Abraham English Rosenberg

July 20, 1977 

Lenway: Mr. Rosenberg, do you remember anything about your grandparents? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, on my father’s side in Hull, England. 

Lenway: Do you remember their names? 
ROSENBERG: His name was Abba Rosenberg and her name was Toba Rosenberg. 

Lenway: Do you remember what your Grandfather did? 
ROSENBERG: Well, as I remember, he didn’t do anything. He must have been retired. He was an old person. 

Lenway: Do you remember what your Grandmother did? 
ROSENBERG: She was a housewife. 

Lenway: Do you have any idea about your mother’s? 
ROSENBERG: No, they were in Russia and I know nothing about my mother’s parents. 

Lenway: What did your own parents do? 
ROSENBERG: My father was a tailor and my mother was a housewife. 

Lenway: Were they both in Hull, England? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, they both came from different parts of Russia as children and they lived in Hull, England. Later on as they got older they met and got married in Hull, England. 

Lenway: How many brothers and sisters? 
ROSENBERG: There were five boys and two girls in the family. Five were born in Hull, England and the two youngest were born in Portland, Oregon. 

Lenway: Why did your parents decide to come to the United States? 
ROSENBERG: Well, my mother had a sister living here in Portland. He was a tailor and it was hard for him to make a living so they decided to come to Portland so she could be with her sister. 

Lenway: Do you remember who helped you coming to Portland, to provide the money? 
ROSENBERG: Well, first in 1912 my father and my oldest brother came and they both worked for two years and they accumulated enough money to send for my mother and four of the children and we arrived in 1914. 

Lenway: What were the names of all the children? 
ROSENBERG: Alright. Louis, Abraham, Joseph, Rebecca, Reuben, Allison and Ruth. 

Lenway: Are they all still in Portland? 
ROSENBERG: My oldest brother, Louie, passed away. My sister Betty (Rebecca) and myself are living in Portland. My brothers Joe and Reuben and my sister Ruth live in Salem and my youngest brother, Allison, lives in New Brunswick, New Jersey. 

Lenway: Do you have any distinct memories of the trip over from England? 
ROSENBERG: Well, we sailed from Southampton on the steamship Andania which was a Cunard line, a steamer. It was torpedoed in World War I.  We landed in Toronto, Canada and the first city that we hit in the United States (we travelled through Canada) and we landed in Chicago, and then from Chicago we took the train to Portland. 

Lenway: Do you have any memories of the train trip to Portland? 
ROSENBERG: It was just an ordinary railroad train trip. 

Lenway: When you first arrived in Portland, what did your family start to do? 
ROSENBERG: My dad, as I told you, was a tailor and my older brother Louie worked for Meier & Frank Company. The rest of us were children. 

Lenway: Did you attend school? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, when I first arrived in Portland I took an examination and went right into Lincoln High School. My younger brothers and sisters all went to Shattuck School and went to Lincoln High School (my brother Joe went to Benton Tech). 

Lenway: Do you remember where the old house was located? 
ROSENBERG: The first house that we lived in, yes. It was on Sheridan Street, between Third and Fourth. After that we moved to Fourth and Grant and lived there for a number of years and then we moved to Fifth Street between College and Hall, which is now a fire station. 

Lenway: After high school did you continue your education? 
ROSENBERG: No, I went to work for a firm by the name of Fleischner, Mayer & Company, which was a wholesale dry goods firm. 

Lenway: And how did you stay with that? 
ROSENBERG: I worked with that firm for 13 years and in 1930 they went out of business. Now, two of the nephews of the Fleishners then started up a wholesale dry goods firm for themselves under the name of Archie Goldsmith & Brother. 

Lenway: Why did the Fleischner firm go out of business? 
ROSENBERG: Well, they were all old men and they were all independently wealthy and they had no sons to carry on so they just went out of business. 

Lenway: When you started working for the new firm, did you start working for Archie? 
ROSENBERG: Yes , Mr. Archie Goldsmith and Mr. Louie Goldsmith were brothers. They started in 1930 and I started with them when the business first operated. They were on the second floor of the Financial Center Building on Sixth and Oak Street. 

Lenway: What was your position then? 
ROSENBERG: I was the bookkeeper and took care of the office. 

Lenway: At this point, what were your other brothers and sisters doing? 
ROSENBERG: In 1930 they were still going to school. My younger brother Joe started working for Mr. Jaloff who was in the bus business. He operated bus routes and my other brothers and sisters were in school. 

Lenway: How long did you stay with this firm? 
ROSENBERG: Which firm, Archie Goldsmith & Brother? The name later was changed to the Goldsmith Company and I worked with the firm for 41 years at which time in retired in 1971 when I was 70 years old. 

Lenway: You worked there a considerably long time. 
ROSENBERG: You’re right. 

Lenway: What did your father do when he was in the United States? 
ROSENBERG: He was a tailor. He had his own small tailor shop. First in Sellwood, then on 28th and NE Burnside, and finally on Sixth Avenue between Hall and Harrison on the west side. 

Lenway: Thank you 

Glazer: Was Sheridan Street in old South Portland where you lived when you first came? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: What are your memories of old South Portland at that period? 
ROSENBERG: Well, in those days everybody lived from Front Street and about Hall Street to Wood Street (where the Neighborhood House is) to about Tenth Street. I would judge about 98% of our Jewish people lived in that area. I remember on Fourth Street there was a red Southern Pacific train and on Sheridan Street there was a big wooden trestle that the trains used to go over with a great big gulch there. On First Avenue over the gulch was a wooden bridge for pedestrians and automobiles. But the hub of South Portland in those days was on First Street from Grant Street to Sheridan where all the kosher markets and the grocery stores were; business in general was there. Mr. Halperin had a grocery store and Mr. Robinson had a dry goods store. Mr. Geller had a grocery store. Dr. Lobby was the Dentist, Dr. Leon Wolfe was the Doctor, a Mr. Cottel had the drug store. There was another drug store there on First and Carruthers, the World Drug Company. Mr. Roth and Mr. Weinstein owned that. Then Mr. Solomon built the Solomon Apartments on First and Grant. It was about a five or six story building. It was the largest building in the entire area at the time. 

Glazer: What year would this have been? 
ROSENBERG: Well this was from 1914 to perhaps 1920. 

Glazer: Were some of those people particularly outstanding in your mind? 
ROSENBERG: No, in those days there was nothing outstanding. They were all small stores, individually owned. 

Glazer: Are there things that you remember about, for example, Mr. Cottel that you can recount? 
ROSENBERG: Well, he was a short person and he was also a doctor but he never practiced. It was a gathering place for everybody in that area who wanted drugs of any kind to fill prescriptions, or needed some advice on minor ailments, I suppose. 

Glazer: OK, you mentioned the name of the firm of Fleischner Mayer. 
ROSENBERG: Yes, Fleischner Mayer & Company. 

Glazer: Did you know any members of the family? 
ROSENBERG: Oh yes. Mr. Max Fleischner and Mr. Fleischner. Two of the partners were brothers and they were nephews of Mr. Louie Fleischner who was called the Colonel. He started the business I think in 1865. Now, Mr. Max Fleischner had one daughter. Her name was Flora and she married Rabbi Henry Berkowitz. Mr. I. N. Fleischner had two daughters. One, Minnie, was married to William Ehrmann who was the owner of the General Grocery Company. And the other sister, I can’t think what her first name was, she was married to Harold Wendel, the manager of Lipman, Wolfe & Company. 

Glazer: Why was Mr. Fleischner called the Colonel? 
ROSENBERG: I don’t know. He must have fought Indians in the old days and they must have nicknamed him the Colonel. 

Glazer: OK. Now we’ll move along and ask you some questions about your own activities. Regarding organizations, etc. What organizations and institutions have you been involved with in regard to the Jewish community? 
ROSENBERG: Well, I’m one of the charter original members of the Ramblers, which was formed in 1921. I’m past president of the B’nai B’rith Lodge, Portland Lodge No. 65 and have been a member of that lodge, consecutively, for 55 years. I’m a past president of the Jewish Community Center and an Honorary Life Members of the board. I have been treasurer and vice-president of the Robison Jewish Home and I am an Honorary Life Member of that board. I have been on the board of the Jewish Welfare Federation and have been on the board of the Jewish Educational Association. I am the recipient of the Golda Maier Prime Minister’s Medal from the State of Israel Bond’s Committee. I was singly honored by the Jewish National Fund and my name is on the Oregon window of the Kennedy Peace Memorial in the Judean Hills outside of Jerusalem in the State of Israel. I was also honored by the National Conference of Christians and Jews and received their annual award. I have also been on the executive board of the Sunshine Division of the Portland Police and then secretary-treasurer emeritus of the Oregon Association of the Amateur Athletic Union after having served in that capacity for 25 years. What else? That’s enough isn’t it? 

Glazer: Pretty Good! OK, let’s begin with the Ramblers. You were one of the charter members, which began in 1921. 
ROSENBERG: That’s right. 

Glazer: How did that beginning come about? 
ROSENBERG: Well, in those days, when we were going to high school, the B’nai B’rith (it was originally called the B’nai B’rith Building) was on 13th and Mill. After school all the kids used to meet up there. They had a swimming pool, handball court, they had a gymnasium and so several of us (there were nine of us originally) decided to form a club. A social, athletic fellowship and so we formed a club and called it the Ramblers. And the Ramblers, the letters stood for Right, Ambition, Merit, Benevolence, Energy, Religion, and Service. We grew and we prospered. It wouldn’t surprise me if the youth in those days, 90% of our Jewish youth at one time or another, belonged to that organization. We were very active. We gave affairs for charity. We had basketball teams, we had swimming teams, we had handball teams and in those days we used to hold a dance a month and that was one of the social highlights of the youth of the city of Portland. 

Glazer: When you say youths of the city of Portland, do you mean Jewish youth? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. There were no non-Jews in the organization. They were all Jewish. 

Glazer: Who were the nine founders? 
ROSENBERG: Well, let me see. There was Harry Seltzer, Oscar Seltzer, Leo Seltzer, Tommy Cheryk, myself (AE Rosenberg), Ernest Markewitz, Red Margulies, and Sam Pomerantz. That’s nine I think. 

Glazer: Was this a spontaneous thing, that someone decided, “Let’s form a club?” 
ROSENBERG: Yes, that’s right. 

Glazer: Was it formed at somebody’s house? 
ROSENBERG: At the building. 

Glazer: You were sitting around one day and decided to form a club? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, that’s right. 

Glazer: How did you think of the name? 
ROSENBERG: I don’t know. There was a committee appointed and we thought it would be best if the name had some meaning of some kind, so that’s how they arrived at it. 

Glazer: Who appointed the committee? 
ROSENBERG: Well, I think the temporary president was Leo Seltzer when the organization was finally formed. The first president was Tommy Cheryk and then he was followed by Leo Seltzer and I was the third president. 

Glazer: How was the first president chosen? 
ROSENBERG: By election. 

Glazer: Well, how about the one that appointed the committee. Was he elected? 
ROSENBERG: Temporary. 

Glazer: How was he chosen? 
ROSENBERG: By voice vote. 

Glazer: Most of the people from the early Ramblers, were they from the same synagogue, or where did they come from? 
ROSENBERG: They were between Shaarie Torah and Neveh Zedek and Ahavai Sholom. There were the three synagogues then besides the Temple Beth Israel, but they all lived in South Portland. And in those days the people that belonged to Temple were German Jews and we were mostly either Russian or Polish Jews. That is, either our parents or our grandparents came from there. 

Glazer: People from Beth Israel did not belong then? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, I believe Ernest Markewitz was the only one who belonged to the Temple that was one of the originators. 

Glazers: It started as a boys group and it still is. Why is that, what is the reason that it was just boys. 
ROSENBERG: Well, they haven’t been active now, I would say for the last 10 or 15 years. It’s just a dormant organization. They’re not active at all anymore. 

Glazer: Why do you think that is? 
ROSENBERG: Too many other interests. The average boy going to high school is more interested in playing tennis or golf or having an automobile than joining a club and being active. In those days there was nothing else to do. 

Glazer: What effect do you think that loss of interest has had on the cohesiveness of the Jewish community? 
ROSENBERG: I don’t think it has made much difference. There are other organizations now and other interests and it isn’t missed at all now. It served a purpose in those days and that purpose isn’t there anymore. 

Glazer: What would you say that purpose is? 
ROSENBERG: In those days – of comradeship, fellowship, getting together, sponsoring social events, athletic events. There isn’t that field for it anymore. 

Glazer: Could you give me, in some detail, an idea of some of the other activities of the Ramblers? In the early days? 
ROSENBERG: Well, we used to give shows. We gave a minstrel show one year that was held in the auditorium of the Lincoln High School that was a tremendous success. It was sold out for two nights. We used to participate in plays at the Jewish Community Center. In fact, several of us were in a play that the Jewish Community Center sponsored, called Welcome Stranger, that played at the Heilig Theatre. I was in that play. They sponsored other plays – Disraeli. And the Ramblers in those days held the 135 lb. basketball [Neighborhood house did divide teams by weight] championship of the city and as I say, both the boys and girls of that era, we sponsored various social events and that was the thing to do in those days. 

Glazer: What were some of the common bonds between the early members? 
ROSENBERG: Very close. We used to go to school and after we got through the studying, you found everyone up at the B’nai B’rith Building in those days. It’s like my mother used to tell me, “Why don’t you move your bed up there, you’re there more often more than you are at home.” 

Glazer: Now there was a Rambler’s auxiliary? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: Can you tell me about that? 
ROSENBERG: I have pictures of all those things. That was formed a number of years after the Ramblers was formed. The girls (we eventually got married) and the girls wanted to be as closely knit as the boys were, so they decided to form an auxiliary, a Sisterhood. I should judge there must have been about 15 or 16 of them that formed the Ramblers auxiliary. They weren’t too active outside of meeting together when the boys met. They met separately and we used to have an annual banquet altogether. In fact, the Ramblers had a banquet once a year on their anniversary. That was, in those days, about the social highlight of the year for the youth in our city. 

Glazer: What did they have to do to become a member of the Ramblers? 
ROSENBERG: Nothing, just make an application. 

Glazer: Were people ever turned down? 
ROSENBERG: Maybe in one or two instances, but ordinarily everybody knew each other in those days. It was a very closely-knit community and we were compact, living in one area. So all you had to do was make an application and you became a member. 

Glazer: Do you think that the fact that people are so disbursed these days has had an effect on organizations such as the Ramblers? 
ROSENBERG: No question about it. In the old days the B’nai B’rith Lodge at their meetings used to have 200, 300 or 400 members at each meeting. Now, if you get 10 to a meeting you’re lucky. 

Glazer: What other things account for that? 
ROSENBERG: There is a different mode of life today. Other diversions. Other spheres of influence or interest. 

Glazer: What effect has that had on the unity and the strength of the Jewish community? 
ROSENBERG: Well, I think the synagogues have become more powerful as a means of attracting people.

Glazer: Can you repeat what you just said? About the rabbinate? 
ROSENBERG: Well, the Portland rabbinate has been very strong and they have been very influential in molding character and interest in various different activities in our community. Along with the Jewish Community Center, it has played a vital force in our community. And then the Robison Jewish Home and it’s many activities on the part of their Sisterhood, the Council of Jewish Women. There are so many other interests and diversions today that we didn’t have to contend with in those days and I don’t think we are as closely knit as we used to be. Everybody going their different and separate ways. 

Glazer: Does that make the community weaker? 
ROSENBERG: I wouldn’t say it was weaker. I would say it made it more diversified. There are people interested today in the Oregon Historical Society, the Oregon Symphony, the Junior Symphony. In those days there weren’t those Organizations. There are many more civic endeavors and enterprises today than there used to be. 

Glazer: Did one have to be related to a Rambler in order to join the Ramblers? The auxiliary? 
ROSENBERG: No. Oh, you had to be the wife in order to join the auxiliary. 

Glazer: Did it remain that way always? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, yes. 

Glazer: Why was that? What if somebody was not a wife and wanted to join the auxiliary? 
ROSENBERG: They weren’t eligible. 

Glazer: What were some of the other activities of the auxiliary? 
ROSENBERG: Not too much. It was just purely social. 

Glazer: How did they assist the men? 
ROSENBERG: By having them attend the meetings. 

Glazer: It began as a social organization and that kind of a thing and did you branch out into more charitable and fundraising? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: What were the reasons for that expansion? 
ROSENBERG: Well, we wanted to do some good for the community and help others, those in need of help. 

Glazer: There was also a scholarship, as I understand it? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, we had the Ramblers’ scholarship fund. I was chairman of it. Nobody knew outside of the committee who the recipient of these scholarships were and we helped a number of boys who were financially unable to go to college. We helped them with their tuition and it was a secret; nobody knew who the recipient was. All they did was sign a note. We didn’t charge them any interest and we helped a number of the boys go through college who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to. Because in those days we were all poor. We just eked out a livelihood. 

Glazer: Where did the funds come from for this scholarship? 
ROSENBERG: From the different activities that we sponsored. From the dances. We accumulated a little surplus from our basketball games, from our shows. 

Glazer: Did one have to pay dues? 
ROSENBERG: Oh yes. 

