn’t say machlokos. Difference of opinion in the community. Right in the midst of the growth of the entire Kew Gardens Hills community. He helped fund raising and we had a committee for the building of the mikveh, the Chairman of which was Leon Blatt. And then there was Hertzberg.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=910.0,960.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: At that time, the neighborhood had seven kosher butchers. A lot of meat. When you came home from shul on Shabbos you’d pass a butcher store. It’s closed on Shabbos but the back door was open. The owners were there working. Or they were receiving deliveries of meat. The Conservative Movements was. For example, when people say Reconstructionism. In which way do they differ from Conservative? They say the Reconstructionist movement does not believe in G-d and Kaplan is its’ prophet. Mordecai Kaplan. It was that kind of a mish mosh.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=960.0,1015.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Can I ask you a question? Getting back to the Main Street Jewish Center versus the Young Israel. Let’s say the families who lived in the neighborhood who weren’t particularly observant, why would they send. Some of them would send children to the Young Israel for Hebrew School. Others would send them to the Jewish Center. Why? How would they make their choice?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1015.0,1035.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/47","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: You have a way of asking good questions. There’s more chochma in your question than in the answer I can give you. The Jewish community in those days, I would have to say was 20, 30% traditional. The rest was nothing. The people that moved in who were raised in Brooklyn, the Bronx. In Brooklyn in East New York and what’s the other name?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1035.0,1074.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/48","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Brownsville?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1074.0,1076.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/49","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Brownsville, yes. They wanted a child to be growing up Jewish. You have to have a Bar Mitzvah. Buy him tefillin he would use once in a while. They had strong Jewish feeling. I’m gonna tell you there were some funny things. I get a call from a lady. Very upset. Tonight is my mother-in-law’s yahrzeit. Her husband is out of town. He asked me to out on a light. A yahrzeit candle. I put it on. It went out. I tried it three, four times. I’m getting to be worried because my mother-in-law and I didn’t get along too well.  I said, “Wait a minute. You tried a few times and the light goes out.” “Yes.” “So how did it happen?” “Well, whenever I closed the door, it fell off.” She put the yahrzeit candle on top of the refrigerator. So when she went to the refrigerator to get something to eat, the glass fell down and the light went out. She tried a few times. ‘I know my mother-in-law’s after me.” I said to her, “Why does it go out? Is it a  candle that is faulty? Or the wick?” “Oh, no, no, no, no, no.” “So where did you put it?” “On top of the refrigerator.”  Now, the old fashioned refrigerators had a curved shape. Not square. And when anyone got up to take a drink, a glass of water, whatever. The glass would shake and it fell off. I said, “Wait a minute. Why don’t you try putting it in a different location?” That’s what she did. But she was scared beyond belief. A message from my mother-in-law.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1076.0,1215.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/50","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: That’s amusing. I guess that shows the level of superstition people have.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1215.0,1219.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/51","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Yes, maybe. I wouldn’t call it superstition. But they got messages. In their own mind.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1219.0,1226.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/52","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: But I remember my father saying. Like I was wondering why someone would go to the Young Israel other than. Not to the Jewish Center. He was speaking once. There was a family. The Poniatowskis. Chris. And whose mother was Jewish, but whose father wasn’t. And then it was his Bar Mitzvah and they couldn’t put on the bulletin board Christopher Poniatowski’s Bar Mitzvah because it didn’t sound Jewish, so they put. I think his Hebrew name was Kazriel or something. But why would a family who obviously wasn’t strongly Jewish because the mother intermarried, come to the Young Israel rather than the Jewish Center?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1226.0,1266.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/53","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Because she grew up probably on the Lower East Side or Brownsville. Jewish life in those neighborhoods was very strong. Jewishly. Not religiously. You were proud to be Jewish. You fought for Jewish causes. The extent to which you did not observe mitzvahs, to that extent you were Reform.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1266.0,1311.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/54","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Right. So there were a lot of children in the Hebrew School whose families were not observant at all, but had this sort of, in their minds, Judaism.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1311.0,1321.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/55","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: I’m coming to this. At one time we had twelve teachers in our Hebrew School. I hired teachers. People I know. We couldn’t exist like this. So I went to the National Council to ask for help. Rabbi Frank Sturm said I have a young man. I think he’s just what you need. His name is George Rushfield.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1321.0,1376.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/56","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: So that’s how you got my father.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1376.0,1379.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/57","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: I met him at the National Council building. It was a time when Young Israel nationally was strong. Well, time marches on. What happened was that some of the Young Israel people joined the Conservative temple. It was just what they needed. And some, nothing. The kid was bar mitzvahed. It was the end.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1379.0,1405.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/58","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Did you have to be a member of the shul to send your children to Hebrew School?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1405.0,1411.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/59","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: No. What we did was. We had two scales of pay. How much do you think we charged?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1411.0,1417.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/60","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Probably back then, very little. I don’t know in the 19…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1417.0,1420.