Isidor Brill

Semler: When did you decide to become a doctor? 
BRILL: Well, I was around six years old at the time. My mother was very ill. We lived in a small town in Poland called Valdemeresk. There was no physician at that time in that little town, so we hired a team of horses to send to Demdorevist, which was the closest town we could get [to]. There was a doctor there and when the doctor arrived the next day, he received tremendous respect. I couldn’t help but notice the awe in which everybody received him and I said to myself, “This is the man I’m going to be like. I’m going to be a physician.” I made every effort since then to become a physician. 

Semler: Dr. Brill, will you talk about coming to the United States and what things were actually like and actually becoming a physician? 
BRILL: Well, I first came to New York. That’s where my port of entry was. I had to work when I first came. I was, at that time, very young, 14 years old. After working there for a few months, I had an opportunity to go to Portland. After I came to Portland, I kept on working for a while, but all the time I had in mind to eventually become a doctor. 

Semler: Who did you come to the United States with? 
BRILL: My older brother was in New York. He came to Portland and I went with him. I entered Shattuck School on Sixth Street in 1905 and I graduated in 1906. 

Semler: Are some of your classmates of Shattuck School still around? 
BRILL: Not many alive now. 

Semler: Did you go to high school here? 
BRILL: Yes. My teachers were much interested in me and they got a hold of Mrs. Allen, who had a preparatory school for college. She had a school at 12th and Salmon on the east side, and she invited me to go to her school. She prepared me in two years. I took the college entrance examinations and I passed and I entered Columbia. 

Semler: So you returned to New York? 
BRILL: I returned to New York. 

Semler: Did you go to medical school at Columbia? 
BRILL: I took a combined six-year course. I took my BA degree in 1912 and MD in 1914. 

Semler: Was that unusual to be able to do everything that quickly? 
BRILL: Yes, it was unusual. After I graduated, I went to San Francisco and I took an internship at the San Francisco Hospital – Stanford Service. Later I took a residency in the same hospital but at the University of California Service. When I got through, I came to Portland in 1916 with a recommendation to the medical school. 

Semler: Were you on the medical school faculty? 
BRILL: Medical school faculty, yes. I have been on the medical school faculty ever since. 

Semler: And you are still on the medical school faculty?
BRILL: I am still on the medical school faculty with the title of – well, I’ll show you. I just happened to come across it this morning. 

Semler: You are Professor Emeritus of Medicine!
BRILL: Of medicine. 

Semler: And you have been on the faculty since 1916. 
BRILL: Since 1916. 

Semler: That’s very impressive. 
BRILL: However, in 1923, I took a year off and went to Harvard. I spent a year there. But since 1924, I have been here continually. Also, during the war, I was in the service for a couple of years. 

Semler: Where were you then? 
BRILL: I was in Montour (it’s a small town) in charge of a hospital. I took care of the sick and so forth. 

Semler: Dr. Brill, can you tell me anything about what the Portland community was like when you came here as a boy? And when you came back after finishing your medical training?
BRILL: Well, Portland was, at that time, if I remember correctly, approximately 70,000 people. It was a relatively small city. I don’t remember many doctors who had become physicians after getting to Portland. I don’t remember any. 

Semler: I would imagine that that was very unusual. Where did you live when you first came to Portland? 
BRILL: I lived where I am practically practicing now. I was on Fourth and Grant. My brother married a Robinson girl. You know Bessie Robinson?

Semler: No. 
BRILL: The Robinson Home. So I lived there while I went to school. 

Semler: What did your brother do in Portland? 
BRILL: He was in business in a store. 

Semler: Did any other members of your family come here then? 
BRILL: Yes. In 1906, my family came here after my mother died. 

Semler: Your father and your remaining family? 
BRILL: My father. He brought with him my oldest sister, Hansa, who later married Mr. Shapiro. She is now 91 years old. 

Semler: And, I understand very, very spry. 
BRILL: Very spry. And a younger sister, Lena, who is now in Los Angeles. She was married to a Mr. Reinhart – Conrad Reinhart. He died since. And then also Selling, a younger boy, who later died in San Francisco. He died very young. He was only 43 years old. He was professor of surgery at the time at the University of California. 

Semler: Your entire family was very interested in medicine. 
BRILL: Yes. Then finally my youngest brother, Joe, who is now a physician in Los Angeles in general practice. 