Glazer: How much were the dues at the very beginning? 
ROSENBERG: I think the dues at the beginning were .25 cents a month. 

Glazer: In order to receive a scholarship did you have to be a member of the Ramblers? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: Can you tell me now how the recipient was chosen? 
ROSENBERG: No, he came to us. 

Glazer: You said you were on the committee and nobody ever knew how the recipient was chosen. 
ROSENBERG: No, it wasn’t a question of the recipient being chosen. Whoever was in need of money at the time they wanted to go to college, he approached the committee. We did not take the initiative. The individual who wanted to go to college took the initiative and approached the committee. 

Glazer: So that anybody who approached could get it? 
ROSENBERG: Not necessarily. We would investigate it and if we felt that their parents were in a good position, why we didn’t help them. It was those who were in absolute need that we helped. 

Glazer: Were there any obstacles that you found when you were forming the club? 
ROSENBERG: No. The board of the B’nai B’rith building, who were the leaders of our community, were very helpful and very cooperative and did everything in their power to help us get started. In fact, later on as we became established, their board felt that we were so active and created so much enthusiasm in the community that they felt that a member of the Ramblers should be on the board of the Center. 

Glazer: When was this? 
ROSENBERG: Well I think the first member of the Ramblers who was appointed to the board, I would say was in the ‘30s. And I was that member. 

Glazer: How were you chosen? 
ROSENBERG: I don’t know. 

Glazer: Was the Ramblers Club competitive with similar clubs of the Neighborhood House? 
ROSENBERG: Well, later on, we played the Neighborhood House basketball team, but they had a much older, a more mature basketball team than we had. We used to play handball against each other and also I think there was a swimming meet occasionally between the two. That was the only form of competition as I remember. 

Glazer: Was it competitive in terms of trying to get members? 
ROSENBERG: I don’t think so. The dues at the Neighborhood House was much less than the dues at the B’nai B’rith Building. As you know, I suppose, the Council of Jewish Women built the Neighborhood House and they sponsored it and operated it. That’s where they had the naturalization classes. When the newcomers came into the area, why that’s where they went, to the Neighborhood House for instructions. To learn English and so on. 

Glazer: Are you saying that you did not attract the same kind of members? 
ROSENBERG: The South Parkway Club was the organization at the Neighborhood House and the Ramblers were the organization at the B’nai B’rith Building. Now, I used to belong to both years ago, but then it became a situation where you either had to belong to one or the other, so some chose South Parkway Club and some chose the Ramblers. I chose the Ramblers. 

Glazer: When was this? 
ROSENBERG: This must have been in the ‘30s some time. 

Glazer: Why was there an ultimatum like that? 
ROSENBERG: Well, there was too much conflict of interest. 

Glazer: How so? 
ROSENBERG: They each sponsored dances. They each had athletic programs. I don’t know. There was just a conflict of interest. 

Glazer: Who made the decision that you had to belong to one or the other? 
ROSENBERG: I’m not sure, but I think that both of them did. I’m not positive on that score. 

Glazer: Was there a rule also that you had to belong to either the B’nai B’rith or the Neighborhood House? 
ROSENBERG: No, no. You could belong to both if you wished. 

Glazer: If you were looking over the whole history of the Ramblers, how would you say that the goals and the direction of the organization changed through the years? 
ROSENBERG: Oh, I think the Center spread out much more so than the Neighborhood House did. They had so many more activities and diversity of interests and programs, much more than the Neighborhood House did. As you know, the Center grew and grew and grew until its present building, whereas the Neighborhood House, it eventually became a non-Jewish organization. Their differences were very marked throughout the years. 

Glazer: How do you account for the differences? 
ROSENBERG: Well, I think as they became a little more affluent and they drifted toward the Center. Then immigration fell down considerably and there wasn’t the need for the Neighborhood House as much as it was when it was originally built. 

Glazer: What Temple did you belong to? 
ROSENBERG: I belonged to Congregation Neveh Zedek and then a number of years later they merged with the Ahavai Sholom and now its Neveh Shalom, one Conservative synagogue. 

Glazer: What year did you join? 
ROSENBERG: I presume it was, maybe the 1920s sometime. 

Glazer: Were you ever told anything about the first merger between Neveh Zedek and Ahavai Sholom? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, I was chairman of the merger committee for Neveh Zedek. 

Glazer: The first one was in 1895. 
ROSENBERG: Well, that’s before my time. 

Glazer: I thought perhaps you heard something about it. Tell me about the second merger. 
ROSENBERG: Well, you know, the old timers were still living with Mr. Nemerovsky, Mr. Shank, Mr. Gayle and those die-hards. They were the powers of Neveh Zedek and they worried they would lose their identity into another synagogue, and there was argument, after argument, after argument. But the average age of the member was in their 70’s and it got so that we were dying on the vine you might say. We had no Sunday School facilities to speak of and what little there were, were in the basement with partitions for separate rooms. Ahavai Sholom had built their new synagogue across from the Center and they had adequate facilities for Sunday School for the children and so all the younger married couples who had small children, they all joined Ahavai Sholom and the old people were dying off at Neveh Zedek. There were no young people becoming new members so it was a question of finally having to give up the ship. After a number of meetings, which were very bitter, very contested, we finally accomplished the merge of the two synagogues. 

Glazer: Why was there no Sunday School, etc. at Neveh Zedek? 
ROSENBERG: They had no school facilities there. They had no classrooms. 

Glazer: Couldn’t they build the class rooms? If they wanted to keep the members? 
ROSENBERG: In those days there was just the synagogue there on Sixth and Hall and there were houses all around them. There was no place to build, although eventually they bought the two houses on Sixth Avenue, south of them. At the time of the merger, they had something like 200 members and they were losing from 10 to 20 a year and it was slowly dying, because there were no new members coming into the picture. 

Glazer: Tell me something about the meetings? What were some of the objections? 
ROSENBERG: The objections were that they didn’t want to lose their identity. 

Glazer: You said they were so bitter. Can you describe it? 
ROSENBERG: The arguments and the animosity and the ill feeling it created at the time. They just didn’t want to give up the ship. 

Glazer: Who were the people who did want to give up the ship? 
ROSENBERG: The younger element. There was David Weiner and Henry Jackson and Ben Steinberg and myself. At that time we saw what was happening, and so we thought we would merge and it would be better for all concerned if we merged as a going congregation instead of being a dead one. 

Glazer: Were you an officer in the congregation at the time? 
ROSENBERG: Yes , I think I was vice-president. 

Glazer: How were the older people finally convinced, or were they? 
ROSENBERG: Well, we showed them that we had nothing to offer as far as the younger element. That we were losing so many members every single year, that no new members applied for membership and we were slowly but sure getting out of the picture and while a lot of them didn’t want to, we are still living in a democracy and majority rules. 

Glazer: Did the whole congregation vote on it? The women too? 
ROSENBERG: Oh yes, the members, yes. 

Glazer: Mr. Nemerovsky, Mr. Gayle, did they finally join Neveh Shalom? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. Well, some of them passed away in the meantime. Whether they were all alive at the time of the merger I don’t remember. 

Glazer: How did the Ahavai Sholom feel about this merger? 
ROSENBERG: Well, they received two hundred members. I think they got something like $150,000 or $200,000 for the sale of the property and they got a Neveh Zedek cemetery fund which was very substantial at the time in those days. They did all right. 

Glazer: They felt pretty good, huh? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: Ahavai Sholom had their own cemetery? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, they operate two cemeteries now. 

Glazer: Now they have the Neveh Zedek and the Ahavai Sholom? 
ROSENBERG: That’s right. They are both memorial parks that they operate. 

Glazer: OK. Now you said you have been a member of Portland Lodge #65 for 55 years. How did you first become involved? 
ROSENBERG: We were meeting at the B’nai B’rith building and the Lodge built the building eventually. And as I say, we were more at the building than we were at home, so after you graduated, you might, from the Ramblers, join the B’nai B’rith Lodge. It was the natural transition of growing up and reaching your maturity. You couldn’t belong in those days until you were 21. 

Glazer: What was the top age of the Ramblers, 21? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: Did you ever think about joining or was it just an automatic thing? 
ROSENBERG: It was an automatic thing. In those days they were very strong and very active, the B’nai B’rith. As I said, they used to have 300 or 400 members attend every meeting. It was a very strong force in the community. 

Glazer: How was that force manifested? 
ROSENBERG: In all ways. They championed the rights of the Jewish people in our community and they had a voice in the city government and they were a factor. They were one of the powerful organizations in the community. 

Glazer: How deeply involved were you? 
ROSENBERG: In the B’nai B’rith Lodge, well I was very much involved. I went through the chairs. 

Glazer: You went through all the different offices? 
ROSENBERG: Yes.

Glazer: Beginning where? 
ROSENBERG: With the Outer Guardian. 

Glazer: What did the Outer Guardian do? 
ROSENBERG: Greet the people as they came in. 

Glazer: Did you wear a uniform? 
ROSENBERG: No. 

Glazer: Did you have to have a password? 
ROSENBERG: No. 

Glazer: What other offices? 
ROSENBERG: There was – is it on now? Can you turn it off for a minute? 

Glazer: What position did you hold after you were a guardian? 
ROSENBERG: Warden, vice-president and then president. 

Glazer: What did the warden do? 
ROSENBERG: He greeted the members as they came in. 

Glazer: What did the vice-president do? 
ROSENBERG: He was like an assistant to the president and when the president was absent he presided at the lodge meetings. 

Glazer: What did the president do? 
ROSENBERG: Well, he presided at the meetings and he was the one responsible for the activities of the lodge. 

Glazer: Did he appoint the committees? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: The committees were not elected? 
ROSENBERG: No.

Glazer: Are you still involved with the B’nai B’rith? 
ROSENBERG: Not as much. I’m gone half a year and that’s in the fall and there’s not too much activities in the summer time. 

Glazer: You said that the B’nai B’rith has died down a lot through the years. 
ROSENBERG: That’s right. 

Glazer: For what reasons would you say? 
ROSENBERG: Well, lodges in general are not what they used to be and while they have quite a number of members, their attendance and activities aren’t what they used to be. There are too many other diverse occasions. People interested in other things besides the B’nai B’rith Lodge, 

Glazer: What are some of the outstanding things that happened during your presidency? 
ROSENBERG: We sponsored certain programs, as I remember. We had several meetings where we had an established artist give a concert that was attended by several hundred people. I believe on several years we used to have a float in the Rose Festival Parade. We sponsored debates. We had people who were running for office appear before the lodge. We used to have men of national repute come in the community and speak before the group. We were the leading Jewish organization in the entire community and when any problem presented itself, the lodge generally took it up and gave it consideration until some sort of solution was found for the problem, whatever it was 

Glazer: What did you perceive as being the purpose of the B’nai B’rith at the time you were president? 
ROSENBERG: Its purpose was for brotherhood and also defending the good name of the Jews all over the world. The Anti-Defamation League is one of the big arms of the B’nai B’rith and it is an international force and power as regards fighting for the rights of the Jewish people all over the world. 

Glazer: How would you say that the character of the B’nai B’rith has changed from the time you have joined? 
ROSENBERG: The character itself has not changed. It still has the same ideals and the same principles for what it was originally formed. 

Glazer: Brotherhood. 
ROSENBERG: That’s right. 

Glazer: Any other reasons? 
ROSENBERG: Well, fraternity, brotherly love, and charity. They are the three main concepts of the lodge. 

Glazer: Who were some of the people with whom you were involved during your years in the B’nai B’rith? 
ROSENBERG: Going back, they were the leaders in our community. Going back to the old days, there was Ben Selling, there was D. Solis Cohen, there was Rabbi Jonah B. Wise, there was Nathan Weinstein, there was Alex Miller, there was Joe Shemanski, Milton Margulis, Abe Asher, Ben Jacobsen. There was any number of them throughout the years. 

Glazer: What do you remember about D. Solis Cohen? 
ROSENBERG: He should have been a rabbi. He was an attorney and he had tremendous oratorical ability and admired and respected by everybody in the community. 

Glazer: Were you well acquainted with him personally? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. I knew him. 

Glazer: Do you remember any incidents with him? 
ROSENBERG: Not particularly. He was very active in Temple and the B’nai B’rith Lodge and I came in contact with him through the B’nai B’rith Lodge. 

Glazer: How about Ben Selling? 
ROSENBERG: Ben Selling was the leading Jew of the community in his day. He had a clothing store on Fourth and Morrison and he was very charitable and philanthropic. He had a national reputation as being one of the outstanding Jews of America. 

Glazer: Did people ever say bad things about him? Or about D. Solis-Cohen? 
ROSENBERG: Not that I ever heard. 

Glazer: What about Joseph Shemanski? 
ROSENBERG: He was a gentleman. He started out with a horse and wagon, peddling. He eventually built and formed the Eastern Outfitting Company, where the present medical building is on 11th and Washington. That used to be the Eastern Outfitting Company building, before it was remodeled, 

Glazer: I’ve read over the names of some of the members of the B’nai B’rith and it seems like the same names keep coming up. 
ROSENBERG: They were powers in the community in their days. 

Glazer: How did they get that way? 
ROSENBERG: How did they? Because they were active in everything. They were in the forefront of everything. We had some tremendous leaders in those days. They were admired and respected by the entire community. They were charitable, knowledgeable, intelligent. They had know-how, they participated, gave of themselves and they all gained a very enviable reputation. 

Glazer: Was there ever any resentment on the part of other people towards these men who were so active and so involved? 
ROSENBERG: I don’t think so. There may have been, but it didn’t surface. How could you criticize somebody who was doing good in the community? The only ones who might criticize those were sour grapes, for no reason at all.

Glazer: How were the funds raised for B’nai B’rith activities? 
ROSENBERG: One, membership. And then they used to give various affairs, mostly lectures and donations from the members themselves. 

Glazer: What kind of lectures? 
ROSENBERG: They would bring some national figure into the community and they would pay him so much for the lecture and they would charge so much admission, but most of it came from membership dues and donations. 

Glazer: Who participated in the fundraising? 
ROSENBERG: The entire community, but as far as having direct responsibility for these various affairs, it was the officers of the Lodge that assumed responsibility. 

Glazer: They had entertainment committees? 
ROSENBERG: Oh sure, they had various committees to all the various functions and the activities that they sponsored. 

Glazer: How did the B’nai B’rith Sisterhood cooperate with the B’nai B’rith Lodge? 
ROSENBERG: Well, that was a separate organization. It’s when some social function of some kind, they took care of the refreshments and arrangements. If it was a banquet, they made the arrangements with the hotel, with the menu and the decorations, etc., but then they had their own lodge and their own activities and the B’nai B’rith women have their own District Lodge and everything else like the men. They are separate and apart. 

Glazer: Is it always that way? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: You didn’t have to be married to a Lodge member? 
ROSENBERG: No, no. 

Glazer: What were the eligibility requirements in order to become a member of the Lodge? 
ROSENBERG: 21 years old and Jewish. 

Glazer: I have heard about initiation rites and that sort of thing. 
ROSENBERG: In the old days, they used to have a regular initiation ceremony, participated by the officers of the lodge and its ritual team. But then that ritual has been eliminated and they just have a simple oath, that’s all. 

Glazer: Why was it eliminated? 
ROSENBERG: I don’t know. 

Glazer: Is that how you came into the Lodge? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, a regular ritual. 

Glazer: What do you remember about it? 
ROSENBERG: Well, it was different members of the board. They each had certain functions to perform, certain readings that each one made to impress the candidate of the importance and significance of the Lodge. There was no monkey business. It was strictly ritual and written word. It was quite impressive. They used to have sort of a gown on, like a preacher wears today, and it was done with solemnity. It was very nice and beautiful to watch, but as I stated, that’s been eliminated now. All they do is take a simple oath and that’s it. 

Glazer: What is the oath? 
ROSENBERG: Whatever it is. 

Glazer: No changes? 
ROSENBERG: No it’s the same one 

Glazer: Is there a password or anything like that? 
ROSENBERG: No.

Glazer: To what degree were members of the synagogue involved with B’nai B’rith? 
ROSENBERG: They were all involved. It just depended on if you were interested in the activities of the Lodge. If you were interested in a certain aspect of it, if you were interested in membership, for instance, and wanted to get new members for the Lodge, or if you were interested in the ritual or in the social values or if you were interested in the Anti-Defamation League, why it just depended what your interests were. If you signified it to the president or the members of the board, they would see to it that you were appointed to that committee. 

Glazer: In other words, people got on to committees if they wanted to be on committees. 
ROSENBERG: They didn’t appoint anybody to committees who didn’t want to serve on that committee. 

Glazer: I wondered how the appointments were made. 
ROSENBERG: Yes, they were made, ordinarily. In some years they used to send a questionnaire out asking what committees they would like to be appointed to. Other times, if the president felt that an individual should be on a certain committee, he would contact the individual personally and talk to him and try and talk him into being on that committee. 

Glazer: What were some of the major obstacles that you had to overcome while you were president of the B’nai B’rith Lodge? 
ROSENBERG: There weren’t any particular obstacles in those days. Everybody knew what the Lodge meant, what it did, what it meant to the community and there really wasn’t any objections or obstacles. They all knew what it was. 