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/61","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Sixty dollars a year. If you were a member, fifty. And we managed somehow.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1420.0,1429.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/62","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: The Jewish Center was probably more?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1429.0,1432.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/63","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Ah, yes. How much more, I don’t know.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1432.0,1436.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/64","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: But a little more.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1436.0,1437.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/65","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: The Hebrew School Movement was very strong. You had the Talmud Torah Council of Queens. That was strong. Every shul had a Talmud Torah. That’s gone. The center did not hold. So either you were a member of the Reform, Conservative or you weren’t a member at all. I remember, for example, Yom Kippur. After the new building, we put up in ’56. On Yom Kippur we had yizkor services. People standing around the block to get in to say yizkor. Irving Kahn took over the leadership. Like a policeman. People came for yizkor, stayed for an hour. Yom Kippur went back. Those Jews are gone.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1437.0,1497.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/66","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: That’s true.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1497.0,1498.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/67","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Either they come to shul and they daven and learn, or they’re intermarried and out. An interesting incident. One summer—we had a bungalow in the country—we came to New York and my wife, A”H, and I decided to go out for supper. And there was one kosher restaurant. We’ll talk about it next time, the kashrus situation. There was one next to a treifah restaurant. So my wife and I go out on Main Street. See somebody with a beard go into the restaurant. So I say, “Oh. This must be it.” I think it was called “Esther’s Place”.  We come and sit down at a table. At another table, the Jewish Center they’re meeting its Board. A dinner meeting. We walk in and I hear whispering. Sat down at a table. The waitress comes over. Can I take your order? Do you want milk in your coffee? Milk? This is a kosher restaurant. So the Board of Directors of the Jewish Center were meeting at that restaurant. I saw a man with a beard go in. That was not a religious beard. When I look around, I nearly fainted. It’s a treifah restaurant. The kosher restaurant was right next door. So you had a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Center meeting in a non-kosher restaurant. It was outside, so you don’t keep kashrus. At home they probably did.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1498.0,1642.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/68","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Now, the interesting part of this whole period was that the Jewish Center on Main Street was actually formed by traditional Jews. Altogether, the Conservative Movement was much more traditional than it is today.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1642.0,1664.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/69","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Sure.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1664.0,1665.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/70","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Rabbi Kirshblum fought for a lot of good things in his temple. Mixed seating he accepted. He was a graduate of JIR. Jewish… JRI. Religious something or other. [Note: It was the Jewish Institute of Religion of Hebrew Union College] He became a Conservative rabbi. He did what he wanted. He did not care about mixed seating. Or of parking the car on Shabbos. But a lot of good Jewish feeling among the people.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1665.0,1703.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/71","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Can I ask a question? The Vaad Harabonim of Queens didn’t form until years later?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1703.0,1708.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/72","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: The Vaad Harabonim of Queens formed about that time.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1708.0,1711.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/73","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Now, was he part of it, or… not?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1711.0,1713.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/74","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: No. No, no, no. It was strictly Orthodox. Many of those shuls don’t exist anymore. Take the Conservative Movement. It was in the process of, what shall I say, rebirth. The big Conservative Movement was in Queens. Forest Hills Jewish Center. Main Street. Rego Park.  Many of them said G-d disappeared. The only way to keep Judaism alive is the Conservative Movement. Keep some mitzvah. Others you don’t. So Gordis wrote a book for Conservative Jews in which he said that the only way to keep Judaism alive was the Conservative Movement. Keep some mitzvahs. Others you don’t. This is not a boom that tells you about the life of Conservative Judaism, but the death of Judaism. Because he said as follows: You have to keep Shabbos. That’s a story in itself how to keep it. You have to keep kashrus. What kind of kashrus? But the one mitzvah he did not mention at all was taharas hamispacha. A community without a mikveh is not a community. That part he didn’t mention. I read the book and said he’s making a big mistake. The demise of Conservative Judaism—we’re seeing it now—is due to the fact that each temple had its own Shulchan Aruch. Some Conservative movement temples offered mixed seating. Others not. It was a free-for-all. The Jewish Center at that time had 1,500 members. Today…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1713.0,1835.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/75","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Fifty? Maybe.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1835.0,1836.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/76","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Maybe. There’s no future in America. Especially in the larger cities. So anyway, at that time, I went to New York…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1836.0,1849.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/77","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: But personally. I’m sorry, but personally, personally you and Rabbi Kirshblum were friends?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1849.0,1854.