Blumberg Janice Rothschild 10084 Transcript Ready For Web r3302016 Complete Reduced

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THE WILLIAM BREMAN JEWISH HERITAGE MUSEUM

ESTHER AND HERBERT TAYLOR
JEWISH ORAL HISTORY PROJECT OF ATLANTA
MEMOIRIST: JANICE OETTINGER ROTHSCHILD BLUMBERG

INTERVIEWER: ANN HOFFMAN SCHOENBERG
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DATES: AUGUST 7, 1989
OCTOBER 14, 1989
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FEBRUARY 25, 1994
APRIL 2, 1994
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LOCATION: ATLANTA, GEORGIA
SPONSORED BY: Taylor Family Fund

CITATION: Janice Oettinger Rothschild Blumberg, August 17, 1989; October
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14, 1989; February 25, 1994 and April 2, 1994, OHC10084, p. xx
from the Herbert and Esther Taylor Oral History Collection, Cuba
Family Archives for Southern Jewish History at the Breman
Museum, Atlanta, Georgia
<Tape 1, Side 1>

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INTERVIEW BEGINS
Ann: This is an interview with Janice Oettinger Rothschild Blumberg being done in Atlanta,
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Georgia in her son's home on August 7, 1989. The interviewer is Ann Schoenberg. We are
going to concentrate our efforts today on the era and the episode of the bombing of the big
Temple1 in Atlanta, Georgia, which took place on October 12, [1958]. However, we probably
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will get further afield than that. Let me begin by asking you to just describe what happened that
morning.
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Janice: We were awakened by a telephone call about 7:15 [a.m.] I'm slow waking up, and the
rabbi,2 knowing that the telephone was on my side of the bed, he jumped up, ran around and
answered it. The next thing I heard him say was, My G-d! I sat straight up in bed, wondering
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what had happened. Then I heard him say, I'll be right there. Then he told me that the Temple
1
The Temple on Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia was bombed in the early morning hours of October 12, 1958.
About 50 sticks of dynamite were planted near the building and tore a huge hole in the wall. No one was injured in
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the bombing as it was during the night. Rabbi Jacob Rothschild was an outspoken advocate of civil rights and
integration and friend of Martin Luther King Jr. Five men associated with the National States Rights Party, a white
separatist group, were tried and acquitted in the bombing.
2
Rabbi Jacob Rothschild was rabbi of the citys oldest Reform congregation, the Temple, in Atlanta, Georgia from
1946 until his death in 1973 from a heart attack. He forged close relationships with the citys Christian clergy and
distinguished himself as a charismatic spokesperson for civil rights.
Transcript ID: OHC10084 R3302016

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. . . when you hear something like that, you think of the sanctuary that you know and love being
in shambles. Thank G-d that was not the case. We were both in shock. He had come in from a
trip where he had spoken somewhere . . . I think St. Paul [Minnesota] that weekend . . . and had
just come in on Saturday. This took place on Sunday morning, as you know. His sport shirt and
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sport jacket he had been wearing were still hanging on the hook. They were very easy to get to,
and I saw him putting them on. I don't know why or how this came to my mind because it was
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not the sort of thing that I would ever have said, nor that he would ever have liked having said to
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him. I said, Put on a coat and tie. Wear a coat and tie. He howled at me, and said, Why on
earth? This is not a beauty contest or fashion show. He was furious. From out of nowhere,
certainly not intended, I heard myself saying, Because there might be photographers. So he
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did.
Ann: There were just a couple.
Janice: Yes. The funny thing was that . . . sometime after that people sent us clippings from
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all over the world. There was a newspaper published in Long Island [New York]. I forget the
name of it, but obviously for a traditionally Jewish . . .
Ann: . . . readership . . .
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Janice: . . . readership. You may recall this picture that's gone all over of Rabbi Rothschild
and Mayor [William] Hartsfield3 on their knees going through the rubble. Mayor Hartsfield
came to the Temple all dressed up because he had heard the news in his car on his way to church.
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He diverted to go the Temple instead so he was all dressed up. The caption in this Long Island
paper said, Mayor Hartsfield and the Hatless Rabbi. I was just really glad that he had worn a
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coat and tie . . . that he wasn't totally disgraced as part of the Jewish population.
Ann: That's wonderful.
Janice: At any rate, he told me not to come down because he felt that I would be of more
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service at home, particularly calling people to warn them not to bring their children to Sunday
school. This was already going on 8 o'clock in the morning, and some of them would have been
leaving within about a half hour for a 9 o'clock opening. So I did that. When our own children
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3
William Berry Hartsfield (1890-1971) was an American politician who served as the 49 th and 51st Mayor of
Atlanta, Georgia. His tenure extended from 1937 to 1941 and again from 1942 to 1962, making him the longest-
serving mayor of the city. It was under his direction that Atlanta became a world-class city with the image of the
City Too Busy to Hate.

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got up and heard all the commotion, got up and began to get frightened because they heard me
on the telephone giving this news to people. I realized the children needed to be busy to allay
their fears about things. You can't just tell them not to be frightened. I sent them out in different
directions in the neighborhood to tell people. One good friend, who lived maybe the equivalent
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of two city blocks away, Jan Gertner . . . said she opened her door and looked down and there
was Paul Revere4 on his bicycle, meaning my son, spreading the news. That's the way the
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Gertner family heard about it.
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Ann: How old was William?
Janice: He was not quite 10 years old. In other words . . . he was a month away.
Ann: And your daughter [Marcia]?
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Janice: The way I can remember it so well was this was the day before her eleventh birthday.
They're 13 months apart so he was nine almost ten. He spread the word.
Ann: They were at a very impressionable age in other words.
Janice:
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Yes. He was not very badly affected by it because after he came home from his Paul
Revere mission, I sent him off to play with a friend who did not live near us. When this terror
happened at our home late in the afternoon, I called the friend's mother and said, This is what's
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happened. Keep him away from the television news, and keep him overnight. I'll meet you at
school tomorrow, and tell him and the teacher myself why I'm nervous. He enjoyed having the
police in the driveway guarding us for several days . . . a little boy, got a big kick out of all this.
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My daughter, unfortunately, really got the brunt of it. She was very upset.
Ann: Has she talked about it in recent years? Has she ever referred to it as . . .
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Janice: I don't think it was a major trauma for her, but she was very upset at the time. She
talks about it freely. As a matter of fact, she commented on my writing about that particular
incident in the book because she just broke us up when she made the remark about President
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[Dwight David] Eisenhower.5

Ann: Why don't you repeat that because not everyone has read your article . . . we assume a
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4
Paul Revere was an American silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, and a patriot in the American Revolution.
He is most famous for alerting the Colonial militia to the approach of British forces before the battles of Lexington
and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, Paul Revere's Ride.
5
Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) was the 34th President of the United States, serving from 1953 until 1961.
He was a five-star general in the United States Army during World War II and served as Supreme Commander of
the Allied Forces in Europe. He was a Republican.

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lot.
Janice: Im one of the people who really does forget about that machine. What happened was
that a little after 6 o'clock that evening . . . the telephone had been ringing. Literally, as soon as
we hung it up it, would ring again, all day long. My very close friend, Julie Weiss, whose
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husband was then vice-president of the Temple and president of the Community Council, as well
as our best friend, was off at the meetings.
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Ann: What was his first name?
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Janice: Everybody knew him as Bud. His name was Morton L. Weiss. Both our husbands
were together, first at the Temple and then at the Community Council meeting, which is where
they were at the time this happened . . . 6 o'clock that evening. Julie had come over with her . . .
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she not only had one son but one was on the way . . . her son Mike, who was about six years old
then. Marcia was 11. She just brought him over to spend the day with me to help with the
telephone and whatever. We were sitting . . . she had just gotten some dinner together for us.
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The telephone was as close to them at the table as I am to you now when it rang. Instead of
being sympathetic, which these calls literally nonstop all day had been, this man said, I'm one of
them that bombed your Temple and I'm calling to tell you that you've got five minutes. There's a
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bomb under your house and it's lit and you've got five minutes to get out. I was in such shock
that when Julie said, What was it? I didn't have any better sense than to just repeat it. I was
really in shock. The next thing I knew, I was standing at the door holding my purse which
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happened to be there, and wondering, Should I save my heirloom violin? What should I save in
this house if it really does blow up? I don't think it's going to blow up, but what should I do?
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They were already way up in the woods above our house . . . Julie with her baby in tow, the dog,
and the two children . . . everybody scaled this retaining wall above our driveway. They were
way up in the woods yelling at me and the dogs, too. Get out, get out! What are you doing? It
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was a bad moment.

We went to our neighbor. Our neighbor's house was way behind ours, on a level with
the very back part of our lot. We went there to phone to tell our husbands and the police to come.
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This was made more exciting . . . sort of a positive word and I dont mean it to be positive . . . it
was made more difficult for the children . . . and more commotion . . . because our neighbor was
roaring drunk. He and his wife had been over earlier, before he got quite that drunk . . . not

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Jewish people . . . to offer their sympathy. At that point . . . he was of German ancestry and was
fixed on the idea of what a horrible thing his people had done to our people. He furiously said,
and I won't repeat the exact words, I'm not going to let those so-and-sos scare you out of your
house. He and his six-year-old son raced down to our house, which made us more upset
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because we thought, We don't think it's going to blow up. We think it's a hoax. But G-d forbid if
it really did, we don't want anybody to get hurt. Thank goodness, it wasnt.
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In the meantime, my daughter Marcia, with all the excitement all day and on the eve of
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her birthday, was getting more and more hysterical. I phoned my mother to come over and try to
take her and Mike Epstein, Julie's son, home to her house, to get them away from it all and keep
them overnight. Marcia was crying and wouldn't let us out of her sight. Finally, after the FBI
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[Federal Bureau of Investigation]6 and the police . . . ascertained that everything was okay we
intended to try to go out and get a bite of dinner because the men had literally not eaten anything
all day, get a little bit of rest and come back and sleep. We didn't want our children to sleep in
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the house just in case anything bad was going to happen. I tried to persuade Marcia to go home
with her grandmother. She adored going home with her grandmother, but . . .
Ann: . . . on any normal day . . .
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Janice: . . . yes, but she wouldn't have anything to do with it. Finally, I got down eyeball-to-
eyeball with her and said, Nothing is going to happen. We're perfectly safe. Its just that you
know how the telephone's been ringing all day? It's going to be that way all night. You're not
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going to be able to get any sleep. You won't be able to go to school tomorrow. You won't feel
good. That didn't faze her. She kept on crying hysterically. I said, Do you know that people all
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over the world have been calling to offer their sympathy and their concern about this? I said,
Even President Eisenhower . . . interrupted his speech today to say how concerned he was and
that he's going to send the FBI and so forth. When I said, . . . interrupted his speech, she
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stopped crying. A good daughter of Democrats that she was, she stopped crying. She looked up,
smiled and said, If he'd interrupted his golf game, it really would have been something. That
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6
As an intelligence-driven and a threat-focused national security organization with both intelligence and law
enforcement responsibilities, the mission of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is to protect and defend the
United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats, to uphold and enforce the criminal laws of the United
States, and to provide leadership and criminal justice services to federal, state, municipal, and international agencies
and partners. The FBI focuses on threats that challenge the foundations of American society or involve dangers too
large or complex for any local or state authority to handle alone.

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broke us all up. Since then, as an adult, she has told me that she knew exactly what she was
saying. It was very well calculated.
Ann: You needed a little levity I'm sure, at that point in time.
Janice: Yes, but from an 11-year-old . . .
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Ann: . . . most unusual.
Janice: We didn't understand these things in those days. We didn't understand how kids really
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do know what's going on.
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Ann: You have mentioned several names. I intend to ask you at the end of the interview to
give me a list, or to look at the list that I've compiled, and give me some suggestions of people
who you feel would be appropriate to talk with for their own viewpoints about this particular
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incident, and their own feelings on that day. We will certainly do that, but when I ask you about
certain individuals, thats the reason I want to get specific names included. Had there been any
threats, either verbal or written, prior to the bombing itself?
Janice:
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Actually, yes, but we didn't take them too seriously. I forget whether . . . no, I'm
pretty sure the one time that we found out that Rabbi Rothschild was on a hit list, or we were told
that he was, I think by the ADL [Anti-Defamation League],7 was much later. I started to tell you
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about that. I realized that the other two people who were on it, we were told, were Martin Luther
King Jr.8 and Ralph McGill.9 Martin Luther King, Jr. was not yet in Atlanta yet at the time.
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7
The ADL was founded in October 1913 by the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, a Jewish service organization in
the United States. It is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing
itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency," the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and
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all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects civil rights for all," doing so through "information,
education, legislation, and advocacy."
8
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) is best known for his role as a leader in the Civil Rights Movement and the
advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs. A Baptist minister,
King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, serving as its first president. With the SCLC, King
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led an unsuccessful struggle against segregation in Albany, Georgia, in 1962, and organized nonviolent protests in
Birmingham, Alabama, that attracted national attention following television news coverage of the brutal police
response. King also helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous "I Have a
Dream" speech. On October 14, 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through
nonviolence. In 1965, he and the SCLC helped to organize the Selma to Montgomery marches and the following
year, he took the movement north to Chicago to work on segregated housing. King was assassinated on April 4,
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1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. His death was followed by riots in many United States cities. King was
posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Martin Luther King,
Jr. Day was established as a holiday in numerous cities and states beginning in 1971, and as a United States federal
holiday in 1986.
9
Ralph Emerson McGill (1898-1969) was an American journalist, best known as an anti-segregationist editor and
publisher of the Atlanta Constitution newspaper. He won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 1959. He became

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That threat was much later. The only other thing was . . . and we didn't take this seriously at all .
. . six months earlier, Rabbi Rothschild had given a talk at the Peachtree Christian Church. He
had gone into the parking lot and was met by elders of the church who whisked him inside very
quickly through the door. The reason being they told him . . . they told him they just didn't want
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him to have to see it but there was a picket out front . . . somebody picketing him. During the
question and answer period afterwards, apparently this man got in. He started asking heckling
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questions. He was quickly taken out.
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Ann: Peachtree Christian is directly across the street [from the Temple].
Janice: Then I'm giving you the wrong church. I am giving you the wrong church. This was
the . . . maybe its First Baptist. I'm not sure of the name now. I've got it written down correctly
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in the book.10 It's the church that's on . . . is it Fifth and Peachtree . . . its either Fifth or Sixth.
It's a big church.
Ann: That's First Baptist, probably.
Janice:
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Yes. I think Reverend [Roy] McClain11 was the minister. The rabbi came home and
told me the story and we both laughed about it. It seemed like a great big joke to be important
enough for somebody to picket you. We just didn't take it seriously at all, until the Temple
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bombing trial where the prosecution knew very well what it was all about. They brought out the
fact that the man who had done the picketing was the man who was on trial for being one of
those who allegedly bombed the Temple. That was George Bright.12
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Ann: What happened with those people who were brought to trial?
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friends with Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, acting as a civil rights advisor and behind-the-scenes
envoy to several African nations. After his death, Ralph McGill Boulevard in Atlanta (previously Forrest
Boulevard) was named for him.
10
The book mentioned here is One Voice: Rabbi Jacob M. Rothschild and the Troubled South, by Janice Rothschild
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Blumberg, published in 1985.

11
Reverend Roy O. McClain (? -1985) was once selected by Newsweek magazine as One of the Ten Greatest
Preachers in America. He served from 1953 to 1970 at the First Baptist Church in Atlanta, one of the country's
largest Baptist congregations. Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr., father of the famed civil rights leader classified McClain
as the leading pastor in Atlanta. McClain was outspoken during the Civil Rights Movement and was one of the
signers of the Ministers Manifesto. For four years he was the preacher on the Sunday morning Baptist Hour,
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sponsored by the Southern Baptist Convention and carried by hundreds of radio stations. He was also an editorial
writer for the Atlanta Constitution and the author of four books.
12
Five suspects were arrested almost immediately after the bombing of the Temple in Atlanta. One of them was.
George Bright. Another one of the men arrested accused Bright of masterminding the crime and of building the
bomb. Bright was tried twice. His first trial ended with a hung jury and his second with an acquittal. As a result of
Bright's acquittal, the other suspects were not tried. No one was ever convicted of the bombing.

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Janice: They were indicted. They were not all brought to trial. The State only had . . . the
State's strongest case was against George Bright. They brought him to trial first feeling that if
they could get a conviction there that they might have a chance on the others. The GBI, the
Georgia Bureau of Investigation,13 and then later the FBI . . . as you know, the FBI was not
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brought into such cases until the [Temple] bombing, which was really the national significance,
or the significance for the civil rights struggle, as opposed to the significance to the Temple in
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Atlanta of what happened in the bombing. The authorities, shall we say, had been watching these
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people for a long time. They had enough information on them to have convinced themselves and
therefore us, because we were believers, that these people were the ones who bombed the
Temple. But they did not have evidence that would place them at the scene of the crime.
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Therefore any conviction would have to be on circumstantial evidence. In the first trial . . . I
don't understand the legalities of it that well, but at that time it was such they could have imposed
the death sentence. Three of the 12 jurors felt that they could not give . . .
Ann:
Janice:
. . . pass the death sentence . . .
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. . . pass the death sentence or what might have been a death sentence on a person with
circumstantial evidence. In the second trial they plain blew it.
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Ann: The defense? The prosecution?
Janice: The prosecution did, yes. They not only blew it, but they had a really formidable
defense attorney against them.
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Ann: Who were the attorneys?

Janice: Rueben Garland14 was the defense attorney. He put on a better show than any theater
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in town. That was something.

Ann: Who was the prosecuting attorney?
Janice: Tom Luck, mainly.
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Ann: L-U-C-K?
Janice: Yes. It seems to me I've seen something in the paper recently about him. Luck . . . L-
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13
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) is an independent statewide agency that provides assistant to the
states criminal justice system in the areas of criminal investigations, forensic laboratory services and computerized
criminal justice information.
14
Reuben Garland, who began practicing law in 1922 at the age of 18, was known for his garish attire and
flamboyant courtroom performances. He was nevertheless very shrewd and even while acquiring a jail sentence of
contempt of court, he still managed to get his client, George Bright, acquitted.

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U-C-K . . . was the main one. I don't remember who else might have assisted him. Or maybe he
was the assistant, but he did most of it. I was not permitted into the courtroom. In the first trial,
we felt . . . and the rabbi tried to tell this to the congregation . . . that this was not the Hebrew
Benevolent Congregation v. Georgia Bright et al. This was the State of Georgia. It was their
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business, not ours. We could go, certainly.
Ann: As observers?
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Janice: Yes, but not to go out in such force that it looked like we had a vendetta against these
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people. Leave it to the State. Very shortly, before the trial was really under way at all, he got a
call from the prosecution saying, Please ask as many of your people . . . Maybe it was not
from the prosecution. It could have been through Charles . . .
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Ann: . . . Wittenstein15 . . .
Janice: . . . it could have been through ADL, or one of the Jewish defense organizations, or
maybe the American Jewish Committee.16 Whoever did called him to say, They've got a
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problem. This crowd of haters has filled the courtroom. The atmosphere is so bad that the
prosecution needs our people to come in to change it. You had asked what happened to the
people. I've got a good story about that. Do you want me to talk about that?
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Ann: Sure. Were they guilty? Did you have the feeling they were guilty?
Janice: I had the absolute conviction that they were guilty. I still do. Let me tell you the
story. About ten days after the bombing itself, the FBI asked me to come down to their
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headquarters and listen to tapes that had been made of the transcripts of reported telephone
conversations with the various receptionists at the newspaper,17 I believe, Rich's,18 the city
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15
Charles Wittenstein (1928-2013) was an Atlanta attorney who contributed over three decades of service to the
Jewish community and social justice causes. While working with the American Jewish Committee, he worked to
desegregate public accommodations, schools, private and public hospitals in Atlanta. He performed evaluations for
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the United States Health, Education & Welfare Department throughout the South to ensure hospitals qualified for
Medicare by complying with the civil rights act of 1964. In 1973, Charles became the Southern Civil Rights
Director and Southern Counsel for the Anti-Defamation League. Among his numerous contributions of historical
importance were his efforts in securing the posthumous pardon for Leo Frank, an Atlanta Jewish businessman who
was convicted of murder in 1913 and lynched by a mob in Marietta, Georgia.
16
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) was founded in 1906 to safeguard the welfare and security of Jews
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worldwide. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations in the United States.
17
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is an Atlanta-based daily paper. In 1982, The Atlanta Journal combined staff
with the Atlanta Constitution to become the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Today, it is Atlantas only major daily
paper.
18
Rich's was a department store retail chain, headquartered in Atlanta that operated in the southern United States
from 1867 until 2005. The retailer began in Atlanta as M. Rich & Co. dry goods store and was run by Mauritius

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hospital, and my own . . . I forget who else. Everybody who had reported that kind of phone call
about . . .
Ann: . . . they had wiretaps on . . . ?
Janice: No. I don't think they had wiretaps. Everybody who had reported such a phone call to
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the authorities. This was recorded . . . it was written down as a script and given to each of the
indicted men, to read. First, he gave his name and then was asked to read this and then he would
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read the various ones . . . it was a script. I said, I know nothing about law, but it seems to be
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fairly obvious to me that this is not admissible testimony . . . what I might think ten days later.
They said, "Oh, no. You won't be asked to testify to this in court. This is simply because we are
convinced that these men did it. We think that if you identify the right person, or somebody else
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identifies the person that you actually spoke to, this might help us to get a confession . . . might
break them down . . . which would help the case. I thought I recognized the man's voice. I
didn't know in my own heart at that point whether I was playing amateur detective, or amateur
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psychiatrist, because he did stumble when he got to my part of his script. He said something
like, Gee, somebody might think I really did this. I really thought that it was the man's voice.
So I forgot about it. I did get subpoenaed. It was not about that in the first trial. It was a very
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routine questioning, along with the rabbi and his secretary and the janitor, trying to build up the
case of planned intimidation against the Jewish community. Very easy.
In the retrial, Rueben Garland was, believe me, a horse of a different color. He got me
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on the stand. Not knowing any of the inside about this, he gave me such a grilling, over and over
again. I made the front page of the [Atlanta] Journal, leaving the courtroom in tears. It was just
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horrible. It went on and on. He found out that I was playing in a show that was running in
Theatre Atlanta at the time. He tried to make a big deal over me being an actress. Being an
actress was sort of a no-no for a preacher's wife in those days. I was trying to be very low
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key about it all. He said, You are an actress, aren't you? I said, I participate in community
theater. There was really very little theater in Atlanta in those days. I studied at the University
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Reich (anglicized to Morris Rich), a Hungarian Jewish immigrant. It was renamed M. Rich & Bro. in 1877, when
his brother Emanuel was admitted into the partnership, and was again renamed M. Rich & Bros. in 1884 when the
third brother Daniel was joined the partnership. In 1929, the company was reorganized and the retail portion of the
business became simply, Rich's. Many of the former Rich's stores today form the core of Macy's Central, an Atlanta-
based division of Macy's, Inc., which formerly operated as Federated Department Stores, Inc.

Page 11 of 136
of Georgia [Athens, Georgia], I said, I feel that I want to give whatever I can to the community
insofar as know-how. I really tried to make it sound right. I had no idea why he was giving me
such a rough time.
Five years later, Rabbi Rothschild and I got on a plane in Washington. We had the seats
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at the bulkhead. At that particular configuration, there were seats facing us. Just as they were
closing the doors, two men got on who were also going to Atlanta. They sat down in the seats
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facing us and got conversational. They introduced themselves as the brothers Burdine. One
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brother Burdine was a very prominent doctor. The other was a lawyer whom we had also heard
of. He was an associate of [James] Venable,19 the defense attorney in the first trial.
Ann: Mr. Venable, who was a well-known Ku Klux Klan20 . . .
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Janice: . . . absolutely. It was very obvious to anybody listening to that trial that his own
inherent antisemitism practically came within three votes of hanging his client. He almost lost
the case because of his own venom. No pun intended.
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At any rate, it became obvious fairly quickly that the Burdines had something they
wanted to get off their chests to the Rothschilds. Eventually the lawyer Burdine said, I wanted
you to know that I was so horrified at the way Mr. Venable handled the case that this led to my
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quitting the firm shortly after that. Something else that you ought to know, Mrs. Rothschild, is
that you identified the right man. They did get a confession because you identified the right
man. He later repudiated it. That was why Rueben Garland was giving you such a rough time
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on the second trial. He wanted to break [you] down. I was not permitted to sit in the courtroom,
so I didn't hear the rest of the testimony. He kept both the rabbi and me, and I don't know who
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else, I guess all the FBI people too, on hold. I forget the legal term, but that means that you're
going to be called back, and you're not excused. You can't listen to testimony, and you also keep
ba
19
James R. Venable (1905-1993) was a Georgia attorney and white supremacist. He organized a major Ku Klux
Klan faction in 1963 and headed it for nearly 25 years. From 1963 to 1987, Venable was the Imperial Wizard of the
National Knights of the Klan, which he organized as one of several rival Klan factions nationally. Venable was a
second generation Klansmen whose family owned the property on Stone Mountain where the Second Era Ku Klux
Klan was founded. Venable was mayor of nearby Stone Mountain Village from 1946 to 1949.
20
The Ku Klux Klan (or Knights of the Ku Klux Klan today) is a white supremacist, white nationalist, anti-
Cu
immigration, anti-Jewish, anti-Catholic, anti-black secret society, whose methods included terrorism and murder. It
was founded in the South in the 1860s and has died out and come back several times, most notably in the 1920s
when its membership soared again, and then again in the 1960s during the civil rights era. When the Klan was re-
founded in 1915 in Georgia, the event was marked by a cross burning on Stone Mountain outside Atlanta. It is still
in existence. In the past it members dressed up in white robes and a pointed hat designed to hide their identity and
to terrify.

Page 12 of 136
getting called back. He did this just to annoy. He would do it, for example, one Saturday when
we had a matinee. You see, the play was very successful and it was held over. While I had a
minor role in it, it was known that I was active in it. There was a matinee. He called me down
there and literally kept me on hold in the waiting room without calling me into the courtroom
s
until about 2:30 p.m., after he knew that the matinee curtain would be up.
Ann: Then he released you?
e
Janice: Yes. Meanwhile, I was standing around talking to the FBI people. They said, If any
iv
real crime happened in the whole state of Georgia while this trial is going on, we would be in bad
shape. He has got every official, every FBI and GBI person in the state, on hold in this room for
the whole time of the trial. It was horrendous. But at any rate . . .
ch
Ann: . . . he got his acquittal . . .
Janice: . . . he got the acquittal. That was the crazy thing. Would you believe this? He got
the acquittal through the testimony of a known nymphomaniac who was released for that period
Ar
of time from the state hospital in Milledgeville [Georgia],21 where she was being treated. They
don't call it remission with that sort of illness, but she was in a very lucid composed state.
They brought her up with attendants. She looked like the most beautiful, well-put-together
ily
school marm you could ever imagine with her hair pulled back in a beautiful bun in the back, and
beautifully dressed in a tailored suit. She was totally composed. She was the only alibi this man
had as to where he was that night. He spent the night with her, according to her testimony. This
m
was what got the man off.

Ann: They never tried the others?
Fa
Janice: No. They couldn't if they didn't get him. This is just a conjecture of mine, but I guess,
because he was definitely the man who had picketed the rabbi, and perhaps other things I don't
know which would have been in the testimony. They had that kind of evidence on him, which
ba
they apparently didn't have on the others who were underlings, as I gather. They were all very,
very shady characters.
Ann: Did these people ever get nailed for anything else that you know of?
Cu
Janice: I don't think so.
21
Central State Hospital (CSH) in Milledgeville, Georgia opened in 1842 as Georgias first public psychiatric
hospital. CSH services include psychiatric evaluation; treatment and recovery services for persons referred from
various components of the states criminal justice and corrections systems.