Glazer: Was there any resistance outside of the Jewish community? 
ROSENBERG: No. Definitely not. 

Glazer: Has there been before or after? 
ROSENBERG: No 

Glazer: Approximately how many people were in the B’nai B’rith Lodge when you first joined? 
ROSENBERG: I would say around 600 or 700. 

Glazer: What were the years of peak involvement? 
ROSENBERG: I think peak involvement was when Israel became a state in 1948. 

Glazer: For what reasons was this the peak involvement? 
ROSENBERG: Well, it was that emotional pent up feeling that for thousands of years the Jews didn’t have a country of their own and here it became a state and there was a strong feeling of Jewishness which permeated the entire country, not in Portland alone. 

Glazer: How did this affect the activities of the B’nai B’rith? 
ROSENBERG: Well, they had programs at the time about Israel and the Holocaust and what it meant and it created a tremendous amount of interest at the time and the attendance at these meetings was unbelievable. 

Glazer: How many would you say attended the meetings during the peak years? 
ROSENBERG: 300 to 400 and if there was a special program there might have been 500 or 600. I think at the peak, at one time I think there used to be three Portland B’nai B’rith Lodges and they amalgamated into one and at the peak the membership was around 800 or 900. 

Glazer: When had they amalgamated? 
ROSENBERG: Immediately thereafter. 

Glazer: When the tape recorder was off, you said a couple of things about the Ramblers which were interesting. 
ROSENBERG: What was that? 

Glazer: When I asked you what happened to the Ramblers during the war when the young men were drafted. 
ROSENBERG: Oh during the war they either enlisted or were drafted and there were only eight of us left. We used to meet on a Monday night, every Monday night in the B’nai B’rith building. In order to continue with the organization, we had to change the by-laws where a quorum was whatever was present at the meeting. But what we used to do we used to make up a newsletter once a month and we sent it to every member in the armed forces that were scattered all over the world. They were in the air force, they were in the army, they were in the navy, they were in the merchant marine and in addition to that, we would keep in touch with all of them, and no matter what they wanted we sent them. We used to send them salami, we used to send them in addition to the tooth paste and shaving material and different things and we kept up a correspondence with all of them, and this newspaper was widely read by not only by the boys that were in the service, but everybody in the community wanted a copy. I think I showed you a picture of the Ramblers in their uniforms, didn’t I? 

Glazer: You can show us that in a minute. Was this sent to the young men who were Ramblers in Portland, all Jewish men? 
ROSENBERG: No, just the Ramblers in Portland and the ones that were in the service. 

Glazer: What would happen when they came back from the war?
ROSENBERG: Well, they came right back. 

Glazer: There must have been a lot of them over the age of 21 at that point. 
ROSENBERG: Oh yes, so we didn’t make any restriction as to age limit. 

Glazer: When would this have been? 
ROSENBERG: I should judge it must have been in the late ‘40s, early ‘50s. 

Glazer: So the Ramblers could be made up of men in their fifties? 
ROSENBERG: That’s right. 

Glazer: Did that seem to be the tendency? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, they grew older and the younger element after the war, they had other interests. When we first started, there was nothing; nobody had any automobiles and we were very close knit. After the war I don’t have to tell you what the attitude of the average youth who had been in the service was. He was interested in everything but going to a meeting. That’s the last thing he thought of. It was like a different world than it was when we were youngsters. 

Glazer: What effect did the war have on other organizations in which you were involved? 
ROSENBERG: I don’t think there was an intense interest and devotion to the various organizations as there were before the war. As I mentioned, they had other interests, diversification and everything else. 

Glazer: I saw a picture in the hail of the Scottish Rite of Masons. Is there any relationship between that and the Jewish Community? 
ROSENBERG: No. That was non-sectarian. 

Glazer: I see. Were there very many Jews? 
ROSENBERG: Quite a number in the various lodges. There are any number of Masonic lodges in Portland. 

Glazer: What does it mean to be a Scottish Rite of the Masons? 
ROSENBERG: That means that you have attained your 32nd degree, then you are a Scottish Rite Mason. 

Glazer: What do you mean you attained your 32nd degree? 
ROSENBERG: Well there are degrees. In order to be a master Mason you’ve got to have the first three degrees then you are a Master Mason and after a Master Mason you can eventually become a Scottish Rite Mason and that takes you up to the 32nd degree You’ve heard of the Shrine Temple. In order to be a member of the Shrine, you’ve got to be a 32nd degree Mason before you can join the Shrine. 

Glazer: I have a few unrelated questions to ask you to wind up this session. Your nickname is “English?” 
ROSENBERG: That’s right. 

Glazer: What does the E stand for in your name? 
ROSENBERG: The E is Edward. My full name is Abraham Edward Rosenberg. The reason I’m called English, which is a nickname, is when I first came to this country the boys in those days wore long socks with knickers. Well, when I came I wore long pants and a vest and a coat. In addition I was born in Hull which is in Yorkshire and Yorkshire has the worst brogue of any brogue in England. In fact I was hardly understandable. In fact when I first started school at Lincoln High School, my brogue was terrific. When I used to get up in class to recite, the class used to laugh and the teacher at times took me more or less at face value on account of my brogue. And in those days everybody seemed to have a nickname, so they stuck English on me as it’s been with me ever since. In fact, a lot of people when I was playing handball, they used to call me Mr. English and my wife, Mrs. English. They didn’t know my real name. 

Glazer: Can you still speak in your brogue? 
ROSENBERG: I doubt it [laughs]. 

Glazer: I want to ask you just a few last questions about your marriage. 
ROSENBERG: We were married in 1943 during the war. My wife was raised on a farm in North Dakota. Her father was one of the original homesteaders in North Dakota. She graduated from the University of North Dakota and she took special classes at the University of Washington and Oregon Normal School. She was a teacher. She taught in Oregon at Silverton and she had a class of problem children. Before I married her she was principal of the lower grades of the Gabel Country Day School. That was before Catlin. The Gabel Country Day School was owned by Priscilla Gabel. It was a very, very exclusive private school and so we have been married 34 years. 

Glazer: What is her maiden name? 
ROSENBERG: Krenen. 

Glazer: While you are spelling could you spell your father’s name and your mother’s name? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, My father was Abba and my mother’s name was Anna. 

Glazer: OK. Thank you very much.

End of part one

August 19, 1977 

Glazer: Mr. Rosenberg, you came by train from Chicago to Portland in 1914? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: What was the countryside like at that time? 
ROSENBERG: Well, we went through a lot of wheat fields (not through too many large cities) and natural wooded areas and it was a beautiful ride cross-country. 

Glazer: Did you see any Indians? 
ROSENBERG: I think we stopped at one place. I don’t remember what it was. There were Indians selling their wares, like moccasins and trinkets and things like that, but that’s the only Indians we saw en route. 

Glazer: Did you encounter any adventure? 
ROSENBERG: No, it was just an ordinary train ride, nothing exciting happened. 

Glazer: What was the relationship between the Ramblers and the South Parkway Club? 
ROSENBERG: There wasn’t any relationship. The South Parkway Club, they met at the Neighborhood House and they had their own activities and the Ramblers met at the B’nai B’rith Center. They each had their social affairs and their athletic teams and there was sort of a friendly rivalry between the two organizations, but they got along beautifully. And one year we had a banquet together and that’s the first time it happened in all the existence of the two organizations where they actually had a dinner and an affair afterwards, although at each of our dances, the members of both groups always attended, irrespective of who sponsored the dance. 

Glazer: What was the occasion of this banquet? 
ROSENBERG: I don’t know. The officers of each organization felt that it would be nice if they got together for the first time and had dinner together. A few talks by the presidents and it was a very lovely affair. It was held at the old Elks Club up there on 11th and Alder. 

Glazer: When was this? 
ROSENBERG: I don’t remember offhand but I have a picture of it that I can give for the archives. 

Glazer: That would be very nice. You were a founder of the Ramblers? 
ROSENBERG: Yes.

Glazer: And your brother Lou was a past president of the South Parkway Club? 
ROSENBERG: Right. 

Glazer: Was this unusual to have a brother in each club? 
ROSENBERG: No. 

Glazer: It did not cause any trouble between the two of you? 
ROSENBERG: No, no. There weren’t any problems. They each had their own activities and there was no animosity on the part of anybody towards each other. It was just friendly rivalry you might say. They had a basketball team, but their basketball team was more mature than ours. They were an older group than we were. We started when we were all high school boys in Lincoln High School. They were, perhaps, ten years older than we were in those days. 

Glazer: How did the two clubs differ so that you would want to belong to the Ramblers and your brother to the South Parkway Club? 
ROSENBERG: Well, it was a matter of your friendships. The boys you ran around with more than anything else. I think I told you, I used to belong to both and then we decided that it would be best for all concerned if he either belonged to one or the other, so all my friends they decided to go with the Ramblers so I just followed suit. And besides those of us who went to the B’nai B’rith Building and swam and played handball and basketball there, we wanted to remain there, whereas the South Parkway Club was at the Neighborhood House. It was just a matter of personal preference and I think what predicated it more than anything else, who your friends were and who you ran around with and where they went. 

Glazer: How much older was your brother than you? 
ROSENBERG: My brother Lou was three years older than I was. 

Glazer: You and Louis Blumenthal organized the B’nai B’rith Intermediate Boys’ Club in 1923? 
ROSENBERG: Well, I don’t know whether they called it the B’nai B’rith Intermediate Club or not, but there was, let’s see, what was the name of a club that was formed that was younger than we were? The name escapes me for the moment. I might be able to come back to it. 

Glazer: Were you one of the founders? 
ROSENBERG: It’s very possible because I was very active in the B’nai B’rith building with all its activities and it’s very possible that we did. But perhaps it was just short lived while Mr. Blumenthal was the Executive Director there and maybe it went out of existence after he left. 

Glazer: Do you recall what purpose the organization was? 
ROSENBERG: Oh, just to create a social sphere between themselves and also perhaps a basketball team or something of that type. 

Glazer: You were 22 years old then. What was the organization for, what ages? 
ROSENBERG: In the intermediate group? They were in their teens, they were teenagers. I imagine from perhaps 14 to 18, that age group. 

Glazer: How did you decide to form a club for younger kids? 
ROSENBERG: Instead of them all going in all different directions, the Executive Director felt that it was better if they organized and had supervision, so they would have goals to achieve instead of operating haphazardly as individuals. 

Glazer: What were their goals? 
ROSENBERG: Oh, to form a basketball team maybe, or a swimming team and be champions in their division or their age group. 

Glazer: You don’t think that this club is still in existence? 
ROSENBERG: No, definitely not. 

Glazer: How long were you involved in it? 
ROSENBERG: I think while it lasted. 

Glazer: How long would that have been? 
ROSENBERG: Maybe three or four years. 

Glazer: Do you recall why it disbanded? 
ROSENBERG: No. Perhaps after Mr. Blumenthal left there wasn’t anyone to supervise it or be actively identified with it so it just eased out of the picture. 

Glazer: How did you go about founding it? 
ROSENBERG: Well, we knew who the leaders were in that age group and we sat down and talked with them with the idea of forming a club. They seemed interested and so we went about forming one. I think at the time it was organized they were very enthusiastic about it. 

Glazer: Who were the leaders in that age group? 
ROSENBERG: I think they later became the AZA group. At the time the Ramblers was formed there was no AZA or BBG groups and so we had to form our own groups. In those days the AZA leaders were two Levoff brothers, two Rotenberg brothers, there was a couple of Director brothers and maybe one or two others, the names escape me at the moment. In one year, this same group, as they matured, they became national champions of the AZA group. They won a national tournament back east and at that time Harry Kenin was the Executive Director of the Center. 

Glazer: A tournament in what? 
ROSENBERG: Basketball. They won the national championship. 

Glazer: There were debating tournaments too, 
ROSENBERG: Yes, that’s right. Their athletes won national tournaments too. That age group, they grew up and they became outstanding individuals. In fact, one of them became the international head of the AZA. International president, Dick Brownstein. 

Glazer: What effects do you think these clubs had in shaping people to outstanding individuals like that? 
ROSENBERG: Well, it gave them the experience, one, and being able to conduct a meeting. Two, it gave them the means of expressing themselves and three, it brought together a sort of comradeship between these boys, and they have remained friends throughout these many, many years. It is just like when the Ramblers gave their social affairs. At these dances boy meets girl and its through these dances and through these social affairs that a lot of these married couples met each other, became engaged and then married and brought up families. If there weren’t these organizations where these boys and girls could get together and meet, perhaps they never would marry each other. 

Glazer: So in a way it almost kept them in the faith? 
ROSENBERG: In a sense, but I don’t think in those days we thought about that. You know, when your kids are going to high school you don’t think so much about keeping the faith. It just happens. Oh sure, it is the environment of being in an ideal Jewish environment, with Jewish boys and girls. There’s no question about it. The parents of us boys and girls, they approved of it because they knew where we were at and practically every night we were at the Center for some form of activity or the other. 

Glazer: Did you meet your wife in the organization? 
ROSENBERG: No l met her on a blind date through a mutual friend. 

Glazer: You mentioned the BBG. That’s the B’nai B’rith Girls? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: When was the AZA formed? 
ROSENBERG: This, I don’t know. You’ll have to find out from perhaps David Weinstein, who is the present secretary of the B’nai B’rith Lodge. There are several AZA chapters now. The president of any of the chapters, I imagine, may be able to tell you. 

Glazer: Several chapters in Portland? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: Because there are too many people of that age, or what? 
ROSENBERG: Well, there is quite a number of young men of that age group. I think they have three AZA chapters here and they’ll be able to tell you more about the history of AZA than I would, because I was too old for AZA at the time. When I was that age, there wasn’t any AZA in the country at all. 

Glazer: Was there any club at all for you when you were that age? 
ROSENBERG: No, that’s why the Ramblers were formed. The South Parkway Club, I think, was about three or four years older than the Ramblers as far as when it was first formed. 

Glazer: What position did you hold in the intermediate boys B’nai B’rith? 
ROSENBERG: I didn’t hold any position, I just – it’s just like the AZA had advisors, or the Boy Scouts have a scout master. More or less you see that things are done properly and well and instigate and institute activities. But as far as being an officer or anything like that, no. 

Glazer: Did the boys themselves elect officers? 
ROSENBERG: Oh yes, sure. 

Glazer: What was the procedure? 
ROSENBERG: Nominations from the floor and then vote and the majority won. 

Glazer: How many members were there to begin with? 
ROSENBERG: In the intermediate group? There might have been about 150. 

Glazer: Is this a pretty steady number? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, yes. See in those days the average boy or girl didn’t have too much to do. They didn’t have automobiles in those days; only the rich people had the automobiles. After you got through with school and did your home work, it was an ideal place to go, to see and meet your friends, or go for a swim, or go in the gymnasium. We all liked to hang around the Center and visit with each other. It was a nice environment and kept you out of mischief. 

Glazer: By what methods were funds raised for the intermediate boys club? 
ROSENBERG: Oh, I think the dues were maybe .25 cents a month. They would have a few dollars and they would hold a raffle or something amongst themselves. In those days you didn’t need too much money. 

Glazer: Did they hold dances or socials with other clubs? 
ROSENBERG: No. 

Glazer: Was it a closed organization? 
ROSENBERG: Not necessarily. Anybody could belong that belonged to the building. 

Glazer: Could people who didn’t belong to the club go to the meetings’? 
ROSENBERG: No, you had to be a member go to go to the meetings. 

Glazer: Was there a girl’s club that paralleled the boy’s club? 
ROSENBERG: No, there wasn’t any girl’s club at that time. Later on there were a couple of girls’ clubs, purely social. One was Eta Phi. I don’t remember what the other organization was. 

Glazer: When did Eta Phi come into existence? 
ROSENBERG: This I don’t know. You’d have to contact some of the ladies. 

Glazer: Can you recall anyone that belonged to it? 
ROSENBERG: Let’s see. I think Mrs. Barbara Cohn. Her husband owns Hart Furniture Company in Oregon City. I think if you called her she might be able to tell you something about Eta Phi and if she can’t recollect too much of it she might give you the names of some of the girls who belonged at the same time that she did. 

Glazer: What would happen if the girls tried to join the boy’s club, since they didn’t have their own? 
ROSENBERG: There was no women’s club in those days. The boys were boys and the girls were the girls and the only time they met was at a social event, a dance or something. But as far as either one infringing on the other, definitely not. 

Glazer: Why not? 
ROSENBERG: Well, we are living in a different world today than in those days. Everybody knew that the boys were together and the girls were together. As I say, there is a different atmosphere in the world today. There weren’t the Equal Rights and everything else that is going on today. 

Glazer: Nobody wanted to have co-ed clubs? 
ROSENBERG: Well, there weren’t anyway. The only thing that was co-ed was education in the schools, in the public schools and high schools. 

Glazer: When did this change? 
ROSENBERG: Oh, I think since World War II and it’s becoming more aggressive each succeeding year, as you well know. 

Glazer: Did the intermediate boy’s club have committees? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. They had an athletic committee, they had a social committee. That’s about it in those days. 