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/78","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: I’m coming to that. At that point, Rabbi Kirshblum and I became quote unquote friends. He did have a very strong Jewish neshama. He came from a frum home. His brother Max [Mordecai] Kirshblum was head of Mizrachi. His wife was a very observant woman. And the mishpacha. Then they started the problem of women’s aliyahs. He fought against it. Like a tiger. He had a lot of problems. His Center is down to what? From what it used to be.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1854.0,1901.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/79","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Anyway, at that time, I met Rabbi Rushfield at the office of the National Council. We talked about things. He gave me his view on Jewish education. And I found we really agreed with each other on many things. So I offered him the position. Officially Assistant Principal and I remained Principal. But actually, he was it. And a lot of people today—I don’t know the numbers—who are observant plus, came from our Talmud Torah. We had many members in shul. Take, for example, the Grossmans. Dr. Murray Grossman. Shabbos afternoon, he used to go and play golf. And Rozy is the one who pushed. The rest you know. There are many more like this. Who became frum. Now there’s a family who had a little boy who went to our Hebrew School. Who was about twelve years of age. One Shabbos I go out in the street and they passed me by in a car. And I see this little boy in the car on the floor. So, the next day, I said, “What happened?” “Well, we had to go to another shul in Brooklyn. My cousin’s Bar Mitzvah. And I didn’t want to go. It was Shabbos. Drive in the car.” So he used to sit on the floor so people shouldn’t see.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=1901.0,2018.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/80","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: George had a lot of influence on a lot of people. Because he knew and understood what American Jews were like in those days. We had Jews. We had a man who was a Cohen. He did not duchan. I said to him, “Why don’t you duchan?” “How can I duchan? I’m not a Shomer Shabbos. To me it’s wrong.” I said, “You’re wrong. Do one avairah. Don’t do two avairahs.” Then he started coming to shul on yom tov to duchan.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=2018.0,2061.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/81","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: I’m going to tell a story. There was a man who had a big department store. It was open on Shabbos. And he had a son who worked with him. The son came home one day and he said, “I have news for you, I got engaged.” “Engaged to who?” “This girl. She’s not Jewish. She’ll become Jewish. It’s okay.” The parents are very upset. Anyway, he got married to her. She converted. The first Shabbos after the conversion and they’re married, the son doesn’t go to the store. The father said, “Why weren’t you here yesterday? It was a busy day. I needed you in the store.” “It’s Shabbos. I can’t.” “You’ve been going all your life. I used to go Shabbos to the hashkama minyan, the store, and then back.”  He said, “No more. My wife wouldn’t let me.” So the father says to him, “I told you to marry a nice Jewish girl.”[RRW laughs] “You wouldn’t have this problem.” It’s no joke.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=2061.0,2132.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/82","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: So George’s influence, I think, was strong because he came from his background. His brother. I think he lived in Japan.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=2132.0,2145.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/83","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Yeah. Len. Lenny lived in Japan.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=2145.0,2147.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/84","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: His mother was an observant lady. Not to light candles. So he came from. I said to myself, “He is just the right man for these kids who go to our Hebrew School.” And he became very much beloved. And we had at one time, twelve teachers. Twelve teachers. Where did we place them all? Looking back now, I don’t know. We had two in the kitchen and two over there. We were in shul until the new building was done.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=2147.0,2189.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/85","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: I’m sorry. I was wondering because I thought about it for a second. You. There were Holocaust survivors in the shul at the beginning. Probably people. I think of Jack Nayberg. Who after the War just gave up observance. Who when their kids started to go to Hebrew School, when they had children. Started coming back. Were there many?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=2189.0,2211.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/86","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Quite a few. Jack Nayberg. Outstanding family.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=2211.0,2220.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/87","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: So George had the ability to look into the hearts and the minds of those kids. Remember those kids were not yeshiva kids. On the other hand, they were not goyim. Their parents really wanted them… We had one . I forget his last name. Brothers. They were typical American kids whose mother came to me. He doesn’t want to go to Hebrew School. He doesn’t want to go to shul. And she did come to shul once in a while. Not too often. Once in a while. And she gave up on him. One day he passes by our shul. I’m trying not to say anything to him. He wore a white gown. He joined the Hari Krishna. Remember the Hari Krishna?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=2220.0,2281.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/88","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Oh yeah. Right.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=2281.0,2284.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/89","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: That’s what happened to him. What can you do. His mother was very, very upset. A few years later, he comes back and he comes here for Shabbos. And I see a young man in a black suit. Looking like a yeshiva kid. It was him. He used to go to the airport to sing Hari Krishna. What happened was, he went to Hebrew School and he became a Hari Krishna and we lost him. Lubavitch got a hold of him.  And he became really frum. He moved to Monsey. I haven’t seen him in a long time. Has a large Jewish family. Yeshiva kids.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=2284.0,2339.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/90","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: In other words, some of these young people, their parents if you would ask them are you Jewish? “Of course I’m Jewish. I’m proud to be Jewish.””Then why don’t you keep Shabbos?” “Oh, you know. It’s not that easy.” And after a while, this didn’t last. It couldn’t last. The center gave way. The center either became intermarried or it became frum. Through our Hebrew School into Lubavitch.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=2339.0,2377.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/91","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Should we stop here? Or if you want to go on, we can.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=2377.0,2384.