Semler: That’s interesting. Tell me, when you came back from medical school, what was life in Portland like then and where did you live? 
BRILL: When I came back I bought my own home on 14th and Tillamook. I lived there until I married Ruth Lowengart, and she insisted that we live in her home, instead of my home. So I lived there and turned my home over to my brother Jack. That’s the oldest brother with whom I came here to Portland. 

Semler: When was that, Dr. Brill? 
BRILL: I got married in 1923. 

Semler: And where did you actually move to with your wife? Where was her home? 
BRILL: Her home is where I live now. On 1975 SW Montgomery Drive. 

Semler: You have lived here since? 
BRILL: I have lived here ever since. 

Semler: That’s fascinating. Do you remember anything about the neighborhood in South Portland when you first came there? 
BRILL: Oh, yes. It was a reasonable neighborhood. It wasn’t a particularly exclusive, but a general neighborhood. It was a residential neighborhood. 

Semler: Did a lot of Jewish people live there? 
BRILL: Oh, yes. A few Jewish people – not too many. There were a lot of kind of Jewish things, like the synagogues. Oh, yes. There was the Shaarie Torah at that time on First Street. Then there was the Sixth Street synagogue, which has now be come affiliated with Ahavai Shalom and it is now called the Neveh Shalom. It used to be Neveh Zedek – now Beth Shalom. That was on Sixth Street. Those two I remember [he is referring to the merger between Ahavai Sholom and Neveh Zedek that resulted in Congregation Neveh Shalom]. 

Semler: Did you have any activities connected with these, like the synagogues or the Neighborhood House? 
BRILL: Yes, I was teaching Hebrew at the time too. 

Semler: How old were you then? 
BRILL: Oh, I think I5 or 16, something like that. 

Semler: When you and your brother came here, were there any problems about making a living, or getting yourself settled to begin with, that you remember? 
BRILL: Well, I worked in an overall factory for a while. I used to make overalls. I made a little money out of that. Later I made money out of teaching, Hebrew mostly. 

Semler: Then your brother had a store? 
BRILL: Yes, my brother had a store. 

Semler: Then you were able to send for your family. 
BRILL: No, my family came on their own. They had some means. My main reason to come to the United States was to go to school and become a doctor. 

Semler: Did you have any education at all in Russia? Any public education? 
BRILL: No public education. There was no public education in Russia. But I had a Hebrew education. I went to the yeshiva there, too. The yeshiva was in Pinsk. I learned Hebrew, the Talmud, and so forth. 

Semler: Did you have any kind of a Russian education that would be the equivalent of our American public schools? 
BRILL: No public school education was available to us. My education was mainly a Jewish education. 

Semler: What sort of activities stand out as being very important to you during the time when you first came to Portland? What are some memories that stand out? 
BRILL: Well, my main activity was in the Hebrew school. Teaching Hebrew, looking after the children, and that’s about all. 

Semler: Were you ever interested in sports? 
BRILL: No, I didn’t have time to take up any sports until I got to Columbia. At Columbia, I was quite a wrestler. I used to wrestle. Wrestling and running were two of the sports that I was interested in. 

Semler: I would like to go back to Miss Allen’s school, too. Miss Allen’s school was a private school? 
BRILL: A private school. She helped me a lot in getting ready, especially. It was a preparatory school for college. 

Semler: Did she offer you scholarship help? 
BRILL: She offered me some help, yes. 

Semler: So you never went to public high school in this city. You went from Shattuck –
BRILL: No. I went from Shattuck School. I went one year at Shattuck, and I got my degree. That is, my graduation. That was in 1906. That same year I entered Miss Allen’s School and I was there two years. Then I took the college entrance examination. 

Semler: How large a school was Miss Allen’s school? 
BRILL: It was one of the leading private schools in the city. The other school was the Portland Academy. 

Semler: How many students were there do you think? 
BRILL: Oh, I would say around 90 or 100. 

Semler: Was there some particular reason why you chose to go to Columbia? Did Oregon have a medical school? 
BRILL: That was my ambition, to go to Columbia Medical School.

Semler: Oregon did have a medical school? 
BRILL: Yes, but I wanted to go to Columbia. The Oregon Medical School at that time was not very strong. It was just a passing school. Since I came back it became a very big school, not because my coming back, but automatically it became a big school. Oregon’s school now is the best school there is. Just as good as any school in the country.

Semler: But at the time you went, Columbia was the outstanding school. 
BRILL: Yes, Columbia was superior. 