Glazer: If the boys were going to have a social function, did their mothers take care of the food or did they do it, or who would do it? 
ROSENBERG: I don’t think the food was so important in those days. If they gave an affair the food wasn’t a factor. 

Glazer: It seems like they were always having some kind of a social hour or something like that where something would be served. 
ROSENBERG: Maybe you would buy an ice cream at the counter, or something. 

Glazer: What was the relationship between the B’nai B’rith Intermediate Boys’ Club and the B’nai B’rith? 
ROSENBERG: Well, the B’nai B’rith was the men’s Lodge and they had nothing to do with the intermediate group at all. If they were putting on an affair or selling something they would ask the members of the Lodge if they would buy a ticket or do something like that, but outside of that there was no activity at all. It was only when the AZA chapters were formed that the B’nai B’rith Lodge helped them in every way possible to see that they succeeded. In fact, the B’nai B’rith Lodge designated one of their members as the advisor of the AZA group. 

Glazer: So the AZAs were the junior B’nai B’rith 
ROSENBERG: That’s right. 

Glazer: But the B’nai B’rith intermediate Boys Club were just in the building? 
ROSENBERG: That’s right, and had nothing to do with the Lodge. 

Glazer: What other clubs or organizations were you a founder of? 
ROSENBERG: That’s about it as far as the B’nai B’rith building was concerned. I was very active in the Ramblers as a charter member and also past president and I was around the building quite a good deal. I believe it was in the ‘30s that the board of the B’nai B’rith Center decided that there should be on the board a representative from the Ramblers and I was the first one to be designated. The member of the Ramblers to be on the board, which was quite an honor in those days. I was young in comparison to the members of the board who were more or less, I felt, elderly gentlemen. They were perhaps 20 years my senior. I have been on the board ever since and now I am an honorary life member of the Jewish Community Center board. 

Glazer:  You haven’t been on the board as a representative of the Ramblers? 
ROSENBERG: Oh no, no, no. 

Glazer: How were you chosen? 
ROSENBERG: I don’t know. I was very active and perhaps they felt I could be of some help in the thinking of the board as far as the younger element and the Center was concerned. In those days the members of the board, they were the leaders of our Jewish community. They were outstanding individuals who were on the board in those days. There were people like Ben Selling, Joe Shemanski, Rabbi Jonah B. Wise, Nathan Weinstein, Alex Miller, Jacob Lauterstein, they were the pillars of our Portland Jewish Community and it was an honor to be associated with men of that type. They were the leaders in everything. 

Glazer: What kind of things did you do as a representative of the Ramblers? 
ROSENBERG: Well, I participated in everything pertaining to the well-being of the building. 

Glazer: Were you a voice for the younger people? 
ROSENBERG: In a sense. When the younger people wanted something or had a suggestion, why I took it up before the board and if they thought it was a good thing and would help the institution, why they voted in favor of it and it became a reality. That’s one thing, those leaders in those days, they had tremendous foresight, because when they built the building, they built a gymnasium and they built a swimming pool. Ordinarily, when that was first built they wouldn’t think of building those two things. That’s why it became a beehive of activity, because in addition to the social activities, they catered to the athletic whims of the younger element.

Glazer: How was it decided that the Ramblers ought to have a representative? 
ROSENBERG: I don’t know. That was up to the board. They decided that themselves. We were so active; we were a force in the community. And I imagine that they felt that it wouldn’t hurt to have a representative from the Ramblers to be on the board, that they would get a youthful approach and a youthful reaction. I used to report to the board what was going on as far as activities of the Ramblers and what we were doing for the community in the way of charity and social and athletic events. They felt that it was a definite asset for the community to have the Ramblers meet in the B’nai B’rith Building at the time. 

Glazer: What kind of activities did you have that was charitable in the community? 
ROSENBERG: As fast as we had a project and made a certain sum of money we gave it to the various charities in our community. 

Glazer: Jewish charities? 
ROSENBERG: And Christian. It wasn’t our purpose to accumulate wealth. At the time the new capital funds drive of the new Jewish Community Center the Ramblers gave the building fund $5,000, everything in their treasury. That was quite a goodly sum that they had accumulated throughout the years. 

Glazer: This was the Jewish Community Center up here? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: When was this? 
ROSENBERG: This was about five years ago. 

Glazer: Were there ever any women on the board? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. In fact there is a past president who is a woman. Celia Lesman. 

Glazer: This was later on. How about in the ‘30s? 
ROSENBERG: No, they were all men. 

Glazer: I have some questions now about the Robison Jewish Home. When did you become involved with the Robison Jewish Home? 
ROSENBERG: Right before they built the original building at its present location. It was formerly located in an old house on Third and College Street. That sort of outgrew itself and they felt they had to move to larger quarters, so they had a capital funds drive and it was a successful drive. So they built the Robison Jewish Home for the Aged and originally it was just a home for the aged. Since that time its been remodeled, either twice or three times, with additions added to it, and just two years ago they built this new infirmary. 

Glazer: What is a capital fund drive? Who runs it?
ROSENBERG: The executive committee, which are the officers of the organization. They plan it and the names of prospects are written down. Cards are made and they have volunteer committees to call on these various people in the community for donations. Whatever the donation was could be paid over a five-year period, sooner if one so desired. 

Glazer: Was it run in conjunction with other organizations? With the Jewish Welfare Federation or some other organization? 
ROSENBERG:  Well, it wasn’t run in conjunction with, but it received the blessing of the Jewish Welfare Federation because before any constituent agency of the Federation can have a capital funds drive, they must receive the OK from the Federation board first. 

Glazer: Since when is this? 
ROSENBERG: Well, this is in the by-laws of the Elk Federation and their constituent agencies. Now, when the Center had their capital funds drive, they had to receive the OK from it. Not only from the Jewish Welfare Federation, they also had to receive sanction from the United Way because they receive funds from the United Way in addition to the Welfare Federation. 

Glazer: Were the Jewish Old People’s Home, the Old Men’s Home and the Robison Home all connected? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, it’s all the same. You might say an outgrowth of it. The reason that it was called the Robison Jewish Home instead of the Jewish Home for the Aged, there was a lady in our community. Her name was Hannah Robinson; she was very active in Hadassah and with the Home for the Aged. She had two sons who lived in the east and the drive came up short by about $40,000 or $50,000 and she asked that if she could get her sons to put up this sum of money, would they name the institution the Robinson Jewish Home? So, after a series of meetings, pros and cons, why the board decided to accept it and that’s how the name came to be Robinson Jewish Home on account of this large donation at that time. 

Glazer: I had heard that the family’s name was Robinson and somehow it was changed to Robison later. 
ROSENBERG: Yes, it was Robinson. 

Glazer: Why do they call it Robison? 
ROSENBERG: I don’t know. I really don’t know, because the husband of this Hannah Robinson, he had a dry goods store on First and Sherman in South Portland and his name was Robinson. 

Glazer: What was his first name’? 
ROSENBERG: I don’t remember. 

Glazer: Was this the same thing that happened with the Mittleman Jewish Community Center? 
ROSENBERG: What do you mean by the same thing? 

Glazer: Deciding that the family would pay out the mortgage to change the name? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. Well this was a little different. This was before the Robison Jewish Home was built, whereas the Center was already built and the mortgage was like a lead weight around the neck. Mr. Mittleman was kind enough to pay up the mortgage, and for that privilege why the Center is named after him now. There were also a good deal of pros and cons as to whether they should accept it and change the name, but the board eventually passed on that. 

Glazer: What are some of the pros and cons in a procedure like that? 
ROSENBERG: Well, some people in the community seemed to feel that the Center shouldn’t be named after an individual; that when we first went out on a capital funds drive, why it was the Jewish Community Center of Portland, Oregon, and that’s the way it should remain. For anybody to buy a name for the sum of $400,000, it wasn’t proper and it was morally wrong to do so. But from a practical standpoint, it was the only thing to do, because the Center had already paid in interest, since the building was built, approximately $150,000, and they had to pay approximately $30,000 a year interest as long as there was a mortgage on it and it was too much of a financial burden. So the majority of the board felt (and the majority of the members too, the members had to vote on it) it would be in the best interest of the Center if they accepted this money, paid off the mortgage and not have this burden around their neck anymore. 

Glazer: The members of the Jewish Community Center voted on it? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: How was the procedure for the Robison Jewish Home? 
ROSENBERG: The Robison Home, the board voted on it. 

Glazer: What were the pros and cons on that case? 
ROSENBERG: The same. Should we name a Portland institution for an individual? Some claimed, as I mentioned previously, morally its wrong. But from a practical standpoint, it’s the only thing, and that’s where the pros and cons were considered. We are living in a democracy and the majority rules. The majority voted in each instance to change it, so that’s what happened. 

Glazer: What year did you become involved with the Robison Jewish Home? 
ROSENBERG: I really don’t remember what the year was. Find out when the first Robison Home was built on Southwest Boundary Street and that’s when I became active. I’ve been on the board ever since. I am an honorary life member of that board now. 

Glazer: How many residents were there when you first became involved? 
ROSENBERG: Oh, there must have been about 12 or 14. 

Glazer: How many residents are there now? 
ROSENBERG: 90.

Glazer: Why is there such a great difference? 
ROSENBERG: Well, we built an infirmary. Before we couldn’t handle sick people. It was just a Home for the aged, those that were in a position to take care of themselves and could get around. And now that there is an infirmary, there are sick people there, and people who just move around in wheelchairs. Portland Jews should be very well proud because we’ve got one of the finest Jewish Homes for the Aged in America and we have one of the highest rating by the Oregon State board of Health as far as nursing homes are concerned. 

Glazer: Are the residents all Jewish? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: That is necessary in order to become a resident? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, it’s in the by-laws at the present time. 

Glazer: What would happen to a person who might have been ill? Would he have been in a hospital before there was an infirmary? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, they had to move them out of the home and that created problems, trauma for elderly people, that we couldn’t take care of them. So the community felt that it would be in the best interest of aged people if we would have an infirmary. That instead of moving them out of the Home and put them in local hospitals, it would be better if we could take care of them right there and then on the same premises. 

Glazer: How did you become involved with the Robison Home? 
ROSENBERG: Well, since I was active at the Jewish Community Center and participated in everything in the Community it was just the natural reaction for me. It was a worthwhile cause, a charity cause; it was a good thing. Throughout the many years that I’ve lived in Portland, I’ve always identified myself with all charitable institutions and this is one way of my saying thank you to the community in which I’ve lived all these years and was able to earn a nice livelihood. 

Glazer: How is the Home supported? 
ROSENBERG: Fees by those able to pay, by donations, and by grants from the Jewish Welfare Federation for the operating deficit. 

Glazer: Is this how it’s been supported all along, even when it was the Old Men’s Home, or the Old Jewish People’s Home? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: What activities does the Home promote or engage in, besides taking care of the elderly Jews? 
ROSENBERG: Its the only thing. Well, first they engage in trying to raise some money for its operation. Outside of that, their function is taking care of elderly people. 

Glazer: What is the relationship between the Home and the Jewish community? 
ROSENBERG: I think there is a very good relationship between the community and the Home. As we get older, we realize that the Home is a necessity for our Jewish aged and I think that the Robison Jewish Home has more appeal to the average Jew than any other charity in our community. That is evidenced by the number of bequests and donations we receive throughout the years. 

Glazer: Why do you think that is? 
ROSENBERG: Well, there’s an old adage about Jewish people. One of the commandments is Honor Thy father and Thy mother. That’s been inculcated in them for years and years – taking care of the elderly, of the aged. It has always been something that children in the community should take care of and it’s always had that certain special appeal that no other charity has, and it’s proved by the bequests and donations that they receive throughout the year. 

Glazer: To what degree are people in the Home involved in the activities of the Jewish Community Center? 
ROSENBERG: There is the Golden Age Club in the Jewish Community Center and they interchange activities. Those in the Home who are able to get around and the Council of Jewish Women are active in the Jewish Home and also the South Parkway Sisterhood are. It’s surprising that several of the ladies there at the Home make some beautiful pieces of pottery. They have an Arts and Crafts room there with a kiln and they make these different things and whatever monies they receive, they give it to the Home. 

Glazer: These are residents? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, they don’t keep the money themselves, they give it to the Home, and some of these things are quite nice. They are on display there in the showcase and once a year they have a bazaar and they sell quite a good deal of their wares there that they make. 

Glazer: How is the South Parkway Sisterhood active in the Home? 
ROSENBERG: I think once a month they hold Bingo games there and I think also they give a party for their birthdays in a given month. 

Glazer: What was the relationship between the Home and the Jewish community 50 years ago? 
ROSENBERG: Very little in those days. They had very, very few people in this house on Third and College. Maybe three, four, or five, but they always supported it. When there was any deficit people would go around and ask for donations, and as I said, there is a feeling about taking care of our aged and there never was too much of a financial problem. 

Glazer: I wonder if that feeling has increased, decreased or changed at all? 
ROSENBERG: I think the feeling has increased. When the average person comes to the Home and sees the wonderful facility that it is today, why they can’t help but feel inclined to help in cases of an emergency of some kind, where money is needed. And besides, the Robison Home, they have a tremendous Sisterhood that is very active in the community. They sponsor teas and affairs, bazaars and they have given quite a goodly sum of money to the Home itself. I think they have pledged at least $50,000 to the building fund of the Home throughout the years and this accumulation of diverse activities. 

Glazer: What exactly is the relationship between the Robison Jewish Home Sisterhood and the Home? 
ROSENBERG: Very closely knit 

Glazer: One supports the other? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, very closely knit. The Sisterhood does a tremendous job for the Home. 

Glazer: And there is also a board? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, a separate board. 

Glazer: Is the board all men? 
ROSENBERG: No, all ladies. Oh, the board of the Robison Jewish Home – both men and women. 

Glazer: Has it always been that way? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: Even when it was the Old Men’s Home? 
ROSENBERG: Well, as I say, Mrs. Hannah Robinson, I think she was active all the time. In those days, 50 years ago, whether they had a regular board [or not I do not know]. They must have had a regular board. Whether there were women on it at the time I don’t remember, but now there are a number of women on the board. Very active. 

Glazer: Like who? 
ROSENBERG: Let’s see, who are the ladies on the board now. There is Mrs. Golub. There is Mrs. Dr. Weinstein. I can’t think of their names. Get a letterhead of theirs and you’ll find all the names on it. 

Glazer: Has there always been a Robison Jewish Home Sisterhood? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, since it started, sure. 

Glazer: Since the first Old Age Home? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: Now, you were treasurer of the Robison Jewish Home? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, I was treasurer and also vice-president. 

Glazer: Starting with treasurer, how did you become the treasurer? 
ROSENBERG: Elected. 

Glazer: You ran or you were nominated? 
ROSENBERG: I was nominated. They have a nominating committee. Every year this nominating committee, they suggest people in the community who could enhance the well being of the Home and then this board is elected by the membership. Then the board meets and the board elects their own officers. 

Glazer: The membership of what? 
ROSENBERG: The board. 

Glazer: It’s completely separate from the residents? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, The board is responsible for the operation of the Home in its entirety. 

Glazer: How is the Advisory Board chosen? 
ROSENBERG: What do you mean by Advisory Board? 

Glazer: Well, somebody picks people who would be good to run as Treasurer, or does the nominating? 
ROSENBERG: Oh, that’s appointed by the president. Some are board members and some not board members and they go out in the community and get a representative group of men and women who act as the nominating committee. They contact various individuals in the community who they feel might be an asset to the Home and that’s the way they are nominated. They are elected by the entire membership of the Home and then when they come on the board, then the board has a meeting and they elect their president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer and so on.

Glazer: Elected by the membership of the Home? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. The members of the Home, not the residents of the Home. 

Glazer: What’s the difference between the members of the Home and the residents of the Home? 
ROSENBERG: Well, you pay dues. A resident of the Home lives there. Now the Home itself has several dues structures. There is a $100 a year member, there’s a $50.00 a year member, there is a $25.00 a year member and there is a $15.00 a year member. Now those members are the ones who vote for the offices. 

Glazer: I see. When did this come about where there would be a membership, or has it always been? 
ROSENBERG: It’s always been that way. It’s a means of raising several thousand dollars a year, the membership dues. 

Glazer: What were your duties as treasurer? 
ROSENBERG: Used to OK all the bills, see that they were proper, sign all the checks, chairman of the budget committee. It is quite a responsible position. 

Glazer: When was this? 
ROSENBERG: Oh, it’s been about ten years ago, I suppose. See, I’ve been retired for about six years now. Yes, I was very active at the Home. I used to be on the Admittance Committee too. When we received an application, why this special committee appointed to review the applications for those who want to come into the Home. 

Glazer: What were the qualifications? 
ROSENBERG: Well, first they had to get a letter from a doctor and then the application was made. The Jewish Family and Child Service used to handle the application and make a recommendation and then the Admittance Committee would meet and vote whether to accept that applicant or not.

Glazer: Have the qualifications for admittance to the Home changed through the years? 
ROSENBERG: No. The qualifications are just about the same as they used to be. 

Glazer: Even when it was the Old Men’s Home? 
ROSENBERG: You mean when they were on College? 

Glazer: Yes on College. 
ROSENBERG: Well, there’s no comparison between the two. One was an old house with very few people there and here it’s a tremendous institution. There’s no comparison. 