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/92","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Just a few more minutes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=2384.0,2385.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/93","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Okay. Great.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=2385.0,2388.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/94","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Rabbi Kirshblum and I became sort of friendly. It was the weekly  entertainment every Shabbos. He would get up at the pulpit and speak about Conservative Judaism. Because frum Jews started moving in, came to the Center, and left to join the Young Israel. It was very upsetting to him. When the Young Israel first started, at the beginning we used to daven in the Center downstairs. Our own minyan. And Rabbi Kirshblum didn’t like it and he threw us out. This is how the Young Israel became stronger and stronger. As I said before, the center gave way.  Frum yeshiva kids or nothing. The state of education is not good Jewishly. But your father and your mother about whom I could talk for a long, long time, tried to stem the tide. This nishtahein nishtaher. Neither here nor there. And they became very, very popular. And they became involved in the lives of the children.  We had the. I’m sure you know the Basner twins. They remained Jewish and live in Israel. They have beards, yeshivish because of our Young Israel.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=2388.0,2515.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/95","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: What also helped us, people moved in from the Lower East Side. Like the Zimilovers and others. Who came from frum homes. Wanted to go to Yeshiva of Central Queens. But Rabbi Charney wouldn’t take them because he had this idea of Ivrit b’Ivrit. It wasn’t the time for it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=2515.0,2549.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/96","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: So we had a lot of members who would sort of zig zag between the two. They were members in the Center and members in the Young Israel. And we had sort of a competition. One says, “ Did you hear what Rabbi Kirshblum said today?” Then says the other, “ Did you hear what Rabbi Schonfeld answered him? “ For a couple of years. Back and forth. Back and forth. There were a lot of people who belonged to both. Katzes, Ashenberg. It was an interesting time. So there is a lot to be said about the Vaad of Queens and about kashrus.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=2549.0,2591.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448/transcript/93599/annotation/97","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Shall we do that next time since it’s a lot?\n\nTRANSCRIPTION END","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308448#t=2591.0,2603.688"}]}]},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 3 of 3 - schonfeld_fabian_20180320_edit.mp3"]},"duration":2427.84,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/308/475/small/schonfeld_fabian_portrait_resized.jpg?1778697559","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/content/3/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-queenslibrary.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/308/475/original/schonfeld_fabian_20180320_edit.mp3?1777643610","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":2427.84,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Full Transcript (March 20, 2018) [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW WITH RABBI FABIAN SCHONFELD CONDUCTED BY REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT ON TUESDAY MARCH 20, 2018 AT 4 PM AT HIS HOME IN KEW GARDENS HILLS ON 153RD STREET.\n\nTRANSCRIPTION BEGIN","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=0.0,3.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: So, we were going to talk—because the last time you were talking a little bit about kashrus in Queens and how there were many butchers that were not kosher. So you said this time you wanted to talk about the Vaad Harabonim of Queens and standardizing kashrus. So…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=3.0,20.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Actually, I should say non-kosher butchers is not the right term. They were kosher butchers businesswise and they had kosher meat. The question is how did they conduct the business. And many times, on the way home Shabbos from shul, you’d pass by [interrupted by the ringing of the phone on which the interview was being recorded] to kosher butcher stores. You could not honestly recommend any of them. Because the question of kashrus is not simply how the meat was slaughtered, but what happens to the meat once it’s slaughtered. Secondly, most of these deliveries were made on Shabbos.   The stores were closed but the back was open. There were one of two butchers who were fairly religious. They left a key for the truck to get in. But others went to the store, opened it up, and watched the delivery. But, whatever it may be, they were not reliable.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=20.0,97.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: The hashgacha for these stores at the time, was given to—I wouldn’t say “given”. In charge of it was Rabbi I. Usher Kirshblum of the Jewish Center of Main Street","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=97.0,122.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: How many butchers were there at the time?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=122.0,125.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: There were seven.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=125.0,126.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Seven. Wow! Between Melbourne and Union Turnpike?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=126.0,131.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: I beg your pardon.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=131.0,132.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: I’m thinking along the whole stretch of Main Street.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=132.0,134.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Yeah. It was much smaller than it is today. By the way, there’s an interesting article in The New York Times from last Sunday’s issue. [Note:  “Kew Gardens Hills: A Little Town in Central Queens “, by Julie Lasky, March 7, 2018; https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/07/realestate/living-in-kew-gardens-hills-queens.html ]  In the Real Estate. On the history of Kew Gardens Hills. I have to say it was very well written  statistically and businesswise and how the community developed into what it is today. So if people want to know the history of Kew Gardens Hills, they might as well, I wouldn’t say, buy The New York Times…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=134.0,177.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Go online.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=177.0,178.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: I’m not one of the chassidim of The Times.  But read the article.  It was a very well written article. And we had the seven butchers. We had two bakeries. And the butcher stores, the stores were closed, but they were functioning.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=178.0,203.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Right. So Rabbi Kirshblum was sort of giving the hashgacha then.