Page 13 of 136
Ann: They may still be wandering the face of the earth free as birds.
Janice: That's entirely possible. I was not too concerned. I don't think the rabbi was, either.
In fact, he preached a sermon that following weekend trying to calm the congregation and
reminding them that we were not out for vengeance, we were out for justice. While we were
s
disappointed that the acquittal took such a short time . . . the verdict came in like 45 minutes . . .
we were terribly disappointed that it could be arrived at on that kind of testimony, we must take
e
heart in the fact that the judicial system was followed and was adhered to. If we believe in the
iv
American system of justice, we cannot take fault with this. Even if it didn't work the way we
think it should have, this was correct procedure. We were not discriminated against.
Ann: Just didn't have as good an attorney on our side . . . as the other guys had on theirs.
ch
Janice: That's right, but this is the way the system works. There was no aberration of it. It
was just . . .
Ann: . . . unfortunate . . .
Janice:
Ar
. . . it was unfortunate. But we were not afraid, because we did have faith that these
people were going to be closely watched. After all, the State didn't want anything else like this
happening. They were going to watch them, and see to it that they didn't get into any more
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trouble.
Ann: Let's back up. Weve done the actual bombing. It is documented, the damage that
was done. The bomb was placed by the side door on the north side of the building. Is that
m
correct? The rabbi's study was near there and the social hall was damaged and the gift shop and
things of that nature, but the sanctuary itself did not sustain significant damage.
Fa
Janice: Very little. His study didn't either. The reason for this was the door in those days
opened out into a little foyer and then the hall that went from the sanctuary to the stairs that led
to the schoolrooms. Directly in front of that door, across the hallway, was the large entrance to
ba
the social hall. The gift shop was just a little corner of the social hall. The blast went directly in.
That's why that was just completely totaled. On either side there were restrooms in those days
and also above it. They were totaled also. To the right going toward the rabbi's study and then
Cu
the sanctuary, to the right of the door, the blast was beyond the men's room. There was the little
anteroom that the secretary used as her office. In that wall between the men's room and the
secretary's office and the rabbi's study was a great big walk-in safe. My understanding is that big

Page 14 of 136
hunk of heavy metal was what saved the rest of it. The rabbi's study just had a few windows
splintered and so did the door to the sanctuary on that side. The windows on that side, some of
the stained glass was out. But it didn't sustain . . .
Ann: . . . there was no structural damage?
s
Janice: No. There was no structural damage. What little cosmetic damage there was was
quickly repaired.
e
Ann: The insurance did cover it?
iv
Janice: The insurance covered it. That's an interesting point. Right from the first interview on
radio and television, they said, We are covered by insurance. Do not worry. If you want to
give money, give it to the city for a reward . . . because the Mayor had already announced that .
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. . Thank you, we appreciate it. But, please do not send money. In spite of it all, people from
all over sent so much money to commemorate it, that they named the new social hall Friendship
Hall. Some of the money came in little wads, rolled up dirty $1 bills, with handwriting that
whatever way they knew how to do.

Ann:
Ar
looked childish on it. It was absolutely unbelievable the way people poured out their hearts in
Do you think it was sort of guilt money, in many cases? That people felt somewhat
ily
guilty for not having supported the right causes and this terrible thing had resulted because in
some perverted way in their own minds, they had been antisemitic or anti-black, and this was
their way of expiating their own guilt?
m
Janice: I'm not a psychologist or psychiatrist, but my guess is that there was an awful lot of
that . . . but subconsciously. I think there always is, don't you think so? Whenever we give to
Fa
something, it has that element of . . .

Ann: . . . it's not totally altruistic . . . .
Janice: I'm glad it didn't happen to us, but we don't do it knowing that. We don't consciously
ba
feel this when we give. I think people were outraged. First of all, the Atlanta community was
just so wonderful. Having been born here, I believe very strongly that the Atlanta community
felt that way it did because, They can't do that to a house of worship in our city. Atlanta's a
Cu
good place. They can't do that in our city. We'll show them. There's a tremendous amount of
civic pride. It's a tremendous church-going city. At least it was then. I don't know what's
happened since then.

Page 15 of 136
Ann: Still is.

Janice: That was their attitude. The churches right away some of them offered their facilities.
There wasn't enough that both individuals and institutions could do for us.
Ann: This is a big area I need to explore. Had the relationships between the Jewish
s
congregation of the Temple and the Christian congregations, who became so supportive, been
strong prior to the bombing?
e
Janice: Absolutely. That's another thing that I think is important in the history of Atlanta, and
iv
probably of other cities, too . . . generalizing . . . but there's a specific reason in Atlanta. The
original congregations, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations,22 doesn't have anything it
in that says it's Reform. The original Jewish congregation in every city that was of the mid-
ch
nineteenth century and its founding, had strong ties to the gentile community, despite whatever
antisemitism there might have been . . . exclusion from social clubs, the whole bit. They still had
these strong ties. They sort of grew up together.
Ann:
Janice:
Ar
To what do you attribute these strong ties?
That goes back in history to the fact that, certainly in Atlanta, the citizens . . . both the
gentile and Jewish citizens of the city in the mid-nineteenth century were basically from the
ily
same place. The immigrants from Germany were not all Jewish. If you look at the original
members of what is now the Standard Club,23 which was then the Concordia [Club], or the
original members of the Young Mens Library Association, which is now the Carnegie Library,24
m
or the original members of many other civic organizations . . . I think even the firefighters in
those days . . . you see a predominance of German names. When you trace how many of them
Fa
are Jewish, even the Standard Club . . . the only thing . . . the B'nai B'rith Gate City Lodge 25 and
22
The Union for Reform Judaism was formerly known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC).
ba
The organization supports Reform Jewish congregations in North America. In 1875 they created the Hebrew Union
College (HUC) in Cincinnati, Ohio to train rabbis and later cantors and other Jewish professionals.
23
The Standard Club is a Jewish country club that started as the Concordia Association in 1867 in Downtown
Atlanta. In 1905, it was reorganized as the Standard Club and moved into the former mansion of William C.
Sanders near where Turner Field is now located. In the late 1920s the club moved to Ponce de Leon Avenue in
Midtown Atlanta. Later, the club moved to what is now the Lenox Park business park and was located there until
Cu
1983. In the 1980s, the club moved to its present location in Johns Creek in Atlantas northern suburbs.
24
A Carnegie library is a library built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist
Andrew Carnegie. A total of 2,509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929, with 1,689 built in the
United States. By the time the last grant was made in 1919, there were 3,500 libraries in the United States, nearly
half of them built with construction grants paid by Carnegie.
25
B'nai B'rith Gate City Lodge was founded in Atlanta in 1870 and is the second oldest benevolent association to be

Page 16 of 136
the Temple were the only organizations where you could be sure they were all Jewish. The
others were common cultural, I guess, longing for home or wanting to re-establish what was
good about the old home in their new home. They had a lot in common. That was one of the
things. As far as the Jewish people were concerned, don't forget that in Western Europe they had
s
100 years of so-called Enlightenment,26 or almost 100 years in some cases. Yet Jews were still
not really admitted to the mainstream. They were excluded, for example, from [free]masonry.27
e
They came over to America and they found that the masons were delighted to have them. They
iv
ran to do things that were secular and tried very hard. I don't think Reform Judaism28 gets
enough credit for how hard those early Reform Jews did try. I'm talking about pre-Classical
Judaism . . . how hard those Jews who later became Reform worked to stay Jewish. They really
ch
did, but they were staying Jewish in the sense of being . . . this was their church and that was
somebody else's church. But as far as the rest of their lives were concerned, outside of their
home and outside of their synagogue, they ran toward this opportunity to be just like everybody
Ar
else. Therefore they had . . . we're talking about Atlanta now specifically although I think it
happened most other places . . . you had this, especially in the South, good foundation of mutual
respect. Even after the Nineties when they started excluding them from . . . what do you call it? .
ily
. . the Six O'clock Shadow,29 they didn't invite them to their homes socially, but they still had a
very good foundation.
Atlanta and some of the other cities in the South had another big factor, more than any
m
others. From 1895, Atlanta had a very strong, very well-respected rabbi of what was then the
Fa
founded by the Jewish community.

26
The Age of Enlightenment was a cultural movement of intellectuals beginning the late seventeenth and eighteenth
century Europe emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition. It promoted scientific thought,
skepticism and intellectual interchange.
ba
27
Freemasonry is a fraternal organization that traces its origins to the local fraternities of stonemasons in the
fourteenth century. It exists in various forms all over the world today. Masons are members of the organization.
The degrees of masonry are Apprentice, Journeyman and Master Mason. The basic local organizational unit of
freemasonry is the lodge, each of which governs its own jurisdiction.
28
A division within Judaism especially in North America and Western Europe. Historically it began in the
nineteenth century. In general, the Reform movement maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be
Cu
modernized and compatible with participation in Western culture. While the Torah remains the law, in Reform
Judaism women are included (mixed seating, bat mitzvah and women rabbis), music is allowed in the services and
most of the service is in English.
29
Also known as the Five OClock Shadow. Described as the idea that while Jews were accepted in the areas of
business, commerce, and the civic world but that at 5 oclock (or 6 oclock) they go their way into their own social
groups.

Page 17 of 136
Jewish community. The other parts of the Jewish community were just in their infant stages
then. Those rabbis, Rabbi David Marx30 in our case, established . . . really firmed up this
alliance . . . this respect for the official Jewish community . . . particularly what they termed as a
religious Jewish community.
s
The Orthodox31 and Conservatives32 had other priorities. They came from a part of
Europe where they were concerned with survival. There's no point in my going into the
e
divisions these days, but they are just now I think, not even in all cases, but just now in our
iv
generation, particularly in the Conservative, starting to have real leadership in the general
community. Not because they weren't capable before, but because they just weren't interested in
it before. But the Reform community always was. Therefore, when something happened to us it
ch
couldn't have happened to a better . . . you say it couldnt have happened to a nicer guy . . . it
couldnt have happened to a better congregation from the standpoint of doing some good, rather
than harm. By doing it to a known congregation where the old-timers in the Christian religious
Ar
community, or even the non-religious . . . the old timers in city leadership had such great respect
for the Temple. Rabbi Rothschild followed . . . as much as he and Dr. Marx diverged in their
own opinions of many things . . . mostly that had to do with specific Jewish issues like Zionism33
ily
. . . they were very much alike in the sense of their attitude toward cultural leadership. Dr. Marx,
for example, in 1906 or 1907 when they had race riots34 here, the city put him in charge of . . .
m
30
Rabbi David Marx was a long-time rabbi at the Temple in Atlanta, Georgia. He led the move toward Reform
Judaism practices. He served as rabbi from 1895 to 1946, when he retired and Rabbi Jacob Rothschild came to the
Temple.
Fa
31
Orthodox Judaism is a traditional branch of Judaism that strictly follows the Written Torah and the Oral Law
concerning prayer, dress, food, sex, family relations, social behavior, the Sabbath day, holidays and more.
32
A form of Judaism that seeks to preserve Jewish tradition and ritual but has a more flexible approach to the
interpretation of the law than Orthodox Judaism. It attempts to combine a positive attitude toward modern culture,
while preserving a commitment to Jewish observance. They also observe gender equality (mixed seating, women
rabbis and bat mitzvahs).
ba
33
Zionism is a movement which supports a Jewish national state in the territory defined as the Land of Israel.
Although Zionism existed before the nineteenth century, in the 1890s Theodor Herzl popularized it and gave it a
new urgency, as he believed that Jewish life in Europe was threatened and a State of Israel was needed. The State of
Israel was established in 1948 and Zionism today is expressed as support for the continued existence of Israel.
34
This was a mass civil disturbance in Atlanta, Georgia that began the evening of September 22, 1906 and lasted
until September 26, 1906. An estimated 25 to 40 African-Americans were murdered and scores more were wounded.
Cu
Considerable property damage was also done. On September 22, 1906 Atlanta newspapers reported four alleged
assaults on local white women by black men in lurid detail. Soon, some 10,000 white men and boys began gathering
on Decatur Street in the Five Points area downtown. While the newspaper story was the catalyst, the deeper causes
lay in increasing racial tensions between blacks and whites, Jim Crow segregation, and Reconstruction politics.
Attempts to calm the mob failed and it turned violent to people and property. The militia was summoned and
streetcar service suspended in an attempt to drive the rioters from the streets. There was even a gun battle between

Page 18 of 136
one of very few people . . . the leadership of trying to work things out, to get a peaceful solution.
Ann: Like the forerunner of the Human Relations Council?35
Janice: Absolutely. Go back before that. You go back to the Civil War.36 Who was in charge
of the stores of cotton which was the mainstay of the Confederacy? They were stored around
s
Atlanta, tremendous amounts of them. Who was in charge of that? David Mayer,37 one of the
founders of the Temple. Who started the first rapid transit in Atlanta? It was electric trains
e
going up and down, I think, Edgewood Avenue.
iv
<End Tape 1, Side 1>
<Begin Tape 1, Side 2>
Ann: Janice Rothschild Blumberg is speaking and she was in the middle of a sentence about
ch
who founded the electric trolley car that ran down Edgewood toward Inman Park.
Janice: I may be a little bit off in my Atlanta history. It may have been another street and not
Edgewood because I haven't studied . . .
Ann:
Janice:
Ar
Aaron Haas38 was instrumental very early on in the transportation . . .
He was my great-grandmother's first cousin and very close friends. He was also the
uncle of the original Miss Daisy. That identifies him for today. I may be off on which street
ily
the militias and armed black men. It took four days for the riot to be brought under control.
m
35
The Southern Regional Council (SRC) is a reform-oriented organization with headquarters in Atlanta. The SRC is
considered the successor to the Commission on Interracial Cooperation, with which it merged in 1944. The SRC
sponsored the formation the Georgia Council on Human Relations (GCHR), in 1956, focused primarily on school
desegregation in its early years. The GCHR worked to keep Georgia's schools open in spite of threats by the state
Fa
legislature to close the schools rather than integrate.

36
The American Civil War, also known as the War Between the States, or simply the Civil War in the United
States, was fought from 1861 to 1865, after Southern slave states declared their secession and formed the
Confederate States of America. The states that remained in the Union were known as the Union or the North.
After four years of bloody combat that left over 600,000 soldiers dead and destroyed much of the South's
infrastructure, the Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, and the difficult Reconstruction process of
ba
restoring national unity and granting civil rights to freed slaves began.
37
David Mayer (1815-1890) was born in Bavaria. He immigrated to the United States in 1839, settling first in
Tennessee and then in Washington, Georgia. Eight years later, he moved to Atlanta. Mayer was a noteworthy
supporter of the Confederacy during the Civil War and served as Georgia governor Joseph E. Brown's commissary
officer. David Mayer was perhaps Atlantas most influential Jewish layman in his day. He was a business man,
freemason, a founding member of the Atlanta Board of Education and one of the founders of the Temple in Atlanta.
Cu
38
Aaron Haas was an alderman, a member of the city council, and in 1875 the first mayor pro tem of Atlanta. Haas
moved to Atlanta from Newnan, Georgia in 1860 where he had been working as a store clerk. During the Civil War
Haas gained his notoriety as a blockade runner selling Confederate cotton. After the war he became a successful
member of the fledgling Jewish community. He established several profitable enterprises, including forays into
finance, insurance, and real estate. He co-founded the Metropolitan Streetcar Company and in1892 he founded
Haas-Howell Company, an insurance company.

Page 19 of 136
and which thing it opened up. He experimented in the 1880s or possibly early 1890s,anyway
the nineteenth century, with electric trains in Atlanta, which was one of the precursors of what
got people . . . made it possible to open up the suburbs. He was also the first mayor pro tem of
the city. What I am trying to say is that there were Jews involved in the basic growth of Atlanta
s
from the start. Therefore, when something bad happened to that community of Jews in 1958, the
Christian community perked up and paid attention. They may not have done it had this been any
e
other congregation. This is not to say we were any better than anybody else, but we were earlier.
iv
There was a continuum of civic, as well as Jewish, leadership from these same people. The
Alexanders, for example. Remember them? Certainly, the rabbis of the Temple. This was
something that people cared about. It made a big difference. But you asked some other question
ch
about attitude, when you asked about guilt. It occurred to me that most people think of the
bombing as having occurred in the midst of the civil rights struggle. As we saw it here . . . it
really was not in the midst of it. It was right at the beginning of it, even before anything else had
Ar
happened here. Rabbi Rothschild had spoken out a number of times (which believe it or not was
radical then) in saying not that we should have integrated schools, he had better sense than that.
He wouldn't have been able to say anything else once he said that in those days. What he said
ily
was, In 1954 the Supreme Court of the United States has put down this statute . . .
Ann: . . . the Supreme Court ruling, Brown v. the Board of Education.39
Janice: . . . This is the law of the land now. We believe in law. We believe in adhering to
m
the law of the land. That was radical, believe it or not. That was radical. People say he spoke
out too much. Obviously he did for some people, and obviously this had something to do . . . he
Fa
never denied it . . . with attracting these people [the bombers] to the Temple. Ultimately, I think
it was a very good thing that they were attracted to the Temple. First of all, it coincided with
President [Dwight Eisenhower] speaking in New York to a larger Jewish audience, and having
ba
real impact when he had to say something positive. That was what finally enabled the federal
government to go into cases like this. I think it was beneficial to the whole country. It was
certainly beneficial in Atlanta, because it enabled the people, most of whom were ministers, the
Cu
39
Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark 1954 decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared
state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. Handed down on May
17, 1954, the Court's unanimous (90) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
The ruling paved the way for integration and the civil rights movement.

Page 20 of 136
Ministers' Manifesto,40 but also other leaders . . . we called them Muted Moderates . . . who
believed in the law of the land, but were afraid to say so publicly. It enabled them. It
encouraged them so they were able to speak out . . .
Ann: . . . to come out of the closet?
s
Janice: . . . yes, come out of the closet. I think it did a lot of good for everybody.
Ann: It didn't really injure anyone physically. That was the real fortune.
e
Janice: It was a difficult time for us, but ultimately good came out of it.
iv
Ann: You've alluded to a couple of things that I think need to be explored a little bit more
thoroughly. Rabbi Rothschild came to Atlanta in what year?
Janice: In 1946.
ch
Ann: His own background was not a southern background.
Janice: No, very definitely not.
Ann: How did his background, his training, his educational background, interact with and
he come with as an agenda?

Janice:
Ar
influence his interaction with this very old, very southern community of the Temple? What did
I'm sure this is going to be hard for people who remember those times personally to
ily
believe, but he came not with anything that had to do with civil rights, although he was shocked,
being a Northerner. He was shocked to come down here and find some of the details of the
condition that he had not realized before. His agenda for the Temple was to bring it back into the
m
mainstream of Reform Jewish life. It was really not. I grew up in that congregation, so at the
time I was a living example of the worst that had happened. He used to joke about this. He had
Fa
a quip that said, Marx's great achievement, which was a goal in those days, not just of Marx
but of Reform leaders, . . . was to make Americans out of the Jews. Rabbi Rothschild's job
was to make Jews out of the Americans. On the first High Holy Day41 that he preached here,
ba
one of his sermons had something about civil rights in it . . . about opening up. I forget exactly
what it was now. It's documented. Nobody even noticed it. What they were furious about was
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40
In 1957, when violence in southern cities was erupting in opposition to court-ordered school desegregation, 80
Atlanta ministers issued a statement calling for interracial negotiation, obedience to the law, and a peaceful
resolution to integration disputes in the city. The statement came to be known as the Ministers' Manifesto, and
marked a turning point in Atlanta's race relations. Although the Manifesto's strong Christian language prevented
Rabbi Jacob Rothschild from signing it himself, the rabbi played a role in developing the statement.
41
The two High Holy Days are Rosh Ha-Shanah (New Years) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).

Page 21 of 136
that he would permit this magazine for the religious school, published by the Union [for Reform
Judaism], that one time had Palestine42 as the main word across the center of it. When he even
mentioned the word, let alone spoke in favor of a homeland, that was anathema. He had . . . that,
and of course, there were other aspects of being Jewish. He says, I don't care whether you're in
s
favor of it or not. Im not trying to make Zionists out of your children. He himself was not a
Zionist, but he said, It's my duty to teach Judaism and that includes knowing what Jewish
e
people think and care about and want. You've got to know that whether you like it not, it's very
iv
much a part of Jewish life. Therefore if I am going to teach Judaism to your children . . . that's
part of Judaism. He was the same way about integration. It was the same principle that went
through everything, come to think of it. You don't have to like it. You don't have to agree with
ch
me, but an educated person has got to know that this exists and this is the way it is. Now you go
form your own opinion.
Ann: Was his own streak of social justice strong? The social justice aspects that are very
Ar
strong in mainstream Reform Judaism today? That seems to be one of the real building blocks in
a Reform congregation, the interest in social action and social justice. Was that part and parcel
of what he brought with him and did any of that exist here prior to his coming?
ily
Janice: I would say yes to both questions. But you must understand that this was not in any
way in a sense of agenda, because it wasn't thought of as something that was going to be a
hands-on lesson in those days. I don't think it ever occurred to him, when he came to Atlanta,
m
that he would find himself in the center of social action activity. He often, after it became such,
said that he was so grateful that it did because thats what made his career. I said, made his
Fa
career it sounds like he was looking for . . . not in the sense of getting business or anything like
that . . . but in the sense of giving direction to his rabbinate. He did not anticipate that. He
ba
42
Palestine was a geopolitical entity under British administration. It was carved out of Ottoman Syria after World
War I, and consisted of the territories of modern-day Israel and Jordan. British civil administration in Palestine
operated from 1920 to 1948. It was formalized with the League of Nations consent in 1923 and contained two
administrative areas. The land west of the Jordan River, known as Palestine, was under direct British rule until
1948, while the land east of the Jordan was a semi-autonomous region known as Transjordan under the rule of the
Cu
Hashemite family. It gained independence in 1946 as Jordan. When the British Mandate over Palestine expired on
May 14, 1948, the State of Israel declared its independence. It was recognized that night by the United States, and
three days later by the Soviet Union. A day after the declaration of independence of the State of Israel, armies of five
Arab countries, Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon, and Iraq, invaded Israel. This marked the beginning of the War
of Independence. Despite the numerical superiority of the Arab armies, Israel defended itself and won, maintaining
its independence.

Page 22 of 136
wanted to teach Judaism as he saw it. What's happened since then is that a good five years
before he died, he began to see inevitable changes in the mainstream of Reform that were going
beyond what he was going to be comfortable with. He very often spoke in those years of how he
was looking forward to retirement because he says, I know it is coming. It probably should
s
come, but it's not my way and I don't want to be in the position of presiding over it . . . as far as
the Temple community is concerned.
e
Ann: What was he referring to?
iv
Janice: He was referring to bringing back a lot of the traditions that in the last 20 years have
come back. He was opposed to bar mitzvah,43 for example. So was I, for that matter. I think
that if he had had the subsequent experience with it, which I have had, he would be very much in
ch
favor of it, as I am. To me, it not only is a Jewish tradition, but it serves a very positive need in
the Nuclear Age44 of keeping families together. I am now married into a very large family and I
see how . . .
Ann:
Janice:
. . . participation . . .
Ar
. . . cousins get to know each other . . . I think that it has a very positive aspect today.
He used to say, When they get to the point where they want they want more mitzvah than
ily
bar, I'll be glad to do it. Of course, they did start just before he died at the Temple. All of his
colleagues were saying the same thing, his colleagues of his own generation. He wasn't an old
man. I'm talking about when he was in his fifties. It would come up time and again with the
m
board of the Temple. He would ask his colleagues in other cities what they were doing about it.
The ones that had reinstituted it all said, We've done it, but if you can avoid it, don't do it.
Fa
We're sorry because it's more bar than mitzvah. That was the way we looked at it then. Now
I can see that it has a real . . . bar or no bar'. . .
Ann: . . . it provides an occasion, a simcha,45 where families can come together and reinforce
ba
43
Hebrew for son of commandment. A rite of passage for Jewish boys aged 13 years. At that time, a Jewish boy
is considered a responsible adult for most religious purposes. He is now duty bound to keep the commandments, he
puts on tefillin, and may be counted to the minyan quorum for public worship. He celebrates the bar mitzvah by
being called up to the reading of the Torah in the synagogue, usually on the next available Sabbath after his Hebrew
Cu
birthday.
44
The period in history usually considered to have begun with the first use of the atomic bombs (1945). Also called
the Atomic Age.
45
Simcha is a Hebrew word with several meanings: literally, it means gladness or joy. The concept of simcha
is an important one in Jewish philosophy. It is a mitzvah (commandment) to always be in a state of happiness, the
better to serve G-d. It is also often used as a noun meaning festive occasion.

Page 23 of 136
those times.
Janice: Yes. While I'm sure that in any kind of celebration there's a tendency among some
people to outdo the others, there are going to be excesses of that sort. But that's not the
important thing. He just said, I don't want to have to deal with a whole new life.
s
Ann: He hadnt gotten to that point . . .
Janice: I think he really died at a time that, for him, was probably good. It was premature
e
from everybody's point of view, but I'm not so sure it was from his.
iv
Ann: Do you feel that . . . Dr. Marx came to Atlanta as a very young man with very little
experience. He had been one year out of the seminary or his rabbinic training, from what I've
read. He had this opportunity, starting in 1895, to stay in one place and lead the Temple, the
ch
Hebrew Benevolent Congregation, for a period of 50 plus years. Was it too long?
Janice: By all means it was too long. I think part of him also knew it was too long because he
talked about retirement. But don't forget, first of all in those days this happened in many
Ar
congregations, particularly in the South. One of the reasons for it was economic. They didn't
have pension plans in those days and congregations, as happens today, have a lot of difficulty
supporting two rabbis, especially in small places. The South was economically very depressed,
ily
as you recall. It wasn't just a matter of money, it was also the size of the congregation. If they
had had more congregants, they would have had more money. But Jewish people were not
moving to the South in those days in any great numbers. So that happened, plus the fact they
m
were isolated, more or less, from the mainstream. So they stuck with the idea . . . they had more
of a tendency to stick with the ideas that they had been taught in their schooling, which was
Fa
Classical Reform.
Ann: There wasn't as much interaction among rabbis is what you're saying. They themselves
didn't grow as much . . . change as much with the times . . .
ba
Janice: Thats true.

Ann: . . . here in the South. Is this what you are saying, in those years?
Janice: I never really thought of it this way before. I have a feeling that the rabbis in those
Cu
days were, in small towns today where they stay a long time, they become much more like the
people who they're leading. Also, because of economic factors, are much more reluctant to rock
the boat. In fact, one saintly rabbi who we cared about and his congregation cared about him

Page 24 of 136
very much, absolutely did not open his mouth in civil rights days . . .
Ann: Who was it?
Janice: I hate to mention names for posterity . . . he was in one of the most reactionary cities
in the South. He was a little bit older generation I would say . . . maybe a whole generation
s
older. In the midst of the civil rights struggle, the people were so bitter, and his laymen were
very bitter against Rabbi Rothschild for speaking out because they felt that he was endangering
e
all Jewish communities in the South by speaking out in civil rights times. This rabbi said to him,
iv
I would love to be able to do what you're doing. But I've just got a few more years before
retirement. That's one of the saddest things I've ever heard.
There was another rabbi, whose name I will mention [Charles] Mantinband46 because he
ch
was one of the great ones. He was in an even smaller community in Mississippi. From there
you don't get any more reactionary, at least in those days. He did speak out. He went from one
community to another. This was real bravery. I'm not saying they were all like the first rabbi I
Ar
was speaking of, but I think that was more the case that the older ones particularly just were
afraid to rock the boat. Before this issue came up, there were others. They were reluctant to
diverge from the opinion of their [congregations]. They were no longer leaders, they were
ily
followers. They were preachers who presided over life cycle events, and so forth. But they were
not civic leaders in the sense that Marx was in his day, even though we disagreed with him as he
got older.
m
Ann: Had he changed significantly from his earlier years? Obviously, if you read about
David Marx in the first 20 or 30 years of his rabbinate here in Atlanta, he must have been a very
Fa
dynamic leader.
Janice: A powerhouse.
Ann: Obviously, he was very much involved with the general community which was also
ba
something that the congregation had looked for.
46
Charles Mantinband was born in 1895. He received his religious training at the Jewish Institute of Religion in
New York City. After World War II, he served first in Alabama until, in 1951, he moved to Hattiesburg,
Cu
Mississippi, to serve the congregation at Temple Bnai Israel. Rabbi Mantinband was an outspoken proponent of
racial equality and civil rights, arguing that Jews had a responsibility to empathize with the plight of blacks because
of the Jewish communitys own problems with discrimination. His activism earned him threats from numerous
people in the community, as well as created trouble with members of his own congregation, who feared a backlash.
When the pressure became too great he left Hattiesburg and accepted a pulpit in Texas. He retired in 1971 after
almost 50 years of service in the rabbinate and died in 1974.