Glazer: But there was a transition. They are basically the same organization. 
ROSENBERG: Well, it’s an outgrowth of the original organization. 

Glazer: What happened to the old people before the first one was established? 
ROSENBERG: Well, the children took care of their parents. You know, in this day and age, a lot of people can’t be bothered with the ills of their parents and they want to shunt them every place, so they can get rid of them. There isn’t the feeling that there used to be about parents. In fact, even today, there are some people that I know, that one parent is still living. They are old, they are infirm, but they insist upon them living with them. Now, it’s the old story. There are people and people. Some gladly do that for a parent, whereas others can’t be bothered, so what do they do? They send them to the Home. They put in an application and if they are accepted, why, they put them in the Home and if they visit them once a month they feel that their obligation has been fulfilled to their parent. But that’s the old story, there are people and people and they react differently to their parents. 

Glazer: When do you think this feeling changed, this feeling about one’s parents? 
ROSENBERG: Well, I think the attitudes of a lot of people changed after World War II. It seems we are living in a different world today than when I was your age. There are different values, different perceptions. It just isn’t the same world it seems. I mean in those days you wanted something, you worked for it, you earned it. Today, everybody wants something for nothing. There’s no more pride in working to accomplish something. In order to make a livelihood, the attitude is ‘gimme, gimme, gimme.’ They’ve got it coming. Now if our forbearers who came from Europe with nothing on their backs but their clothes had that same attitude, this country would be in a terrible mess. It’s in a mess as it is, but it would be ten times as bad. At least in those days everyone pulled themselves up from their boot straps, you might say, and made it themselves. Whereas today they want something and they want everything for nothing. 

Glazer: What effect has this new attitude had on the strength of the Jewish community?
ROSENBERG: Well, fortunately the Jewish people in general don’t hold that attitude. They still have a sense of pride. That is, the majority of people (and I don’t think as a general rule), particularly in this community, aren’t on welfare, to speak of. If they are, they are very, very much in the minority. 

Glazer: Why do you think that is? 
ROSENBERG: Maybe it’s characteristic of a Jewish person. Their sense of being, their loyalty, their responsibilities, their moral values. 

Glazer: It seems like the Jewish community has a feeling of taking care of its own, so maybe they don’t feel that they can ask anybody else to give. 
ROSENBERG: That’s right, that’s right. The Jewish Home does not receive a nickel from the United Way. We take care of our own. Whereas these other charitable institutions in our community… I imagine they receive sums of money from the United Way every year. 

Glazer: Do you know when the first Old Jewish People’s Home was established? 
ROSENBERG: No, that you would have to go into the archives for. 

Glazer: Was it like 75 years ago? 
ROSENBERG: Well I’ve lived here 63 years and I know the Home was in being then, that old house. In fact, I lived two blocks away from it, so it’s been in existence for a good number of years. 

Glazer: What changes have there been in the make-up of the residents through the years? 
ROSENBERG: Well, I think they are becoming more and more older, throughout the years that they enter the Home. Today I think the average age of the residents of the Home is 82, whereas in previous years it used to be in the 60s and 70s and I think the reason for that is that the life span has been added to the average individual through the years 

Glazer: Have there been any other changes? 
ROSENBERG: Not particularly, no. The changes are that we take care of the infirm whereas previously we didn’t. Now, there are a lot of people at the home in the infirmary that a few years ago we wouldn’t accept. We weren’t in a position to accept, because we couldn’t take care of them. Couldn’t handle them. We didn’t have the facilities we now have. I think that more than anything else has changed the identity of the residents of the Home today. 

Glazer: Do the residents belong to all the different synagogues? 
ROSENBERG: Some do, some don’t. 

Glazer: They’re from two or three synagogues? 
ROSENBERG: Oh they’re from all of them, yes. They’re from the Temple Beth Israel, they’re from the Congregation Neveh Shalom and from the Congregation Shaarie Torah, and it is very possible that there are some that belong to the Meade Street shul – Synagogue Kesser Israel. 

Glazer: Do these people, if they are infirm, have their own services? 
ROSENBERG: No, it’s more of a Conservative or Orthodox service they have a chapel there that was donated by a former president of the Home. He dedicated it in memory of his wife and every Friday night they have services and every Saturday morning they have services. And they have services during the regular Jewish holidays. The service that they conduct is a Conservative Orthodox type of service. 

Glazer: When was this chapel built? 
ROSENBERG: At the time of the original building. 

Glazer: There was no chapel before that? 
ROSENBERG: No. 

Glazer: What about if you were a Reformed Jew, where did they go? 
ROSENBERG: Still at the same place. The prayer books, on one side there’s Hebrew and the other side is English and if they couldn’t read Hebrew, they followed the service in the English. 

Glazer: Who is the Rabbi there? 
ROSENBERG: There’s no Rabbi. There are volunteers. Lay people that handle the services. 

Glazer: People from the Jewish community who are not residents? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: I don’t know how familiar you are with getting the new Old People’s Home, so if you don’t know, you can tell me. I wonder, when the people decided that they needed an Old People’s Home, what was the next step? 
ROSENBERG: When the people decided that they needed the Home, they decided how to go about raising the money to build the Home. This is how everything starts. You find you need a certain facility, then how do we go about raising the money in order to build this facility. This is what happened at the Home. You hire an architect and he draws plans and there is a building committee from the Home itself. They meet with the architect, tell him what they have in mind. He makes drawings and specifications and then contractors bid. They find out how much it’s going to cost and then the board devises ways and means how we are going to raise this sum of money and this is the way it starts. 

Glazer: You are speaking now of the new Robison Home? 
ROSENBERG: Any project: the new Robison Home, the new Jewish Community Center. Any facility in the community. 

Glazer: How would they raise money? 
ROSENBERG: Well, they have a group of volunteers that go out and solicit these funds from certain individuals. It’s a lot of hard work. It isn’t easy. 

Glazer: Were there any obstacles outside of the Jewish community? 
ROSENBERG: No. 

Glazer: Any obstacles from within? 
ROSENBERG: Well, some people seemed to feel that it was too elaborate, but the general consensus was don’t build for today; build for tomorrow. So they built the present facilities and it’s able to handle the needs of the Home for the next 20 to 25 years (or more). 

Glazer: How were you accorded the honor of honorary life member of the board? 
ROSENBERG: Well, after serving on it for a number of years, why the board, I suppose decided to award me that honor. 

Glazer: What does it entail on your part? 
ROSENBERG: Nothing. Just attend the meetings. I have the privilege of attending meetings because ordinarily the only ones that attend board meetings are the members of the board. This way every time I come back in the summer time to Portland, why I make it a point to attend the board meetings. 

Glazer: Do you vote? 
ROSENBERG: Sure. 

Glazer: When were you vice-president? 
ROSENBERG: I became vice-president after I served as treasurer. Just what year that was I don’t remember. That you’ll have to look up in the minutes. 

Glazer: What were your duties in that position? 
ROSENBERG: Assist the president. Preside at meetings when he wasn’t present. Sit in with various committees that ordinarily just the members of the committees sit in. 

Glazer: Do the same people tend to be on the board over an extended length of time? 
ROSENBERG: No, there’s a by-law that you are either voted for one, two or three year periods and every year the complexion of the board changes. 

Glazer: When was this by-law adopted? 
ROSENBERG: Oh, this has been in effect for quite a number of years. I think when it was first built, the new building. 

Glazer: For what reason was it adopted? 
ROSENBERG: That you want the personnel of the board to continuously change. 

Glazer: Had there been any ill feeling about that maybe it hadn’t been changing before? 
ROSENBERG: No, there was no ill feeling. Different ideas from different individuals and they felt that it would be better to have an ever changing board than one that is self-perpetuated. 

Glazer: I wonder if it had been self perpetuating and previous to that and people had not liked it that way and so they decided to adopt this. 
ROSENBERG: Well, it’s very possible. I don’t know, but it’s very possible that that could have happened. 

Glazer: What do you know about the evolution from the Old Men’s Home into the Robison Home? 
ROSENBERG: What do you mean by evolution? 

Glazer: Well, one became the other. 
ROSENBERG: It’s just, you might say, an outgrowth of growth. 

Glazer: When did this transition occur? 
ROSENBERG: When the first new building was built. 

Glazer: Were you involved with it? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: How were you involved with it? 
ROSENBERG: I did some soliciting for funds for the new building in the capital funds drive. 

Glazer: So there was a decision made that the old building was too small and they needed a change. 
ROSENBERG: That’s right. 

Glazer: Were there any other reasons for this outgrowth? 
ROSENBERG: Well, there were more people than this old house could handle that wanted to come into the home. It was an old house and it had outlived its usefulness. They felt that this was the next step so they went about accomplishing it. 

Glazer: How did the residents feel about it? 
ROSENBERG: Well, they had nothing to say. Anything that is new and nice and beautiful, what could they say? They were very happy about it. 

Glazer: Was there any opposition about it anywhere in the community? 
ROSENBERG: No. 

Glazer: So the board of Directors made the decision? 
ROSENBERG: Right. 

Glazer: How did the board membership differ between the two organizations of the two Homes? 
ROSENBERG: It didn’t differ. The ones that were on the board at the time of the old house, they continued on. From the process of attrition and as the operation was much greater, why more board members came into being. It was just a natural outgrowth. 

Glazer: In what respects does this outgrowth represent its strength to the Jewish community? 
ROSENBERG: Well, I think it added much to the strength because in the old days there were a certain few old men that were interested in an Old Jewish Home. It wasn’t truly a community effort on the part of everybody in the community. Today you’ve got the entire community involved in the Home. The very fact that you’ve got several hundred members of the Home itself and you’ve got several hundred members in the Sisterhood, why you’ve got at least a thousand men and women who are members of both the Sisterhood and the Home. 

Glazer: So there is a great deal more of community interest. 
ROSENBERG: More than ever before. 

Glazer: For what reason? 
ROSENBERG: As l say, the Home holds a certain hold on Jewish people to take care of their elderly. 

Glazer: Didn’t it always have that hold? And why does it have it now? 
ROSENBERG: It wasn’t so large. It wasn’t so community-wide. It used to be a small segment, whereas today it’s big, it’s accepted, it’s a community project that Jewry in Portland can be well proud of. 

Glazer: What kind of problems did the board ever have with individual residents? 
ROSENBERG: That’s up to the executive director. It’s a continuous headache. God bless our old Jewish people. They do and say and think. And in their own mind they think it’s right, whereas to an outsider it’s all wrong. I think being an Executive Director of the Jewish Home is the hardest job of any charitable Jewish institution in our community. It’s one continuous problem and headache. 

Glazer: Give me an example. 
ROSENBERG: They complain about everything. Nothing is right. You know old people. Their minds are – they think differently and they act differently and in their own minds they think they are absolutely right, but to a normal outsider, why, they are all wrong. So as I say, I think the Executive Director of the Home has the hardest job in the entire community. 

Glazer: Give me some examples of what people complain about. 
ROSENBERG: They complain about the food, the service. There isn’t enough help. You name it, they complain. 

Glazer: How are these problems resolved? 
ROSENBERG: By taking care of them, by forgetting some. We try all we can and make the life of a resident at the home very nice and easy. I say to some people when I go out there, you never had it so good all your life. You are in an air conditioned building. You have a nice bed. You are waited on hand and foot. You don’t have to turn a finger. Your food is brought to you, or you sit in the beautiful new dining room. I tell them, what are you yelling about? You’ve never had it so good. And they smile. 

Glazer: Overall how is the character of the institution changed through the years? 
ROSENBERG: Well, the character itself has not changed. The feeling is still there, the care of the aged. But now its large, it is community accepted, it’s an institution. The concept is the same, but the surroundings are altogether different. 

Glazer: Has there been any change for the worse? 
ROSENBERG: No, I think everything has happened for the better. We even have a group of local doctors involved in the doctors’ committee that meet from time to time, who are not on the board. This doctors’ committee is both doctors and dentists. 

Glazer: Are they Jewish? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, they are all Jewish and they have been very cooperative and helpful in their suggestions in the operation of the Home. That is, from a medical standpoint.

End of part two

October 6, 1977 

Glazer: You were saying? 
ROSENBERG: I wasn’t too active in the old days of the Jewish National Fund. As I recollect, the president for the State of Oregon of the Jewish National Fund was Mr. Alter Olds and he was well along in years. Mr. Abraham Robinson succeeded him as president. He was a teacher at the Jewish Educational Association and also the Portland Hebrew School and he was born in the State of Israel before it ever was a State. I succeeded Mr. Robinson as president of Oregon Region in the early 60s. Aside of the sale of trees (in the form of certificates which were at that time $2.50 a tree), there wasn’t too much activity and effort put forth in the community for the Jewish National Fund. 

After I became president, we had an annual affair in the form of a dinner with the main speaker being a person of prominence from the State of Israel. These annual dinners were attended by 300 or 400 people and quite a number of trees were sold on that occasion. In fact, the sales used to run as high as $10,000 to $15,000 for the evening, which we considered, at that time, quite successful. In the State of Israel the Jewish National Fund (after the assassination of president John F. Kennedy) decided to build a peace memorial in the State of Israel in his honor and memory and this was done in the form of a building in the Juden Hills outside of Jerusalem. The building itself was in the form of the bottom part of a tree trunk indicating a life cut short. It is a round building and each pile on has a window with a State, in alphabetical order going all the way around the building, starting with Alabama. On the top of each window was the State’s seal and the date it became a state in these United States of America. At the bottom of the window is the name of the individual who was honored by the Jewish National Fund and awarded a John F. Kennedy Peace Memorial medal. I was fortunate enough, being elected by our Jewish community, to be the person to receive this medal from the State of Oregon. The dedication of this memorial in the State of Israel was on July 4th, 1966 and Mrs. Rosenberg and I went to the State of Israel and attend the dedication. The main address was given by the late Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, the Honorable Earl Warren. It was on the afternoon of a very hot day and there were thousands of people there from all over Israel and from all over the world participating in this ceremony, which was quite impressive. 

Glazer: How were you chosen? 
ROSENBERG: It seems that a group of our local Jewish leaders got together and they decided on who the honoree should be and for some reason or another, I was chosen. 

Glazer: Do you know on what basis? 
ROSENBERG: No I don’t. Well, I happened to be president of the Jewish National Fund and quite active, sponsoring various events for the benefit of the Jewish National Fund and I suppose I was the one whom, in their opinion, was most deserving of it. My first reaction was not to accept as I felt there were other Jewish leaders in our community who were more deserving than I was, but they wouldn’t listen to that and insisted that I accepted the honor. 

Glazer: What other activities did the National Jewish Fund engage in? 
ROSENBERG: Well, in the State of Israel the Jewish National Fund owns most of the land. They were purchasing land in Israel for many, many years before there ever was a State of Israel. The Jewish National Fund is the one that builds the roads, builds the kibbutzim all over the State of Israel and plants trees, [creates] forestation. In fact if there wasn’t a Jewish National Fund I don’t believe there would be a State of Israel, because they are the pioneers that acquired the land and tilled it and built the roads and everything else. 

Glazer: When did the Fund begin? 
ROSENBERG: This I don’t know but it must have been in the early 1900s. 

Glazer: Do you know how it began? 
ROSENBERG: Well I imagine there was a group of people who emigrated to the State of Israel and they started buying land and started cultivating it and started building roads and from a mere handful of people involved, it became a national being and as I say, they own the land where the State of Israel is. That is, they own most of the land. 

Glazer: How did they raise money? 
ROSENBERG: By the sale of trees. 

Glazer: What other ways? 
ROSENBERG: By giving affairs, like dinners; annual dinners all throughout America. In fact, I understand the Jewish National Fund in San Francisco alone is an example. They raised something like $500,000 a year for the State of Israel for the Jewish National Fund. Los Angeles raises a tremendous amount of money, so does New York and Chicago. What we raise in Portland is nothing compared to these large cities where there are tremendous Jewish populations. 

Glazer: You said United States. Is it national or international? 
ROSENBERG: It’s international. The Jewish National Fund has offices all over the world in every country. 

Glazer: Is it like an umbrella organization with other organizations under it, which are somehow attached? 
ROSENBERG: I wouldn’t say that. I would say that in any city there is a group of dedicated people who are interested in the State of Israel who are interested in cultivating the land, interested in building forests, interested in acquiring land, interested in building roads, building kibbutzim, having immigrants come to the land and till it and build it up, and that’s the way the Jewish National Fund is. They have individual organizations in every city of any consequence and all over the world. It’s part of the State of Israel. It’s just as important (perhaps more so) than the trade and commerce and everything else. It is the core for the State of Israel. 

Glazer: Is there any connection say, for example, between the B’nai B’rith and the Jewish National Fund? 
ROSENBERG: No, although the B’nai B’rith organization has built several forests of their own. There is a B’nai B’rith martyrs forest with more than one million trees in their forest and they are very much interested in the Jewish National Fund. In fact, every Jewish organization, no matter what it is, they have a certain amount of interest. You take Hadassah. Each chapter of Hadassah has a quota for Jewish National Fund that they raise x number of dollars, each year for their quota. The women’s Mizrachi organization here in Portland also has a quota for the Jewish National Fund and that’s all over America, all over the world. 

