TRANSCRIPT

Interview of Eddie Duke by Marlene Gamble July, 2003

When the synagogue was rebuilt, they eliminated the balcony. Uh, men and women were allowed to sit together on one side if they wanted to. But one section of the building was reserved for men only. But if families wanted to sit together they, you know, you couldn't buck that anymore, if people didn't want to be orthodox any more, so they compromised, you know, they, a lot of things were done in English, I mean not everybody could speak Yiddish anymore. I mean I could speak Yiddish because my mother and father spoke it at home. But most of the other kids couldn't speak Yiddish at all, which was the language that our parents had used in Europe. I mean, our parents couldn't speak Hebrew. Nobody in Europe spoke Hebrew fluently excepting scholars, you know, and religious people.