Semler: Dr. Brill, you left South Portland by 1912, didn’t you? 
BRILL: 1912. 

Semler: You left South Portland about 1910 or 1912 and never lived there again. 
BRILL: I left South Portland in 1908, when I went east. 

Semler: I would like to ask you about where Jewish people in this community lived, besides South Portland? Were there a lot of people that you knew? 
BRILL: Well, at that time, there was quite a division between the German and the Russian Jews. Most of the German Jews lived up north in the area around 18th and 20th, where the synagogue is now. 

Semler: You mean where Shaarie Torah and Beth Israel are? 
BRILL: Yes. 

Semler: And the Russians lived in South Portland? 
BRILL: The Russians were all living in South Portland and going to the Shaarie Torah and Neveh Zedek. 

Semler: What kind of a relationship was there between the two communities? Did the Russian Jews and German Jews get along well together? 
BRILL: Oh yes, they got along well, but there wasn’t much mixing. Relatively little mixing. Marriages… it was most unusual to have a German to marry a Russian or vice versa. 

Semler: The German Jews were here before the Russian Jews. 
BRILL: I think so, yes.

Semler: Were they helpful to the Russian Jews? 
BRILL: Oh, yes. I remember Ben Selling, at that time, was a man of considerable means and he used to help everybody that he could. 

Semler: Were there any other people you remember as being helpful to the immigrants attempting to settle?
BRILL: I don’t remember of many people outside of Ben Selling. But Rabbi Stephen Wise was, at that time, the Rabbi of Beth Israel until, I think, until 1906. When did I come? 

Semler: You came around 1903. 
BRILL: Yes, around 1903. Yes, in 1906 Rabbi Stephen Wise went to New York and Jonah Wise came here. I was very fond of both of them. 

Semler: Did you have some relationship with Beth Israel, even at that time?
BRILL: I did some, yes. 

Semler: How? 
BRILL: Well, through the rabbis. I was very close to Rabbi Stephen Wise. When I went back to New York. I helped him in his synagogue. I used to teach the children Sunday School. Here, I was very close to Jonah Wise. He was a friend. I was here two years yet, in 1906 to 1908, so I had time to meet him and get in touch with him. 

Semler: Because, from what you have told me it would be unusual for somebody coming from Russia to have been affiliated with Beth Israel at that time.
BRILL: I was not affiliated. I was not a member. But I was a friend of the two Rabbis. 

Semler: Where did you meet the Rabbis? Just in the city?
BRILL: After they got to Portland. 

Semler: That’s very, very interesting. When you returned to the city, then?
BRILL: I was a Hebrew student and I introduced myself to Rabbi Stephen Wise and then later to Jonah Wise. 

Semler: When you returned to the city then, did you affiliate with Beth Israel?
BRILL: Yes, I did. 

Semler: And your wife had been a member of Beth Israel? 
BRILL: My wife had been a member of Beth Israel for a long time. Actually, she went to Sunday School there. 

Semler: That’s fascinating to know. It must have been very unusual.
BRILL: Well, it was. There was no question about me. I just came there. We were friends and we really became very intimate friends with both of them. 

Semler: Do you have some memories of them? They were such out standing men in Reform Judaism.
BRILL: Yes. They were outstanding, both of them. I was very close to Stephen Wise all through the time I went through Columbia. I helped him in the Sunday School, all those years. Later when I came back here, I became very intimate with Jonah Wise. In fact, it was through Jonah that I met my wife. 

Semler: He was the marriage maker?
BRILL: Yes, yes. 

Semler: When you went to Columbia did you plan all the time that you would return to Portland?
BRILL: Oh, yes. I always expected to eventually come back to Portland. 

Semler: Did you see in those years that you were away – which were a number of years – did you see a great many changes in the Jewish community when you came back?
BRILL: Oh, yes. When I came back, the number was greatly increased, the number of Jews. There was more rapport between the German and the Russian Jews at that time. 

Semler: Did you find that people’s living patterns had changed? That they were living in different places? 
BRILL: Well, they still lived very much apart. The Germans lived up north and the Russian Jews lived more or less in South Portland. Not completely separated, more or less separated, but there was a much greater union between the two. 

Semler: I would like to ask you, what would be your memory of your happiest time in Portland? 
BRILL: Well, I think it was after my marriage. I still kept both the south and the north. Although I became a member of Beth Israel, I still kept touch with Neveh Shalom, Shaarie Torah, and I was relatively happy. 