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=203.0,207.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Yes. And also to the two bakeries.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=207.0,211.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: So, when did this all change?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=211.0,212.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: I want to say something.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=212.0,213.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Oh. I’m sorry.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=213.0,215.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: I. Usher Kirshblum was a Conservative rabbi. He was not, I have to tell you then, Conservative in his private life. He and his wife particularly kept a strictly kosher home according to their standards. And privately conducted their lives as Orthodox Jews. Because Rabbi Kirshblum came from an Orthodox family in Borough Park. But he decided to become a rabbi. He felt the best way to do this was to be a Conservative rabbi. His rabbinical ordination was not the Jewish Theological Seminary which was Conservative, but the Jewish Institute of Religion which tended to be more Reform. It was a title. But on his personal level, he was very observant. His children to this day. I see his daughter Marsha whose name is Waxman. A very frum girl. Went to YCQ. Became very friendly with my daughters. His son Alan became a chazzan in a Conservative temple in Toronto.  But the hashgacha was certain not the kind that one wanted. I’ll give you an example in a few minutes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=215.0,314.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: So, in fact, there were no kosher butchers available on Main Street that would meet the standards of kashrus that we wanted.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=314.0,325.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Can I ask? The one that Sam Brach worked for. The one that was near Melbourne Avenue. I forget what. Herman’s was it?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=325.0,335.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Herman’s. Herman was a very pious Jew. But he was not under the hashgacha of the Jewish Center. He was independent. I found that there was another store called Zilber. Near the bank. Personally, I would eat meat that came from those two stores. They did not need the hashgacha. The kashrus philosophy was you have to have all under one otherwise there’s hefker. Or whatever. You can argue with this position. Accept it or reject it. But, by and large, there were no places to buy meat that the average Young Israel member could eat. With good conscience.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=335.0,392.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Do I ask where you got your meat from?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=392.0,396.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Yes. I had two sources. One were the Aschenberg brothers. Philip and Victor. Zichrona l’bracha. They did not have a store on Main Street. They were on the Lower East Side. You made an order  and they delivered it. So they were not involved. The only one who was involved with the Jewish Center hashgacha was Zilber. Who was personally a frum Jew and there was no problem with him so to speak.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=396.0,445.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: So you had asked the question why could not the rabbis in Kew Gardens Hills  ____ except those two. The answer is we did. Some people did.  The only one who was completely under halachic standards was Herman. Main Street Kosher Meat Market. Zilber had one problem. I’ll explain it to you. It’s halachically important. Meat in order to be able to be eaten has to be salted. What we call “made kosher”. Now, you can take a side of beef, a large portion. Submit it to kosherizing—which is not important for this interview to understand.  One of the halachas is that you cannot salt meat , wash it, kosherize it once it’s been chopped up. For halachic reasons which are not the topic we discuss. Zilber’s store had all the kosher standards to be a kosher store except that he would take meat that was chopped up and kosherize it.  That cannot be done. Meat that has been pulverized so to speak has to be roasted over an open fire. Not by the usual kosher process. It was a long ___ certainly.  But otherwise, it was completely, completely kosher. So this was the situation we come from.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=445.0,567.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: In those years, Kew Gardens Hills was beginning to grow and become what it is today. It was just before the in-coming of Russian Jews. The Bukharian community. Who became very interested in having real kosher meat. Those years, the leading congregation in Kew Gardens Hills was, I have to say, the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills. The Young Israel of Queens Valley which was an offshoot from the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills—that’s a separate topic, but briefly, we had members who lived at the end of Main Street near Union Turnpike. It was very far for these people to walk to the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills for shul.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=567.0,629.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: And our shul, the Kew Gardens Hills Young Israel, started in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Saperstein. In the basement. At that time, there  weren’t too many really frum Jews—if there’s such a thing as “frum”.  Now there were about twenty families—actually eleven to begin with—who met every Shabbos at the home of the Sapersteins.  We slowly realized we had to have a building for the shul. So we had a committee, the Chairman of which was David Lyman. Some people commuted between the Jewish Center and the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills. But the community was growing, so we realized that there’s no Jewish organization, frum organization that took care of the business of the community such as kashrus. And Rabbi Morris Max A”H of the Queens Jewish Center – that was being built at the time—as was our Young Israel. The Young Israel of Queens Valley did not exist. Queens Valley was an offshoot of our shul. Simply because there were people living at the end, at Union Turnpike  off Main Street and it was too far for them to walk. They opened the Young Israel at the other end of the neighborhood. Queens Valley. They were members of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills. So they needed somebody to daven for them Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, etc. At that time, Alex Steinberg A’H was a member in our shul. A President  of our shul. And they started to daven, a minyan in the area of the Post Office. Further down. And Rabbi Peretz Steinberg was  a member of the Kew Gardens Hills Young Israel. His father Alex. Gertrude. And Peretz Steinberg was still going to the yeshiva. I think the kollel. And since he was a competent baal tefilah, we organized for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur. And he took the role of leading rabbi in that little group of people. That’s how it all got started. Peretz Steinberg was at that time teaching Hebrew School in the Talmud Torah of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills. At this time, more people moved in. And they became an independent shul.