Page 25 of 136
Janice: Yes.
Ann: From what I've read, that was part of the congregation's requirement. When they
finally found the man who met that particular need that they saw . . . that their own religious
leader would also be a civic leader and represent and draw them into a more intimate relationship
s
with the general community. Then they stuck with it. That may be why he stayed so long, do
you think?
e
Janice: I think it's the tendency of any congregation to want to keep a rabbi. I think that the
iv
relationship between a rabbi and his congregation is, or certainly should be, like a marriage. If
one side wants out, then it's no good from either side. What you hope for when you go into such
a situation is that it will be a lifelong marriage. Particularly in cases, around the time that Marx
ch
came here, certainly in the case of Atlanta, they had . . .
Ann: It was a turnover . . .
Janice: . . . all these turnovers . . .
Ann:
Janice:
. . . everybody came and went.
Ar
I think there were eight before him. He was the eighth I believe. My great-
grandfather [Edward Benjamin Morris] Browne had been here longer than anybody else and that
ily
was less than four years, so that tells you something. That's no good for any congregation. That
doesn't do anybody any good. Even today, small congregations very much regret when their
rabbis . . . if they don't like their rabbi they want to get rid of them. If they do like him they live
m
with this constant fear that if he's so good, he'll go someplace else. So the South had continuity,
at least the Reform congregations. I don't know about the others. The Reform congregations
Fa
had a great deal of continuity, because they kept these rabbis for such a long time.
Ann: As Dr. Marx aged and it became obvious that he would not live forever, how was the
decision made? You were part of the congregation at that time. You were not the wife of the
ba
rabbi. That happened after Rabbi Rothschild came to Atlanta. Were you at all privy to anything
about how the decision was made to bring him to Atlanta? Or bring somebody to Atlanta?
Janice: I am now. All I knew at the time was that there was always talk that Marx is old. He
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says he wants to retire, but he doesn't really. When I was the age of the confirmation class, they
brought in an assistant, now of blessed memory . . .
Ann: Who was that?

Page 26 of 136
Janice: Sam Sandmel.47 Sam was treated so badly by Dr. Marx in that one year that he was
the assistant that not only did Sam leave . . . but that was his only experience in his whole
distinguished career as a pulpit rabbi . . . he not only left Atlanta, he left . . .
Ann: . . . the pulpit.
s
Janice: . . . he went into academia. He obviously had a bent for academia because he had a
distinguished career in it, but that finished him. This was common knowledge, even among
e
families such as mine that were not really active in the Temple. What I found out later from
iv
Rabbi Rothschild was that the rabbis all knew about this. Nobody would have considered
coming to Atlanta as an assistant. It had to be clearly stated that Dr. Marx was going to be
retiring. Whoever came in would be the rabbi, or he would not have been interested in the job.
ch
The Temple had about 400 members at the time. They weren't all paying . . . a lot of them were,
and what they paid was very little, most of them. But of the 400, a lot of them were men who
had gone off into the service for [World War II]. They were retained on the books, but they
Janice:
Ar
weren't expected to pay dues. The Temple was in terrible shape.
Ann: How did you maintain that building all through that period?
They had this horrendous mortgage that they kept turning over from when it was built.
ily
I don't really know exactly how they did it. I suppose I must have found out some of the things
and written it in that book, but I forget now. At various times things were so bad the
schoolteachers were not paid. They had a part-time secretary administrator who was mostly
m
volunteer. There were times that Robert Benton, the janitor, kept order in a class. Maybe
particular people said that if something had to be done they would pay for it, but they had a
Fa
terrible . . .
Ann: Were there not wealthy Jewish families here in Atlanta who were members of the
congregation?
ba
Janice: Yes.
Ann: But they weren't paying their way? They didn't pay their fair share?
Cu
47
Dr. Samuel Sandmel was a member of the Hebrew Union College faculty for 26 years. Dr. Sandmel was one of
the worlds foremost authorities on Early Christianity and the New Testament, especially in their relation to
Judaism, and was widely acclaimed as a leader in interfaith relations. He attended Hebrew Union College and was
ordained in 1937. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in New Testament Studies at Yale University. He
briefly served as Assistant Rabbi at the Temple in Atlanta, Georgia under Rabbi David Marx.

Page 27 of 136
Janice: I don't think that they held back out of stinginess. As I see it, the standard was not set.
Rabbi Rothschild had a very difficult time. He and others. He didn't do this alone. The lay
leaders were doing this, too. They were working on it, to finally get the membership dues to a
stage where it was realistic. But was not only the amount that people were expected to pay, it
s
was also the system of billing that didn't work out.
Ann: If you had a part-time secretarial volunteer staff, that's understandable.
e
Janice: I don't know. I never looked into that part of it very much, although I probably wrote
iv
it in this Temple history. I forget now, but I know that they did have bad problems. Another big
factor was that in the latter years of Dr. Marx's rabbinate he alienated any newcomers who had
Zionist tendencies, or who were not from a German background. There were not that many that
ch
joined the Temple, and those that did were made to feel mostly like second-class citizens. Some
of them, as we all know, made a lot of money in those days. Even in the 1920s and 1930s.
They gradually, one or two of them, took on leadership positions about the time that Rabbi
relate to him.
Ann: Who were some of those people?
Ar
Rothschild came in. Then many more of them did when he became the rabbi because they could
ily
Janice: One that I just adored and I felt was a real spirit was David Slann [of] Butler Shoes.
Im sure there were others. I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings by not remembering them.
Before we get onto that, I do want to get back to the bombing. At the time, I didn't appreciate
m
this so much because he's [from] my generation. I grew up with Bill [William B.] Schwartz,
who was then the President of the Temple. Looking back on it from our present age and writing
Fa
about Rabbi Rothschild, I realize that Bill Schwartz was maybe two years older than I was at the
time. He had this tremendous responsibility. Unlike Rabbi Rothschild, who was also young,
although a good bit older than we and was trained to do this, Bill Schwartz was also in the eye of
ba
the storm. He conducted himself with such maturity and such leadership. In those days we did
what we had to do for this day and got to the next day. We didn't think about how anybody was
doing. I feel he should have a real pat on the back in history for how he conducted himself.
Cu
Ann: What did he do specifically that you so admired?

Janice: I can't even think specifically. He conducted himself like a mensch [Yiddish: human

Page 28 of 136
being].48 In an emergency like that, even for a mensch it's hard. You're inundated with press,
with attention. He did not use the occasion to exploit himself, or his own position. He did
everything just right.
Ann: What was his profession?
s
Janice: He must have been no more than in his middle thirties at the time.
Ann: Thats young to be president of the Temple.
e
Janice: Yes. The reason was they knew they had this building campaign in the offing. They
iv
knew that they had to expand the Temple, physically. They chose him because they knew that
he had proven himself as a good leader. He had, I think, headed the religious school committee
or something. He had done a good job, and they had faith that he would be able to set a good
ch
example in giving.
Ann: Was he was a banker?
Janice: No. He was an executive with National Service Industries.49 I forget exactly which
Ar
stage . . . which was National Linen, and then National Service Industries . . . exactly what stage
the business was at . . . whether he was president or chairman of the board because they
subsequently merged with other companies. That was his business. His father-in-law had been
ily
one of the three founders.
Ann: Who was his father-in-law?
Janice: A. J. Weinberg.50 Joe Jacobs and I.M. [Isadore] Weinstein, Milton Weinstein's father,
m
were the three originals, as I remember it. Then Bill went into that business.
Ann: He handled himself with great poise, all through this period.
Fa
48
Mensch is a Yiddish word meaning "a person of integrity and honor. The term is used as a high compliment,
expressing the rarity and value of that individual's qualities. The word has migrated into American English, where a
ba
mensch is a particularly good person, similar to a stand-up guy, a person with the qualities one would hope for in a
friend or trusted colleague.
49
National Service Industries was founded in 1962 with the merger of two established Atlanta companies, National
Linen Service and ZEP Manufacturing Company.
50
A.J. Weinberg (Abraham Joseph) (1886-1975) was one of the founding partners and builders of the Atlanta Linen
Supply Company, which was launched in August 1918 by Isadore M. Weinstein. Over the years the business grew
Cu
into the National Linen Service Corporation. By 1947 National Linen had plants all over the United States and
nearly 5,000 employees. National Linen acquired Zep Manufacturing and began to acquire other businesses. In
1962 National Linen changed its name to National Service Industries, and in the following years became a holding
company for a wide variety of companies. One example of A.J. Weinbergs generosity to the Atlanta Jewish
community has resulted in the Lillian and A.J. Weinberg Center for Holocaust Education at the William Breman
Jewish Heritage Museum.

Page 29 of 136
Janice: Im telling you he was great. His home was threatened, too. We weren't the only who
were shaken up.
Ann: That's someone else who I recommend be interviewed about this topic. You also
alluded to the fact that the congregation felt that had Rabbi Rothschild not been quite so
s
forthcoming, so outspoken in his support of Brown v. Board of Education, or civil rights per se,
that perhaps this wouldnt have happened to them. Was there a good deal of . . .
e
Janice: . . . resentment . . .
iv
Ann: . . . maybe not totally overt or verbal kinds of abuse thrown at the rabbi, after the fact?
Janice: We had absolutely . . . I started to say no idea . . . but we certainly had an idea . . . a
very good guess that there was. But nobody said anything to us. We got nothing but pats on the
ch
back. I got all of this praise about not getting hysterical and leaving town with my children. The
other traumatic thing that had happened to this congregation in its history was the [Leo] Frank51
trial. People remembered. First of all, in 1954 when Rabbi Rothschild said that he was going to
Ar
speak out in favor of the Supreme Court decision and adhering to it, one of my near
contemporaries, maybe six or eight years older than I am but generally contemporary . . . who
was not even born at the time, if she was born she was an infant at the time of the Frank trial,
ily
said to me, almost hysterically, What is Jack going to do to us, start the Frank case all over
again? They were hysterical about it. This was in 1954. It was theoretical conversation so, of
course, people said things like that to themselves.
m
Ann: Because they had panicked in 1915?

Janice: Yes, I'm sure they had. Another great story was that Rabbi Rothschild did not accept
Fa
any invitations to speak right after the bombing. He refused to exploit the notoriety. The
Temple had a building campaign on. There were the trials. Until all of that was over, he didn't
go out and speak. When he did in the spring, I went with him to Pittsburgh [Pennsylvania],
ba
51
Leo Frank (1884-1915) was a Jewish factory superintendent in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1913, he was accused of
raping and murdering one of his employees, a 13-year-old girl named Mary Phagan, whose body was found on the
premises of the National Pencil Company. Frank was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to death for her
murder. The trial was the catalyst for a great outburst of antisemitism led by the populist Tom Watson and the center
Cu
of powerful class and political interests. Frank was sent to Milledgeville State Penitentiary to await his execution.
Governor John M. Slaton, believing there had been a miscarriage of justice, commuted Franks sentence to life in
prison. This enraged a group of men who styled themselves the Knights of Mary Phagan. They drove to the
prison, kidnapped Frank from his cell and drove him to Marietta, Georgia where they lynched him. Many years
later, the murderer was revealed to be Jim Conley, who had lied in the trial, pinning it on Frank instead. Frank was
pardoned on March 11, 1986, although they stopped short of exonerating him.

Page 30 of 136
among other places. This was at a dinner. Afterwards, you know how everybody comes up to
the dais and tries to get a word in. This lady couldn't get to the rabbi, but got to me and
introduced herself. The rabbi always . . . for years his idea of how to fight this was by little
drops of water. His little drops got increased through the years. Always, on the High Holy
s
Days, at least one of the sermons would have to do with civil rights. That year, it was Yom
Kippur morning.52 She came up to me in Pittsburgh, maybe six months later. She had a big
e
smile that people give you when they want to say something nice. She said, I enjoyed it.
iv
<voice from off camera, male>
Janice: She said, I was there. I was visiting my family in Atlanta on the High Holy Days,
and I heard the sermon. I thought it was just wonderful. Of course, my brother thought he
ch
should keep his damn mouth shut, but I thought it was wonderful. That's one of my favorite
stories. I have to go now.
<End Tape 1, Side 2>
Ar
Ann: This is an interview with Janice Oettinger Rothschild Blumberg being done in her son's
home in Atlanta, Georgia on October 14, 1989. The interviewer is Ann Schoenberg. This is for
ily
the AJC [American Jewish Committee] and CJW [National Council of Jewish Women] and
Jewish Federation Project of Oral History. What we are going to do today is to start at the
beginning. We concentrated in our first tape in August on the period surrounding the bombing
m
of the Temple. Well try not to get too deeply involved in that again. I think we covered that
fairly well. Now we have the opportunity to pick your brain and get you on tape for the general
Fa
history of the community. I would ask you to start at the beginning. Tell us something about
how your family originated in this area and how they got to the United States.
Janice: Parts of my family came to the United States in the 1840s.
ba
Ann: Give names, dates, and places, if you would please.

Janice: From my mother's side of the family they were the ones who came very, very early.
I'm not that sure about my father's family. They lived in Boston [Massachusetts]. Both of his
Cu
52
Hebrew for Day of Atonement. The most sacred day of the Jewish year. Yom Kippur is a 25 hour fast day. Most
of the day is spent in prayer, reciting yizkor for deceased relatives, confessing sins, requesting divine forgiveness,
and listening to Torah readings and sermons. People greet each other with the wish that they may be sealed in the
heavenly book for a good year ahead. The day ends with the blowing of the shofar (a rams horn).

Page 31 of 136
parents were born in the United States. I'll get finished with them quickly because there's less to
say about them. They settled in and near Boston. I think my grandmother's family lived for a
while in Providence [Rhode Island].
Ann: Her name?
s
Janice: Her name was Rose Hamburger Oettinger. They pronounced the umlaut oe . . .
Ettinger there. Her father was a rabbi. I don't think with a congregation. I'm not quite sure of
e
that. At any rate, they must have come from somewhere in [the Netherlands]. My grandfather
iv
Oettinger, his family came from around Nuremberg [Germany]. Part of the family, and I'm still
not clear whether it was my grandmother's or grandfather's, was from Holland . . . from
Rotterdam. I have a feeling that was my great-grandmother on my father's father side. They
ch
never moved south. They lived and died in Boston. My father came to Atlanta.
Ann: What was their business?
Janice: My grandfather Oettinger was in the music business. The name of it was the
Ar
Musician's Supply Business at 117 Tremont Street. At least during my lifetime it was. He was
quite a character. He was a self-educated man, extremely cultured, and a Universalist.53 He was
what you think of as the typical old Bostonian, without really being part of the Brahmin54
ily
society. I think I heard that his father was one of the founders of the first synagogue in Boston.
But that's not part of the Atlanta heritage. The Southern heritage is on my maternal
grandmother's side. The family name was Browne. Her father was a rabbi who came from
m
Hungary. That's how they got to the South to start with. He was the rabbi of the Temple in
Atlanta from 1877 to 1881. He was not the first rabbi of the Temple, but he was the first rabbi to
Fa
have a temple. He dedicated the first building in Atlanta . . .

Ann: . . . which was located . . .
Janice: . . . which was at Forsyth and Garnett Street. He was quite outspoken. He's a book in
ba
itself, which I hope to write someday.55 He also had a newspaper while he was here, the Jewish
53
Universalism refers to religious, theological, and philosophical concepts with universal application. In a broad
sense, universalism claims that religion is a universal human quality.
Cu
54
A brahmin is a member of Bostons traditional upper class, whose family can often be traced back to the founding
families who participated in the colonization of the United States. Members of this class are characterized by their
highly discreet and inconspicuous lifestyle, a distinctive accent and a Harvard University education.
55
The book is entitled Prophet in a Time of Priests: Rabbi Alphabet Browne, 1845-1929 by Janice Rothschild
Blumberg (Apprentice House, 2012). Please note that some of the information in this transcript about Alphabet
Browne may be in error. Janice Blumberg did much more research after this oral history was given, which turned

Page 32 of 136
South. He was quite controversial. He never stayed . . . four years in Atlanta was probably the
height of his career because he never stayed any place . . . as a rule not that long.
Ann: His name?
Janice: They called him Alphabet Browne. His name was Edward Benjamin Morris
s
Browne.56 I don't know how many degrees he had from his education in the old country. I don't
how formal an education it was, either. He was quite literate from whatever education he had
e
there. He came over here and he studied with Isaac Mayer Wise57 as his protg in his home
iv
before there was a Hebrew Union College and received smicha [Hebrew: ordination]58 as a rabbi
from him. He also got an MD [medical degree] from the Medical College of Evansville, Indiana.
Incidentally, that is where he met my great-grandmother. [He also had] a law degree, which my
ch
son has framed next to his. My great-grandfather's was from the University of Wisconsin
[Madison, Wisconsin]. My son's is from Harvard [Law SchoolCambridge, Massachusetts].
Great-grandfather Alphabet Browne, as I said, the reason was that he had all these initials
Ar
before his name. Afterwards, he put all the initials of the degrees. It was: MD, LLD, and so
forth. He was really quite a character. I'll write about him someday.
My great-grandmother's family came in the 1840s and settled in Evansville [Indiana].
ily
Their name was Weil. They came from Alsace59 and Hesse-Darmstadt, which is very close to
what is now Germany. Part of their family came . . . my great-great-grandfather Weil's sister
was married to a Haas. That's how they were related to the Haases. That's probably how my
m
into the book above. Therefore, the information in the book is more accurate.
Fa
56
Rabbi Edward Benjamin Morris Browne (1845-1929) came to be called Alphabet Browne due to the number of
letters representing the degrees that followed his name. Between his arrival in the United States during post-Civil
War Reconstruction and his death at the onset of the Great Depression, Alphabet Browne grabbed headlines as a
rabbi, journalist, attorney, and political activist, all in the pursuit of justice. He was known as an authority on the
Talmud and acclaimed nationally for his public lectures. Browne served as the rabbi in several cities including
Atlanta. He published the Souths first Jewish-interest newspaper; defended an elderly immigrant wrongfully
ba
convicted for murder, delivered opening prayers in both houses of Congress, served as an honorary pall bearer for
President Ulysses S. Grant, helped Benjamin Harrison win the presidency; and bullied United States Presidents
William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft to establish a Jewish chaplaincy for the United
States military.
57
Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise (1819-1900) was one of the organizers of the American Reform movement and a
prominent editor and author.
Cu
58
Ordination (Hebrew: smicha) is the appointment of a disciple as a rabbi, or teacher, of the Torah. The Hebrew
term is based on the verse: And he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as the Lord spoke by the hand
of Moses (Numbers 27:23.)
59
This is an area bordering France and Germany that has been in constant contention, belonging to one or the other
at various times. It is populated by both French and German people. It was seized from France during World War
II by the Germans and after the war returned to France.

Page 33 of 136
great-grandfather got the pulpit in Atlanta. Herman Haas, who was the patriarch of that family,
was his uncle. He was my great-grandfathers uncle by marriage. They were very close. That
part of the Haas family had stayed with my great-grandparents in Evansville for a while en route
to where they got finally settled, which was not in Atlanta, as a matter of fact, it was Newnan
s
[Georgia] . . . they started out in Newnan. Gradually they got to Atlanta.
Ann: What was the Haas business? I was just curious if you knew, since they were sort of
e
related . . .
iv
Janice: I know that in those days . . . Im much more familiar with what happened 100 years
ago than I am now.
Ann: Sure. Thats why Im asking you.
ch
Janice: They had some kind of store in Newnan. During the Civil War, Herman . . . or maybe
just before the war started . . . wanted to go back to Philadelphia where there was more Jewish
life and culture. As a matter of fact, he had taken his son Aaron, the one who really had such a
Ar
wonderful time here in Atlanta, to educate him Jewishly. I don't know whether this man was a
young relative, or just a young man that he liked. His name was Guthman. I think he probably
was a relative who came from the old country. When Herman left Newnan, he left the store in
ily
the charge of his son and . . .
Ann: . . . this young man . . .
Janice: . . . Guthman. I'm not sure whether Guthman was his son-in-law at that point, or not.
m
He was the father, and the Haas, whose wifes name I can't remember either, were the parents of
all of these sisters of whom the original Miss Daisy was one: Lena. I think Lena was named
Fa
after her mother. Helena was the daughter, and she was the mother of all of these sisters of
whom Lena Guthman Fox, the original Miss Daisy was one.60 You asked me about the store . .
. I don't know what they sold in the store.
ba
Ann: It's interesting that they settled in Newnan rather than Atlanta.
60
Miss Daisy is the eponymous character in Driving Miss Daisy (1987), which was written by award-winning
playwright and screenwriter Alfred Uhry. It is the first of his Atlanta Trilogy of plays, all set during the first half
Cu
of the twentieth century and incorporating some of Uhrys childhood memories. The play earned him the Pulitzer
Prize for Drama. It deals with the relationship between an elderly Jewish woman and her African-American
chauffeur, Hoke Smith. Uhry adapted it into the screenplay for a 1989 film starring Jessica Tandy and Morgan
Freeman. The story follows Miss Daisy over a 25-year period in Atlanta through her home life, synagogue, friends,
family, and fears. At the 62nd Academy Awards in 1990, Driving Miss Daisy received nine nominations, winning
four for Best Picture, Best Actress (Jessica Tandy), Best Makeup, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Page 34 of 136
Janice: When they came to Atlanta I don't think they had a store. I know that Aaron went into
brokerage . . . He's supposed to have run the blockade61 during the [Civil] War. My great-great-
grandfather in Evansville was evidently the first one in the family to really get there, get
established, get real roots and financial roots into a community. He opened up that part of the
s
country for one of the major insurance companies. He also . . .
Ann: Which insurance company?
e
Janice: I think it was New England Mutual. From what I've read of American Jewish history
iv
at that period, this was not uncommon for Jewish people to be able to take on a major insurance
company, or develop insurance companies. Like the Oberdorfers, for example. I'm pretty sure it
was involved with real estate, too. I think that was the basis of the companies here: Haas and
ch
Dodd Realty and other businesses of that sort.
Getting back to my family, that's my mother's mother's family. That grandmother was
born in Peoria, Illinois. They moved to Atlanta later. Her younger brother, who died as a young
Ar
man, was born in Atlanta. Then they moved on. Their roots in the South came in the 1890s.
They really stayed here when they came in the 1890s, for great-grandfather to be the rabbi in
Columbus, Georgia.
ily
Ann: He did remain a rabbi then?
Janice: He remained a rabbi, but whenever he would lose a pulpit, if he was so inclined, he
would be a lawyer, or whatever.
m
Ann: A doctor?
Janice: I don't think he ever practiced medicine. He taught medical jurisprudence at this
Fa
school where he got a degree. I dont think he ever practiced medicine. He did practice law. I
don't think he practiced it for a living. As a matter of fact, I don't think he ever practiced
anything much for a living. Great-grandmother had some stock in these companies that her
ba
father had been instrumental in founding. There was even stock left . . . when I was married
61
A blockade runner is usually a light-weight, fast ship which evades, rather than confronts, a naval blockade.
Cu
Blockade running is done to transport cargo such as foods, arms, goods for sale, etc. into and out of the blockaded
area. In the Civil War, this was a major enterprise for the Confederacy. The Confederates had no effective navy so
the Union used its considerable navy to keep ships from entering or leaving southern ports to re-provision the
Confederacy or sell their wares (usually cotton) abroad. Blockade running was highly risky as these ships were
considered enemy combatants and could be sunk. By the end of the war the Union Navy had captured more than
1,100 blockade runners and destroyed another 355 vessels.

Page 35 of 136
even I got a few hundred dollars every now and then from stock that had been started by this
great-great-grandfather who had a number of children. It wasn't as though . . . I was an only
great-grandchild, but not a great-great grandchild. They must have been pretty substantial things
in those days. By my lifetime, they had pretty much petered out. I think one reason was great-
s
grandfather, the crazy rabbi. He just wanted to be a scholar. He wanted to do his thing.
Ann: He didn't have anybody to finance him, other than all those stocks.
e
Janice: He knew how to spend money. His own and other people's. He was very courtly and
iv
was always getting these wonderful honors.
Ann: Do you remember him?
Janice: Vaguely. I was four years old when he died, but I do remember.
ch
Ann: I'm sure you've heard plenty of stories.
Janice: I remember my great-grandmother very well because she lived throughout my
childhood. She never told me any of the bad stories. I had to become a historian of sorts to find
Ar
out. [I am] reading his papers, which I am in the process of turning over to the American Jewish
Historical Society, so they will be available for scholars and I would like to do some work with
them myself. He was a fascinating guy, but crazy. Not really great to be related to, but he was
ily
fascinating. My grandfather [David] Goldberg . . . my mother's maiden name was Goldberg . .
. and grandfather's family moved to Macon [Georgia] in the 1840's. Their name was
Waxelbaum. He was born in Oswego, New York. His father, Simon Goldberg, died very, very
m
young. My great-grandmother married several times, and had several different families. When
each husband died . . . I guess when the second husband died, and left her with these two sets of
Fa
children, she moved back to be with her family in Macon, the Waxelbaums. I think they had a
store, too. I'm not really sure. There are plenty of them. Marian Waxelbaum Kaufman and her
husband, Gus Kaufman, have done a lot of work on that. If anybody wants to know about that
ba
side of the family, they should ask them. My grandfather was a salesman, on the road at first,
and then opened up his own store. His two sisters married . . . one of them was married and
living in Columbus. The other one married in a double wedding with my own grandparents later.
Cu
But thats how he met my grandmother. He lived all of the rest of his life in Columbus. The
way my parents got down here was my mother went off to Smith College [Northampton,
Massachusetts], which grandfather always thought was a mistake . . . a girl having that kind of an

Page 36 of 136
education.
Ann: This was in what year that she went to Smith?
Janice: My mother was born in 1901. I guess she went off to Smith in 1917 or 1918.
Ann: There was considerable wealth there in order to be able to afford . . .
s
Janice: I guess there was.
Ann: . . . sending a girl to college. That really is rare in those years, particularly in Jewish
e
families.
iv
Janice: Yes. My grandfather did well. He later lost it all. He didn't lose his residential
property, but he lost the store on Broad Street. He always told me that if it hadn't for [President
Franklin Delano] Roosevelt,62 and what Roosevelt did with the banks, the bank holiday,63 that he
ch
really would have been in the poor house. As it was, he just lost the store which had to do with
the fact that he put up money for my father's business. They wanted my father and mother to
come to Columbus to live because my mother was an only child. They wouldn't do that. Mother
Ar
would not go to Columbus, Georgia. She said, Only as far as Atlanta. So that's how they got
here. My father tried to go into business. He was just not a businessman. Plus, the fact that it
was the time of the Great Depression.64
ily
Ann: What kind of business?
Janice: But he was not a businessman. There was no question. He went off to war.
Ann: This is World War I?
m
Janice: World War I. They met right after he got back. My mother was a character. It's too
bad you couldn't have taped her. She was also very impulsive and wanted to have her own way.
Fa
After she completed her education she left Smith to get married. Then she finished up and got a
62
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world
ba
events during the mid-twentieth century, leading the United States through a time of worldwide economic crisis and
war. Popularly known as FDR, he collapsed and died in his home in Warm Springs, Georgia just a few months
before the end of the war. He was a Democrat.
63
The Emergency Banking Act (officially titled: Emergency Banking Relief Act) was an act passed by the United
States Congress in 1933 in an attempt to stabilize the economy because of the Great Depression. Following his
inauguration in March 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt declared a four-day banking holiday that shut down the
Cu
banking system, including the Federal Reserve. The new law allowed the 12 Federal Reserve Banks to issue
additional currency on good assets and so the banks that reopened would be able to meet every legitimate
transaction.
64
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The
time of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the
late 1930s or early 1940s. It was the longest, most widespread, and deepest depression of the twentieth century.

Page 37 of 136
degree from Boston University [Boston, Massachusetts].