Glazer: Do they set their own quotas? 
ROSENBERG: No, the national headquarters of Hadassah and Mizrachi set quotas. Evidently, the national heads and the Jewish National Fund in the State of Israel hold a series of meetings and perhaps decide and come to a compromise about how much each organization should have a quota. 

Glazer: Is that the way it has always been? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: Does the B’nai B’rith also have a quota? 
ROSENBERG: Locally, no, it’s just the ladies’ organization. Now it’s very possible that in some areas of America that the B’nai B’rith Men’s lodge may have a quota, but they don’t have it in Portland. 

Glazer: For what reasons is it just the women’s lodge? 
ROSENBERG: I don’t know, I couldn’t answer that. I don’t know. 

Glazer: How involved were you in the Jewish Welfare Federation? 
ROSENBERG: I was on the board of the Jewish Welfare Federation for a number of years and in the old days you could be a member of the board any length of time. But there was a by-law passed whereby you can only serve two or three year terms and then you had to get off at least a year before you could return to the board. So in the old days when I was president of the Jewish Community Center I was on the board consecutively, for I don’t know how many years. I was treasurer, I think, for two or three years and I was on the executive board of the Jewish Welfare Federation. I actively participated in the annual campaign for quite a number of years. 

Glazer: What kind of things did you do as a board member? 
ROSENBERG: Whatever was necessary for raising funds, solving problems or having discussions with certain items that effected the community or effected some organizations. There was nothing specific. The Jewish Welfare Federation overall and its constituent agencies, problems and different things come up from time to time which have to be discussed and come to some sort of decisions. 

Glazer: You said that they passed a by-law that people could only have two terms in office. 
ROSENBERG: Yes, consecutive. 

Glazer: For what reason? 
ROSENBERG: Well, they wanted to have a change of individuals in the community. There are a certain number who come off every year and a certain number go on and it gives the different individuals a chance to be on the board and express their views and ideas, which might be somewhat different than some of the people who were present on the board. I think it’s a healthy thing. Instead of a board being self-perpetuating, it’s good to have an influx of people come on the board every year and it’s the same way now with the Jewish Community Center board and also the Robison Jewish Home. Each Jewish organization now you can only serve two consecutive two or three year terms and then you’ve got to get off the board for a year or two years and if you are still interested in coming back on the board, if the nominating committee sees fit, they will nominate you once again and then you can serve again for two consecutive two or three year terms. 

Glazer: How do the people who have been on the board for many, many years feel about a rule like that? 
ROSENBERG: Well, I think by and large they thought it was alright. You know, if you’re on the board too long why you kind of lose the initiative of discussing certain new items on the agenda, whereas an entirely different person, with an entirely different viewpoint, he might suggest things that you would never dream of suggesting for the betterment of the community. 

Glazer: Was there any opposition to that by-law? 
ROSENBERG: No. I believe it passed unanimously. 

Glazer: This is a national organization? The Welfare Federation? 
ROSENBERG: Oh yes and the Portland Jewish Welfare Federation is, you might say a constituent agency of the National set-up. There is a Jewish Welfare Federation in practically every city in America that has any sort of a Jewish population and they have their annual conventions and hundreds of people from all over the country attend. The Jewish Welfare Federation is a group that raises money for not only the State of Israel and the United Jewish Appeal, but also for the local Jewish charities. The Jewish Community Center, the Jewish Family and Child Service, the Robison Jewish Home, the Jewish Educational Association, the Hillel Academy, the Russian Émigrés programs – they’re all beneficiaries of the Jewish Welfare Federation and instead of each organization having their own drive each year, the Jewish Welfare Federation has one drive that covers the entire community which saves a lot of manpower and a lot of different drives and so an and so forth, and it’s the most efficient way. 

Glazer: And then do they allocate funds? 
ROSENBERG: Each constituent agency, they present a budget and the budget committee of the Federation goes over it with a fine tooth comb and they reach some sort of compromise and depending on how much money the Federation raises in its annual drive, why each organization presents the budget and receives a certain sum of money. 

Glazer: Has there ever been an organization that decided that they didn’t want to belong to it? 
ROSENBERG: No. It’s an accepted practice, particularly in the City of Portland. 

Glazer: How has it made things more efficient? 
ROSENBERG: Well, you don’t have duplication of effort and also you use manpower once in an annual drive. If three different organizations had three different drives, look at the manpower of three times, to say nothing of the additional expense involved. This is the most efficient way of raising money in the community, for everything. 

Glazer: When did the Federation begin? 
ROSENBERG: I don’t remember the exact date, but if you contact Mr. Roberts, their Executive Director, he will be able to give you that information. 

Glazer: What did you do as treasurer? 
ROSENBERG: Well, I took tare of the money, naturally. And I signed checks and saw that the bills were correct and paid on time, although the detail was handled in the Jewish Welfare Federation office by the office staff. I also sat in on the budget committee meetings of the various organizations. As I said, I was on the executive board. We met regularly to discuss certain problems. 

Glazer: Were there men and women on the board? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: Was it always that way? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. Well, yes there was always a woman or two on the board, yes. I remember in the old days the secretary of the board was Mrs. Swett, Mrs. Isaac Swett and she was a power in the community and respected by all. 

Glazer: It seems that Mrs. Swett was often the only woman in an all men’s board. Is that true? 
ROSENBERG: She was a very unusual person. I might add that at the Neighborhood House, Ida Loewenberg was the executive head for a number of years and she was well thought of also in the community. I think those two ladies were really outstanding. 

Glazer: Is there a woman’s part of the Federation and a man’s part or do they work together? 
ROSENBERG: Well, they have a women’s division and the women’s division meet separately during the drive. They call on the ladies in the community and they raise quite a good deal of money from the ladies’ division and they are a tremendous help in the annual drive each year. 

Glazer: For what reason is it divided between the men and the women? 
ROSENBERG: I believe the most important is that the ladies have a certain responsibility and actually they raise more money from the ladies than if the men contacted them, because they give a series of social events and naturally the ladies of the community want to go to these social events and the money raising affairs, as I said a moment ago, they raise a great deal more money than if the men contacted them. 

Glazer: Then do the men contact other men? 
ROSENBERG: Oh sure. The men contact other men, contact business firms and so on. 

Glazer: Is there an age, a minimum age that one has to be? 
ROSENBERG: No. 

Glazer: Children can be on it? 
ROSENBERG: Oh yes, if they wish to. If children want to give something. The children generally, every Sunday morning when they go to the synagogue, they generally bring some charity each week, a small amount. And the youth groups, they participate among their own and give a certain amount of money to the Welfare Federation drive each year. 

Glazer: What effect has the Federation had on the strength of the Jewish community of Portland? 
ROSENBERG: It has a tremendous effect on the Jewish community. Their social services and the study they make. In fact, before any constituent agency in the community can embark upon something extra special, like a building campaign or a capital funds drive, they go to sit down with Federation and receive permission before they can go ahead with anything. The cooperative effect in the entire community as regards the Federation and each individual organization is wonderful. 

Glazer: So it led to more cooperation and less competition? 
ROSENBERG: That’s right. 

Glazer: Has the Federation grown in size?’ 
ROSENBERG: Oh yes. Years ago we used to raise $200,000 a year on the annual drive and now we’ve raised as high as $1,600,000, so that gives you the scope and breadth of what has happened as regards the Jewish Welfare Federation. But that has been predicated by the fact that the State of Israel became a State in 1948. Up until that time the contributions were more or less you might say, minimal, but since the need is so great in the State of Israel today, throughout the world they’ve raised millions, hundreds of millions of dollars, perhaps billions since Israel became a State. 

Glazer: What other factors accounts for the increase? 
ROSENBERG: I believe that, more than anything else, the single fact that there is today a State of Israel. Now, this charity giving to the State of Israel through the United Jewish Appeal is for social services. Not one penny of that money is for armament or defense or business construction. The State of Israel bonds, the money derived from that is used for those projects, but the State of Israel bonds is not a charitable donation. It’s an investment, whereas the United Jewish Appeal is a charitable donation and is tax deductible. That’s the difference between the two. 

Glazer: What other changes have you witnessed as the Federation has grown? Character or whatever? 
ROSENBERG: Well, it’s just accepted responsibility for the entire Jewish community and each year there is always something popping up. Now you take as an example, it just happened in the last two years is these Russian people coming either to Israel or to America. Originally we decided in the City of Portland, through the Welfare Federation, that they would accept one Russian family every month and where it started with one, I understand there is about 40 families today and they come with nothing and they have to be rehabilitated. They’ve got to find space for them to live. You’ve got to find furniture for them and it’s become quite a factor, whereas previously we didn’t have that phase at all in our local community. 

Glazer: What other things have been implemented? 
ROSENBERG: Well, what they’re trying to do and have for the last couple of years is to effect some kind of togetherness between the Jewish Educational Association and the Hillel Academy. They are trying to get them to merge into one. Now, whether it will become an actual reality I don’t know. There have been a series of meetings and the Welfare Federation feels that if they did merge they could effect quite a savings because of the certain amount of duplication of effort. 

Glazer: Is the Hillel Academy resisting it, or who is resisting it? 
ROSENBERG: Well, let me say, they would each like self autonomy and that’s a cherished thing, but I think from a community standpoint, it would be much better if they did have some kind of a compromise merge and I think overall it would save the community money and it would be for a better Jewish educational system and set up. 

Glazer: For what reasons did they favor autonomy? 
ROSENBERG: Well, if you are actively involved in an organization for years and years and thought that you were doing a job, you wouldn’t want to give it up. It’s just a natural reaction. It’s just like the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation league and the American Jewish Committee. They are doing the same things. It’s a duplication of effort and we’ve tried to get them together, but they just won’t get together. They want to have their own self-autonomy. 

Glazer: What’s the Jewish Committee? 
ROSENBERG: The American Jewish Committee. This is national and they do the same things and it’s very costly doing the same things twice. 

Glazer: Is there any connection now between JEA and the Hillel Academy? 
ROSENBERG: I don’t believe so. It might be possible that there might be a teacher that might go from one to the other on a part time basis or on some special project. 

Glazer: When you say JEA, doesn’t that encompass the relig1ious schools? 
ROSENBERG: No, that’s the Jewish Educational Association and they have their own school, that’s headquartered at the Jewish Community Center. 

Glazer: Is it connected in any way with the various religious schools in the different synagogues? 
ROSENBERG: Well, the synagogues have their Sunday Schools. The JEA is composed of boys and girls from all the synagogues in the Portland area and they are there on a daily basis. 

Glazer: So how does that differ from Hillel? 
ROSENBERG: Hillel is a parochial school, a day school. It’s accredited by the school district and at the same time they get a tremendous, intense, Hebrew education. It’s like, you might say, it isn’t a private school in the sense, but it’s a regular parochial school with accredited teachers, curriculum, everything, 

Glazer: So it’s just more intense than JEA? 
ROSENBERG: Oh yes, much more. Now the boys and girls who go to JEA go to regular public schools all over Portland, whereas this is the public school, the Hillel Academy, they don’t go to any other schools, 

Glazer: Where does Hillel meet? 
ROSENBERG: At the present time they meet at the Congregation Shaarie Torah. There is talk in the community about building an educational building to house both the Hillel Academy and the Jewish Educational Association. If and when that happens, I don’t know. 

Glazer: That would seem to make consolidation easier. 
ROSENBERG: Correct. 

Glazer: Is that why they want to do it? 
ROSENBERG: Well, I don’t think that that’s exactly the thought. I understand the Jewish Educational Association originally, one year they met at one synagogue and the following year at the other and the following year at the other until the new Center was built and the community decided that that should be the home of the Jewish Educational Association. Now, as I said previously, Hillel Academy meets at the Congregation Shaarie Torah. They would like to have a home of their own and if it wasn’t for the graciousness of that congregation they wouldn’t be meeting there. So it’s very possible, in the not too distant future, the community might decide to build an educational building to house both of them, or if they do merge, then to house one. 

Glazer: How will that decision be made? 
ROSENBERG: By the community. 

Glazer: The community is pretty nebulous. 
ROSENBERG: Yes, let’s say through the Jewish Welfare Federation. 

Glazer: So it’s the board of the Jewish Welfare Federation to decide? 
ROSENBERG: And the boards of the JEA and Hillel. 

Glazer: What’s the difference between the different religious schools in the synagogues from the JEA? 
ROSENBERG: Well, the synagogues only have Sunday Schools and that’s a matter of what? Two hours or three hours and that’s it, whereas the JEA is a much more intense Jewish education. 

Glazer: From what ages are these various schools? 
ROSENBERG: They have public school division and they have a high school division. 

Glazer: How do the different schools get their money? 
ROSENBERG: Well, each synagogue raises their own money for the operation of their Sunday Schools. 

Glazer: What about the JEA? 
ROSENBERG: The JEA raises a certain amount of money and whatever the deficit is, why the Jewish Welfare Association subsidizes it to the amount x involved. 

Glazer: What about Hillel? 
ROSENBERG: The same with Hillel. 

Glazer: What if there is a deficit at one of the religious schools, what happens? 
ROSENBERG: You mean of a synagogue? That’s their own responsibility. The Welfare Association does not give money to the synagogue’s Sunday schools. 

Glazer: Couldn’t they say that that is unfair since money is being given to the other schools? 
ROSENBERG: No, that’s a private endeavor on the part of each synagogue, whereas the JEA and the Hillel is a communal. It takes in the entire community. 

Glazer: Can a kid whose parents or themselves go to Neveh Shalom, can they go to Beth Israel religious schools? 
ROSENBERG: If they pay a certain fee. In fact, I believe some synagogues require that the parents be a member in order for the children to go to their Sunday school. 

Glazer: So in some cases you can’t go. 
ROSENBERG: That’s right. 

Glazer: How involved have you been with the JEA? 
ROSENBERG: Well, many years ago I was involved with the JEA but I haven’t been for the past 10 or 15 years. 

Glazer: In what capacity were you involved? 
ROSENBERG: I was on the board. 

Glazer: What were some of the important decisions that were made while you were on the board? 
ROSENBERG: Well, there was a matter of enrollment. As enrollment grew, we had to hire more teachers and that was a problem getting the right kind of individuals and there was financial responsibility that was always a problem. The two problems: finance and enrollment and teachers. 

Glazer: What kind of teachers did you want? 
ROSENBERG: Well, we wanted qualified teachers who had the academic background as far as teaching was concerned. Also, they had to have a Jewish background. 

Glazer: Did you advertise all over the country? 
ROSENBERG: We got most of our teachers from the East in those days. Now, there are certain qualified teachers who are local people in the JEA. 

Glazer: Is there some kind of a cooperative effort? For example, to advertise for a teacher in some magazine? 
ROSENBERG: Well, there’s a National Educational Association and we contact them and the same thing with the Hillel. There’s a national set-up and when they need the head of Hillel or a principal or qualified teachers, they generally contact them and they are given names and are interviewed, and if found satisfactory, why they are generally hired. 

Glazer: Who interviews them? 
ROSENBERG: A committee of the board. 

Glazer: What kind of things did you do to raise money? 
ROSENBERG: In the JEA? Well, most of it came from membership dues and tuition, but as far as JEA having annual affairs in which to raise money, they’ve never done it locally. They should, but they don’t. 

Glazer: Why don’t they? 
ROSENBERG: Don’t ask me why. Maybe the board is too lazy. 

Glazer: There’s a board and then there is a sisterhood, correct? Of the JEA? 
ROSENBERG: I don’t think there’s a sisterhood of JEA. 

Glazer: I think there is. 
ROSENBERG: I don’t think so. 

Glazer: Are there women on the board? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: Have there always been? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: How are, for example, problem children dealt with? 
ROSENBERG: I don’t recollect any when I was active. I don’t recollect any problem children enrolling at the JEA. 

Glazer: Where do most of the children come from? From the people in the synagogue? 
ROSENBERG: No, each synagogue. If the parents were interested in having their children having a little more Jewish education than the Sunday school provided, then they enrolled them in the JEA. 

Glazer: Did each synagogue have about the same number of children enrolled? 
ROSENBERG: Well, I think there was a preponderance of the Congregation Shaarie Torah and Neveh Shalom, more so than Temple. But the past few years the children of Temple have been coming to JEA more than they did previously. 

Glazer: How do you account for that? 
ROSENBERG: Well, it’s Jewish background. The Orthodox and Conservative parents want their children to know a little more about Jewish religion than did the average Reform Jew in the community. 

Glazer: You say now more Beth Israelites are coming. Why do you say that would be? 
ROSENBERG: Well, I think perhaps the parents are more interested in having them know a little more Jewishness. 

Glazer: Do you know how the JEA was formed? 
ROSENBERG: No, I don’t know how it was formed originally. I imagine there were certain individuals in the community who felt that the children of the community were not getting the Jewish education they should be receiving and so they decided to form the organization to get them involved and interested. 

Glazer: The name implies that perhaps there was a merger of certain kinds of organizations.
ROSENBERG: Well, it wasn’t a merger. The name before was the Portland Hebrew School. But there was more than one Portland Hebrew School. 