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=629.0,856.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: So there were a few rabbis that got together. Said, the community baruch Hashem, is growing . We have no communal organization to be in charge of the kehillah. So Rabbi Morris Max and myself and one or two others decided to start a rabbinic organization to be of help to the people. We called ourselves the Vaad Harabonim of Queens. By this time, there were other shuls  opening up. In Rego Park, Forest Hills.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=856.0,902.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: This is the 1950s or the 1960s?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=902.0,906.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: This was at the end of the fifties, beginning of the sixties. We had Young Israels opening up in Jamaica and on Union Turnpike. It was at that time growing very fast. There was a need for a rabbinic organization that could be trusted to be reputable, honest, and sincere. That’s how we got started. The first President of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens was Rabbi Morris Max of the Queens Jewish Center. And I think I was the second president. Rabbi Emanuel Holzer of Astoria. That’s the story. And so, it became a very active community. A very active group of rabbonim.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=906.0,970.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: When the Vaad started, was the intention for it to give kashrus approval? Or did that develop later?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=970.0,977.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: That’s a very good question. We had a discussion. We decided to give kashrus approval because the need was there. We had to be sure that the kashrus was properly observed. But it was not its only function. As a matter of fact, it was one of the important ones. It wasn’t intended to be a kashrus organization. We organized classes and Hebrew schools and lectures. And social services. It became a very active organization. So, the religious needs of the local community.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=977.0,1017.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: So almost all or all of the Orthodox rabbis in Queens ended up joining?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1017.0,1023.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Yes. Except one or two Chassidic rabbis. Like Rabbi Gelernter , zichrona l’bracha. One or two others. Who felt, well, they come from Chassidic backgrounds. It’s not what they wanted. They were not critical of the organization. They just didn’t join. Worked with us in many areas. The eruv.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1023.0,1055.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Ah, that’s a big thing.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1055.0,1056.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: When it came to building the mikveh. Rabbi Peretz Steinberg was the motivating force. Collecting funds and money to build the mikveh. In those days, there was a mikveh in Rabbi Gelernter’s shul. Shul. House. He used to be near the area where the cinema was. On Parsons Boulevard. And then he subsequently moved out. So things developed and went in the right direction. I felt very strongly and so did Rabbi Max that kashrus needs to be properly observed. But not the only area for activity.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1056.0,1116.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: While you mentioned the eruv, if I can ask you about it. Who, who was the first rabbi or person or part of the community to push for the eruv?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1116.0,1128.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: I would have to say it was Rabbi Peretz Steinberg. With the help of Rav Moshe Feinstein we looked over  the specifications, the plan. And he approved of it. I think we were the first group of rabbis who received approval from  Rabbi Moshe Feinstein for the eruv. The Eruv Committee is another story. Not for this interview.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1128.0,1159.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: But I remember hearing that every single shul in the neighborhood agreed. Or you got every rabbi to sign on to the eruv.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1159.0,1168.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Yes. Right. One of the leading forces behind that was my son(?)  . Strangely enough, I was not happy. Ask me why. Because I had this concern. Making an eruv, people will carry outside of the eruv. If they go for a walk on Shabbos between Kew Gardens Hills and Hillcrest. The Young Israel of Hillcrest at that time was also established under the leadership of Rabbi Kowalsky who was Rabbi Holzer’s ____(eizer?). We felt that people carrying in the street on Shabbos. I don’t want.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1168.0,1224.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Some people thought, or some people said that non-Observant Jews or gentiles would see people carrying on Shabbos and think it was okay. Or, that wasn’t…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1224.0,1237.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: No, no, no. Because there were many people, gentiles, who were opposed to the eruv. They had concerns. One of the conditions of the eruv—we don’t have time to discuss it now—we needed the approval of the local Borough President. As the eruv grew in size, you had the help of two Borough Presidents of Queens County and especially the lady. What’s her name?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1237.0,1279.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Was it after Manes… or before? [After some thought] Not Claire Shulman?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1279.0,1294.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Claire Shulman! Who was the one before?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1294.0,1299.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Was that Donald Manes? Or that was…?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1299.0,1301.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Right. We had no problems with him. Very cooperative. We needed their permission. Because people don’t understand what an eruv is. You take a string and put it around a house. There you can make an eruv. But you needed approval of the Borough President and the other building committee. The City. Since, theoretically, it belonged to the Borough President. I can talk about the eruv some other time.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1301.0,1342.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Okay.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1342.0,1344.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/47","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: So there were the three areas of concern: kashrus, kiruv and _____(?). Which again, is a separate thing. And education in general. A great need to this very day. A major role of the rabbi is to be involved politically in the area. If we want to help the Jewish community with some needs that we have, we have to get the cooperation of the local political structure. So we got involved in all of this. But there’s the Kew Gardens Hills group.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1344.0,1392.