Ann: They met up there?
Janice: Yes, and after that . . . through a Southern connection. There was somebody from
Macon who married somebody in Boston. When mother came there, they introduced them.
s
Mother loved Boston, but it was clear that my grandfather having this business was not going to
support three families. My father's brother already had a family that was dependent upon them.
e
Then her family was begging them to come South, so they did.
iv
Ann: But not to Columbus?
Janice: Not to Columbus. Atlanta. That's the interesting thing about Atlanta. They ought to
put me on the Chamber of Commerce even though I don't live here anymore. If you study
ch
Atlanta history, you can study it from the standpoint of what's in the books, or just take an
individual family like mine. You can see that there was this spirit of Atlanta. It is special.
Atlanta is going places. There's something here that you don't find in the rest of the South. My
Ar
mother said this, or felt this way about it in the early 1920's. That's why they came back here.
I've read documents, quotes from newspapers, and things from 1900. It was always this way.
Ann: What do you think there is about the community here? Not just for Jewish people, but
ily
just generally, that is so different? What is there about the make-up of the people or the attitude?
Janice: I think it's the other side of the coin, as far as the brashness . . . they talk about the
carpetbaggers, and so forth. It's that attitude of coming . . . of Atlanta being the place where
m
people could make a buck. But they found more than that. They made it. It's in beautiful
terrain. It was helpful terrain. We don't think about that so much now, but it was very important
Fa
in the early days because below here was swampy and malarial. People used to come here for
their health in the early days. When the settlements were mostly in Savannah [Georgia] and
Augusta [Georgia], people would come here. I'm talking in the early days.
ba
Ann: Yes. One hundred . . . 150 years ago.

Janice: Right. At the inception, before there was really much in town at all. I think mainly it
attracts people to see opportunity. It was a crossroads then. It's a crossroads now.
Cu
Ann: Have you ever read Ivan Allen Sr.'s book called Altitude + Attitude?65 What you have
65
The Chamber of Commerce tapped Atlanta businessman Ivan Allen, Sr. to head the Forward Atlanta booster
campaign from 1926 to 1929 to solidify Atlanta's emerging position as the leading city of the South. Allen wrote
the campaign's central document, Atlanta from the Ashes (1928). Twenty years later he wrote another booster

Page 38 of 136
said has a lot of resonance. It's a very small volume. It was written by the old man not by the
man was mayor, but by his father.
Janice: No. The Ivan that I know, I've read his books.
Ann: Sometime see if you can take it out of the library. It just takes a brief period of time to
s
read it, but it's very similar in its statement to what you have just said. Partly the altitude, the
fact that there were four seasons, it was healthful, above the coastal plain and all the problems
e
that that presented for health. Also, that it was stimulating to have cooler weather and changes
iv
of climate. I think it was a very interesting approach to why Atlanta is the kind of city it is, as
compared to some of the sleepier towns.
Janice: Yes. We're talking geography there, which had to do with why Decatur [Georgia] was
ch
good. When you think about Atlanta being founded for the railroads . . . that was really crucial
to it becoming a city. I think that it's just always attracted people who were far-sighted. They
talk about it having . . . in the old days when there was quite a division between the North and
Ar
South, it was described as having the best of both the North and the South. It had the get-up-
and-go of the North and yet the gentility of the South. It still does.
Ann: Do you think the city, though it's a huge metropolis today, has retained any of that?
ily
Janice: It's hard for me to see it whole, because while I look from afar . . . when I'm here . . .
I'm looking from afar at the city as it really is today with expansion and everything. But the
people I know and what I really plug into when I'm here is still the old crowd. So it's hard for me
m
to synthesize these two views. I realize that for a newcomer coming in, they probably have
difficulty, some of them, finding the gentle, lovely, beautiful part of it that I know. But it's here.
Fa
Why do so many people stay if they don't find something that's good?
Ann: Yes. It's not just the financial . . .
Janice: Exactly.
ba
Ann: . . . that aspect of the city holds people, because you can find that elsewhere.
Janice: I hear stories today that sound word for word like stories that we used to tell 40 years
ago of people who were transferred here from the North. Then when they, in those days, I don't
Cu
know if it's true anymore, would be promoted by their company to some other place that was out
of Atlanta, they would quit. One of them is Harold Brockey, who became Chairman of the
booklet called The Atlanta Spirit: Altitude + Attitude (1948).

Page 39 of 136
Board of Rich's. There is story after story that I remember of people like that, who were
youngsters, coming in with the big corporations. When the company wanted them to go
elsewhere, they wouldn't do it.
Ann: Its still happening. I'll vouch for it. I know some people just like that. We've gotten
s
your family to Atlanta. Now you tell me your dad was not particularly suited for business. What
did he end up finally doing?
e
Janice: He ended up working for his cousin. The business that he tried to go into was Clean
iv
Heat. It was a new kind . . . at that time new . . . Im talking about when I was born in 1924.
Whatever it was didn't pan out. Then he went to work for a GE [General Electric] distributor
here. Later he went to Rich's in that kind of a department . . . the major appliances department.
ch
Then he got sick. It was determined that what he needed to get outside more . . . that he couldn't
work in a department store all day long. He went on the road to work for his cousin from Boston
who manufactured maternity clothes. During the war, when they had . . . when what
Ar
merchandise they had to sell got sold immediately and they had time on their hands, he helped
found this organization that later became quite big: the Southeast Travelers [Southeastern
Traveler Exhibitors]. They just called it Southeastern Travelers . . . but what it was an
ily
association of traveling salesmen that functioned . . . NAWCAS is the National Association of
Women's and Children's Apparel Salesmen . . . which I believe was headquartered in Atlanta. I
know the man that was head of it all those years subsequently, since shortly after the war [World
m
War II], until he retired a few years ago. He is Marshall [Bud] Mantler, who was based here in
Atlanta. It started with my father and one or two other people who just did it as volunteers.
Fa
Ann: Who were the other people?

Janice: I don't think they were from Atlanta. I forget their names now. I'm sure the
NAWCAS archives would tell you that. My father was very much better . . . my father was very
ba
much beloved. He was a wonderful guy, but just not aggressive. He was not a sales person.
Mother, on the other hand, was a real character. I don't know whether I would call her
aggressive or not. She wasn't in the typical way that you think of. Mother was a Bohemian.66
Cu
Somebody later described my mother as being a hippie67 before we knew what hippies were. I
66
A bohemian is someone who leads an informal, nonconformist or unconventional lifestyle with a wide range of
different tastes in music, fashion, art, literature, etc. Writers and artists are often described as Bohemians.
67
The hippie (or hippy) subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the

Page 40 of 136
remember there was some kind of a Bohemian Society here, an arts league, when I was a child.
They would have Twelfth Night parties68 and things like that. Mother was very much a part of
that, and a part of the Music Club and got herself . . . she was also active in the National Council
of Jewish Women.69 When she absolutely had to make a living, and she tried to . . . this is
s
something that I should write about someday . . . the feminine . . .
Ann: Feminists and the suffragettes?
e
Janice: Yes. Great-grandmother was one . . . speaking of suffragettes70 . . . of the first women
iv
to register to vote . . . .
Ann: In Columbus?
Janice: In Columbus. Not only that but she founded . . . jumping back to great-grandmother,
ch
the rabbi's wife, after he lost his job in Columbus, she didn't leave Columbus. She stayed. Every
now and then, she would go off to wherever he was briefly, but her residence was always
Columbus.
Ann:
Ar
He didn't continue to live in Columbus? When he took pulpits or taught law or
whatever he was doing at that particular moment, he would do it in a different city?
Janice: That's right. He lost that pulpit shortly after my grandparents married. Great-
ily
grandmother stayed there. In 1900, she had formed a literary organization, like a reading club.
It grew out of the group of women to whom she had taught English. They were German-Jewish
women who had come over. By that time, their children were old enough so that they could get
m
out a little bit. Their husbands were successful enough so that they could get out a little bit.
They improved their English. She started this club.
Fa
Ann: Like a Great Books sort of thing?
mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The word hippie came from hipster, and was initially
ba
used to describe beatniks who had moved into New York City's Greenwich Village and San Francisco's Haight-
Ashbury district. Hippie values and fashions had a major effect on culture, influencing popular music, television,
film, literature, and the arts. Since the 1960s, many aspects of hippie culture have been assimilated by mainstream
society.
68
Twelfth Night is a festival in some branches of Christianity marking the coming of the Epiphany (that is the time
the wise men visited the Baby Jesus). It is either January 5 or 6. Food and drink are at the center of the celebration.
Cu
A punch called wassail is consumed and special pastries are prepared.

69
The National Council of Jewish Women is an organization of volunteers and advocates, founded in the 1890s,
who turn progressive ideals in advocacy and philanthropy inspired by Jewish values. They strive to improve the
quality of life for women, children and families.
70
Suffragettes were members of women's organization (right to vote) movements in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth century, particularly in the United Kingdom and United States.

Page 41 of 136
Janice: Yes, but they also had dramatic recitations, and things of that sort. It was called the
Century Club, because they founded it in 1900. Mother and I, and grandmother, except she
wouldn't go, were honored guests at their fiftieth anniversary. They're still going strong, so far as
I know. They were the same sort of people as would have been [National] Council [of Jewish
s
Women], which there was not a Council in Columbus. The Ladies Aid Society of the Temple,
all these were the same people. I think that between the two organizations, they did the things
e
that Council was doing other places. My great-grandmother, apropos of the voting . . . as the
iv
head of that organization was asked to be their representative for the Georgia Federation of
Womens Clubs. Whatever they had in those days . . .
Ann: . . . qualified . . .
ch
Janice: . . . the Council and the other organizations that have formal representation today. In
that capacity, she went to a number of conventions, including a White House conference. Of
course, this is much later . . . when was the suffragette [movement] . . . in the early Twenties?
Ann:
Janice:
Ar
Yes. Women got the vote in about 1919, I think.
During that period. I've got the documentation on it. I just can't keep it all in my
head. She was at this White House conference as a representative of . . .
ily
Ann: . . . the Georgia Federation of Womens Clubs.71
Janice: Yes. That part of the family was really interesting.
Ann: Early feminists?
m
Janice: Early feminists. Mother was a feminist . . . Mother told me that when things were
really bad, and they were really bad when I was a child. At one point I was sent down to live
Fa
with my grandparents for the winter because they didn't know how they were going to put food
on the table and keep the heat going in the house. As bad as things were, mother wanted to go to
work. What was she trained to do? She was trained . . . she was a very fine pianist, but she
ba
certainly wasn't going to earn a living as a . . .

Ann: . . . teaching piano?
Janice: That's what she ultimately did. People told her that she was so talented with houses,
Cu
decorating and understanding what can be done with old house [and] that she should try to get a
71
An organization composed of representatives of womens clubs throughout the state of Georgia, whose members
provided volunteer service to their communities. The women work together to improve the social, cultural and
physical needs in their city or town.

Page 42 of 136
job in real estate. I'm not sure exactly what period this was, but I would say that it had to be the
early to mid-Thirties. She didn't tell me this until just before she died. I had grown children
before she told me this. She went to see somebody who was a leading real estate person who she
had a very fine introduction to. He was a good mutual friend. The guy tried to seduce her and
s
said, Honey, what do you want to do something like that for? That's ridiculous. She was so
discouraged that she did start out teaching. During a depression, a music teacher is not going to
e
make money. She never made a lot of money, but she did bring in something. She later became
iv
very, very well-known as a very fine music teacher. One of her favorite people was Alfred
Uhry.72 She was so crazy about Alfred. She would be so proud of him now, if only she knew.
Ann: That talent sort of stayed in the Uhry family. I think there were several.
ch
Janice: His father was an artist, not just of . . .
Ann: . . . no, but I think the music also is there because one of his nephews also is musical.
Janice: Really?
Ann:
Janice:
Yes, one of his sister's children.
Ar
Mother was a character. She was pretty well-known in Atlanta, because she was quite
outspoken. There is one thing I remember about my childhood that was a lot of fun and very
ily
glamorous for me at the time. It was also outside the fold. I was not really part of the Jewish
crowd that I thought I was part of because of this crazy upbringing that I had. I think it was
mainly because of that. Finances didn't make a difference in those days, as it does today. There
m
were one or two other girls that I knew of in my immediate crowd whose families' finances were
even worse than mine were.
Fa
Ann: Do you want to mention names?

Janice: No, I don't. I observed that they did not have these same problems because their
mothers played cards with the other women and did the things they were supposed to do. Mine
ba
72
Alfred Fox Uhry was born December 3, 1936 in Atlanta. Uhry is a playwright, screenwriter, and member of the
Fellowship of Southern Writers. He is one of very few writers to receive an Academy Award, Tony Award (2) and
the Pulitzer Prize for dramatic writing. Uhry's early work for the stage was as a lyricist and librettist for a number of
musicals. Driving Miss Daisy (1987) is the first in what is known as his Atlanta Trilogy of plays and earned him the
Cu
Pulitzer Prize for Drama. He adapted it into the screenplay for the 1989 film which was awarded the Academy
Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay. The second of the trilogy, The Last Night of Ballyhoo (1996), received the
Tony Award for Best Play when produced on Broadway. The third was a 1998 musical called Parade. The libretto
earned him a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. Uhry wrote the screenplay not only for the film version of
Driving Miss Daisy but also for the 1993 film Rich in Love. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1988 film Mystic
Pizza.

Page 43 of 136
didn't. But one thing that mine did that I thought made me very special was because of mother's
connection with the Music Club. She was sort of in charge, at one point, of hosting the stars or
the artists who were coming to perform. As a result, I got a chance to meet them. She had some
good friends among them. For example, Helen Jepson73 was a friend of ours. Mother had met
s
some of these people through Hugh Hodgson,74 who was a wonderful musician. He was a
composer and pianist, but his major achievement was that he founded the Fine Arts Department
e
at the University of Georgia [AthensGeorgia]. He was from Athens [Georgia]. He was the
iv
organist and choir director at St. Luke's Episcopal Church here, where he really lived, in Atlanta.
Mother was his dear and devoted friend and servant. She would bring flowers to his studio. If
there was one flower in the garden . . . she was a great gardener . . . if there was one flower at the
ch
end of November, it would end up not on my teacher's desk, but in his studio. She knew the
newspaper people in this context, because she would try to publicize what he was doing. She
also did this for Council. She would have been a great volunteer worker if she hadn't of had all
Ar
these different conflicts. All of the things that she really achieved, other than teaching piano,
was as a volunteer through Mr. Hugh, whom we all loved. He was a fabulous teacher. Yes, he
was.
ily
Ann: Did you take lessons from him?
Janice: No. He only took master students.
Ann: Did you take lessons from your mother?
m
Janice: Not very much. I played violin and viola, which was a big mistake. I have a very
poor ear for music. If you want to enjoy music and you don't have a good ear, you should stick
Fa
to the piano, and let somebody else do the tuning. For some reason, I guess because there were
fine instruments in the family from my father's father, I played violin and viola . . . as I said, very
badly . . . in a number of different orchestras, because I found out that they needed violas so
ba
73
Helen Jepson (1904-1997) was an American lyric soprano noted for her voice and for being a "stunning blond
beauty. She performed with the Philadelphia Civic Opera Company and formed a four-singer group called The
Mississippi Misses. Jepson began performing on radio in New York in 1933, which launched her career with the
Metropolitan Opera where she sang lead soprano from 1935 to 1941. Her only film role was The Goldwyn Follies
Cu
(1938), in which she sang The Brindisi from Verdi's La Traviata, Toselli's La Serenata, the Gershwins' Love Walked
In, and Sempre Libre.
74
Hugh Hodgson (1893-1969) was an accomplished and well-known pianist. He became first a professor and then
the chair of the newly-established Department of Music at University of Georgia, Athens. Today it is called the
Hugh Hodgson School of Music, and is home to approximately 600 students and a faculty of 65. Each year the
school hosts nearly 350 public performances. (2014)

Page 44 of 136
badly that even a bad one could get in. I had a lot of fun with that.
Ann: You were talking about Mr. Hugh.
Janice: You were talking about his pupils. He had two very good pupils who were somewhat
younger than I. I remember my mother in connection with them when they were children, very
s
young prodigies. One of them . . . these two were not only among his most outstanding students,
but they are also among the most outstanding citizens of Atlanta today. One of them is
e
[William] Billy Schatten.75 The other one is Bobby . . . he's a lawyer . . . he's not Jewish. I can't
iv
think of his name right now. He was with the firm that my son worked for when he first got out
of law school. I can see him now. He's short and has red hair, or at least he did.
Ann: Is he the one who's been involved with the [Atlanta] Opera?
ch
Janice: Yes.
Ann: I know who you're talking about. I can't think of his name either . . .
Janice: . . . thats not important . . . the thing was that . . .
Ann:
Janice:
Ar
. . . through these contacts your mother had access to . . .
. . . yes. Also, I think its significant . . . not that you need the biography of Mr. Hugh.
But one of the great things that he taught me and other people that came in contact with him. I
ily
studied with him with courses that he taught at the University of Georgia. The great thing that he
taught was that a musician could not just be a musician. You had to be well-rounded. He
himself was a great tennis player, a great mathematician, and a fantastic football fan. He
m
instilled this particularly in other people. It could be Bobby [unintelligible: 42:00]. Anyway,
with both of these men, when they were young kids concentrating on their talent, you had to be a
Fa
well-rounded personality. They are living proof that his philosophy worked.
Ann: Your mother then was one of the few Jewish women working in those days?
Janice: I think she must have been. There were some Jewish women who worked in
ba
department stores. That was about the only thing . . . that and teaching school, which you did if
75
William Schatten (1928-1998) was an Atlanta doctor and philanthropist. He was one of the youngest Emory
Cu
medical school graduates, finishing in 1950 at the age of 21. A child prodigy, Schatten originally planned to
become a concert pianist. Instead, he performed plastic surgery and invented surgical techniques. Schatten was
president of Ahavath Achim synagogue and the Atlanta Jewish Federation and a board member of the Atlanta
Symphony Orchestra. Schatten was one of the key supporters in launching a Jewish studies program at Emory and
the Woodruff Library's Schatten Gallery bears his name. For his service he received many honors, including the
Anti-Defamation League's Abe Goldstein Human Relations Award in 1985.

Page 45 of 136
you were not married. I can't think of any married people who did either.
Ann: What do you remember married ladies doing in the Twenties and Thirties?
Janice: Not that they might not have done this if they had no children, the department store
kind of thing. That was about all you did if you were a genteel Jewish lady.
s
Ann: That was acceptable.
Janice: That was acceptable. If you were from an intellectually snobbish family like mine,
e
you didn't consider the department store bit.
iv
Ann: Your mother was a college-educated woman. She hopefully could do something a
little more taxing mentally than that.
Janice: But it was like caste separation. You disdained making money, which is a very
ch
unrealistic way to live. You were supposed to have it, not earn it, which was a terrible
philosophy. I've never liked teaching. I felt very insecure and uncomfortable with it. I didn't
want to learn to teach. Consequently, I didn't learn to do anything that was gainful employment.
I never took it seriously.
Ann:
Ar
What was it like growing up in Atlanta? I started to ask you, what did nice Jewish
ladies do? The friends of your mothers who were not trying to make a living, because their
ily
husbands were doing the job?
Janice: Not only that, but normally if your husband was not doing much of a job as you really
needed, you feltand he probably would have felt, toothat it would diminish him. It would
m
really be a blow to his ego if you went to work. Consequently, in the early days of my marriage,
when we certainly needed more money than we had, it just never even occurred to me. My way
Fa
of doing things was to figure out how to do it for less . . .

Ann: How to get by . . .
Janice: . . . or how to do it myself, if there was something I wanted that was extravagant. It
ba
would never have occurred to me. I suspect that it would have been very unacceptable to the
congregation if I had even considered it. But I didn't think about it then. It was beyond my train
of thought.
Cu
Ann: I'm going to turn over the tape.

<End of Tape 2, Side 1

Page 46 of 136
Ann: This is the second side of the second tape of the interview with Janice Oettinger
Rothschild Blumberg on October 14, 1989. The interviewer is Ann Schoenberg. Were back to
what life was like in Atlanta, Georgia, for you and others in the community in the late 1920's,
early Thirties, when you were growing up.
s
Janice: You were asking about what did "nice" Jewish women, matrons do in those days with
their time. If they had the education and the inclination, they volunteered for such organizations
e
as National Council of Jewish Women or Sisterhood.76 The other major organizations that I can
iv
think of were not here then. Hadassah77 was, but there were very few women among my
acquaintance who belonged. At that time I wasn't aware of any of them. I know that Hannah
[Grossman] Shulhafer78 and Rebecca [Mathis] Gershon79 did belong, which was most unusual
ch
for German-Jewish women in those days. The ones that we knew usually belonged to Sisterhood
and to Council, and some, to the League of Women Voters.80 The educated ones tried to do
serious things. Most of the women played cards or mahjong every afternoon. When I married in
Ar
1946, I thought I was going to have to because my friends were doing that. I tried very hard the
first summer . . . both of the first summers after I married, I was pregnant. I was told very soon
in that first summer that it was unseemly for me to . . . I was told by a member of the
ily
congregation who was very active in the congregation and supposedly a good friend of mine and,
maybe five or six years older than I (what seemed like another generation at the time to me) that
it was unseemly to be at the club pool in that condition. So I had very little to do with my time
m
other than read books. I thought, If I'm going to have to learn to play bridge, this would be a
Fa
76
The Temple Sisterhood offers activities for women members to become involved in congregational life. Projects
include holiday celebrations, special religious school events, and more.
77
Hadassah, the Womens Zionist Organization of America, is a volunteer organization founded in 1912 by
Henrietta Szold, with more than 300,000 members and supporters worldwide. It supports health care and medical
research, education and youth programs in Israel, and advocacy, education, and leadership development in the
ba
United States.
78
Hannah Grossman Shulhafer (1901-1984) was an active leader in the Jewish and general communities as far back
as the 1920s. She engaged in the resettlement of Jewish refugees from Europe and was active in the Civil Rights
Movement. Hannah was a leading figure in the Atlanta Jewish Federation, the Welfare Fund and was a Zionist and
ardent supporter of Israel.
79
Rebecca Mathis Gershon (known as Reb) (1889-1997) was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee but her
Cu
grandparents came from Germany. On a visit to Atlanta she met and later married Harry Gershon. Rebecca Mathis
Gershon was involved in the life of the Jewish community of Atlanta including the National Council of Jewish
Women, the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, Hadassah, as well as in the Civil Rights Movement.
80
A civic organization that was formed by Carrie Chapman Catt in 1920 to help women take a larger role in public
affairs. It does not support or oppose candidates for office at any level of government but rather works to increase
understanding of major public policy issues and to influence public policy through education and advocacy.

Page 47 of 136
good time to do it. I tried. I took lessons. We were living on the upstairs of a duplex that was
owned by our friends, the Marienthals [Stanley and Evelyn], who also lived downstairs. Evie
Marienthal would invite me into her mahjong game every now and then for me to watch. I really
couldn't do it. I just finally gave up on it. I will never forget Evie, may she rest in peace,
s
looking at me just exasperated and saying, But Janice, what are you going to do with your
time? Or, What are you going to do with your life? You know something? I didn't think it
e
was absurd in those days.
iv
Ann: That you had a mental block against mahjong?
Janice: I couldn't do it. I said, I don't know. I guess being a rabbi's wife, I'll stay busy.
There'll be things that I'll need to do. She was dead serious.
ch
Ann: You were serious in your response.
Janice: Yes. I couldn't do it. I felt that it was a perfectly serious response, and not at all
worthy of being sarcastic about. It made sense. But I couldnt do it. I still can't. I can play
Ar
gin,81 not at a party or anything, but with my husband. I did with the rabbi. My present husband
isn't all that crazy about it. I haven't played in years. Once when we got stuck at an airport for a
very, very long time, we played. I beat him because Rabbi Rothschild was a very good card
ily
player, and he taught me to be a reasonably good gin player. But I never enjoyed doing it with
anybody else. If we were just wasting time, I could enjoy it and concentrate on it for maybe 15
minutes, at the most. But I'll never be a card player.
m
Ann: You were an only child?

Janice: Yes.
Fa
Ann: Your mother had been an only child? You have two [children]. Did you not want
your own children to be only children?
Janice: Absolutely. I feel very sorry for my grandson, as he is . . . even if they have more
ba
children, he still has been raised as an only child.

Ann: Because he's old enough now.
Janice: I felt that it was a very . . . I always wanted an older brother.
Cu
Ann: It's hard to get one once you're born.
81
Also known as gin rummy. Gin is a two-player card game. The objective is to score points and reach an agreed
number of points or more, usually 100, before the opponent does.

Page 48 of 136
Janice: That's very true. I will say, I have reached the stage where I very much appreciate
having chosen the right ancestors. You don't really have very much to say about that, either.
When I think about the teeth and the hair, and all of the things that my friends at this stage are
having problems with, I think, They didn't have an older brother for me, but they sure had good
s
genes.
Ann: It's a shame they didn't pass them to more people, that's all.
e
Janice: Yes, that's true. Shame I didn't. I'm beginning to regret that myself.
iv
Ann: Tell me more about your mother. Obviously she must have been . . . though she was
somewhat preoccupied by her need to bring some money into the family coffers . . . Nonetheless
she must have been a real pillar of the community. What was life like with her?
ch
Janice: Wild. She wasn't a pillar of the community. She really wasn't. When you say
community you better define it . . .
Ann: . . . I am talking, first of all, the Jewish community.
Janice:
Ann:
Janice:
She was totally out of it.
Why?
Ar
I think it was a combination of how she was raised, and then the influence of my
ily
paternal grandfather, which was very Universalist. I have a feeling that if they had lived in
Boston, I probably would not have been raised as a Jew. I would have known I was Jewish, but I
might have been sent to an ethical culture Sunday school, or something like that.
m
Ann: Has that whole family fallen away from Judaism?

Janice: No, they haven't. There's not that much of a family. There are my two first cousins.
Fa
They've never had any really close connection, insofar as you would need to have to feel part of
the community. Their disorientation, I don't think stems from the same thing that my mother's
side of the family, and therefore mine, because they were the ones who influenced my
ba
upbringing. They were disoriented, I think, as a result of Classical Reform Judaism and [were]
isolated in that way. The other side of my family, I think it was the Universalist, idealist,
Bostonian syndrome. As I understand it, my great-grandfather got angry with the congregation
Cu
that he had helped to found, and got out of it. I don't even know that they belonged to a
congregation during my father's upbringing. It was just kind of [like] belonging to the
Mushroom Pickers Society kind of thing. They did [belong] . . . my grandfather . . . that was on

Page 49 of 136
a totally different plane.