Semler: What would you remember as your unhappiest time in this city?
BRILL: Well, when my wife died. That was a terrible thing. 

Semler: She was a young woman?
BRILL: A young woman. She was 50. 

Semler: Did the Depression have any kind of an effect on your personal way of life? 
BRILL: Not too much, no. I was a physician and I was able to make a living. I wasn’t affected too much by the Depression. 

Semler: Did you see the community very affected by the Depression? 
BRILL: I think the community did, yes. Do you remember…? Apparently the great change in South Portland really took place after World War II. There were some new synagogues came up, and much greater union between the Germans and the Russian Jews. They worked together, raised money together, and had charitable institutions together. 

Semler: And this was all during the period after World War II?
BRILL: All took place after World War II. 

Semler: You were out of South Portland, so the Urban Renewal there really did not make any difference in your life. 
BRILL: No. 

Semler: When you look back, Dr. Brill, how do you feel about being a Jew living in Oregon? 
BRILL: Well, I think I made a very good choice in coming to Oregon. I had a very happy home here. I attained my ambition to become a doctor. 

Semler: Did you feel that the whole state of Oregon was friendly to Jews? 
BRILL: Oh, yes. I never met any prejudice, either in school or socially. I was always known to be a Jew. My name was Jewish and I never had any trouble. 

Semler: So you felt that this state has been friendly to you. 
BRILL: Friendly to me, yes. 

Semler: And to Jews as a whole? 
BRILL: As far as I know. I couldn’t see any prejudice here, except possibly, occasionally, when a young man would want to enter a school and he couldn’t because of his Jewishness. But very seldom. 

Semler: Were you involved in any activities to make it easier for Jews to get into school? 
BRILL: Yes, I was. 

Semler: Would you like to talk about some of them? 
BRILL: Not too much, because there really wasn’t very much Jewish prejudice. 

Semler: Dr. Brill, would you talk about your life in Russia? 
BRILL: Well, I remember a few friends that I had there very fondly. I didn’t feel any prejudice there, either, except as regards schooling. I couldn’t go to school there. 

Semler: You came from a relatively well-to-do family? 
BRILL: Relatively well to do. They weren’t too wealthy, but relatively. 

Semler: Did you have papers to leave Russia or did you have to sneak out? 
BRILL: I sneaked out. I remember that very well. I couldn’t have left Russia, because I was a boy and boys they wanted there for soldiers. My brother was in the army there and they wanted me in the army, too, but I got away. 

Semler: When your family came later, your father and that part of the family, did they also sneak away or did they have papers? 
BRILL: No, my father was an old man and my younger brothers were very young. Selling was five or six years old and Joe was just born then, so they had no trouble coming out. 

Semler: Did your brother spend six years in the army in Russia? 
BRILL: Yes, he spent six years in the army – four years at that time. 

Semler: Were they unable to buy his way out of the army? 
BRILL: No, he couldn’t. He spent four years in the army. 

Semler: Dr. Brill, where was the overall factory that you and your brother worked in? 
BRILL: It was some place in North Portland I remember. I only worked there a short time, because I went to school at the same time. I mean, I made just enough money to go to school. I worked there for maybe two or three months and then I entered Shattuck School. 

Semler: Did your brother work there longer? 
BRILL: No, he quit very soon and opened a store.

Semler: What did he do there? 
BRILL: He had a ladies and gentlemen’s clothes and so forth. 

Semler: And then the factory moved? 
BRILL: We moved to Portland. We moved with them. A short time afterwards, my brother left the factory and I left the factory and he opened a store. He had a store in Portland first. Then he had a store in The Dalles for a long time. Finally he got back to Portland and opened a store on the Eastside. 

Semler: Did your brother have family left here in Portland? 
BRILL: No, he never had a family. He married Bessie, but they never had any children. 

Semler: You came across the country from New York, 
BRILL: Six days and five nights. I can remember, from the train I could see the big sign that there was going to be a World – not the World’s Fair, but I don’t remember what it was. It is vague in my mind. But there was a big sign. I don’t remember now. I think that must have been the big fair that they built the big log cabin for in the early 1900’s. I think so, yes. 

Semler: Nineteen what? It must have been around 1903, wasn’t it? 
BRILL: Yes, around that time. It wasn’t built then yet, but it was projected that there was going to be something, I just don’t remember now. 

Semler: Did you attend when they finally built it?
BRILL: [laughs]