Jews--Kentucky--Louisville

The narrator discusses Harry Bloom, the Louisville Evening Post, the Louisville Times, apartment buildings at Second and Kentucky Streets, Louise Harris, Morris Simon, Joseph Hourath, the Young Men's Hebrew Association Orchestra, Robert Whitney and the Louisville Orchestra, the Music Study Club, Mrs. Sideny Meyers, Mrs. Lewis Cole, Etta Rauch, Emily Dembitz, Hattie Bishop Speed, Morris Spearlmutter, Rabbi Gittleman, Fanny Brandeis, and Jean Tachau.

Betty Bronner, chair of the Jewish Community Center's Family History Project is giving an oral summary of the type of information gathered through the community interviews. She first summarizes some of the reasons why people came to Louisville.

The narrator discusses the origins of Adath Jeshurun congregation as well as the neighborhoods she lived in, including the West End.

Topics discussed include the Young Men's Hebrew Association.

Mrs. Byck discusses Adath Israel congregation, the League of Women Voters, Louisville Collegiate School, the Standard Club, the Pendennis Club, Banbergen-Bloom Company, the Adler Piano Company, and the National Council of Jewish Women.

Cole talks about how is family came to Louisville. He discusses his relationship to I.W. Bernheim. He talks about his wife Jean and their children and moving from an apartment downtown to the Highlands. He also discusses his work with the Conference of Jewish Organizations.

Briefly mentions family's origins in Russia and Hungary, father's birth in Louisville, and mother's birth in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Recalls childhood residences as well as early jobs at a drug store and as editor of the U of L student newspaper. Lists and describes many neighbors (both Jews and non-Jews) at Ouerbacker Court and Sherman Place Apartment. Discusses tenure as editor of the Louisville Cardinal, the University of Louisville student newspaper. Describes how his "rebellious" and "radical policy" as editor got him in trouble with Charlie Morris, founder and chairman of the Louisville Conference of Jewish Organizations, who accused Conn of "damaging the Jewish community."

Leonard Devine was born in 1919. He lived in a Jewish Philadelphia neighborhood and describes his early life and Dr. Dembitz' (Gratz College) influence. He discusses Yeshiva College in New York City. He was ordained in 1940, and he talks about early pulpits. His first congregation was in Hamilton, Ohio; he was in Chicago 13 years and then came to Brith Sholom, in Louisville. He discusses Brith Sholom and individuals including Zach Oppenheimer, Sam Fishman, Milton Berman, Joe Wolf, and Irv Lipetz. He describes Louisville in 1969: the togetherness of rabbis and community in Louisville, Rabbi Roodman. He describes consolidation and changes since 1940 - schools, Day School, Russian families.

Chester Diamond talks about how he decided to become a rabbi, including his decision to start to learn more about his faith after wanting to learn more about why the Jewish faith would be targeted by the Holocaust. He talks about his learning of Hebrew and applying to the college, where he had taken courses that would help to prepare him and deepen his knowledge of the Jewish faith.

The Diamonds discuss their parents who came to the United States from Latvia; Mrs. Diamond's education at the Louisville Normal School, a two-year teacher's college run by the city; Dr. Diamond's education at the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville School of Medicine; recollections of World War II and its impact on the local Jewish community; anti-Semitism in Louisville; and impressions of the nation of Israel, Zionism, and involvement in the local Zionist movement.