Ann: The lack of real understanding of Judaism, or a firm grounding in Jewish education,
was that what was lacking . . . ?
Janice: Absolutely.
s
Ann: . . . because of the Classical Reform syndrome?
Janice: Not just the Classical Reform. You could both believe in Classical Reform and be
e
well grounded in it, and be in the kind of position in that community that would keep you very
iv
much tied to the community. This did not happen with my parents. I guess because when they
came to Atlanta . . . Columbus had a very small German-Jewish community. They thought of
themselves as part of the total community. Even though they had organizations like the Century
ch
Club and the Sisterhood, and they belonged to a congregation . . . although this is another thing .
. . my grandfather was on the board of the Temple in Columbus at the time they decided to fire
my great-grandfather. They did not invite my grandfather to that meeting, out of consideration
for him. He was so angry and so . . .
Ann:
Janice:
. . . incensed . . .
Ar
. . . incensed and insulted, that they would feel that because this was his father-in-law
ily
that they were talking about that he couldn't make an unbiased judgment, which of course he
couldn't have. But he thought he could have. He was so angry with them, not for firing his
father-in-law, but for not inviting him, that he walked out of the whole place. My mother didn't
m
have any real Jewish upbringing either you see, as a result of that. Although the identity with
who she was . . . even that in a small town where you're part of the WASP [White Anglo-Saxon
Fa
Protestant]82 community, while they weren't really a part of it, they had close friends within it . . .
Ann: They had intellectual ties with them because of . . . .
Janice: . . . their friends and their neighbors. It was a small, friendly town, Southern
ba
community. They felt part of that community. When Mother came here to live . . . I say mother
as if I didn't have a father. I certainly did, but the poor guy never really opened his mouth.
Mother came to Atlanta with connections of Reb Gershon and Hannah Shulhafer, these friends
Cu
that she had either known at college, or through one of them. Josephine [Joel] Heyman.83 These
82
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) is an informal, sometimes disparaging term, used to describe a closed
circle of high-status and highly influential white Americans of English Protestant ancestry.
83
Josephine (Jo) Joel Heyman (1901-1993) was a Jewish civic and political activist in Atlanta. During the 1930s,

Page 50 of 136
were her friends. Her relatives . . . Alene Fox Uhry,84 was a lot younger than mother. I dont
was married . . . in fact, I know she wasn't married when my parents first came.
Ann: What year did they come to Atlanta?
Janice: In 1924, or maybe 1923.
s
Ann: Just before you were born.
Janice: Just before I was born. Mother had these relatives . . . the Haases . . .
e
Ann: . . . the Guthmans . . .
iv
Janice: Yes. They were nice to my parents . . . particularly close friends that my great-
grandmother, through this activity that she was in, retained mutual close friendships with Cissy
[Clara Rosenfeld] Sommerfield. Does this name mean anything? Clara.
ch
Ann: Yes.
Janice: She was founder of the Council. She and my great-grandmother were very, very close
friends. Who else?
Ann:
Janice:
They had significant . . .
Ar
They were wonderful to my parents. It seems almost ludicrous now, but the Kaisers . .
. Matt Kaiser . . . the Kaiser family were close friends with my family in those days. They
ily
actually turned Catholic or something. There were twins . . . brother and sister twins. I know
that the sister converted to Catholicism. I think the brother did, too. He was married to a
Catholic. His daughter, Frances, grew up and was in school with me. Her mother was a born
m
Catholic and so was she, and very devout. The sister married a Schwab. Her children are . . .
one of them is more or less Jewish now. The one that is [Jewish] is really a terrific person. Not
Fa
that the other one isn't. I just don't know her as well. This is Nancy Pendergrast, the other
daughter, has been a wonderful addition to the Atlanta community, but certainly is not Jewish . . .
. . has no concept of being, as liberal and open-minded as she is.
ba
Ann: Southern cross . . .
she conducted night classes to teach Holocaust refugees English. When the Association of Southern Women for the
Prevention of Lynching expanded, she became an active member. In the 1940s she was one of five women
Cu
founders of the United Nations Association of Atlanta. She and her friend, Eleanor Raoul Greene, started the
DeKalb County chapter of the League of Women Voters. In the 1960s, she turned her efforts to promoting racial
desegregation. She also gave years of service and leadership in the National Council of Jewish Women and
Hadassah.
84
Alene Fox Uhry is Alfred Uhrys mother. Alenes mother was Lena Guthman Fox. Lena was the model for the
character Miss Daisy in Driving Miss Daisy by her grandson, Alfred Uhry.

Page 51 of 136
Janice: Yes. Getting back to the reason I started to mention them was that these families, who
were very close to my family on my grandparents' level, when my parents moved here, they
welcomed them. They were very kind and lovely to them. Yet gradually, because of the
difference in age, and a growing difference in economic conditions, all of this meant that by the
s
time I came along and was old enough to be aware of anything, my mother really was not part of
anything. She had these Jewish friends, but she certainly was not part of the Jewish community.
e
By that time, she had gotten this fixation with Hugh Hodgson. In order to help him as a
iv
secretary, she sang in the St. Luke's choir. When I was five or six years old, and getting ready to
go to Sunday school, the present Temple was just being built. The other one was on the other
side of town, and it was very inconvenient. Mother found the whole idea of having to take me to
ch
two different places . . . to one place, and then go someplace else on Sunday morning, was
terrible. I guess she learned from my father's family, the Universalists, that we all worship one
G-d. So mother gave me my choice of where I wanted to go. My great-grandmother, fortunately
Ar
for me, for my progeny, heard of this before I made a decision. She bribed me to go to the
Temple. I dont have any specific memories of this myself . . .
Ann: What was the carrot?
ily
Janice: Mother has told this story so many times. I remember Mother giving me my choice,
but I don't remember the bribe. Apparently she offered to give me a nice allowance, if I would
pick the Temple.
m
Ann: If you chose the Temple over St. Luke's?

Janice: Yes. How about that?
Fa
Ann: It's interesting for a future rabbi's wife, and mother of a rabbi.
Janice: Yes. This was a rabbi's wife, my great-grandmother was. She was horrified, but the
family just had no concept, by that time, they had no concept of Jewish community. It wasn't
ba
only Classical Reform that did it, it was also being in the South, and away from the kind of
overwhelming Jewish community that would have . . .
Ann: . . . or reinforcing . . . I would call that reinforcing that overwhelming . . . if you're in a
Cu
community with a significant number of Jewish people and institutions, it's reinforcing.
Janice: In recent years, I have met, or re-met in different contexts, people of my generation, or

Page 52 of 136
perhaps a little bit older, who were staunch, even to this day, staunch anti-Zionists.85 They could
not understand how I, being brought up the way I was, became pro-Israel, and as identified as I
feel with what goes on there. Yet, they felt alienated from everything that was going on in their
congregations. Neither one of them lived in Atlanta. I'm sure there are people like that here, too.
s
They just didn't discuss it with me. They were people who, for some reason, were kept close to
the congregation. I wasn't. Even though I went to Sunday school, and even though Dr. Marx
e
patted me on the head, and singled me out for special attention because I was the great-
iv
granddaughter of his colleague, I didn't feel part of this. The people whose families went to
services, for example, even in those days of Classical Reform, had this connection with the
Temple. It meant something to them.
ch
Ann: It meant something different to them.
Janice: It didn't mean anything to me. It really didn't.
Ann: Something you had to do on Sunday?
Janice:
didn't learn anything, either.
Ann: Did you take it seriously?
Ar
No, I didn't look at it that way. It was a social thing. I don't think we hated it. We
ily
Janice: No. I don't think anybody did. It was just something we did, just like going to school.
Ann: What was it like going to Sunday school? You said you didn't learn anything. What
were you supposed to be doing? Were there volunteer teachers or paid teachers?
m
Janice: I think they were volunteers . . . I'm quite sure they were. Some of them . . .
Ann: Did they know anything about Jewishness and Judaism and Jewish history?
Fa
Janice: I'm sure some of them did. The ones that I remember in my adulthood, where I really
thought about that, were undoubtedly brought up by Dr. Marx in Classical Reform and knew
very little. They never really got beyond . . . I don't remember getting beyond biblical history in
ba
Sunday school. Although we brought in current events, which meant that you grabbed the
Southern Israelite86 on your way out of the house. In the car on the way over you were tearing
Cu
85
Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism, broadly defined in the modern era as the opposition to the ethno-
nationalist and political movement of Jews and Jewish culture that supports the establishment of a Jewish state in the
territory defined as the historic Land of Israel.
86
Rabbi H. Cerf Straus established the Southern Israelite as a temple bulletin in Augusta, Georgia in 1925. The
publication was so popular he expanded it into a monthly newspaper. Later in the decade, Straus sold the paper to
Herman Dessauer and Sara B. Simmons, who moved the paper to Atlanta, where it began circulating state-wide and

Page 53 of 136
out an article. There was absolutely nothing between the Fall of Jerusalem [in 586 BCE]87 . . . in
fact, I don't even remember getting that far.
Ann: In 1938 . . .
Janice: I dont remember getting beyond the Fall of . . . I dont remember getting that far. I
s
remember the early Bible stories, the ones that are . . .
Ann: . . . Joshua and Jonah and the whale . . .
e
Janice: . . . vaguely something about Hannah and her sons.88 It was a total disaster.
iv
Ann: How many years did you go to Sunday school? You said you were about five or six
when you started?
Janice: Yes.
ch
Ann: I guess you didn't . . . did you do the holiday cycle?
Janice: Not as many holidays as we have today.
Ann: Funny how that should happen that way.
Janice:
Ar
Yes. I'm not referring to Israel Independence Day.89 Not even counting that one. We
ily
m
eventually throughout the South. In 1930, M. Stephen Schiffer, a former employee of the Atlanta Georgian, took
Fa
over as owner of the Southern Israelite. The paper not only covered the news of the Southern Jewry, but also the
issues that involved Jewish populations throughout the nation and world, including the Holocaust and later the
creation of the Jewish state of Israel. In October of 1934, the Southern Israelite began publishing a weekly edition,
supplemented by a monthly magazine edition. Ownership was turned over to a corporation headed by editor Adolph
Rosenberg in 1951. The monthly edition was discontinued in 1973 in favor of the weekly edition. In 1987, the paper
changed its name from the Southern Israelite to the Atlanta Jewish Times.
ba
87
In 586 BCE the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem, burned down the Temple, tore down the city walls, and drove
the surviving Israelites to Babylon to be slaves (called the Babylonian Exile). The exile ended in 538 BCE when
the Persian conqueror of Babylon, Cyrus the Great, gave the Jews permission to return to Judah.
88
Hannah is the wife of Elkanah mentioned in the Book of Samuel. In the biblical narrative, Hannah is one of two
wives of Elkanah. The other, Peninnah, bore children, but Hannah remained childless. One day Hannah went up to
the temple, and prayed with great weeping while Eli the High Priest was sitting near the doorpost. In her prayer she
Cu
asked G-d for a son and in return she vowed to give the son back to G-d for the service of the Shiloh priests. Eli
thought she was drunk and questioned her. When she explained herself, he effectively said that her prayer would be
granted. As promised, she conceived and had a son. She named him Samuel. Hannah is also considered to be a
prophetess, because in this biblical passage she foretells history.
89
Many Jewish Americans remember Israels Independence Day, also known as Yom HaAtzmaut. Celebrations are
annually held on or around the fifth day of the month of Iyar, according to the Jewish calendar.

Page 54 of 136
did know something about the Maccabees.90 We did know about Esther.91
Ann: Did you do anything about it at home?
Janice: Absolutely nothing at home. Once, my father . . . I don't think my mother went along .
. . took me to a public seder92 at the Temple. That was the only seder I ever went to until starting
s
having them . . . or until I married because for many years we didn't have our own: seder was at
the Temple. We were told about lighting the candles on Friday night, but nobody did it.
e
Ann You never went to services on Shabbat?93
iv
Janice: Once or twice I remember I went with Reb Gershon.
Ann: You never said Kaddish94 for relatives?
Janice: I didn't know what Kaddish was. As a matter of fact, to this day, to this day, I have to
ch
look at the book and the transliteration and read it. The other prayers I read in Hebrew, but I
have to look at the transliteration because I get so bollixed up with it because . . .
Ann: . . . its Aramaic . . .
Janice:
Ar
No, its not that the Aramaic is that different. Its just that women didn't say Kaddish.
ily
90
The Maccabees were the leaders of a Jewish rebel army that took control of Judea, which at the time had been a
province of the Seleucid Empire. They founded the Hasmonean dynasty, which ruled from 164 BCE to 63 BCE.
They reasserted the Jewish religion, expanded the boundaries of Judea and reduced the influence of Hellenism and
Hellenistic Judaism. The Jewish festival of Hanukkah celebrates the re-dedication of the Temple following Judah
Maccabee's victory. According to Rabbinic tradition, the victorious Maccabees could only find a small jug of sacred
m
oil that had remained uncontaminated by virtue of a seal, and although it only contained enough oil to sustain the
Menorah for one day, it miraculously lasted for eight days, by which time further oil could be procured.
91
Esther (originally named Hadassah, meaning myrtle in Hebrew) was heroine of the biblical Book of Esther.
She was a Jewish queen of the Persian king Ahasuerus, traditionally identified with Xerxes I during the time of the
Fa
Achaemenid Empire. Through her courage, the lives of her people, the Jews of the Persian Empire, were spared. Her
story is the basis for the celebration of the Jewish holiday of Purim.
92
Seder (meaning order in Hebrew) is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of
Passover. It is conducted on the evening of the fifteenth day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar throughout the world.
Some communities hold seder on both the first two nights of Passover. The seder incorporates prayers, candle
lighting, and traditional foods symbolizing the slavery of the Jews and the exodus from Egypt. It is one of the most
ba
colorful and joyous occasions in Jewish life.

93
Shabbat (Hebrew for Sabbath) is the Jewish day of rest and is observed on Saturdays. Shabbat observance
entails refraining from work activities and engaging in restful activities to honor the day. Shabbat begins at
sundown on Friday night and is ushered in by lighting candles and reciting a blessing. It is closed the following
evening with the recitation of the havdalah blessing.
94
Kaddish (Hebrew for holy) is a hymn of praises to G-d found in the Jewish prayer service that is recited aloud
Cu
while standing. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of G-d's name. Along with
the Shema and Amidah, the Kaddish is one of the most important and central elements in the Jewish liturgy.
Mourner's Kaddish is said at all prayer services and certain other occasions. Following the death of a parent, child,
spouse, or sibling it is customary to recite the Mourner's Kaddish in the presence of a congregation daily for 30 days,
or 11 months in the case of a parent, and then at every anniversary of the death. It is important to note that the
Mourner's Kaddish does not mention death at all, but instead praises G-d.

Page 55 of 136
None of them said it. As I remember, the rabbi read the Kaddish.
Ann: And if you had yahrzeit95 you stood up.
Janice: You stood, but that was it.
Ann: You didn't say it. You just stood up?
s
Janice: I suppose the men who knew it said it. The women didn't know it and didn't say it. I
don't remember ever standing up. I must have after my father died, but I just don't even
e
remember that . . . even in Rabbi Rothschild's day. He was brought up in Classical Reform. The
iv
big thing that made a difference with him was that he knew he was Jewish. His job, as he saw it,
was to teach Judaism. The things we might consider Zionist . . . or going back to Orthodoxy
or all these tags that people put on things . . . were really in his mind just teaching the
ch
congregation to be Jewish. He himself was very much in the mold of the way Classical Reform
was taught in a community where they really retained Jewishness.
Ann: What was the distinction? He grew up in Pittsburgh?
Janice:
Ann:
Yes.
Ar
What was the distinction between the way his congregation taught and brought along
the congregation, as opposed to the way Rabbi Marx taught and brought along the congregation
ily
here at the Temple? Both of them apparently [were] Classical Reform and both in the same
general time period.
Janice: For one thing, both Rabbi Rothschild's rabbis when he was growing up, Rabbi
m
[Samuel S.] Goldenson and his uncle, who was the long-time rabbi in Kansas City [Missouri] . . .
[Rabbi] Sam[uel] Mayerberg,96 were both activist rabbis. They both spoke out. Mayerberg, as a
Fa
95
Anniversary in Hebrew. Each year the anniversary of the death of a relative is observed by lighting a special
yahrzeit candle and reciting the Kaddish. Memorial services for the dead are also held during the High Holy Days
ba
and the Festivals.

96
Samuel Mayerberg received his degree from Hebrew Union College in 1917. Mayerberg served as the assistant
rabbi at Temple Beth-El in Detroit, Michigan and as a rabbi at Congregation BNai Jeshurun in Dayton, Ohio. In
1928 Mayerberg went to Kansas City, Missouri as rabbi of Temple Bnai Jehudah. He took up the case of Joe
Hershon, a young Jewish man who had been sentenced to death after his conviction in the murder of a police officer.
Mayerberg was unsuccessful in persuading authorities to commute Hershons sentence to life imprisonment, and
Cu
accompanied him to the gallows. Mayerberg became known for his courageous opposition to the corrupt
Pendergast machine which dominated Kansas City politics for years. He began his crusade against the Pendergast
regime in 1932. Mayerberg received death threats, was assigned bodyguards by the governor of Missouri, and slept
with a pistol beneath his pillow. When the Pendergast regime toppled in the 1940s, Mayerberg was seen as one of
its earliest and most outspoken opponents. Mayerberg continued his work at Temple BNai Jehudah until his
retirement in 1960.

Page 56 of 136
matter of fact, was called the pistol-packing rabbi. When he fought the Pendergast Machine,97
he had to carry a pistol for protection. So Rabbi Rothschild had that as an inspiration. I think the
real difference is the concept about what was Jewish. Dr. Marx would have agreed with that,
too.
s
Ann: You said he had been an activist within the community, even here in Atlanta.
Janice: I really think it was the emphasis on blending into the woodwork that they had in the
e
South. First of all, it was a so much smaller community here. Secondly, the trauma of the Frank
iv
case made it even worse.
Ann: I was getting ready to ask you that because I had a feeling that may have made a
difference.
ch
Janice: I think it greatly accentuated it. It may, by the time Rabbi Rothschild came here, or by
the time I grew up, even though I wasn't aware of it. Sure.
Ann: Everybody had run scared.
Janice:
Ar
Yes. It made it much worse in Atlanta. Still, you can go throughout the South and
you don't find many of the old families who had the same positive feeling. You find somebut
not manythat have the same positive feeling towards being aware of what was going on among
ily
Jews in other parts of the world. I think it probably was to do with economics, too. Take
Pittsburgh, for example, because we were talking about that. In that congregation, Rodef
Shalom,98 there were a number of very big philanthropists who, because of their ability to give,
m
were much more aware of what was going on and the needs of Jews in other parts of the world.
Whereas here, way back at the inception of the congregation 122 years ago, they contributed
Fa
money to terrible things that were happening to Jews someplace else. It wasn't as though by the
time we got up to 1920 . . . they weren't really . . .
ba
97
The Pendergast machineone of many in large cities across the United Stateswas run by two brothers, Tom
and Jim Pendergast. Political bosses and their machine organizations operating in large American cities at the
turn of the century enjoyed strong support among the poor and immigrants, who returned the favor by voting for the
bosses preferred candidates. For immigrants and the poor in many large United States cities, the political boss
represented a source of patronage jobs. To urban reformers of the early twentieth century, the bosses and their
Cu
organizations personified political corruption. The Pendergast Machine controlled Kansas City politics for nearly 40
years. It was also famous because an early beneficiary of the Pendergast machine was Harry S. Truman, who
eventually became the nations 33rd president.
98
Rodef Shalom began around 1855 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as an Orthodox congregation. In 1863, a
transformation began when Rabbi Isaac M. Wise, a founder of Reform Judaism in America, came to Pittsburgh. The
congregation, shortly after his visit, voted to affiliate with Reform Judaism.

Page 57 of 136
Ann: . . . attuned to that . . .

Janice: . . . that attuned to it. They were starting. It was the beginning of the real community
here. But in those days, the real community that had the real ties to Europe and to Palestine were
mostly the Eastern Europeans. This was not generally true in the North.
s
Ann: Was the German-Jewish population intimately involved in what eventually became
Federation? Or were those people who were early leaders of . . .
e
Janice: . . . yes, absolutely, because they were . . . the local philanthropy now . . . understand
iv
I'm talking about two different things. You take care of your own . . . if you're Jewish, you take
care of your own. You may not want him to date your daughter, but you take care of him.
Ann: This is true of the Spanish, the Sephardic99 group, who came, as well as those who
ch
came from Eastern Europe?
Janice: I think so. The Sephardim wanted to keep to themselves. It's only in very recent years
that they have intermarried to any extent and expanded. They wanted to keep their own culture.
Ar
As far as I know, there was always a very good relationship. It was not a question of mixing or
being excluded with them because it was kind of a mutual thing. They were small, closely knit .
..
ily
Ann: They would just as soon stay small.
Janice: It was a different culture, but it was a well-respected culture. Because of the hordes of
Eastern Europeans who came, and the terrible conditions that they came from, they gave the
m
German-Jewish community the impression of being the great unwashed. They would do for
them because they were Jewish, but they didn't want to have anything to do with them. You can
Fa
understand how this impression . . . I wouldn't say it was justified . . . but how they got the
impression and certainly how they got it. The further away from the port cities . . . they got it
because the people who had the most means and the most education who came from Eastern
ba
Europe didn't come to Atlanta, Georgia. Occasionally you found people who did, but that was
much later after the impression was already formed. I think that when people like the Levitases,
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99
Sephardic Jews are the Jews of Spain, Portugal, North Africa and the Middle East and their descendants. The
adjective Sephardic and corresponding nouns Sephardi (singular) and Sephardim (plural) are derived from the
Hebrew word Sepharad,which refers to Spain. Historically, the vernacular language of Sephardic Jews was
Ladino, a Romance language derived from Old Spanish, incorporating elements from the old Romance languages of
the Iberian Peninsula, Hebrew, Aramaic, and in the lands receiving those who were exiled, Ottoman Turkish,
Arabic, Greek, Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian vocabulary.

Page 58 of 136
for example, and others whose names I can't think of offhand, came with their culture, the
division was already there.
Ann: In existence. . .
Janice: They did come out and become community leaders. But in the meantime, the people
s
who had been the Jewish community leaders and also the liaisons were definitely the German-
Jewish community. Of course, they welcomed the others, but by that time there was such a rift
e
that they were not going to get together socially for another two generations.
iv
Ann: You mentioned the Eplan family100 earlier as being people . . .
Janice: They were among the first who were really involved in the city, the civic work. We
use community in a number of different ways. Sometimes it gets a little blurred.
ch
Ann: To go back to Dr. Marx and his own involvement with the general community, one of
the reasons that he had been brought into Atlanta's German-Jewish Temple as the rabbi was
because of his own penchant for generalizing, or having a more socially active outlook, or
general community outlook, right?
Janice:
Ann:
No, I don't think so.
You dont think so?
Ar
ily
Janice: No. For one thing, he was American born. He was the first American born that they
had. It wasnt very often . . . there were not many American-born ordained rabbis in those days.
Ann: This is was in the 1890's?
m
Janice: In 1895. That was a big thing. But the biggest thing was that the congregation had
never really determined before whether it wanted to go with the more traditional or . . . by that
Fa
time the Classical Reform was becoming so distinct that it was really alienating a lot of people
that didn't agree with it.
Ann: Where did those people . . .
ba
Janice: Also, Zionism was beginning. It hadn't really started as an international movement
yet, but you were beginning to hear about colonies in Palestine. The congregation had been
going back and forth, depending upon which way the rabbi at that particular moment wanted to
Cu
lead them between one prayer book . . . for example, there were different prayer books . . . and
The Eplan family has a long history of service to the City of Atlanta, and in particular, to Atlantas Jewish
100
community. The patriarch was Samuel Leon Eplan followed by his son, Leon Samuel Eplan.

Page 59 of 136
whether they wanted to belong to the Union. They were one of the first to join the Union of
American Hebrew Congregations. But they werent . . . then there was a faction that didn't like
what was happening with the Union, and didn't want that. So there was all this controversy
going on in the congregation. The rabbi who was here at the time they chose Dr. Marx . . . he
s
was one who had pulled them further toward traditional. There was a reaction with this. The
reactionists won. They wanted to plant definitely themselves firmly in the new movement of
e
Reform. That was the main thing: that he was American born, and he was Reform trained and
iv
inclined.
Ann: Where did the others go? The ones who had not agreed with, and who had objected to
following the line of Dr. Marx? Certainly, once he got here it was obvious . . .
ch
Janice: There wasn't any place to go.
Ann: Thats why I asked.
Janice: I shouldn't say that because the AA [Ahavath Achim]101 had started actually as a
Ar
congregation. I don't think they had their building yet, but they had started in 1887 as a
congregation that met in the basement of the Temple. This was not the kind of congregation that
you think about today. In the days when there were only two main congregations here in
ily
Atlanta, if you got mad at one you could go to the other. It wasn't that kind of a congregation yet
in those days. Whereas, one member of the Temple I know . . . [Isaac A.] Hirshberg, whose
descendants became so ultra-Reform . . . among the most ultra. Hirshberg was one that I know
m
of who, from the beginning of the other congregation, belonged to it and affiliated. He was one
of the wealthier men in this congregation so he did not resign. But he was the one person who
Fa
knew Hebrew. He always closed his store on Shabbat and was really observant. When another
congregation that was traditional formed in Atlanta, he joined it. That was where his heart . . .
that was where he worshipped, even though he never resigned from the Temple. I imagine that
ba
there were other people like that who wanted to, that I don't know about.
Ann: I was curious because the original Temple Benevolent Congregation had this
dichotomy in its earliest years . . . I wondered what had happened once they planted themselves,
Cu
101
Ahavath Achim was founded in 1887 in a small room on Gilmer Street. In 1920 they moved to a permanent
building at the corner of Piedmont and Gilmer Street. The final service in that building was held in 1958 to make
way for construction of the Downtown Connector (the concurrent section of Interstate 75 and Interstate 85 through
Atlanta). The synagogue moved to its current location on Peachtree Battle Avenue in 1958.

Page 60 of 136
as you say, firmly in the fold of the Classical Reform movement. That must have left some
people outside. Did they just fall totally away from Judaism? Or did they find a home at AA or
Shearith Israel102 eventually . . . ?
Janice: Thats a good question
s
Ann: . . . in AA or Shearith Israel eventually. I was just curious.
Janice: That's a question I really ought to know the answer to. But I don't. I must try to find
e
out. I know that in much later days when Zionism became a really important life-saving
iv
philosophy, and Dr. Marx was preaching more and more consistently against it, that that
definitely sent some people over to other congregations. As I understand it . . .
Ann: In the 1930's or even later than that?
ch
Janice: Even earlier than that. I've heard stories about Eastern Europeans who came. They
went to talk to Dr. Marx, as the prominent rabbi in town, to help them get settled. They were so
turned off by him. One story that I heard, and I really don't doubt that it's true. It was probably
there.
Ann: Was he senile?
Ar
one of many was that he actually said, You don't belong here. You belong over there. Go over
ily
Janice: I don't think so. He certainly wasn't senile in 1912, or whenever it was that these
people were talking about. I dont think he was at all. He may have been in the later years. He
didn't get out at all. My husband visited him. After Rabbi Rothschild had been here and
m
suffered for ten years and Dr. Marx finally made up with him. By that time he was more or less
house-ridden and did very little. Rabbi Rothschild visited him at home. I never asked him what
Fa
he was like.
Ann: When did Rabbi Rothschild actually take over? Had Dr. Marx . . .
Janice: From the moment he set foot in the Temple.
ba
Ann: Thats what I was trying to ask you.

Janice: That was why they didn't get along because Dr. Marx didn't realize that he had really
Cu
102
Founded in 1904, Shearith Israel began as a congregation that met in the homes of congregants until 1906 when
they began using a Methodist church on Hunter Street. After World War II, Rabbi Tobias Geffen moved the
congregation to University Drive, where it became the first synagogue in DeKalb County. In the 1960s, they
removed the barrier between the mens and womens sections in the sanctuary, and officially became affiliated with
the Conservative movement in 2002.

Page 61 of 136
retired.
Ann: That was in 1946?
Janice: Yes. Anybody less tenacious and less strong . . .
Ann: . . . strong-willed or strong personality or . . .
s
Janice: . . . and also [not] as smart than Rabbi Rothschild, I don't think would have made it.
You've got to be more than bull-headed. You've got to also have a really good sense of timing
e
and discretion and . . .
iv
Ann: . . . know how to handle it all . . .
Janice: . . . before you can really hang in there. I guess this was good practice for the civil
rights problems, once he had honed his talents on just staying above water here at the Temple
ch
with that situation he probably . . .
Ann: Was there a considerably large faction at the Temple that really opposed Rabbi
Rothschild though? I'm talking about his coming in, not his attitudes later, or anything else.
Janice:
Ann:
Janice:
Ar
Oh, no. I think they were delighted . . .
Surely they must have realized. Dr. Marx was very elderly.
No, no. The opposition didn't start until after he got here. Dr. Marx, I think, was
ily
really fomenting it. I shouldn't blame it all on him because whereas he . . . this happens in any
congregation. I think it would have . . . even to some extent it did happen here after Rabbi
Rothschild died. I couldn't sneak into Loehmanns [department store] without finding . . .
m
several years after I married without . . . and didnt live in Atlanta anymore . . . having somebody
come up [to me]. After the initial greeting and I'm so glad to see you, they would start talking
Fa
about Rabbi [Alvin] Sugarman, and how he wasn't as good a preacher. All I could say and I
really did say this. I just couldnt resist saying it. Whenever anybody said to me, He can't
speak like Rabbi Rothschild did. So help me I said it, It's too bad you didn't take more
ba
advantage of that when you had Rabbi Rothschild. People just like to talk. If the old rabbi is
not deceased but is still around . . . you cant help . . . retirement . . . everybody knows this
happens with any kind of retirement.
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Ann: Any business.