Glazer: There was one on the east side. 
ROSENBERG: This I don’t remember. Oh, there might have had a little branch because a certain number of people in the old days lived in Irvington and Laurelhurst. There was quite a Jewish community in each area there and rather than come over to the west side, why, they might have had a little branch some place on the east side, so they wouldn’t have to come over town after school. 

Glazer: How did the Portland Hebrew School differ from the JEA? 
ROSENBERG: Oh, it was about the same. It was much smaller. 

Glazer: The Portland Hebrew School? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: Is there a growing interest in Jewish education? 
ROSENBERG: Oh, very much so. I think the impetus was after the State of Israel became a reality. In fact, that happening changed a lot of things as far as Jewish concern. 

Glazer: Did World War II have any effect? 
ROSENBERG: Not particularly. 

Glazer: Does the JEA have a national affiliation? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. There is a national organization. 

Glazer: What is the connection? 
ROSENBERG: I think locally we are an affiliate of the national organization. 

Glazer: What does it mean to be an affiliate? 
ROSENBERG: Well, when you need teachers or something like that, or a principal, why you contact them, the national office, and they have all this information and they suggest and help in any way that they can. 

Glazer: Is it more or less autonomous in that you don’t have to run your school the same as they run it in Springfield, Massachusetts? 
ROSENBERG: That’s right. Each community is self-autonomous. 

Glazer: Is that true of most national affiliations? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. Sure, the Center belongs to the national association of Centers, the welfare federation belongs to a national association and that’s the way it is. 

Glazer: What kind of help can you expect from the national association? 
ROSENBERG: Program, faculty, suggestions, fund raising, programs, activities. In fact, the national organizations have at their means professional men who are educated in their own particular field and if a problem presents itself, you can always contact the national organization and if the problem is of sufficient size why they even at times send a man out from New York to the local community to help the situation. 

Glazer: Has that ever happened here? 
ROSENBERG: Oh yes. Before we built the new Center we had the national architect come from New York and advise the local committee about the what the Center itself should include in physical building. In addition, they have a Western States executive who generally resides in Los Angeles who comes up to Portland a couple of times a year to advise and counsel the board. In fact, when the Federation needs an executive director they contact national and they give them leads as to who is available so they can interview them. 

Glazer: How would they have done something like that before, before they had the national affiliation? 
ROSENBERG: The national was before the local. 

Glazer: Oh, in every case? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: Getting back to the Jewish National Fund for a minute, what programs and activities did you initiate as president that you think were really outstanding? 
ROSENBERG: Well, the outstanding affair was the annual dinner in which we honor the local citizen. Jewish National Fund locally is a means of raising money in the form of the sale of trees and these trees are sold in honor or in memory to. Now, you take this John F. Kennedy Peace Memorial. At the time that that was being put into being, they were going to have a John F. Kennedy Peace Forest of 10,000,000 trees in there and the entire American community raised money through their annual affairs and dinners or whatever it was, to plant those 10,000,000 trees at $2.50 each, they raised $25,000,000 for that project alone. 

Glazer: So it always was sort of the same thing that they were doing? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, that’s right. 

Glazer: What was your affiliation with the synagogues? 
ROSENBERG: Well, I was a member of the Neveh Zedek synagogue. I was on the board and very active for a number of years. In fact, in the old days, after the founders (Mr. Shank, Mr. Nemerovsky, Mr. Gale) passed on, why actually the four persons that really ran the synagogue was Mr. Steinberg, Mr. Wiener, Mr. Jackson and myself. 

Glazer: When would this have been? 
ROSENBERG: This would have been in the 50s, I imagine. In fact I was chairman of the merger committee for the Neveh Zedek cemetery when we merged with the Ahavai Sholom and formed the new synagogue of Neveh Shalom. They took the first name of each one. 

Glazer: I heard a lot about the opposition to that, People who thought that that shouldn’t have happened. 
ROSENBERG: That’s right, There was quite a lot of bitter animosity and dissention about the merger, but the trouble was in those days that Neveh Zedek was dying on the vine. We had no Sunday school. We just had the synagogue building itself and they finally formed a little Sunday school in the basement which was very unsatisfactory. And naturally with no Sunday school facility, no young members who had children would join and they joined the Ahavai Sholom because they had a Sunday school facility. At the Neveh Zedek, as the old people were dying off and no new members were coming in, it was just a question of whether they would wither away. Rather than let that happen, the leaders of the Neveh Zedek felt it would be in the best interest of their synagogue and the Conservative movement in Portland if they would merge. This is what happened after a series of meetings, and there was a lot of animosity. Some of the old timers thought we had the synagogue for years and we’ve been active and we don’t want to lose our identity. That’s a natural reaction, but I believe it happened for the best. 

Glazer: Who did the people who opposed it blame for the merger? Did they blame you? 
ROSENBERG: No, we’re the one that merged, you know. And I guess they didn’t exactly blame us, but they felt differently about it and felt we had no business doing what we did, but we were dying on the vines. 

Glazer: Did they go along with it when it went? 
ROSENBERG: Eventually, sure, they had no other alternative. There was no more synagogue called Neveh Zedek. 

Glazer: Did they join another synagogue just in protest? 
ROSENBERG: Well, some did. Yes, a few did. They joined the Congregation Shaarie Torah because of the merge, but not too many. Most of them went along when they saw it was inevitable. I talked to the woman whose husband built the synagogue. Built the Neveh Zedek. 

Glazer: What was his name? 
ROSENBERG: Radding. 

Glazer: That’s before my time. 
ROSENBERG: She was very upset that the building had been torn down and they hadn’t saved any of the markers, and things like that. 

Glazer: Isn’t that unusual not to save the ornaments and things in a synagogue before you tear it down? 
ROSENBERG: Oh they have the memorial markers. 

Glazer: Where are they? Like the memorial markers and things like that? 
ROSENBERG: They’re at the Neveh Shalom some place. 

Glazer: We’re talking about your synagogue operations. 
ROSENBERG: I believe that the memorial tablets are in the basement of the Neveh Shalom synagogue. The cornerstone of the Neveh Zedek is along with the old cornerstone of the Ahavai Sholom with a new cornerstone of the Neveh Shalom. All three of them together with a flagpole in the center that is in front of the synagogue. Now you mentioned the ornaments and things: the Torahs with all their ornaments they are all over at the new Neveh Shalom synagogue. I don’t think anything of value was thrown away. They are in the present synagogue. 

Glazer: What other things did you do when you were involved with the synagogue? 
ROSENBERG: The entire operation of the synagogue with all its manifold duties. 

Glazer: Like what? 
ROSENBERG: Acquiring membership. Having a Rabbi, having a Shames, collection of dues, see that it is kept clean, that the services are proper, everything in the operation of a synagogue. 

Glazer: Did you become involved with the Neveh Shalom once the merger went through? 
ROSENBERG: I was on the board for several years. 

In those days, Neveh Zedek was conservative rightist and Ahavai was conservative leftist. They merged and everyone seemed quite satisfied and when they built the new synagogue I was chairman of the capital funds drive for that new synagogue. 

Glazer: Why did they call it the capital funds drive? 
ROSENBERG: Well, a capital funds drive is when you go out in the community and raise funds for a new building. That’s capital. That is a capital investment, a new building. 

Glazer: Alright, one more question, unless you have something that you want to say about the synagogues or about your affiliation with them. 
ROSENBERG: No, I think I have just about covered everything. With the merge, it made the merged congregation much more substantial because Neveh Zedek had about 200 members, which added to the Ahavai Sholom’s membership. And we were clear of debt. We had money in the bank. We had the building, the synagogue building which was sold, I believe, for $200,000. We had quite a sum of money in our cemetery fund and that was all thrown into the pot, you might say, that made the new synagogue much more substantial than each individual. 

Glazer: What kinds of things did you have to give up for the merger? Did the Neveh Zedek have to give up? 
ROSENBERG: Well, we had a Rabbi Jack Segal on the understanding was that he was to leave and that Rabbi Joshua Stampfer was to continue as the Rabbi of the merged congregation. 

Glazer: How did Rabbi Segal feel about that? 
ROSENBERG: Evidently he felt somewhat badly and he went back East and right at the present time he is the Rabbi of one of the largest Conservative synagogues in America. He is the head Rabbi of Congregation Beth Yeshurin in Houston, Texas. 

Glazer: You say evidently he felt bad about that. 
ROSENBERG: Well, how would anyone feel if he lost his job as a Rabbi of a synagogue. It’s a natural reaction. 

Glazer: How was the decision made to keep Rabbi Stampfer? 
ROSENBERG: That was the decision of the merger committee of both synagogues. 

Glazer: Did the people of Neveh Zedek want to keep Rabbi Segal? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, a certain few wanted to, but it’s the old story. This is a democracy and the majority rules. 

Glazer: Is there a Cantor? 
ROSENBERG: Oh yes. 

Glazer: Was there a Cantor in each one? 
ROSENBERG: Yes. 

Glazer: And one of them went also? 
ROSENBERG: Yes, Cantor Friedman, he had to go and Cantor Ail, he stayed on. 

Glazer: Cantor Ail was from Ahavai Shalom? 
ROSENBERG: That’s right. 

Glazer: Can you recall the names of the clubs that you and Lewis Blumenthal started in 1923? I called it the B’nai B’rith Boys Intermediate Club and you said that wasn’t the right name. 
ROSENBERG: The Ramblers were formed in 1921. 

Glazer: This is a different club. 
ROSENBERG: Well, I don’t recollect. He might of formed another club of younger boys in the Center itself, but just what the name was I don’t remember. Evidently it wasn’t a factor because if it was formed it didn’t last too long or it didn’t make any sort of impression on me or the community. Evidently it was maybe those young boys and girls who went to the Center in those days, so he formed a little group so that they would know each other better. 

End

Harper: Good morning. If you could please tell me your name, your date and place of birth.
ROSENBERG: Abraham E. Rosenberg. June 17, 1901, in Hull, England.

Harper: Whereabouts is that?
ROSENBERG: That’s on the northeast coast, in the county of Yorkshire. Yorkshire has one of the worst brogues in all of England. In those days everybody seemed to have a nickname, so when I started school here I didn’t go to public school here. I took an exam and they passed me right into high school, Lincoln High School, which was on Broadway and Clay. I used to get up in class with this tremendous Yorkshire brogue; the students used to laugh, and everybody had a nickname for some reason or other in those days. Somebody stuck the name “English” on me and it’s lasted ever since. There’s a lot of people in this city that still call me “Mr. English,” and think that’s my last name.

Harper: Can you tell me a little bit about Hull?
ROSENBERG: Hull? It’s just an ordinary workingman’s town. It’s a seaport on the northeast coast of England.

Harper: What was the population? Do you remember?
ROSENBERG: Oh, I should judge around 100,000.

Harper: And, it was an industry town?
ROSENBERG: Yes, industry town. Seaport mostly. A lot of freighters there all the time.

Harper: Can you tell me a little bit about your parents?
ROSENBERG: Yes. My parents originally were born in Russia. They came to this country, and my father had two brothers. There they are [points to a picture]. My mother had two sisters, Mrs. London, Mrs. Lockitch and [she was] Mrs. Rosenberg. There’s my mother in the center of that picture [points again].

Harper: At the end of the interview you can show us all of your pictures. We’ll videotape them and you can tell us who they are.
ROSENBERG: All right. Fine.

Harper: Your parents, they came from Russia to Hull first?
ROSENBERG: Yes.

Harper: And how come they went to Hull?
ROSENBERG: Because my mother had a younger sister living there.

Harper: Do you know where in Russia they were from?
ROSENBERG: Let’s see. It’ll come to me. [thinking of a gubernia, which is a district or province in Russia]. No.

Harper: It’s OK. Did you ever get to meet your grandparents?
ROSENBERG: My dad’s grandparents I met. My mother’s parents never came out of Russia. I never met them at all. I don’t know who they are.

Harper: But your dad’s parents came out of Russia? Did they go to Hull?
ROSENBERG: Yes. My dad has two brothers. There were three boys; my dad landed in Portland. One of his brothers landed in Vancouver BC, and the other brother landed in San Francisco. Why they didn’t live in the same town together, I never will understand.

Harper: I want to focus on Hull for a little while here. Growing up, who lived in your house?
ROSENBERG: In the house in England, I was 12 years old. Well, we had seven in the family: five boys and two girls. First my dad and my oldest brother came to Portland. They worked for a couple years and saved up money, and they sent for my mother and the rest of us. We came on a freighter.

Harper: While your father was in the United States, how did your family in England survive? What was your means of support?
ROSENBERG: My dad used to send us money.

Harper: Can you describe a little bit for me your neighborhood in Hull, what the neighborhood was like?
ROSENBERG: Well, it was just an ordinary working man’s neighborhood with apartments and small houses.

Harper: Was there a Jewish community there?
ROSENBERG: Somewhat, not too much, although they had two synagogues there. They had kind of a Reformed synagogue and a Conservative. Well, in those days it was mostly Orthodox Jewry. There was no Reformed Jewry in those days. That grew up later when these Germans were coming from Germany. There were Germans and there were Jews who were Deutsch Jude. They called them Deutsch Jude, German Jews.

Harper: Was your family involved with one of the synagogues?
ROSENBERG: Not too much, no. My family wasn’t involved in anything to speak of. It was just ordinary, every day working people. Made a living, period.

Harper: What did your father do in Hull?
ROSENBERG: He was a tailor. He was a tailor in this country, too. That’s where he made his livelihood. 

Harper: Can you tell me about your schooling in Hull? What sorts of schools you went to?
ROSENBERG: Well, in Hull I was 12 years old. They gave me an examination and they moved me right into high school. I didn’t go to public school at all in England, just high school. I went, as I say, to Lincoln High School [in Portland], which was on Broadway and Clay. It’s a brown building that is now part of Portland Community College.

Harper: Can you tell me how old you were when you came here?
ROSENBERG: 12. 

Harper: Tell me about it, besides going to Lincoln High School.
ROSENBERG: Well, we were just a plain, ordinary family. We were at the school from 9:00 to 4:00. We went to cheder from 1:00 to 5:00. Going to school and going to cheder was practically the same thing. We knew we had to go there and we went there. We were just very ordinary people in England. My dad just eked out an existence with his being a tailor.

Harper: Where did you live when you first came to Portland?
ROSENBERG: Where did I first live? Let’s see. I think we moved into an apartment on 45th and Vermont. You know where Goldberg’s delicatessen and bakery is? 45th and Vermont. I think we moved there. We lived there for about 20 years. After that I started working for Goldsmith, Archie Goldsmith, two brothers that opened up a wholesale dry goods company. Before them it was a firm by the name of Fleischner Mayer [spells it], and Company. They were one of the big wholesale dry goods companies west of Chicago. They traveled 45 salesmen and in those days, every little town had a little variety store. They had a little infant’s shop; they had these papa-mama little grocery stores. But today all those things are gone. It’s all the big chains now.

Harper: So you came to Portland in 1913?
ROSENBERG: ’12.

Harper: 1912. Where did your father work as a tailor?
ROSENBERG: Where did he work? He worked first for a fellow by the name of C.P. Barette [spells it] and later he opened a little tailor shop for himself and did cleaning and pressing.

Harper: Did you help out in the shop at all?
ROSENBERG: No. No, I was going to school.

Harper: At this time, were you involved at all in the Jewish community?
ROSENBERG: No. I went to school, period. And as I say, I knew I had to go to school. I knew I had to go to cheder. That was the whole day. I had time for nothing else.

Harper: So, when did you graduate from high school?
ROSENBERG: When did I graduate from high school? Either 1916 or ’17. I was too young for the First World War and too old for the Second World War. I was 38, and age 35 was the deadline in those days. 

Harper: Tell me a little bit about World War I. What you remember hearing about it. 
ROSENBERG: It was a terrible war. The Kaiser in Germany started it and it was a horrible thing at the time.

Harper: Did you remember wanting to serve at all?
ROSENBERG: Not particularly. Although, I did try to enlist later and I was too old for the Second World War and too young for the First World War. As I say, I tried to enlist because I was in merchandising, also dry goods, but they turned me down. Instead of giving me 1-A, they gave me 4-A, which was more or less deferment until something actually happened. But nothing happened.

Harper: So right after high school, did you get involved with the dry goods?
ROSENBERG: Yes. I went to work for Goldsmith. There were two brothers: Archie Goldsmith and Louie Goldsmith. They first started the firm of Archie Goldsmith and Brother, which later became Goldsmith Brothers, which is now Goldsmith, Incorporated. They’re still in business, incidentally, in the third generation already.

Harper: Can you tell me when you first started to get involved with the Jewish Community Center?
ROSENBERG: Yes. After I graduated high school, or after I finished high school, I don’t remember. I became active in the Jewish community there. One thing led to another. My dad was strictly Orthodox; he went to shul every morning, every night. We lived around the corner from the Congregation Neveh Zedek. Any time they did minyan, there were five boys and two girls at our place that never missed for a minyan. The shammes used to walk around the corner to our house, and would come back with enough people for them to have a minyan. So they always had a minyan there. I grew up in a strict Orthodox family.