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/48","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Queens grew Jewishly. There were more people moving in and there were not many places where you can buy reliable kosher meat. You had the butchers that I mentioned. No trust. Zilber was a very frum Jew and he tried his very best to keep a really Kosher store. The only problem there was that he was under the supervision of ... That he sold chopped meat which people koshered at home—which you cannot do.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1392.0,1434.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/49","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Right. Okay, so after the Vaad was formed and it started to get involved with kashrus supervision, how did Rabbi Kirshblum feel about it? Did the stores go under the…?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1434.0,1445.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/50","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: You’re asking all of the delicate questions. [RRW laughs] Rabbi Kirshblum felt personally insulted. Of course he couldn’t be a member of the Vaad. He wasn’t Orthodox. “I do my best to fight for kashrus. And then you undermine it.” It didn’t make any difference. That’s the way it worked out. But the mashgiach in charge of both stores was Rabbi Bagley, a very fine Talmud chachum. A wonderful Jew. Mishpacha to  Boruch Be’er  Kaminetz. But that was his job to be mashgiach for the store. He didn’t give hashgacha but he had the power to enforce it. So it was very difficult to accept that hashgacha because the halachic authority wasn’t there. The Jewish Center on Main Street. Rabbi Kirshblum was very much opposed to the creation of this Vaad. He couldn’t join us because he wasn’t Orthodox. His synagogue was Conservative. So we had an interesting tug of war going on for a while. Because Rabbi Kirshblum was very powerful. Very courageous and strong willed. If he felt that he could qualify to give hashgachas—which was a recipe for _____.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1445.0,1549.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/51","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: So we got started actually because of kashrus. We had standards for kosher butchers. We had the  mashgichim. They were reliable and trustworthy. Other shuls would join.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1549.0,1565.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/52","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Can I ask another delicate question about kashrus here? Sam Brach for a long time wasn’t under the Vaad. Do you want to even touch on that one?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1565.0,1577.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/53","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: It’s a very good question. You’re very good at asking questions. Sam Brach had a history. He and his wife. They were survivors of Auschwitz. Very sensitive to that history. Sam Brach opened. No, sorry, Herman opened his butcher store across the street from the cemetery. He was the only one you could trust. At that time, I took a step. Even though it may sound a little bit conceited. A rabbi owes the community to enforce Halacha. Not by police force but by the strength of their authority. Herman’s butcher store was the only one at that time that we could tell people you can buy. It didn’t have a hashgacha but in the long run we decided to include him in the list of butchers. He was a very fine man. He worked very hard. Now, we didn’t charge any money. Most organizations do.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1577.0,1679.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/54","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Right.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1679.0,1680.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/55","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD:  I felt, to this very day, a rabbi owes the community to have  a proper Torah education. The community can make it possible for Jews to live Jewishly. To facilitate all the activities that could be used by frum Orthodox Jews. I said “frum”. Nobody has as yet defined  what “frum” means.  But frum is frum.  And I said to Mr. Herman, the only condition that we make with you – we’re not going to charge you money for it. We’re not making any other condition. We want you to have people working for you in the store that are reliable. Sometimes they use goyim to cut up meat. But not that often. The major condition I made was that they will not charge ____. We want you, but there is one thing you have to promise. That the people working for you should be the right people. That you cannot hire or fire people.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1680.0,1770.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/56","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: One of the people who worked for him was Sam Brach. I could write a book about Sam Brach. He was very often misunderstood. His desire for Jewish survival, Jewish self-pride was very strong. He did not want Jews to be able to do what they wanted. So Sam Brach was one of the people who bought the store from Mr. Herman who left the butcher business and went into the clothing business. He made blouses. He became a big community leader. On Main Street the Bais Yaakov on Main Street.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1770.0,1826.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/57","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Shevach.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1826.0,1828.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/58","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Shevach.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1828.0,1829.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/59","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Has the Herman building.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1829.0,1835.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/60","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: A very wonderful man. To the very, very end. And so was Sam Brach. When Mr. Herman sold the store, he sold it to Sam Brach. Sam Brach came from Europe. A concentration camp.  An old story which you can imagine. I said one thing to Sam Brach, you cannot hire or fire anybody without our approval. The Kashrus Committee of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills. He was, by the way, very ambitious. And he saw the future in different ways than we did. That’s how the first kosher butcher store had the hashgacha of the Vaad ha kashrus of [Young Israel of] Kew Gardens Hills. The butcher store of Herman which was sold to Sam Brach. The Chairman of that committee was Leon Blatt. And Larry Hertzberg. So it developed to a very good business. Sam Brach said the store is becoming too small for me. I’m going to move. Whatever Sam Brach did, he first checked with us. A stubborn man. He was very hard to…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1835.0,1929.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/61","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: I have to tell this story about  Sam Brach. Many, many years later. He was already located on Main Street where it is today. I didn’t think he would succeed. He succeeded.  