Janice: Yes. You get your dander up and you get hurt. I got hurt. After Rabbi Rothschild
died, unfortunately, big mouth enough, then I spoke to the proper people directly. I got over it.

Page 62 of 136
This is a syndrome of retirement. If the person . . .

Ann: It's hard to let go.
Janice: Yes. If that person is still around, its easy to understand . . . the flattery is wonderful.
You start to believe it, because you desperately need to believe it. Of course, nobody is
s
completely faultless. I'm sure that there were things that Rabbi Rothschild did that were
offensive . . . would have been offensive to anybody. He had a very brusque personality. You
e
don't always see everybody in a crowd and speak to everybody. Not because you don't like that
iv
person, but because you just didn't see him. There were lots of things that offended people. This
gathered and it was a great big storm that gathered. They did almost got rid of him.
Ann: Did they?
ch
Janice: Yes. As a matter of fact, we used to joke about it at the time. That's the only thing to
do. You either laugh or cry, so we laughed. But we felt they were too lethargic about giving . . .
spending money or doing anything. That they didn't really care that much about the Temple to
it would have entailed for them.

Ann:
Ar
make a change . . . even a change they wanted to make. They were smart enough to know what
It was either too much work or too much money. They weren't willing to invest either
ily
one?
Janice: That's exactly right. So we would sort of joke about it. It evidently happened that
way. Eventually, you survive.
m
<End of Tape 2, Side 2>

Fa
Ann: This is Ann Hoffman Schoenberg interviewing Janice Oettinger Rothschild Blumberg
on February 25, 1994, in Atlanta, Georgia, for the Jewish Oral History Project of Atlanta, as co-
sponsored by the American Jewish Committee, the Atlanta Jewish Federation, and the National
ba
Council of Jewish Women. This is the third tape in a series of tapes that were begun back in
1989. This is the first side. We were going over some clarification of Janice's family history. I
decided that maybe we better do this on the tape. This is clarification primarily from the second
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tape which was done in October 1989. There was some confusion in my mind, and therefore I
thought we ought to at least do this on the tape as we try to clarify it so it will hopefully be clear
to scholars in the future. There was a block of information concerning Janices mother's

Page 63 of 136
mother's family. That was the Weil family who came to the United States in the 1840's from
Alsace and Darmstadt [Germany], correct?
Janice: Yes, except that you missed a generation or two.
Ann: We went on back . . . youre talking about going back to the 1840s . . .
s
Janice: The ones who emigrated were the great-grandparents of my mother.
Ann: Eventually they were related to the Herman Haases?
e
Janice: Yes.
iv
Ann: Would you explain the relationship because it relates to how they ended up in Atlanta,
Georgia.
Janice: Mrs. Herman Haas . . . its has by the way, in Atlanta its has . . . and my great-
ch
great-grandfather, Moses Weil, were sister and brother. That's it.
Ann: They came south because . . . ?
Janice: I guess because business beckoned. They came in through the port of Philadelphia
Ar
[Pennsylvania]. They stopped for a while there, as many immigrants did there. Then because
there was this brother and his family in Evansville, Indiana. I think there were two children at
that time in the Haas family. They went there [to Indiana] so the Haas gentleman could safely
ily
leave his family with family while he went out and peddled, and earned enough to get some
place where he could do better. Then they went south. There's a wonderful narrative, which I'm
sure that the archives must have. The Haas son, Aaron Haas, wrote about his own memory of
m
coming south. That's how I know about it. When my great-grandfather, the son-in-law of this
couple I'm talking about, wanted a pulpit in Atlanta or South or somewhere, these relatives were
Fa
living in Atlanta. They were prominent members of the Jewish community and brought him
here. That was the beginning.
Ann: That rabbis name?
ba
Janice: They called him Alphabet Browne. His name was Edward Benjamin Morris
Browne. He had a number of degrees that he put afterwards: LLD, DD, MD. He was known in
the trade as Alphabet Browne . . . People mistake the history of my family sometimes by
Cu
thinking that we started in Atlanta then. We did. But my particular ancestors were only here for
those four years that he was rabbi at the Temple. Then they left. My mother was born in
Columbus, Georgia. Her parents never left Columbus, Georgia. My own parents . . . nobody

Page 64 of 136
really settled in Atlanta in my family until just before I was born in 1924. We're not really an old
Atlanta family.
Ann: But you're an old Georgia family?
Janice: Yes . . .
s
Ann: You have deep roots in . . .
Janice: . . . from my grandfather's family in Macon.
e
Ann: That's your mother's father's family?
iv
Janice: That's right.
Ann: They were Goldbergs, originally?
Janice: No, they were Waxelbaums. Mr. Goldberg . . . I don't know very much about him.
ch
My great-grandmother was widowed with a small child. You know how marriages were
arranged. She was probably not in Oswego [New York], but somewhere near there like Syracuse
or someplace like that in New York State. Because of family connections . . . thats too long to
Ar
go into now and I'm not that accurate on it without looking at my notes . . . but I did trace it at
one time . . . there was a relative Goldberg who had a store in Oswego which is a port on the lake
[Lake Ontario]. A marriage was arranged.
ily
Ann: A shidduch?103
Janice: Yes. She stayed there. Then something happened to the city of Oswego during that
time when she was having her four children with great-grandfather Goldberg. The family, as did
m
most of the other Jews and many non-Jews, moved out. Our family moved to Rochester [New
York]. When great-grandfather Goldberg died and left her with all of these children, she went
Fa
home to her family. I don't think this had ever been her home. I think her family emigrated and
came directly to Macon. She had not been to Macon until this happened. She brought the whole
family down. That's when we started in Georgia.
ba
Ann: At the time she came, most of her relatives were the Waxelbaums? Was that her
maiden name?
Janice: This was her family name, yes. Marian and Gus Kaufmann . . . Marian Waxelbaum
Cu
Kaufmann in Macon have done a very interesting family history of these seven sisters and
103
Shidduch is a system of matchmaking in which Jewish singles are introduced to one another in Orthodox Jewish
communities for the purpose of marriage. A shidduch often begins with a recommendation from family members,
friends or others who see matchmaking as a mitzvah, or commandment.

Page 65 of 136
brothers who emigrated from Furth, Germany [German: Frth] at the same time, but they went
different places. One of them was my great-great-grandmother. That's how that branch of the
family got to Macon.
Ann: Your own mother . . . she was born . . . ?
s
Janice: In 1901 in Columbus [Georgia].
Ann: In Columbus. She went to Smith College, correct?
e
Janice Yes, for a very short time. She left to get married. She finished up at Boston
iv
University, but she would always have said that she went to Smith. She leaves the rest of it out.
She was a loyal Smith devotee.
Ann: We're going to start with your own history . . . <monologue about her intent in
ch
interview > What was it like growing up in Atlanta?
Janice: I'm not sure that what it was like for me was what it was like for my peers. Two
factors made things a little bit different for me. One was that I was an only child, without any . .
Ar
. not just siblings . . . but cousins or anybody else around. The other thing was that whereas my
grandparents [David and Lylah Goldberg] were comfortably fixed . . . not wealthy at all, [but]
comfortably fixed in Columbus. They sort of watched out for us. In addition to not being a
ily
good business man, my father was trying to start a business with my grandfather's backing in
Atlanta. Then the [Great] Depression hit. Here we were, related to these top Atlanta families.
The ones that we weren't really related to had been good friends of my grandmother's in her
m
youth. We felt as if we were part of the elite, but we weren't really because we didn't have any
money. <interview pauses, then resumes> It's really hard to describe it. The antisemitism of the
Fa
day was such that I didn't know it existed. In retrospect, when I got a little bit older and wiser, I
realized that a lot of the things I thought were because I thought I was unattractive . . . and all the
things that adolescents think about themselves, there was also the fact that we couldn't afford
ba
some of the things that the other kids had. Instead of being taken to the beach for vacations, and
all those good things, I was sent down to be with my grandparents in Columbus for every
vacation. It was pleasant being spoiled as the only grandchild of an elderly family in downtown
Cu
when all the other young people lived [further] out. They were too snobbish to let me play with
little dirty bare-footed kids who lived nearby in town. There was one other Jewish family with a
youngster. We were good friends . . . who used to live downtown.

Page 66 of 136
Ann: Who was that?

Janice: The Loeb family. Morris Loeb. His son, Morris, still lives there. Betty, the daughter,
was my age. The last time I heard from her was many, many years ago. She was living in
Pittsburgh. We were friends, and yet it was still very lonely. There was one other . . . This is
s
interesting . . . the Rothschild family was a very prominent family in Columbus. Our families
had been friends for several generations. In my generation, there were lots of sons who lived
e
there. They were all my friends, too. But when I was still playing with paper dolls, the one girl
iv
in the family was from Cleveland [Ohio]. She, too, came down to visit her grandmother who
lived downtown, a few blocks from mine. She and I got together and were good friends. [We]
still are, except that we rarely see each other. The odd thing is, we were the two most unlikely
ch
people anywhere to have married rabbis. Both of us did.
Ann: What was her name?
Janice: Her name then was Dorothy Mathis [sp]. She's now Mrs. Paul Goren [sp] of Canton,
Ar
Ohio. You never can tell where you end up. You asked me what it was like growing up. It was
very segregated. I don't mean only black and white. It was very segregated Jewishly. My
favorite story about how segregated it was really pertained to my mother. The same thing
ily
happened in Atlanta. When I was a teenager, I became very close friends with then Blanche
Goldstein [sp]. She's Blanche Ross [sp] now. They had just moved to Atlanta. Her mother and
my mother were getting acquainted one day, and both discovered they had both been born in
m
Columbus, Georgia. They were approximately the same age. Columbus, Georgia, isn't a big
place now, but it was much smaller then. I'm talking about 1910 or 1912.
Fa
Ann: There couldn't have been many Jewish families.

Janice: They had never heard of each other's family. I don't mean just that they weren't
friends. They didn't know the other [family] existed. That went for Mrs. Goldstein, as well as
ba
for my mother. That's how segregated things were. Thank goodness all that has changed. But it
made for an unrealistic look at life. People were too polite to have non-Jews, at least in the
group that I went to. I lived in Druid Hills. I went to Druid Hills grade school and [Druid Hills]
Cu
high [school]. It was all in the same building. The non-Jews that I knew were friendly. We
never felt that there was any discrimination, but there was. Looking back on it, we can see that it
wasn't just that we were ugly, or we didn't have this or we didn't have that. It was a definite line

Page 67 of 136
there, even though we had very good friends when we were small.
Ann: Where did you live exactly?
Janice: That was another thing. I lived in sort of an odd place. Not where most of the Jewish
kids lived. I lived at 2243 East Lake Road. It is between a single-gauge railroad track and
s
Oakhurst where there's a double one. The house is still there. There were one or two Jewish
families that lived in the vicinity, but they were older people. One of them had a daughter
e
roughly my age, a little bit older, whom I got to know as an older person.
iv
Ann: Use names.
Janice: The Loebs. Carolyn was her first name. We were not friends as kids. We knew each
other later, but she was enough older than I so that we . . . Then the Samuels, an elderly couple,
ch
Clara . . . I cant think of his first name . . . he was a well-known laundry owner . . . Sig[fried]
Samuels, Sig and Clara Samuels. They were good friends of my grandparents. They lived a few
blocks down on Ponce de Leon [Avenue] closer to . . . no, it was East Lake Road right close to
Ar
where it forked into Ponce de Leon. Most of my Jewish crowd . . . a few lived in town. [Most]
lived in single-family homes. A few also lived at 1050 Ponce de Leon, which has been called the
Briarcliff Hotel for about as long as I can remember.
ily
Ann: It's right across from the Plaza Drug.
Janice: Yes. It was a residential hotel. An apartment hotel, they used to call them. Some of
the families lived there. Some lived on Briarcliff [Road], not too far from Ponce de Leon. One
m
family that I was friendly with lived out here on Chatham Road. That was the Weinbergs, Sonia
Weinberg Schwartz. The others . . . the great group of my mother's friends and their children
Fa
lived in the section of Druid Hills that is on and around North Decatur Road, Oakdale [Road],
and Springdale [Road]. I think one or two were on Lullwater Road, Oxford [Road], and Harvard
[Road]. That was the neighborhood.
ba
Ann: Who were your special friends, other than the ones you've mentioned already? Whose
birthday parties did you go to when you were a little kid?
Janice: I don't really remember that accurately. My mother was an odd one, a maverick, when
Cu
it came to her special friends. She spent most of her time with the musical theatrical group that
wasn't Jewish.
Ann: Tell me about that.

Page 68 of 136
Janice: Her Jewish friends that she liked and felt comfortable with were National Council of
Jewish Women leaders. They were Reb Gershon, Hannah [Grossman] Shulhafer, Josephine
[Joel] Heyman, Doris [Marks] Ferst, who's Alvin Ferst's mother. She didn't spend a lot of time
with them. Also, she was very friendly with Betty Lowenstein, Mrs. Max Lowenstein. When
s
Max died when we were all small kids, eventually Betty remarried and they moved away. I
remember spending a lot of time with young Betty Lowenstein. Bill Lowenstein, her brother,
e
moved back to Atlanta and presumably he still lives here. I know that I went to [Bettys]
iv
birthday parties. I remember . . . my mother was not friendly particularly with them or at all that
I can think of. My grandmother's closest friend was Nettie Elsas Phillips. Her daughter lived in
New York. She was married to a man by the name of Barnett, and their two children were Phil
ch
Barnett and Freddie. He lives in Atlanta, or did last time I heard about him. They had a sister,
Nan, who was approximately my age. I do remember when they came to visit, I'd go over to
play with her. The girls . . . we had a Lucky Thirteen Club. Those in the Lucky Thirteen Club
Ar
were Sonia Weinberg Schwartz . . . Another family, the only other one that I can think of that
was as impecunious as we were, but started out in this crowd and remained in the crowd, was
Laura Hope Asher . . . shes Benator now. You must know Gene [Eugene] Asher and Buddy.
ily
When I was born . . . the first few months of my life my parents lived on Blue Ridge Avenue,
very near what was Forrest Avenue. I think its Ralph McGill Boulevard now. They lived on
Forrest not far from Blue Ridge. The story was that Laura Hope and I were best friends from
m
infancy, because our mothers used to push us in the same carriage. I do remember going over to
her house to play a great deal.
Fa
Ann: Was she part of the German-Jewish crowd?

Janice: Absolutely. The Depression probably left them worse off than we were. They moved
from one place to another. We were still part of the crowd. The dividing line was ancestors, not
ba
money. We were all still part of a crowd, but as we got older we didn't do the same things if we
couldn't afford to do them.
Ann: What about your group of 13?
Cu
Janice: I'm trying to think if Hopie was part of it. Shirley Massell Solomon who lives in
Savannah now. Sonia [Weinberg Schwartz] I've already mentioned . . . Barbara Fox Levy, and
Carlyn Feldman [Abram] Fisher. She's the one that I'm still close friends with. Who else?

Page 69 of 136
Helen Weil Haas, who lives in Memphis now, and Marjorie Bloom Leffran [sp], I think is her
married name. She lives in Chicago. Connie Jacobus . . . it was Seligman [sp]. I know they
changed it, but I'm not quite sure to what. Selig [sp] or something like that. That's eight and
myself, that's nine. Ive got four more to go. There was Marian Rosenberg. I forget who she
s
married. She was part of it, too. I think maybe her father was the brother of Dr. [Herbert J.]
Rosenberg [Sr.] who was the Jewish doctor in town.
e
Ann: Was he an internist or a GP [General Practitioner]?
iv
Janice: He was a GP. I'll think of his first name, eventually. They just called him Doc. His
children were Leman, who was a little bit older than me, and Herbie [Herbert] who died a few
years ago. Herbie was married to Elinor [Angel], who is now married to Bill [M. William]
ch
Breman. Carol, who was Carol Loeb, lives in Montgomery [Alabama]. They were all older than
me. Leman is close enough to my age so that we were part of the same crowd. I'm trying to
think of who else was in this crowd. It's been a long, long time. Other people joined. As we got
Ann:
Ar
to be teenagers and a few more Jewish families moved into Atlanta and connected with . . .
Was there an influx . . . the years in which you were a teen included the early years of
World War II when the city experienced . . .
ily
Janice: . . . honey, I just got to be 70. I'm not that old. My father didn't meet my mother until
he came back from World War I.
Ann: World War II is what I'm talking about. In the early 1940s, when there was an influx
m
of population into the city of Atlanta at the beginnings of World War II because of economic
growth and the soldiers and all coming down here.
Fa
Janice: Im not sure when that started. I know that it burgeoned after the war. I'm sure that
one of the reasons for the burgeoning was that so many people got connected up with Atlanta by
being stationed here. This happened in every war. Atlanta really started because of basically the
ba
same thing happening in the Civil War. I was thinking of the other families. Marjorie Gross
Lipman, who died a number of years ago.
<interview stops and then resumes>
Cu
Ann: We were talking about families. I had just asked you about the influx of new people
into the community. Were there a lot of new Jewish families that moved in while you were
growing up?

Page 70 of 136
Janice: I don't think so, because the economy was depressed. But I was so far out of it. My
parents really never discussed business. I don't think they knew anything about business.
Ann: What did your mother do? Did she help to supplement the family income?
Janice: When she could she did. What Mother knew how to do . . . Mother was trained as a
s
concert pianist. She never expected to concertize. That was she knew was music. In the
Depression, people couldn't really afford music lessons. Those who could already had their
e
people. So it was a while before Mother caught on as a piano teacher. After that, she did well.
iv
Ann: Where had she trained, other than at Smith and Boston?
Janice: She had intensive training as a child in Columbus. She did not try to get special
conservatory training, since she didn't expect to use this as a serious profession. But that was
ch
what she knew. When she came shortly after . . .
Ann: What was your mother's first name? I don't think I ever asked you.
Janice: Carolyn [Goldberg]. I guess she started taking lessons. Maybe that's how she met
Ar
Hugh Hodgson. She and Mr. Hugh became very close friends. She was very friendly with his
second wife . . . Jessie McKee Nunnally Hodgson. More and more, my mother's associates were
the people in that particular crowd who were devotees of Mr. Hugh and music lovers and
ily
patrons. That's when I began to sense that there was such a thing in this world as antisemitism.
These ladies would come to our house after a concert with their gorgeous long evening gowns
and their corsages of camellias . . . [it was dclass] to wear orchids . . . the real ladies in those
m
days wore camellias. They would come and take off their gorgeous furs and go back in our little
kitchen on East Lake Road and help my mother prepare the after supper, and so forth. They were
Fa
truly friends. When it came to their children socializing, we didn't. At first, I didn't think about
it because occasionally we were together and we were friendly. I don't think I ever knew . . .
Eleanor McRae104 was one of mother's good friends. She did have a son my age whom I knew
ba
existed. I had never met him. I did know some of the Nunnally children, because they were
Hugh Hodgson's step-children. Hugh and Jessie Hodgson were like extra parents to me, so I did
know them. Of course, I knew the Hodgsons. Dan Hodgson was closer to my age. His oldest
Cu
sister, Edith, and I became good friends in college. I still hear from her. She lives in Chicago.
104
Eleanor McRae was married to Dr. Floyd McRae, a professor at Emory medical school and chief of surgery and
chairman of the board at Piedmont Hospital.

Page 71 of 136
But somehow, this six o'clock shadow . . . as opposed to the Five O'clock Shadow . . . it didn't
dawn on me what that was until I went to college, or almost then.
Ann: Were most of these people involved with the Atlanta Music Club?
Janice: Yes. Mother was very much involved. As a lonely teenager . . . that why I said if you
s
want to know how I was brought up, this is not going to tell future researchers anything at all
about the Jewish community in Atlanta because I was very atypical. Mother took me to concerts.
e
Very few if any other Jewish children did [that]. The only other . . . this is funny, because I was
iv
just with him for an evening in Florida just last week . . . Tory Jacobs, the son of Sinclair Jacobs,
whose grandfather actually was the Godfather of Coca-Cola, Dr. Joseph Jacobs.105 Tory's real
name is Sinclair Sartorious Jacobs, Jr. Tory and I did sort of grew up together. We were good
ch
friends from the time I was 10 or 11. He was 12 or 13. That's probably because his parents were
just as maverickish as my mother was. My father sort of went along. He worked hard for a
living, and he was on the road a lot of that time. The reason I never mention my father was
well.
Ann: His first name?
Ar
because he didn't play much of a part in my life. I loved him, but I didn't really know him that
ily
Janice: Waldo. Tory and I also were thrown together as children when we were too young to
be dating. We were good friends. His mother and father were divorced. His mother moved
away and he stayed with his father. We remained good friends throughout. I think that one
m
reason that our mothers were friends was because my mother thought that it was just the greatest
thing in the world to be like his mother . . . to be talented, beautiful, and rich, and do all these
Fa
things. The Jacobs had reverses. This was just before . . .

Ann: This must have been during one of their affluent moments.
Janice: They were to start with but things changed during the Depression, or maybe after the
ba
Depression . . . this must have been in the mid-Thirties, coming out of it. But at any rate, they
were part of this old elite. My mother and Muriel, his mother, liked each other and had a lot in
Cu
105
Joseph Jacobs was born in Jefferson, Georgia. He attended the University of Georgia in 1877 and received a
degree from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1879. In 1879 Jacobs opened the Athens Pharmaceutical
Company in Athens, Georgia. In 1884, he bought a drug store in Downtown Atlanta on the southwest corner of
Peachtree and Marietta Streets where, in 1886, Coca-Cola was served for the first time as a fountain drink at Jacobs
Pharmacy.

Page 72 of 136
common. His mother did some acting. I remember visiting with her in New York one day when
I was there with my mother. [Muriel] was doing some radio shows. They entertained the opera .
. . the Met [Metropolitan Opera] came. This was the kind of life that my mother undoubtedly
would have loved. Sinclair, Tory's father, remained close friends with us for the rest of their
s
lives. He and my mother even traveled together. We were all close friends.
Ann: One person I know who was also interested in the Atlanta Music Club was somebody
e
from the AA. That was Mrs. Taylor. Was Esther Taylor a friend of your mother's?
iv
Janice: Not really. They knew each other. Her niece, Marguerite Taylor, later married Julian
Uhry. When Julian died she remarried somebody in Savannah whose name I cannot remember.
She and I were good friends in college.
ch
<interview stops and resumes>
Janice: Both Marguerite Taylor and Edith Hodgson were a lot older than I. We would not
have been friends, chummy as children, even had we known each other well then or been
Ar
associated by family, because I went to college very young. I was 15 years old when I went to
the University of Georgia [Athens, Georgia]. These were upper classmen. I think we roomed
together in summer school. But they were a good bit older . . . three or four years older, which
ily
makes a difference when you're . . .
Ann: . . . at that age.
Janice: Yes.
m
Ann: Why would you have gone away so young?

Janice: Because I finished high school. The way I finished school so young to start with was
Fa
that I was very large for my age. Apparently I was smarter than one particularly needed to be in
what was then a county school, and not a very good one.
Ann: That was DeKalb County?
ba
Janice: It was DeKalb County. Druid Hills was just starting as a public school. It had been
Emory University School up until the year that I started. The advice of people to my mother . . .
I started at five-and-a-half [years of age], because my birthday is February. They don't let
Cu
children do that anymore. Then they decided that because I looked older than the others, and
was intellectually able to keep up with them (they didn't think about emotionally in those days),
that I skipped the second grade. Druid Hills was an 11-year school. When I got out, I was 15

Page 73 of 136
years old. I was still 15 when I entered the University of Georgia. It was the worst place to have
sent me. But their thinking was that because I was so young I needed to be fairly close to home.
I needed to be where Mr. Hugh . . . Hodgson could keep an eye on me, and be a father to me and
so forth, which he was. He was wonderful.
s
Ann: Was he on the faculty there then?
Janice: He founded the Fine Arts Department. He was a wonderful person. What I didn't
e
understand, and I don't think my mother ever did understand, was that there was a kind of genteel
iv
antisemitism in him. When I say some of his best friends were Jews, some of his best friends
were. I'm sure he felt that he had no prejudice at all. He was a wonderful person. He and one
other very, very close friend . . . my mothers closest female friend was Natasha Davison, Mrs.
ch
Hal Davison. Natasha was, as you can guess, Russian, and nobility. She was brought up in this
very strange White Russian106 high society with a very primitive-thinking peasant nanny who
raised her because she was an orphan. Both of them were very, very close. They were like
Ar
family to me. I did spend a lot of time with Natasha later in life. In fact, her husband, Dr. Hal,
and my husband, Rabbi Rothschild, were close friends. They greatly admired each other. If Dr.
Hal went into a restaurant and saw Jack, he would bring him over and introduce him to the
ily
people he was with and [say], This is my rabbi. Dr. Hal was a very good Georgia Baptist.
These were people . . . I think Dr. Hal really didn't have any prejudice. Really didn't. People
like Natasha and Mr. Hugh had something that had been rationalized, because they were kind,
m
well-bred people. That's the kind that is the hardest to get to because people don't understand
that they have it. So with friends like this, it took me a long time . . . it was quite a blow,
Fa
especially since I was in college and I was too young to be there. It was the very worst kind of
school for somebody like me to go to because with the snobbish attitude that I had been raised
with about Jews from the other set, I went to the university . . . also I had been imbued with the
ba
idea that it wasn't only a matter of economics that one didn't join a sorority or fraternity. One did
not want to ghettoize one's self. Even though there was a small starting-up second Jewish
sorority there, who were the girls that I did become more friendly with . . . now I forget the
Cu
names of sororities . . . but DPhiE [Delta Phi Epsilon]107 was the big established one.
106
A Russian who supported the tsar in the 1917 Revolution and the Russian Civil War (1917-1923) and afterward.
107
Delta Phi Epsilon is an international sorority founded in 1917 at New York University Law School, New York
City, New York.

Page 74 of 136
Ann: AEPhi108 or SDT?109

Janice: Yes, I think it was SDT . . . Its undoubtedly there now. There was just a group of
about five girls who were trying to start it. I didn't even want to join that. I wanted to be friends
with them, but I didn't understand how important it is at a school like that.
s
Ann: As large as it is?
Janice: It wasn't that large then, but the idea was that because it was so social . . . the whole
e
school was so social . . . you just were not a part of something if you didn't belong. I was not
iv
emotionally equipped at 15, or even 16 or 17, to plug into that. I don't think it was a good school
in those days. I still have some issues to take with it. If you recall, it was not too many years
ago that they used the fact that the student newspaper has freedom of the press. That did not
ch
prevent them from running an advertisement that was a derogatory antisemitic ad.110 So I don't
think things have changed that much. I'm sure it's a much better school today, but it still does not
enamor me.
Ann:
Janice:
Ar
What was your academic interest primarily?
I was pushed into music, because my paternal grandfather was in the music business.
They had some very fine violins and a viola. I was pushed into that despite the fact that my ear
ily
is terrible. One should never play a stringed instrument without a good ear. But my mother
thought that it was portable. I could be in orchestras. They had these beautiful instruments they
wanted somebody to play. So from the time I was six years old, I was taking violin lessons, and
m
then viola lessons. You can be a violist with a very bad ear and successfully play second viola to
somebody who has a good ear . . . I did have a lot of fun playing in orchestras. That was a big
Fa
108
Alpha Epsilon Phi () is a sorority and member of the National Panhellenic Conference. It was founded on
October 24, 1909 at Barnard College in New York City by seven Jewish women. It is a national sorority with
ba
multiple chapters across the United States. Although it is a historically Jewish sorority, it is not a religious
organization and welcomes women of all religions and race who honor, respect and appreciate the Jewish faith and
identity.
109
Sigma Delta Tau () is a national sorority and member of the National Panhellenic Conference and was
founded March 25, 1917 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The original name, Sigma Delta Phi, was
changed after the women discovered a sorority with the same name already existed. Today, Sigma Delta Tau has
Cu
over 40,000 initiates from 100 chapters around the United States. Sigma Delta Tau was founded by seven Jewish
women. There is no religious requirement for membership to the sorority, nor is it affiliated with any one religion.
110
Janice is referring to the student newspaper, Red & Black, at University of Georgia publishing an ad in the early
1990s which was prepared by Bradley Smith, a Holocaust denier, that asserted that the gas chambers were a fraud,
photographs doctored, eyewitness reports were unreliable, and the Nuremberg trials a sham. The Red & Black
defended their decision by citing free speech and calling it a business decision.