Harper: So you were observant in the home?
ROSENBERG: Yes. And in fact I’ve yet to eat a pork product! I eat trayf for fleishig (meat) that I buy at a butcher shop, but no pork. No pork products of any kind have I eaten. No ham or bacon or anything like that. Untarnished.

Harper: Your family, then, it sounds like, was involved in [Rosenberg interrupts] 
ROSENBERG: Kovno gubernia! That’s where the folks came from.

Harper: In the house, what language did the family speak?
ROSENBERG: That’s a funny thing you mention that. The folks spoke to us in Yiddish, and we also always answered them in the English. That’s the way they learned to speak broken English, and we learned Yiddish (if there’s such a thing as broken Yiddish). I can understand it much better than I can read it.

Harper: Did they speak Russian as well?
ROSENBERG: No. No Russian in the house at all. It was either English or Yiddish.

Harper: Was your mother religious as well?
ROSENBERG: Not particularly. She was an ordinary Jewish housewife who kept a kosher home.

Harper: Were your parents involved in the non-religious Jewish community. Any sorts of organizations?
ROSENBERG: Well, everything was in those days was B’nai B’rith Lodge. That was the power of B’nai B’rith women. Everything revolved around those two organizations. The men belonged to the B’nai B’rith Lodge, and the women belonged to the B’nai B’rith Sisterhood.

Harper: And your family was a member of Neveh Zedek?
ROSENBERG: Yes. That’s right.

Harper: You had your bar mitzvah there?
ROSENBERG: Yes.

Harper: Tell me when you started to get involved in the Jewish community?
ROSENBERG: Well, in those days, when we were in high school, we had a club by the name of The Ramblers. In those days, there weren’t any executive directors of buildings and the Ramblers were a bunch of high school kids. They had a basketball team. They had a baseball team and you may say they were executive directors of the … let’s see, what was the question asked?

Harper: Were the Ramblers made up of kids?
ROSENBERG: High school? Yes. All Jewish kids.

Harper: That went to your synagogue?
ROSENBERG: Yes, that went to our synagogue. And were in Lincoln High School at the time. We ran the Jewish Community Center practically. All the activities, we gave a dance every month, once a month, and everything. Everything was Jewish, you might say, and that’s kept in that environment all this time.

Harper: Did you accompany your father to the synagogue ever?
ROSENBERG: Oh, yes. Always.

Harper: Every day?
ROSENBERG: No, I didn’t go every day because I had to go to school, and I had to go to cheder after school, and that filled up my day.

Harper: The holidays or Shabbat?
ROSENBERG: Oh, the holidays, sure I went to shul with my mother and father. In those days the women sat upstairs and the men downstairs. It was strictly Orthodox.

Harper: Do you remember the year the Ramblers first started?
ROSENBERG: Yes, 1921. I got a picture, photos of the men. I’ll show you those after.

Harper: In 1921 you were around 20 years old?
ROSENBERG: Yes.

Harper: And you were working at this time, too, while you were doing the Ramblers?
ROSENBERG: Yes, I was working for the name Fleischner Mayer and Company, and they were in the wholesale dry goods business. One of the big wholesale dry goods companies west of Chicago.

Harper: Can you tell me a little bit about the history of the Jewish Community Center and your involvement in it?
ROSENBERG: Oh, the center had its 80th anniversary recently, and I was involved because I helped build the center. I went out and raised money and where we were used to talking donations of 100 dollars, for some reason or other I kicked it up and talked in donations of the thousands. Where we used to donate 100 dollars while we had a capital funds drive for some reason or other, I kicked that hundred to a thousand. The ones that donated 5,000 dollars, I kicked it up to 10,000 dollars. I raised sufficient money and we went on a capital funds drive, and we built that Jewish Community Center. I had the vision, evidently, to kick it up considerable. The ones that donated 25,000 dollars, they donated 100,000 dollars. 

Harper: So this wasn’t your job?
ROSENBERG: No.

Harper: It was your job as a volunteer?
ROSENBERG: That’s right. That’s how I became involved in the Jewish community. I wasn’t a politician; I said 90% of the politicians are crooks and have their hands out. I’d rather work for the community and do some good in the community. And that’s how I started. You see above that blackboard there is a picture where I was appointed, you can turn it up if you go over there and see just what it says on there. I was “Citizen of the Week.” A committee of the mayor and the local big shots, they appointed some person in the community who had done a lot of work in the community. They put their picture ( it lasted for a week) on every streetcar in Portland. That picture there is the one that was on the streetcars in Portland with my name and picture on it.

Harper: Do you remember what year that was?
ROSENBERG: It might have a date on it. Just lift that up there. What’s it say?

Miller: 1954.
ROSENBERG: 1954. Thirty years ago.

Harper: Right. So your early involvement in the Ramblers eventually led to that?
ROSENBERG: That’s right. And to civic work. 

Harper: I want to ask a question about what other Jews felt about you as an immigrant, as your family as an immigrant, was there any —
ROSENBERG: Animosity?

Harper: Yes, you weren’t outcast at all from the community? 
ROSENBERG: No. No.

Harper: They accepted you wholly?
ROSENBERG: Sure. Sure. Any Jew was welcome in any community in those days. But there were mostly Orthodox Jews who were strictly kosher. 

Harper: Was the community as a whole as Orthodox as your family was?
ROSENBERG: I think so, yes. In those days, everybody was kosher; it was an Orthodox atmosphere.

Harper: Between the Ramblers, are there any events that you can remember from your involvement in the Jewish community?
ROSENBERG: Well, as I say, we had a basketball team, we had a baseball team, we gave monthly dances to the Jewish boys and girls. We were responsible for eliminating a lot of this inter-marriage. It was on account of the Ramblers that more Jewish boys married Jewish girls and vice versa, for which I’m really proud. Because today the percentage is like 35% of non-Jews intermarry. We eliminated that quite a good deal.

Harper: Can you tell me what you remember about World War II?
ROSENBERG: World War II. Well, as I say, I was too young for World War I, and too old for World War II. But I wanted to enlist because I was in merchandising, and I figured I’d do good in that department. But for some reason or other, as I say, I was too young for the First World War, and I’m too old for the Korean War. So they didn’t take me.

Harper: Did you want to fight in World War II?
ROSENBERG: No, I didn’t want to fight. I’m not that depressive.

Harper: Can you tell me what you thought of learning about the Nazis and what was happening to the Jews in Europe?
ROSENBERG: Well, it was spread all over the papers, every day. You couldn’t help but know what was going on, and how atrocious it was.

Harper: Do you remember talking about it among the community. Was there any sort of community events or involvement?
ROSENBERG: There was. We held meetings at different times and discussed it, but we couldn’t do anything about it. We weren’t fighters. Did you ever see a Jewish boy who was a fighter? [laughs]

Harper: Do you remember when you found out about the destruction? After the war, what was the community’s response? Do you remember?
ROSENBERG: Well, it was horrible. They started rebuilding. That’s all they could do. No sense in worrying about it. It was done. You had to do something to correct it and change it. And that’s what the community set about to do. That’s how I think I become community conscious when I started in that stuff, trying to revive these cities that were slashed to bits.

Harper: How did you help revive them?
ROSENBERG: Help provide?

Harper: How did you help rebuild? Did you raise money?
ROSENBERG: Oh sure, you’ve got to raise money. You’ve got to have gelt to do anything in this country.

Harper: Did you meet people who had survived in this community?
ROSENBERG: Yes, we all survived. Oh, you mean in these Jewish communities?

Harper: Yes, in Europe.
ROSENBERG: I may have met a few people, but they were inconsequential. Just ordinary people, just ordinary Orthodox Jewish people.

Harper: After you left your parents’ house, the apartment in Southwest Portland, where did you move to?
ROSENBERG: I bought a house in Eastmoreland, that’s one of the nice neighborhoods where Reed College is. We lived there for twenty-odd years.

Harper: Who is we?
ROSENBERG: My parents and the family.

Harper: Oh, so you moved the family to Eastmoreland?
ROSENBERG: Yes. Well, I had an older brother, and he had three daughters. We managed somehow to make a living, and as I say, my dad and my oldest brother came to Portland first from England, and they earned enough money and they send us money enough money to go on a steamer to America, all steerage. We landed, not on Ellis Island, we landed in Canada at the time. Then we went cross-country to Chicago. From Chicago, we came into America and then we took the train the rest of the way to Portland.

Harper: That’s quite a journey.
ROSENBERG: Yes.

Harper: Do you remember any feelings you had at that time?
ROSENBERG: Yes, it was the strangest contrast. Everything was different between America and England, you know. In those days particularly, that’s 70 years ago.

Harper: How long did it take you to get used to it?
ROSENBERG: Oh, we acclimated pretty fast. You had to. You make a living in the community. You went to shul, you went to cheder, kids get acquainted somehow. They don’t need formal introductions.

Harper: So, when did you lose that accent?
ROSENBERG: When [laughs]? I don’t know when. I guess it was when I started going to school. In those days everybody had a nickname for some reason or other. On account of my nickname, the word “English” stuck with me. In fact some people today call me Mr. English. They think that’s my last name.

Harper: Why don’t you turn off the camera, and we’ll get some pictures out?

Harper: Can you tell me who that is in that picture?
ROSENBERG: Yes, that’s my mother and father. The picture was taken during the war in approximately 1917.

Harper: This was in Portland?
ROSENBERG: This was in Portland, yes. That’s when we lived on Fifth and College, right around the corner from another cemetery, synagogue.

Harper: What was your father’s name?
ROSENBERG: Lazarus M. Rosenberg.

Harper: And your mother?
ROSENBERG: My mother’s name was Anna.

Harper: What is this a picture of?
ROSENBERG: On the left is Mrs. Lockitch; my mother is in the center, and Mrs. London is on the right.

Harper: Who are those people?
ROSENBERG: My aunt, my mother and two aunts.

Harper: They live in Portland as well.
ROSENBERG: Pardon?

Harper: They live in Portland as well?
ROSENBERG: Yes. They lived in Portland. Their children grew up here. Their grandchildren grew up here. In fact, my oldest brother, he had three daughters and they all live here, and their grandchildren live here. So we have quite a family here living in Portland. We get together quite frequently at each of our houses for dinner. We get together on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, after fasts. And Hanukkah we get together.

Harper: Do you have any children?
ROSENBERG: No. I said when I got married I was a confirmed bachelor. I was 43 when I got married. 
They called it a B’nai B’rith building in those days and then the B’nai B’rith Jewish Community Center.

Harper: What is this a picture of?
ROSENBERG: A picture of a play, “Welcome Stranger.” That’s me there. I played the part of the attorney by the name of Abe Hooker.

Harper: Do you remember what year this was?
ROSENBERG: Well, it should say on there. Matt, what year was it?

Matt: 1925.
ROSENBERG: 1929?

Harper: 1925.
ROSENBERG: 70 years ago.

Harper: Can you tell me what that’s a picture of?
ROSENBERG: This is a picture of the annual stag banquet that we used to have.

Harper: Was it a JCC event?
ROSENBERG: Pardon?

Harper: Was it a Jewish Community Center event?
ROSENBERG: Yes. Well it was a Ramblers event. Not everybody at the center went; it was just the members of the Ramblers that went to these parties.  They were held every year.

Harper: Do you remember what year this was?
ROSENBERG: It should give it someplace. Isn’t it on the photo?

Harper: I don’t see it on there.
ROSENBERG: It’s an annual banquet that the Ramblers and their girlfriends that they invited to the play. We gave one every year.

Harper; Where was this picture taken?
ROSENBERG: At the Benson Hotel. Our wives that’s Molly Siegal and Abe Rosenstein. They were like, you might say, our mother, our parents. They were at all our affairs at the banquets and everything, every year.

Harper: And this obviously was a 20th anniversary of the Ramblers party?
ROSENBERG: When the Ramblers started?

Harper: No, no, this is obviously the 20th anniversary of the Ramblers?
ROSENBERG: Yes.

Harper: Tell me more about those people.
ROSENBERG: Well, Molly Siegal, she was a school teacher and Abe Rosenstein, he had a men’s clothing store downtown. They were both active in the Jewish community, particularly Mr. Rosenstein. When any Jewish person got into trouble or when some stranger came to town he’d take them and see that they… Well, if they were taken to jail, he was the petitioner; he took them out of jail.

Harper: OK. If you could tell me who this is?
ROSENBERG: Howard Meck. He was killed in World War II.

Harper: Where was he fighting?
ROSENBERG: He was in Europe. He was in the Air Corps.

Harper: He was a friend of yours?
ROSENBERG: I knew him. He was much younger than I was.

Harper: Is this at a Jewish community dance?
ROSENBERG: Yes.

Harper: Can you tell me about this picture?
ROSENBERG: That picture there is Anselm Boskwitz. He’s one of the old-timers.

Miller: Which one is he?
ROSENBERG: That one, the second one. He used to sit at Temple Beth Israel on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur’s courtesies, like a patriarch to the Jewish Community Center, to the Portland Jewish community. There’s Harry Mittleman, second one, that the center was named after. The criticism was that he bought a two and a half million institution for $450,000. That’s how he got his name on there. The interest was killing us. So he paid off the mortgage.

Harper: Can you tell me what this is?
ROSENBERG: This is a past president of the B’nai B’rith Lodge.

Harper: Can you tell us the story of this picture again?
ROSENBERG: Pardon?

Harper: Tell us the whole story of this picture again.
ROSENBERG: That’s my wife in the wheelchair and I’m pushing her along in a wheelchair. As I was going along the executive director, Al Manowicz, he saw us and he says, “Wait a minute and I’ll take your picture.” He took my picture and they had it enlarged in a frame and they gave it to me as a gift. They wouldn’t take any money for it.

Harper: Is your wife still alive?
ROSENBERG: No, she passed away last year in October.

Miller What is her name?
ROSENBERG: Sylvia.

Harper: How long were you married for?
ROSENBERG: 53 years.

Harper: Where did you meet?
ROSENBERG: On a blind date. Harry Arnsberg introduced us. We went to an old club that used to be downtown for food and cocktails, and that’s how I first met her. Through a blind date. I used to kid her, I says, “You put your claws into me and you wouldn’t let go.” [laughs] Because at the time I was a confirmed bachelor.

Harper: Can you start again?
ROSENBERG: This is the Jewish Community Center handball championship team. The picture is the Oregon State AAU championship team and the trophies we won that year. The picture is of myself on the left, Rudy Weiss, Frank Grebach, and Morrey Rosencrantz, my partner. He was incidentally the cantor’s son, the cantor of congregation Neveh Zedek years ago.

Harper: Do you know what year this picture was taken?
ROSENBERG: Boy, oh boy. I must have taken this when I was about 33, about 60 years ago, or 50 years ago.

Harper: Are any of these guys still alive?
ROSENBERG: Yes, Frank Grebach is still alive. Rudy Weiss passed away very recently, and Frank Grebach moved to California and now lives with his daughter and grandchildren.

Harper: Was this team through the Jewish Community Center? 
ROSENBERG: It was. It was the Jewish Community Center handball team. We played the YMCA, we played the firemen, we played the policemen. We had a league and every year we had an annual tournament. That’s the year we won both the singles and doubles championship and got all the trophies. There they are to prove it.

Harper: How about this picture?
ROSENBERG: This is one of the annual banquets of the Ramblers’ stag parties that we used to hold once a year.

Harper: Do you have any idea what year this was taken?
ROSENBERG: Oh I should say about 50 years ago.

Harper: Can you tell us about this picture?
ROSENBERG: Yes, this is the only picture ever taken of the Ramblers of the South Parkway Club. At one of the annual events of both clubs. First and only picture ever taken. When we got together. I was thinking it was Elks Club.

Harper: What’s his name?
ROSENBERG: I don’t remember. It’s been so long ago.

Harper: He was the executive director?
ROSENBERG: He was.

Harper; Of what exactly?
ROSENBERG: The Jewish Community Center.

Harper: Can you tell us who any of these other people are?
ROSENBERG: They’re members of the Ramblers.

Harper: Where are you?
ROSENBERG: There someplace.

Miller: Right here, I think. I think he’s back on the other side.
Harper: The other side?
Miller: No, where you started. I think.
Harper: Maybe you were sick on this day. [laughs]
ROSENBERG: Right in front there is Epstein and his wife Molly Epstein. That’s one of the annual banquets.

Harper: The Rambler banquet?
ROSENBERG: Yes.

Harper: Do you know where you’re sitting?
ROSENBERG: This was taken at the Benson Hotel.

Harper: So tell us about this again.
ROSENBERG: This is the first and only minstrel show we ever put on. Tommy [Cherich?], our second president, was there in the [lockadur?] in the center.

Harper: What are these suits made of that these guys are wearing?
ROSENBERG: Oh, kind of a cotton, a colored cotton.

Harper: They look leather.
ROSENBERG: No, it isn’t leather.

ROSENBERG: Yes, we had a lot of fun putting that on.

Harper: Do you know what year?
ROSENBERG: Oh, I haven’t any idea what year it was. Unless it’s on the back of the picture.

Miller: 1924.
ROSENBERG: When I received the John F. Kennedy medal. Down. No, the other way; you’re going up. There’s the medal around my neck there. A bronze round thing. That was given by the Jewish National Fund.