I get a call erev Shabbos. From Miriam,  his wife. “Can you come? The police are going to arrest Sam.” Huh? The police representative was there. The Sanitation Department. You cannot run a butcher store of that size and accept deliveries from the market unless there is refuse on the floor. In the courtyard. It made for a noxious. You can’t do this. You can’t come in a truck and expect that the meat should be dry like a… It had to be swept up. It had to be cleaned. The man from the department for some reason did not get along with Sam Brach. So they came to the store. Sanitation. You did not sweep up noxious material…enough. That wasn’t true. They were ever looking for ways to get at him. Again, there are so many sub stories here. They gave him a ticket. A fine. He refused to accept it. A ticket has to be written and handed to the owner of the store. He has to identify himself. Sam Brach refused. “They’re doing this to me because I’m Jewish.” He always had this comment. Because I’m Jewish. “They’re not going to do it to me. I went through Auschwitz. I can go through this too.” They were arguing and arguing. And the Captain of the police came down. A very nice man. I think his name was Meghan (?). He said, “Mr. Brach, for you the Sabbath is coming. Just sign your name on the ticket. That’s all they want. They’re not going to do anything.” “Look at my arm. I went through Auschwitz. The Nazis couldn’t do it. You’re not going to do it.” And I had to plead with him. “Sam. It’s erev Shabbos. You don’t want to spend Shabbos in jail.” And his wife said, “Sam”—she’s the one who called. Me. Eventually, eventually he signed it. And he sued the Department of Sanitation. Accused them of anti-Semitism. Sam Brach’ story is the story of a Jew proud beyond words. Conscious of any anti-Semitism. Even if it didn’t exist. Never say never.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=1929.0,2149.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/62","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: He had the store. I said,” Sam, you’re selling meat. Why a supermarket. Sam, it’s a lot of business. A lot of work. You have enough to do.” “ No. the community needs it. A kosher supermarket.”","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=2149.0,2167.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/63","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Well that was. The one thing about Sam Brach that I know is he always felt. His money, he didn’t make from the supermarket. He made from lots of other things. He felt he.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=2167.0,2176.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/64","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Well…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=2176.0,2177.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/65","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Well, he made money from the supermarket. But that his prices were lower than other places. That he felt his supermarket was a service to the community.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=2177.0,2185.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/66","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: Yes. Yes, of course. True. But he had other interests. Real estate interests. Parking lots. But he observed every single rule of kashrus. In this regard, he did not care about anybody else. Was it good for Jews. He became involved politically. Yet another one of these side stories. This is how it developed. The Queens Vaad Harabonim. And other stores came in. Forest Hills. Everybody wanted the hashgacha of the Vaad. The Vaad Harabonim did not get paid for this. Here for twenty-five years, our shul gave the hashgacha on the, Brach’s meat without charging a single penny. Not wanting to be a source of __ .You don’t charge to deliver a public shiur. You don’t charge for a mikveh. In this I have to tell you I succeeded. Not a single penny.  Actually, the Vaad grew and had to employ people. That’s the story of Brach. But it’s only one story. Next time we meet I have to tell you the story of Brach that should be in every book of Jewish history.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=2185.0,2287.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/67","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: The Queens Vaad, we had a committee on education. We used to be active in every yeshiva. We had a Board of Education. The Chairman of the Board of Education was from Dov Revel, from YCQ.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=2287.0,2307.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/68","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: The Queens Vaad became sort of a real kehillah. Which it is to this very day.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=2307.0,2312.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/69","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Now I see the Vaad is doing many more programs again for community lectures and programming and … it’s really.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=2312.0,2321.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/70","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: The Vaad is very, very busy these days. I have not involved in the Vaad for some time. For health reasons.  The Vaad came into business really because of kashrus. We wanted the butcher stores kosher to everyone’s standards. Meat is a business.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=2321.0,2352.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/71","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Well now, you almost can’t be a kosher store in Queens if you’re not under the Vaad. Maybe occasionally, the OU will have a restaurant, but the Vaad sort of sets the standard.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=2352.0,2367.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/72","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: That is correct. The scouts of kashrus was the Vaad. At the time, the community was growing. We didn’t want any butcher store, food store to operate without hashgacha. Take a place like Aron’s. Or Seasons. Every single item in those stores is there under the approval of the Vaad.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=2367.0,2403.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/73","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: That’s quite a lot of work for the Vaad. Which means why they have to have hired people.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=2403.0,2409.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/74","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: You have secretaries and an office.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=2409.0,2417.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/75","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: Maybe you want to, do you want to stop here and the next time…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=2417.0,2420.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/76","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"FABIAN SCHONFELD: My therapist is coming.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=2420.0,2421.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475/transcript/93661/annotation/77","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"REBECCA RUSHFIELD WITTERT: We can stop here and the next time go on to other things. There’s so much about the community.\n\nTRANSCRIPTION END","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/169546/file/308475#t=2421.0,2427.84"}]}]}]}