Page 75 of 136
interest of mine. This made up for the fact that I was having less and less social success. I felt
very much out of it. I did not look like an ingnue. I did not feel like an ingnue. I had been
treated . . . I think the only other Jewish child that I can think of that ever went to the concerts
and did all those things that I did was Tory Jacobs. I don't think he went to as many of them as I
s
did. There was one non-Jewish friend, Harold Coolidge, who is now a college professor, who
went everywhere with his mother. He and I saw each other at concerts. We went to school
e
together.
iv
Ann: Do you feel that you spent a lot more time with adults?
Janice: Absolutely. I was more comfortable with them. Your question was about what I was
primarily interested in. I was pushed into music. I was interested in it, because I had a head start
ch
in knowledge. We had this wonderful professor in high school. Was it Robert Gaines?
Anyway, his name was Gaines. He taught a course called Humanities. All through college I
never got a course in humanities that was as truly so . . . Now, at the Smithsonian,111 the man
Ar
who is the director of the [Bnai Brith Klutznick] National Jewish Museum112 . . . I'm the
chairman of his board and we're close friends . . . teaches humanities at the Smithsonian in the
way which Mr. Gaines did. This was [unintelligible: 39:00]. That opened my mind to all these
ily
good things. He also had an elective creative writing course which several of these friends were
in. [Writing] is really what absorbed me when I got further on in high school. I was convinced
that I was going to be a writer.
m
Ann: You are.

Janice: Yes, I guess so, but in those days women didn't take themselves seriously as career
Fa
people.
Ann: The coursework you took, you went to college more for social reasons . . . most
women went to college more for social reasons than they did for the intellectual stimulation?
ba
111
The Smithsonian Institution is a group of museums and research centers administered by the United States
government established in 1846. Termed "the nation's attic" for its eclectic holdings of millions of items, the
Institution's Washington, D.C. nucleus of museums, research centers, and zoo, many of them historical or
architectural landmarks, is the largest such complex in the world. (2014)
Cu
112
The Bnai Brith Klutznick National Jewish Museum started as a small collection of artifacts donated by
Phillip and Ethel Klutznick, which were quartered in the Bnai Briths headquarters in Washington, D.C. in
1957. Supported by an endowment from Philip Klutznick, the original collection grew and was eventually
formalized into a museum. However, the collection has since been dispersed: the artifacts and art to various
places and the documents (including an original copy of George Washingtons letter to the Jews of Newport,
Rhode Island) to the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Page 76 of 136
Janice: I had so many mixed signals. Mainly, I wanted to go to college to get away from
home. It didn't occur to me to even think of graduating from college as the end of my education.
As a matter of fact, I graduated from college at 18 with the expectation that because I had
accelerated . . . my [reason for] accelerating was because I hated it. The only way I could think
s
of to get out was to finish. In my family you didn't quit college. It was in the middle of the
[World War II]. I wanted to go to war work, which I did with the expectation that I would go
e
back to graduate school when the war was over. I almost did. I couldnt and by that time my
iv
interests had changed. I was more interested in Latin America, perfecting my Spanish and doing
something in Spanish . . . and in history. I didn't have the qualifications in either subject to get
into graduate school at Columbia [UniversityNew York, New York]. I had studied that at
ch
Columbia summer school that particular summer . . .
Ann: That was what the summer of 1945, 1946?
Janice: Nineteen forty-six. I had opportunities for jobs in New York, but I couldn't find a
Rothschild and I never left Atlanta.

Ann:
Ar
place to live. I came home thinking I'll try again in a few months. In the meantime, I met Jack
Before we get into your meeting and courtship, who did you date when you were
ily
growing up? Who were your beaux [French: boyfriends, suitors]? You obviously didn't have
much chance in high school since you ran off to college.
Janice: We had a crowd. In those days I didn't think of them . . . and I think most people
m
didn't . . . as beaux. A few people did marry the people that they were crazy about in high
school. Sonia and Billy Schwartz. Sonia always, as long as I can remember, when we wrote in
Fa
these little autograph books, her ambition was to grow up and marry Billy [William B.]
Schwartz. But most of us did not have our eyes on any one person at that age. The people I
remember dating were Tory Jacobs, Frank Lowenstein and, once or twice, Bill Lowenstein. But
ba
he didn't live here. I saw him again when he went to college. He went to [University of] North
Carolina [Chapel Hill, North Carolina]. Tory was at North Carolina. Bill Schwartz was at North
Carolina. I did go up there once for a weekend as Tory's date but I ended up . . . Bill
Cu
[Lowenstein] and I were good friends. I'm trying to think of who else. Phil Barnett, Freds
younger brother. I was not popular with the crowd. The person that I think of the most that I
saw was Frank Lowenstein. That's because Frank was an intellectual. He fascinated me. He

Page 77 of 136
was so advanced. His father had died when he was young and his mother treated him as the man
of the house. He was as screwy as I was. I didn't really come into my own as far as dating was
concerned until the [World War II]. I met people that didn't know me when I was a child. There
were a lot of things . . . I don't think a former rebbetzin113 should exactly call a burden or
s
crosses to bear. There were a few things like that I think militated against my popularity.
Ann: You mentioned Tory Jacobs several times. You mentioned that his full name was
e
Sinclair Sartorious?
iv
Janice: Sartorius was his grandmothers . . .
Ann: Where did that come from? It was his grandmother's maiden name?
Janice: Yes. Sinclair's mother was the wife of Dr. Joseph Jacobs, in a sense the father of
ch
Coca-Cola. He was a wonderful businessman. He was the one who started the one cent off
sales and a lot of innovations in advertising. The only dumb thing he did was to try to get Mr.
[Asa] Candler114 out of Five Points115 by selling him this crazy chemist and his formula.
Ann:
Ar
[This is] Ann Hoffman Schoenberg interviewing Janice Oettinger Rothschild
ily
Blumberg for a fourth time. This is for . . . the Jewish Oral History Project of Atlanta co-
sponsored by the American Jewish Committee, the Atlanta Jewish Federation, and the National
Council of Jewish Women. The date today is April 2, 1994. We are doing this in Atlanta,
m
Georgia, at Janice's sons, Bill Rothschild's home. We ended our last session together back in
February with a partial discussion . . . but you were talking about Dr. Joseph Jacobs and
Fa
something about what a mistake he made . . . the only real mistake he made was in selling Coca-
Cola.
Janice: He was a fabulous business man. He had what sounded like a very good idea to get
ba
113
Rebbetzin (Yiddish) or Rabbanit (Hebrew) is the title used for the wife of a rabbi.
114
Asa Griggs Candler (1851-1929) was an American business tycoon who made his fortune selling Coca-Cola. He
started his career as a drugstore clerk and manufacturer of patent medicines. In 1888 he bought the formula for
Cu
Coca-Cola from its inventor John Pemberton and several other shareholders for $550. Candler made millions from
his investment, allowing him to establish the Central Bank and Trust Corp. and invest in real estate. Candler
became a major philanthropist and also served as the 44 th Mayor of Atlanta from 1916 to 1919.
115
Five Points refers to the downtown area of Atlanta. It was the central hub of Atlanta until the 1960s, when the
economic and demographic center shifted north toward the suburbs. It was recently revitalized, mostly due to
Georgia State University having a large presence in the area.

Page 78 of 136
the competition to move away and build his own business, too. He had this crazy chemist, who
was apparently [an] alcoholic. The chemist had worked out a great formula that was popular at
the soda fountain. He sold it to Mr. Candler along with the chemist. The caveat was that
Candler would move off of Five Points. So they did. The formula was for Coca-Cola.
s
Ann: His only real error in life.
Janice: Yes. He was a very successful business man, just not quite as successful as he would
e
have been if he had held on to that [Coca-Cola] stock.
iv
Ann: Don't we all wish we had owned some of that stock early on? What I intended was to
continue with the period of time between your college career at Georgia and the time you met
your husband. Would you tell us something about that period after graduation? What year was
ch
it that you graduated from Georgia?
Janice: I was Class of 1943. This was December 1942. I hated college. The only way I could
figure out to get out . . . it never even occurred to me to do anything but finish . . . was to finish
Ar
faster. The first thing I did was I found [training course] . . . it was a 90-day wonder . . . in being
an assistant engineer . . . anybody willing to take it at Georgia [Institute of]
Tech[nologyAtlanta, Georgia]. So I went there.
ily
Ann: Why would you want to be an assistant engineer?
Janice: I didn't. It was just a job. I felt I needed to be useful. During the war, I certainly
didn't consider it patriotic to go and pursue my own esoteric interests. I wanted to be prepared
m
for something useful. In a sense I was because it enabled me to get a civil service job. First
thing I did with it was . . . also, I wanted to get away from home. My grandparents lived in
Fa
Columbus, Georgia. They even had a private apartment in their building that they owned. It was
private, but it was connected with theirs to keep an eye on me. I had a lot of friends who were at
Fort Benning,116 and I got a job at Fort Benning. I had a lot of fun in off hours. There was a
ba
theater group in Columbus that I joined. I wrote a column for the Sunday paper to promote the
theater. All of this was gratis [free]. It was a great experience. It was fun. I met interesting
people. I forget really why I quit but I did . . . I forget which summer it was but I had an
Cu
116
Fort Benning is a United States Army post established in 1918 outside Columbus, Georgia with the capability to
deploy combat-ready forces by air, rail, and highway. Much of the growth of Columbus can be attributed to the
development of Fort Benning.

Page 79 of 136
opportunity to go on the Experiment in International Living117 in Mexico. I became very much

interested in that. The reason it appealed to me to go on it . . . . I'd always had this yen for travel
and loved travel. I loved meeting new people and doing new things. Now that I start to think
about it . . . I think maybe it was the following summer. I think maybe I stayed in Columbus
s
through that summer.118
Ann: That would have been the summer of 1944? If you graduated in 1942 then you went
e
to Columbus . . .
iv
Janice: . . . in 1943. I was in Columbus. It sticks in my mind that I stayed seven months in
Columbus. At some point . . . I think this was 1944 . . . I spent three months in Panama working
in the same type of job for the [Army] Corps of Engineers.119 It was the School of Malariology
ch
[the study of malaria].120 What they wanted me to do was to draft, as a draftsman, to try to transpose
pictures from the medical book onto large things that could be shown to a whole class on one of
those boards.
Ann:
Janice:
Not a projector?
Ar
No. There weren't using those things . . . it wasnt projecting . . . In those days, when
they had to teach something, it was either on a blackboard or it was on an easel.
ily
Ann: Like a poster board or a flip chart.
Janice: Yes. They needed these things. The work didn't last very long. They were trying to
m
117
The Experiment in International Living has been offering immersive experiential learning programs abroad since
1932. Today, the Experiment offers summer programs for students in more than 20 countries around the world.
(2014)
Fa
118
Due to the nature of an oral interview and its fluidity, Janices account of her various jobs before returning to
Atlanta and meeting and marrying Rabbi Rothschild, should probably be clarified. It is as follows: she graduated
university in December, 1942 at which time Pearl Harbor occurred and the United States entered the war. Wanting
to be useful to the war effort, Janice attended a training course for assistant engineers at Georgia Institute of
Technology and learned how to do drafting. This led to a job at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia where she
worked during the summer of 1943. In Fall of 1943, she got a government job in the Panama Canal Zone, where she
ba
stayed until the summer of 1944. In the summer of 1944 she participated in the Experiment in International Living
in Mexico headed by Dr. Donald Watt during which time she observed Paricutin erupting. Then she returned to the
United States and took a job with the Signal Corps in Washington, D.C., coding and decoding cables. She stayed
there until the end of the war (May, 1945) and then took a short job with the French Mission. Then she returned to
working with Dr. Watt, who was then in Vermont, where she helped him write two books. After that she briefly
return to Columbus and then came to Atlanta where she met Rabbi Rothschild, married and stayed.
Cu
119
The Army Corps of Engineers is a United States federal agency under the Department of Defense and is made up
of some 37,000 civilian and military personnel. Their mission is to build and maintain dams, canals and flood
protection in the United States, provide hydropower capacity and restore and regulate the ecosystem. They also
build military facilities for the United States military.
120
During World War II, the Army Corps of Engineers were involved in efforts to control diseases such as malaria
and others due to poor sanitations and contaminated water in the Pacific theater.

Page 80 of 136
prepare the School of Malariology to take some of the students, officers, who needed to study
away from the one school they had at the time. It had been in the Philippines, I think, because
they were . . .
Ann: . . . occupied.121
s
Janice: Yes, at the time. That part of the work didn't last long. Then I was just trying to be
farmed out as a secretary. I wasn't prepared for it and it was stupid. I felt that I wasn't doing a
e
war job. Now I was just occupying a job, which was silly. When I wanted to go home, I quit
iv
and went home. I had a wonderful time in Panama, but that was another story.
Ann: You're not going to tell us about it? Did you find many young Jewish men in
Panama?
ch
Janice: Funny you should ask. I had one friend from Atlanta who was stationed there, not on
the same side of the Isthmus [of Panama]122 that I was, but I'd see him every now and then. He
had connections and different people would call me, because their sister in Atlanta told them to
Ar
or whatever. So I had lots of dates and had a good time. The interesting thing that happened
there was Dr. Hal Davison and his wife, Natasha, were close, close friends of my parents. Dr.
Hal had a cousin who was a physician in Panama. His name was Briscoe. The Briscoe family
ily
invited me to come into town and visit with them. They had three daughters. One day . . . one of
the daughters somehow learned that I had played the viola. They thought I had an unusual name.
This one said, There is a guy . . . in the symphony . . . he was in the United States military,
m
stationed there, who was [playing in] a symphony in his off time. He names . . . nicknames
symphonies after girls he remembers. You have an unusual name. What's your favorite
Fa
symphony? I forget what it was at the time. Whatever it was, it was the one he had it
nicknamed with my name. I said, Who is he? They told me. I said, I remember him. He
played first chair viola at National Music Camp. They said, You've got to join the symphony.
ba
We'll get you an instrument from school.

Ann: This was at the National Music Camp at Interlochen [now Center for the
Cu
121
The Japanese occupation of the Philippines occurred between 1942 and 1945, when the Empire of Japan
occupied the Commonwealth of the Philippines during World War II. The invasion of the Philippines started on
December 8, 1941, ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
122
This is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and
South America. It contains the country of Panama and the Panama Canal. It ranges from 30 miles to about 120
miles wide.

Page 81 of 136
ArtsInterlochen, Michigan]?
Janice: Yes. [They said,] Come on over to Balboa. We'll introduce you to the conductor.
You'll play in the symphony. They took all the United States personnel that they could get,
because they were trying to develop a symphony orchestra there. Anyway, I did and I had a
s
wonderful time. Mrs. [Eleanor] Roosevelt123 came and we played for her. I had this great time.
Another thing happened to me because of the Briscoes. This very nice young man who was a
e
neighbor of theirs came into to kibitz [Hebrew: chat, visit] with them one evening. The Briscoes
iv
are Southern Baptist, I think from Monroe, Georgia . . . from somewhere around. This young
man that I met at their house, I assumed was dark and swarthy because he was a Panamanian.
He invited me to a carnival. We were at the country club having a wonderful time at the carnival
ch
dance. He starts to tell me that there had been something in his family. He said, We Jewish
people are very close. I said, We Jewish people? He said, Yes. I don't know if you've ever
known any Jewish people. The funny thing was [that] neither of us realized that the other one
Ar
was Jewish. That was a fun thing. I enjoyed him. I kept up a friendship with him until both of
us married. Even after I came back to the States, I heard from him when he was in the States.
Ann: Have you ever tried to find him again?
ily
Janice: I have no trouble finding him because I have since become very close friends with one
of the major families from Panama. They live in Washington [D.C.] My second husband [David
Blumberg] and I visited them some years ago. Also we have other friends in Panama from B'nai
m
B'rith. When we were going to be in the city for one night and we had a date with one of them
for dinner, I said, Why don't you ask so and so. I'd love to see him again. They did. Both
Fa
couples tried to get this couple to come. They wouldn't do it, because his wife would not . . . I
was in the throes of a second honeymoon then . . . nothing from the past, present or future could
have made me a threat to anybody.
ba
Ann: His wife was that insecure?

Janice: Apparently. I'm very curious about people that I've known before. I love picking up
threads of old friends. Whatever romance there might have been was the farthest thing from my
Cu
123
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) was the wife of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the president of the United States
from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband and became an advocate for civil rights.
After her husbands death in 1945, Eleanor continued to be an international author, speaker and politician and
activist.

Page 82 of 136
mind. But apparently she didn't feel that way, so I never have seen him.
Ann: I won't press you for the name then.
Janice: Thats not important. I find it interesting, because this was one of my first insights
into American Jewish history. His family had come to Panama from the Virgin Islands,124 which
s
was Danish. He did not have a Spanish name. He has a name, as it happens, that is Danish.
That was another reason I didn't know he was Jewish. It wasn't a name that I recognized as
e
being either Spanish or Jewish. He told me that his uncles, or great uncles, had come from the
iv
Virgin Islands to New Orleans [Louisiana] to volunteer in the Civil War to fight for the
Confederacy. The Islands had a plantation economy. I guess it was very much a part of their
future to try to keep the . . .
ch
Ann: I think the slave culture, in many cases, had come through those islands, too. There
had been ships. They were involved in rum production,125 that sort of thing. That was all part of
the slave-rum trade.126 It was kind of a continuum. Were his great uncles Jewish?
Janice:
Ann:
Janice:
Yes.
Ar
Where had they come from originally? Holland? Were they Sephardic?
I think originally they were probably, but. . .
ily
Ann: . . . who knows?
Janice: . . . Denmark has had Jews for 1,000 years. The family that I'm so close to now, part
of it is in Washington. Their origins were . . . one side of the family . . . they have a German
m
sounding name, was from Alsace-Lorraine. The other part were Sephardic from Curacao
[Dutch: Curaao]127 and those islands around there. There are just a few of these old families
Fa
that . . .
Ann: . . . those old Jewish families . . .
ba
124
The Virgin Islands are part of the Leeward Islands and form the border between the Caribbean Sea and the
Atlantic Ocean. The eastern Virgin Islands are a territory of Great Britain and the western ones are the territory of
the United States. The United States Virgin Islands include St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas.
125
Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made of sugarcane or sugarcane byproducts. It is usually a clear liquid and
is aged in oak barrels. The majority of rum production occurs in the Caribbean and Latin American.
Cu
126
The rum-slave trade was known as the Atlantic triangular slave trade. Sugar from the Caribbean was traded to
Europe or New England, where it was made into rum. The profit from the sale of sugar was used to purchase
manufactured goods, which were then shipped to West Africa, where they were bartered for slaves. The slaves were
then brought back to the Caribbean to be sold to sugar planters. This process was continued from the late sixteenth
to early nineteenth centuries.
127
Curacao is an island country in the southern Caribbean Sea, approximately 40 miles north of Venezuela.

Page 83 of 136
Janice: Yes. Also I found out that in those days they were just trying . . . this was also one of
the Sephardic . . . he was the symphony director at the time. I didn't realize he was Jewish.
Ann: None of these people were refugees from the Holocaust?
Janice: No, but there were refugees from the Holocaust there. I met some of them at the time.
s
I've gone back since. Knowing people through B'nai B'rith who were from Panama, that's a great
portion of the community now.
e
Ann: Today.
iv
Janice: It was interesting. Also, my friend lived in Panama shortly after she married. She and
her husband together founded the art museum there. What I'm saying is that when I was there,
World War II, was the time that they were just beginning to build up to having a new type of
ch
culture. It was not Jewish oriented, but as is the case in many cities, it was the Jewish families
who were the main instigators of . . .
Ann: . . . many of the cultural institutions?
Janice:
Ann:
Janice:
Yes.
After you left Panama, then what?
Ar
I came back home. Maybe it was that summer that I went to Mexico. I can't
ily
remember exactly. The following winter, I got a job in Washington where I stayed until the war
was over. It was two different jobs. Again, when you get one with the army or with civil
service, they will keep you on whether the job has been extinguished or not because nobody ever
m
thought of reducing the organization. After V-E Day,128 I found out that what I was doing was
absolutely useless. A friend of mine who lived and worked in Arlington [Virginia] was starting
Fa
the Service de Voyage [French: Travel Services] for the French mission. They needed to really
build it up and get more people. After the V-E Day, the French who had refugeed in Canada and
the United States had to go through and get home. They needed places to stay, stamps for
ba
shoes129 and all that kind of thing. There were people coming from France, diplomats coming
through. They needed the same type of things on their way to San Francisco [California] for the
Cu
128
Victory in Europe Day, generally known as V-E Day, is the public holiday celebrated on May 8, 1945 to mark
the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces.
The day marked the end of World War II in Europe.
129
During World War II, ration coupon books and tokens were issued dictating how much of product could be
bought. Rationing often includes food and other necessities for which there is a shortage, including materials needed
for the war effort such as rubber tires, leather shoes, clothing, and gasoline.

Page 84 of 136
United Nations130 organization, so I went to work there. I didn't need to know French. I knew
enough to manage if I had to, but not to really speak it. It was a fun job.
Ann: The name of the organization once more?
Janice: It was Ambassade de France [French embassy], but it was the Travel Service of the
s
French mission which was a part of the Embassy. I shouldn't have put this on tape because
whenever I have to renew my passport, there was this thing, Have you ever worked for a
e
foreign government? I conveniently forget about that, because it could be so complicated. All I
iv
did was get them motel rooms and shoe stamps. That was fun.
Ann: Maybe we ought to explain shoe stamps. I imagine that anyone born after World War
II won't have a clue as to what you are talking about.
ch
Janice: We couldn't buy shoes if you didn't have the coupons . . .
Ann: . . . they were rationed during World War II, along with a lot of other things . . .
Janice: . . . gasoline for your car or boat. I guess you couldn't use boats in those days that
Ar
required gasoline in those days. Sugar, meat, and coffee. I forget because I wasn't keeping
house. I never had a problem with those things, but with gasoline I had a problem.
Ann: After Washington, when you felt that your job was no longer pressing?
ily
Janice: After Washington . . . after the war was really over in August,131 I came home. I sort
of bummed around trying to find myself for a while. In the spring I went to Putney, Vermont, to
work for free and live with the family of the founder of the Experiment in International Living.
m
Ann: What was his name?

Janice: Donald Watt. He, his wife and younger daughter, who was still at home, lived in a
Fa
wonderful house that they had built themselves. Every room was from a different country where
they had spent time. There was one other young woman who had been an experimenter who was
also working. The Experiment didn't have any money to operate on then because this small,
ba
small group that had been to Mexico was all you could do during the war. People were coming
back and things were getting started, but they didn't have the people to do it yet.
Cu
130
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization to promote international cooperation. It replaced
the ineffective League of Nations. It was established in October 1945 with the intention of preventing another such
world war.
131
Although Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945 ending the war in Europe, the war in the Pacific continued until
August 15, 1945. When Japan surrendered World War II was finally over. August 15 is known as V-J Day.

Page 85 of 136
<interview stops and then resumes>

There was a lot of work to do that was very interesting for me. I had no secretarial skills but
when somebody dictates, I can type very quickly. Dr. Watt was writing a book . . . in fact, two
books. One was called Education for One World [1946]. Remember the Wendell Willkie One
s
World thing?132 That was, in general, his theory about the Experiment and his attitude toward
peace through learning.
e
Ann: When had he founded it? In the Thirties?
iv
Janice: Yes, in the mid-Thirties in Switzerland or Germany or that area of Europe. They
started taking groups. The other book was Estas en su Casa which was like a handbook for
people going to particularly Mexico, but it could be any Latin American country . . . talking
ch
about their customs and how you'd get along. I co-authored those books with him. He gave me
credit for co-authoring them, because not only did I literally do the writing, taking dictation from
him, but I argued with him so often. He would have sentences that were lengthy paragraphs in
Ar
themselves. When we got all through, he gave me credit for co-authoring. It was not my first
publication because I had been writing. When I was in Panama . . . I had always done some
newspaper writing from high school on because we would do concert critiques and things to
ily
promote a high school orchestra for the suburban papers. Then when I was in Panama, there
were these interesting things happening. Ralph McGill, when I was home once, asked me about
writing about them. He sat me down. I'll never forget. I was in his office and he told me how to
m
write a lead. That was the one and only journalism lesson I ever had. But it worked. I sold
wonderful stories.
Fa
Ann: How did it happen that you were sitting in Ralph McGill's office?
Janice: Ralph was a good friend of my parents. He came out to our house. Mother had
groups on Sunday nights. I guess, in a fancier or more sophisticated, elegant setting it would
ba
have been called a salon.133 What mother called it was come on out for spaghetti or waffles or
132
Wendell Willkie (1892-1944) was a corporate lawyer in the United States and a dark horse who became the
Republican Party nominee for the president in 1940. Willkie was an internationalist and eventually became an
Cu
informal ambassador-at-large for President Roosevelt. Willkie crisscrossed the globe on the former army bomber the
Gulliver, bringing home a vision of "One World" freed from imperialism and colonialism. In 1943, Willkie
published One World, recounting his world travels on the Gulliver and urging that America accept some form of
"world government" after the war. One World was a best-seller.
133
A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and party to
refine the taste and increase the knowledge of the participants through conversation. They are usually associated

Page 86 of 136
whatever. Some of the young musicians would be there. We'd have sight reading. In fact, a
couple of years ago I bought myself a piano because I thought, I want to live the way . . . to
have the kind of ambience when I entertain that my mother had. That part of it, at any rate . . .
I'm a lot more formal than my mother was but I'm able to be. Mother was very informal because
s
she really had very little choice. It was fun. I met interesting people. I just liked that kind of an
evening. [Ralph McGill] was one of them. Tom [Thomas Micajah] Brumby [Jr.],134 Mike
e
McDowell,135 and Francis Mitchell136 were . . . Mother knew them because they had been
iv
students of Hugh Hodgson. She had them and anybody else . . . when I was in high school . . .
Walter Paschall137 was one of the really close friends who was quite an influence on me.
Ann: What was his claim to fame? I don't know that name.
ch
Janice: He was a radio newscaster at the time. When he talked about television, I thought,
He's out of his mind. You've got to remember I'm talking about in the Thirties. Walter was
later very much more prominent. He was quite a thinker. He married during the war. You may
Ar
have heard of Eliza Paschall.138 Eliza, his widow, was very, very active in civil rights, in
women's rights, and in all kinds of community affairs. My parents had some interesting friends.
Ann: What was his influence then on you? You said his influence in particular was on you.
ily
Janice: Learning to be interested in things, whatever was going on. He encouraged me to
study, which I didn't do. But it was an influence, I remember. I was just very, very fond of
Walter . . . You had asked me how I knew Ralph McGill. Ralph was a young sports writer.
m
Then he started writing editorials and speaking around the state. Don't forget, this state was one
Fa
with French literary and philosophical movements of the seventeenth and eighteenth century.
134
Thomas Micajah Brumby, Jr. was born in 1878 in Mississippi. He was a prominent businessman and mayor of
Marietta as well as active in many other civic affairs.
135
Michael Angelo McDowell Jr. (1910-2005) studied music at Emory University under Hugh Hodgson after which
ba
he taught music at the University of Georgia in Athens. After serving in World War II he completed his education
at Harvard University in Boston with a masters in music in 1948. He returned to Atlanta where he became the
chairman of the Music Department at Agnes Scott College, a position he held until his retirement in 1975. He was
active in many musical organizations and activities in Atlanta throughout his life.
136
Francis Mitchell studied under Hugh Hodgson and then went on to a career in music in Atlanta. He worked as a
music teacher and choir director in a church.
Cu
137
Walter Goode Paschall was a prominent Atlanta journalist.
138
Eliza King Paschall was born in 1917. She was active in civic, interracial and womens organizations in which
she held several offices including executive director of the Greater Atlanta Council on Human Relations (1961-
1967), president of the Georgia League of Women Voters (1955-1957), and national secretary of the National
Organization of Women. She authored It Must Have Rained (1974), which concerned civil rights in Atlanta,
Georgia. She married Walter Goode Paschall (c. 1959) in 1945.

Page 87 of 136
of the poorest in the country. Schools were terrible. City schools were better than where I went.
Georgia was like a step-child of the country. I felt this very much because as I got older and I
traveled a little bit, I saw how much better education my contemporaries who grew up in the
North had. I was very much interested in seeing [Georgia] pull itself up from the boot straps. I
s
must tell you that today when I see what happens to this city and the state, to me it's just
wonderful because I remember it when.
e
Ann: Its pretty exciting to think that Atlanta is going to be the center of attention in another
iv
couple of years for . . .
Janice: . . . from living in Washington, it already is a center of attention. When people hear
I'm from Atlanta, you wouldn't think . . . it gives me even more of an appreciation of Atlanta than
ch
I had before. It was one thing when I lived in Knoxville [Tennessee] and everybody's children
were coming to Atlanta when they got out of college. But I'm in Washington now. So many of
my friends' children are coming to Atlanta, or live here, because one or a spouse has a job here.
They love it. It's wonderful.
Ann:
Ar
Let me go back then. You said the reason you were talking about Ralph McGill was
that you said he had given you your one and only journalistic lesson: how to write a lead. What
ily
did you write then that got published, these little articles from Panama?
Janice: The first one, I think, was for the Sunday magazine. The first one was I think about . .
. there were several from Panama. One was about playing for Mrs. [Eleanor] Roosevelt. One
m
was from Mexico. I can remember the picture that they used on that one. It was about one of the
experiences we had . . . was in Mexico. This group went to see Paricutin [Spanish: Partcutin],139
Fa
which was the volcano that had erupted in the middle of a corn field. It had just happened and
we had gone to see it. There was a deserted town that the lava was going to get into. We stayed
there overnight sort of propped up against what was left . . . the building that was like the village
ba
main store. The lava was nowhere near. It was outside of the square. We slept for maybe an
hour or two out in the bitter cold. When we woke up, the lava was already in the middle of the
square. We had to get out. This was an interesting experience. I wrote about that because I had
Cu
139
Paricutin is a now-dormant volcano in Mexico. The volcano surged suddenly from the cornfield of a local farmer
in 1943. It erupted for 9 years, reaching a height of 424 meters (1,400 feet). Three people were killed, two towns
were buried by lava and hundreds had to be relocated. Paricutin, in 2016, is quiet although the generally area is still
active volcanically.

Page 88 of 136
thought of lava as something that flows. It may in some cases, but in that case, it wasn't. It was
great big rocks . . . boulders, like red hot coals. They would tumble over each other. It was not
something that flowed as a liquid. I just sold maybe two or three [stories], but it was a start.
When you get your first check . . .
s
Ann: How much did you earn for your first article? You surely haven't forgotten.
Janice: I think it was $100.
e
Ann: One hundred dollars! That sounds pretty high.
iv
Janice: In those days . . . I don't think . . . whatever it was, I know the highest I ever got for
those stories was like $250 or something. That was many, many years later and I hope I was a
better writer. It's always a thrill. Some people get their kicks from cars, furs, or whatever. I get
ch
my kicks from selling a story. It's fun. Or even from seeing it in print, whether I've gotten paid
for it or not. At first, I was fighting with this Women's Lib[eration]140 thing within myself and
not understanding it in the terms we use today. Betty Freidan141 had to write the book to tell me
Ar
what was wrong with myself. Prior to Betty Freidan, all I knew was that if I got paid anything
for something, it had a value in the eyes of other people. If I was on a committee that was with
men, it had a value in the eyes of other people . . . if it was not a Sisterhood, or something like
ily
that. This made sound absurd to today's young women, but that's what we were fighting with
because we were programmed to be accessories. It was seeing it in print, and getting . . . if it
were $1, it would have been fine.
m
Ann: From there you went up to Columbia [UniversityNew York City, New York]?
Janice: Yes. That summer . . . the war had been over . . . had been over. I thought it was time
Fa
that I get on with my life. The plan had always been that I would specialize . . . this was one of
the things that Walter Paschall taught me . . . if you want to be a writer, the important thing to
ba
140
The feminist movement, also known as women's liberation, womens lib, the women's movement, or
feminism refers to a series of campaigns for reforms on issues such as equal pay, reproductive rights, domestic
violence, maternity leave, women's suffrage, sexual harassment, and sexual violence. Feminism began in the
western world in the late nineteenth century and has gone through three waves. First-wave feminism was oriented
around the station of middle- or upper-class white women and involved suffrage and political equality. Second-wave
feminism attempted to further combat social and cultural inequalities. Third-wave feminism is continuing to address
Cu
financial, social and cultural inequalities.

141
Betty Friedan (1921-2006) was an American writer, activist, and feminist. A leading figure in the women's
movement in the United States, her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking the second
wave of American feminism in the 20th century. In 1966, Friedan founded and was elected the first president of the
National Organization for Women (NOW), which aimed to bring women "into the mainstream of American society
now [in] fully equal partnership with men."

Page 89 of 136
learn is not how to write. You learn that from doing. The thing that you really have to study is
to get enough grasp on what's going on to have something to say when you write. You have to
have an education, whether it's in a particular field or whatever. You have to write about
something. It's much more important to know that something than it is to know technique of
s
writing because each person develops that for himself or herself. The plan had been for me,
since I was so young, I was only 18 when I graduated college, was afterwards I was going to go
e
to graduate school. When the war was over, I said, Let's go to graduate school. I went to
iv
summer school at Columbia. By then I had totally changed all the things I was interested in. I
was interested in Spanish and I was interested in history. I didn't have credits for either one of
them. Also, in journalism. It seems to me I did take a course at Emory [UniversityAtlanta,
ch
Georgia] at one point when I was staying home. I took these courses at Columbia. I had job
offers. I had social interests. I had everything that I could have wanted, except a place to stay.
It was impossible, either in Washington or in New York, or at Columbia since I couldn't get in to
Ar
a graduate program. So I came home thinking, When the crunch is off I'll try again, maybe in a
few months. I didn't try again, because I met Jack Rothschild.
Ann: Now, the important thing. How did you meet? Who introduced you? Or did you just
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meet out somewhere?
Janice: I don't know why there should be so many people claiming to have been the ones to
introduce us, but I know who did it.
m
Ann: Who was it?

Janice: It was Nina Brail, who was a very distant cousin of my mother. She was quite a
Fa
swimmer and quite a horseback rider. She worked very diligently throughout the war for USO-
[United Service Organization]142 type things, JWV [Jewish War Veterans],143 and so forth.
Whenever somebody interesting would come along, she would get us together. For example,
ba
Dodie Patterson . . . Dr. Joe Patterson, was stationed here during the war. He loved to
142
The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is a nonprofit organization that provides programs, services and
Cu
live entertainment to United States troops and their families. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the
Department of Defense, relying heavily on private contributions and on funds, goods, and services from various
corporate and individual donors. Although congressionally chartered, it is not a government agency.
143
The Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America (also referred to as the Jewish War Veterans, or the
JWV) is an American-Jewish veterans' organization, and the oldest veterans group in the United States. It has an
estimated 37,000 members. (2015)

Page 90 of 136
horseback ride. She did, too. She knew who had horses and would lend them to us. We had
mutual friends with horses. That's how he and I met long before Ruby and he met, or before
Jack and I met. This was the same way with Jack. I saw him . . . I was on one of the sun boards
at the swimming pool at the old Standard Club on Ponce de Leon [Avenue] with Nina. They had
s
one or two tennis courts. Can you imagine a club with one or two tennis courts? Anyway, he
was on one of them. I said, There's a man I don't know yet. Who is he? Nina says, That's a
e
rabbi. When he comes off the courts I'll introduce you. From there, the rest is history.
iv
Ann: How much older than you was he?
Janice: Thirteen years. He was closer to my mother's age than to mine. My second husband
was exactly the same age. These two men were born within a month of each other. What my
ch
kids tell me now when I tell them I've met somebody . . . the first question is not, What's his
name? . . .
Ann: Whats his birthday?
Janice:
very lucky.
Ann:
Ar
It's How old is he? I needed the kind of mentors that I got. I'm just delighted. I was
Tell me about the courtship. Was it immediate on his part?

ily
Janice: Can you imagine what a bachelor rabbi has to go through to have dates with somebody
without the pressure of gossip exacerbating whatever they think might be developing? It wasn't
easy. The first date was that night. I was . . .
m
Ann: . . . there was nothing slow about him . . .

Janice: . . . we just met for a cup of coffee. He was living at the Biltmore [Hotel].144 I was in
Fa
a radio show at WSB, which was then on the roof of the Biltmore. When I could not have a date
with him that night, I said, When the show is over, if you think you'll still be up I'll call you and
we'll meet.
ba
Ann: What kind of a show? Why were you in a radio show?

Janice: Because I did acting. I was interested in acting. I forget exactly what group it was
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144
The Atlanta Biltmore Hotel on West Peachtree Street in Atlanta opened in 1924. The 11 story hotel and the 10-
story apartment buildings were located in Midtown. There were towering radio masks on each end of the building,
with vertical illuminated letters on them that spell out BILTMORE. In 1967 it was sold to Sheraton Hotels and
became the Sheraton-Biltmore Hotel. The building has now been renovated and turned into office space and
condominiums and is still called the Biltmore.

Page 91 of 136
that was doing that, but . . .

Ann: . . . so this was a play?
Janice: Theater was not big time then . . .
Ann: . . . this was a play on radio?
s
Janice: . . . amateurs did anything. It was not exactly prime time . . . something like ten
o'clock, or something like that. It was fun. I tell you who was involved in it . . .
e
Ann: I was just getting ready to ask you . . . who else used to do that?
iv
Janice: Hill Bermont.145 I don't know if this name means anything to you. He's retired now, I
believe. In his real career . . . the last 30 years or so, he was at the University of Georgia . . . I
think in charge of television production. Hill had come here as a very young man, a refugee
ch
from Vienna [Austria]. He had studied with Max Bernhardt.146 He had a really fine background
in theater. I met him when he first came here. We did . . . I forget the name of the theater group
. . . there were some of us who went out to hospitals with entertainment. I think it was probably
equity actor.
Ann: You didn't ever pay dues?
Ar
through that group that whoever was doing this programming for WSB asked us. I was never an
ily
Janice: No. I don't think they'd take me. I studied later with Frank Wittow147 at the Academy
Theater many, many years later. I realized through working with Frank, who I have great, great
admiration for, that I was not nor would I ever be a real actress. He didn't tell me this. I just
m
learned from doing it and from loving it.

Ann: Why did you think that you wouldn't?
Fa
Janice: Because I neither had the innate ability or some of the more refined abilities. I was
very much at home on the stage and I loved doing it. But I didn't have the refined abilities such
ba
145
Hill Bermont (1912-2009) was an educator, actor, dancer, public television pioneer at the University of Georgia,
licensed hypo-therapist and recipient of Robert F. Kennedy Citation. He was born Hans Blum in Vienna into a
prominent Austrian Jewish family. When the Nazis came to power, Hill's father fled the Nazi regime. Hill followed
and lived temporarily in England before traveling to the United States. He lived in New York before moving to
Atlanta, Georgia. He took the stage name of Hill Bermont which later became his legal name.
146
Max Bernhardt (1906-1979) was born in Wittenberge, Germany. He was an actor, known for his roles in Solche
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Zeiten (1955), Das Risiko (1965) and Feind im Blut (1931).

147
Frank Wittow founded the Academy Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia in 1956. He was the artistic director of the
Academy Theatre from 1956 until his death in 2006. During his life he directed more than 200 productions: plays,
musical theatre and opera, in New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Montreal, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. As an actor,
he appeared in more than 150 roles, including leading roles in A Touch of the Poet, Waiting for Godot, King Lear,
Macbeth, and Death of a Salesman.

Page 92 of 136
as ability to do accents and things like that . . . the ear that it takes. As far as the emotional part
of it was concerned, I made a conscious decision . . . studying with him this is what it taught me .
. . the kind of acting that I admired and appreciated, even if you have the talent, you had to probe
inside yourself to the point where it was like psychoanalysis. I was not willing. I had a nice
s
family, two children, a husband who was very prominent, and . . . life was not all that smooth. I
had all these good things going for me, but there were lots of conflicts as there are, I imagine,
e
with most growing families. I realized that I was too vulnerable to start tearing up my insides.
iv
This could very well lead to something disastrous that I didn't want to happen. Who needs it?
<interview pauses, then resumes>
Ann: You gave up all thought of being a professional, but you did continue playing the
ch
game . . .
Janice: Where are we now?
Ann: We're just going to go back to when you were dating and the difficulties of beginning
Ann:
You want to know about dating?
Ar
a relationship with someone who is in the public eye.
Janice:
Yes. Where did you all have to hide?
ily
Janice: For one thing it was very hard for him to even have an evening because this was
summer time, like mid-August. He had been here, I think, since June. Everybody in town with a
marriageable daughter . . .
m
Ann: . . . had a girl for him . . .

Janice: . . . had him booked up with invitations to dinner. He really didn't have time. Also, he
Fa
was trying to get started, get the Temple in shape, write his sermons for his first holiday service,
and arrange for an installation. He would call me when he'd get back at night from wherever he
had been. We did a lot of working on the New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle on the
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telephone . . . his and mine. When we got married, it was terrible because we only had one copy
of it.
Ann: You needed two copies of that part of the paper. That's all.
Cu
Janice: Yes. But seriously, we did have a few dates, like going to dinner. Mostly we went
horseback riding because he could get away . . . one or two afternoons a week. We really got to
know each other better on horseback.

Page 93 of 136
Ann: Where did you go?

Janice: I remember that the Simmons had horses. I had grown up . . . that's where I learned to
ride.
Ann: Where were they?
s
Janice: . . . I should tell you and future generations who the Simmons were. Henry Simmons,
and Claudia, were the parents of two daughters, Roslyn [Klausman] and Charlotte. Charlotte
e
was my age. She married Charles Lewis. They lived here for many years not throughout her life
iv
but most of her children grew up here. I think we must have used some of the Simmons' horses
at times, but there was another family . . .
Ann: Where did they live? What part of the city?
ch
Janice: We were all in Druid Hills.
Ann: They kept horses in Druid Hills?
Janice: No, they didn't keep horses there. They had . . . what is now Druid Hills was farmland
Ar
. . . it was somewhere on Briarcliff Road. Briarcliff is built up now. It wasn't built up then. It
was somewhere around there that they had the stable. They didn't have a lot of horses. They had
two or three.
ily
Ann: Maybe in that area where the little pony rides used to be near Stevens . . .
Janice: I don't even know where that is . . .
Ann: . . . near where Lavista [Road] and Briarcliff [Road] cross.
m
Janice: Yes, somewhere in that area.

Ann: There was a riding rink.
Fa
Janice: This was not any riding rink. They had a little bit of property. It was no big deal. It
was the Simmons . . . the other horse story is later. It's my husband with Rabbi [Emanuel]
Feldman,148 and it was the Harris horses. The Simmons . . . we used their stables so much that
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when we announced our engagement, they sent us a little gold key to the stables.
Ann: That's adorable. What was the husband's name again?
Cu
148
Emanuel Feldman (b. 1927) is an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and rabbi emeritus of Congregation of Atlanta, Georgia.
During his nearly 40 years as a congregational rabbi, he nurtured the growth of the Orthodox community in Atlanta
from a community small enough to support two small Orthodox synagogues (and one nominally Orthodox one,
Shearith Israel, which eventually became Conservative), to a community large enough to support Jewish day
schools, yeshivas, girls schools and a kollel.

Page 94 of 136
Janice: Henry Simmons. Henry and Claudia. They were my parents' age.
Ann: They were members of the Temple?
Janice: Yes. I didn't know anybody who wasn't a member of the Temple if they were Jewish,
until after I married. You have no idea how segregated this city was Jewishly.
s
Ann: Tell me about how Rabbi Rothschild happened to get selected to come to Atlanta. Dr.
Marx had been here forever and ever and ever.
e
Janice: My remark to Nina Brail when I said, Who's that new man? and she said, That's the
iv
new rabbi. Haven't you met him? was That's ridiculous. Dr. Marx will never retire. Everybody
knows that. Apparently, everybody knew that, except two: Dr. Marx and me. He had indeed
retired. I had been away. My family was not really into the Jewish community life here. I'm
ch
sure they knew, they just failed to tell me. It wasn't something that was of great importance to
them. I now know, or soon after that knew, that the congregation had a lovely big reception . . .
all kinds of thank yous, we love you, but it's time for Dr. Marx's retirement. I also knew from
Ar
my new husband that no rabbi worth his salt149 would have accepted Atlanta no matter how good
a potential it had, as an assistant [rabbi]. Sam Sandmel had been here his first year out of school
as Dr. Marx's assistant. He had such a miserable time that he not only left Atlanta, he left the
ily
active rabbinate. It was fortunate for scholarship, because he turned out to be one of the really
great scholars and teachers at Hebrew [Union] College. But, none of these people who knew
him . . . of course, this spreads. That's quite a club. In those days . . .
m
Ann: . . . it was an even smaller club . . .

Janice: . . . of American rabbis . . . was a much smaller club. They knew what happened to
Fa
every one of them. Nobody who wasn't absolutely desperate for a job and would have been
considered by Atlanta would have come here as an assistant. As I remember, Milton Rice who
was president of the Temple at the time . . . had gone to Cincinnati [Ohio]. I think there may
ba
have been the Union Convention in Cincinnati. It wasn't the school that he went to, it was the
convention to see who was coming back from the war . . .
Ann: . . . who would be available . . .
Cu
Janice: . . . and would need a job.
149
A saying meaning someone who is good or competent at their job or profession; someone who deserves respect.
(Salt was regarded as being the highest of value and a valuable trade item in the past.)

Page 95 of 136
Ann: They obviously were looking for someone who was a little bit older, a little more
mature than just a brand new graduate.
Janice: I think so. After all, Jack had been out for ten years. He wasn't any youngster then.
He was 34 or 35. He had been in the army. He was the first Jewish chaplain in action in World
s
War II.
Ann: Where did he serve?
e
Janice: He was in Guadalcanal,150 right behind the Marines. He was also on New
iv
Caledonia151 and Fiji.152 He had gotten malaria, so they sent him home early. He was back and
being a chaplain for . . . waving the guys on who were going to have to go before most of them
went. He was in action. This menorah153 that my son has was made for him by the soldiers out
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of spent shells. The picture on the cover of my book154 shows him conducting a service outside a
tent. You can see that menorah in the background. He had had plenty of experience. He was the
assistant to [Rabbi] Solomon Freehof155 in his own congregation that he grew up in.
Ann:
Janice:
Ann:
Which was?
Ar
Rodef Shalom in Pittsburgh, for four years.
Even before he ever went into action?
ily
Janice: To war, yes. He had one year out of school in Davenport, Iowa. He got the best job
available at the time. It paid $2,200 a year. That was the best job available at the time.
Ann: No pension, probably.
m
Janice: Probably didn't.

Fa
150
The principal island in the Solomon Islands in the southwestern Pacific. It was the site of the first major
offensive by Allied forces against Japan during World War II. Between August 7, 1942 and February 9, 1943
Guadalcanal was one of the bitterest battlefields in the Pacific, at the end of which the Allies were victorious.
151
New Caledonia was an archipelago belonging to France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean. During World
War II, its major port, Noumea, was used by the Allies as a major staging base for the United States Army and Navy
ba
in the Pacific.
152
Officially the Republic of Fiji, comprising near 332 volcanic islands (of which 100 are inhabited) and 500 islets.
Fiji was a British colony during World War II and the Fiji Defence Force fought with New Zealanders in the
Solomon Islands campaign.
153
The menorah, which has seven branches, is an ancient symbol of the Jews. It has come to be connected with
Hanukkah. The Talmud states that it is prohibited to use a seven-branched menorah outside of the Temple so the
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Hanukkah menorah (hanukiah) has nine branches.

154
The book mentioned here is One Voice: Rabbi Jacob M. Rothschild and the Troubled South, published in 1985.
155
Solomon Bennett Freehof (1892-1990) was a prominent Reform rabbi and scholar. Rabbi Freehof served as
president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the World Union for Progressive Judaism. He
spearheaded changes to Reform liturgy with revisions to the Union Prayer Book (siddur). For many years, he served
as the pulpit rabbi at Rodef Shalom in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Page 96 of 136
Ann: Probably no health [insurance].

Janice: The interesting thing was, there are two sides to the story. He lived well. He helped
send his sister through college. He was not deprived at $2,200 a year. It sounds terrible. He
came here at $7,200, which was all they could pay. Because he was a bachelor and thought he
s
was going to stay that way, he didn't argue about it. He could see that they had two salaries to
pay and that they were in trouble. He was sympathetic to it. Soon thereafter we married and had
e
children. Even though they raised him a little bit, it was still very difficult for a long time. It
iv
took a while for this congregation to pay off its mortgage, which had been since 1930.
Ann: I was just getting ready to say, this is a congregation that had been in existence for
years and years. The building that you're talking about was built in 1930 or 1931.
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Janice: It was. Apparently they overspent . . . Harold Hirsch156 was their chief benefactor, I
suppose. He said, Don't worry. Do it right and I'll take care of it.
Ann: Then he dropped dead.
Janice:
Ann:
Then he dropped dead.
Ar
I'm going to stop right here before we run out of tape.
ily
<Tape 4, Side 1>
Ann: This is the first side of the fourth tape of Ann Hoffman Schoenberg interviewing
Janice Oettenger Rothschild Blumberg . . .
m
Janice: . . . I had a middle name, too . . .

Ann: . . . we left that one out.
Fa
Janice: Good.
Ann: . . . on April 2, 1994 in her sons home in Atlanta, Georgia for the Jewish Oral History
Project of Atlanta, co-sponsored by the American Jewish Committee, the Atlanta Jewish
ba
Federation, and the National Council of Jewish Women. We are talking about Rabbi
156
Harold Hirsch (1881-1930) was a well-known attorney who was active in philanthropic organizations in the
Atlanta area. He received his law degree in 1904 and soon became one of Atlanta's most prominent lawyers, helping
Cu
Coca-Cola trademark its signature logo and bottle design in a number of copyright infringement cases. He was also
involved in the creation of the law school at Emory University and one of the founding members of the faculty.
Hirsch was very involved in philanthropic endeavors, particularly those in the Jewish community. He was a member
of the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation (the Temple), the Federation of Jewish Charities, the United Jewish
Charities, and the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith. He helped found The Atlanta Committee for German-Jewish
Relief and served as chairman of the organization.

Page 97 of 136
Rothschild's background and how he came to Atlanta. Where were you?

Janice: May I just interject something because it sounds funny to me to hear myself with all
those names. It occurred to me that the middle name which you left out (and I always leave out)
was Browne.
s
Ann: Let's wait for the airplane to go by. We're outside, by the way. I didn't mention that it
is a magnificent day. We decided to sit outside for this interview. You have had the pleasure,
e
whoever you are, you scholars in the future, of hearing the beautiful birds and now the airplane
iv
going overhead.
Janice: It's such a pleasure to be in Atlanta on a day like this when I left the cold North. It just
reminds me of how beautiful this place is.
ch
Ann: Now you're sorry you don't live here again?
Janice: Not really. For me Washington [D.C] is the best place to be right now . . .
Ann: . . . at this moment in time . . .
Janice:
Ann:
Janice:
You're right.
Ar
. . . but there's no place as beautiful as Atlanta . . .
It's just divine. What I did want to tell you about this funny middle name is that it is
ily
Atlanta history. I forget whether you've got it on an earlier tape. My middle name is Browne . . .
B-R-O-W-N-E. That was the great-grandfather who was . . .
Ann: . . . Alphabet . . .
m
Janice: . . . Alphabet. Yes, we did talk about him.

Ann: We did talk about him . . . you gave me . . . I gave you the whole megillah.157
Fa
Ann: Yes, the whole thing about him. We were talking about Rabbi Rothschild coming to
Atlanta. You said that he was given a very minimal kind of salary. The Temple itself still had a
large mortgage to pay off since Mr. Hirsch had dropped dead before he could financially get
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them out of the hole.

Janice: Incidentally, I think that Mr. Hirsch and presumably this group of guys with the
money and therefore the clout who had selected the site . . . which was an outrageous place to go
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to for most of the people in the congregation, as I understand it . . . they pushed it through
157
Colloquially, megillah means a long, involved story or account. Specifically, it originates from the Hebrew
word for scroll or volume (used especially in the Book of Esther in the Bible, which is read aloud at the Purim
celebration.)

Page 98 of 136
because they had the clout. They also had the most fantastic foresight. Do you know of any
inner city congregation that has not either shriveled up or had to build a suburban annex? I
mean, this was fantastic. They weren't just dictators. They were pretty smart guys.
Ann: I know you've written a book on the Temple's history.158 Perhaps you can tell us how
s
did they happen to select the site, and how did they happen to select Philip Trammell Shutze,159
the architect?
e
Janice: One of the partners there was Rudy [Rudolph] Adler, who is a member of this group . .
iv
. [a member of] the Temple and a member of the group.
Ann: He was on the Building Committee?
Janice: I presume so. I know he was the architect for the Temple. He had a great deal to do
ch
with what went into it, as well as the design. I'm sure that's why they chose that. I don't know
any details of how they chose the site. I do know that there were precious few Jews who lived in
North Atlanta. The ones who did live north lived northeast. The Standard Club, I think, had
Ar
already moved to Ponce de Leon [Avenue]. But there again it wasn't Peachtree [Street] and
Spring [Street]. It was Ponce de Leon near Boulevard. Yes, there were a lot of people that were
out in the Druid Hills area along Ponce de Leon and into Druid Hills, which was the general
ily
direction.
Ann: But no one was living in Ansley Park,160 or very few Jews, if any?
Janice: I can't think of any. I may be wrong, but offhand, I can't. I can think of the few
m
families . . . the Simmons were one of them at that time . . . who lived on Myrtle Street and
Seminole on the other side of Ponce de Leon. But Myrtle was closer to . . . those streets that . . .
Fa
Ann: . . . yes, right. Charles Allen [Drive] and some of those streets in that Midtown area.
Janice: Yes. There were some who lived there. But at that time, I don't think there was any
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158
As But A Day: The First Hundred Years (1867-1967) by Janice Rothschild and its sequel As But A Day: To A
Hundred and Twenty (1867-1987) by Janice Rothschild Blumberg.
159
Philip Trammell Shutze (1890-1982) was an important Atlanta architect of the early twentieth century. Several
of Shutzes buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Swan House, the Academy of
Medicine, and the sanctuary of the Temple (in Atlanta, Georgia). Boys High (later Henry Grady High School); the
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Science Building and Chapel at Spelman College; Glenn Memorial Church, and the Education Building at Emory
University. He worked with the firm Hentz, Reid & Adler. After Reids death, Shutze became partner in 1927 and
the firm became known as Hentz, Adler & Shutze.
160
Ansley Park is an affluent residential neighborhood in Atlanta, located east of Midtown and west of Piedmont
Park. Ansley Golf Club borders the district. The neighborhood was largely completed by 1930. It has been
designated a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

Page 99 of 136
Temple members who lived northwest.

Ann: There probably weren't many people at all living northwest of any . . .
Janice: That's right. What we consider main arteries today, like Lindbergh [Drive] and North
Druid Hills [Road] . . . North Druid Hills was already so far out that they didn't even think about
s
that. We lived on East Lake Road. My mother was a piano teacher who went to the home. I
remember when Mother discovered that you could get across on this road which turned out to be
e
Lindbergh. Atlanta was built like a star, but there were not connecting main streets that most
iv
people knew about that connected them. You couldn't get through the way you get through
today. The people who lived northeast thought that building a Temple out there was just
outrageous. But by the time I went . . . first of all, they bought the property in the mid-Twenties,
ch
I think. But it was before they built. In the meantime, maybe some of them had moved a little
bit closer. But most of the families that belonged to the Temple that I knew were in Druid Hills.
Ann: To go back to Rabbi Rothschild and Rabbi Marx, what was their relationship?
Janice:
Ar
Rabbi Rothschild tried his best to honor this man who had been a major figure in his
day. He had a heck of a time doing it . . . First of all, Dr. Marx was apparently never an easy
person to get along with. He was very smart. He wanted things done his way. He was used to
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being the only one around. He knew more than other people. He had influence on his
congregation. He had been the rabbi for . . .
Ann: . . . fifty years.
m
Janice: Yes. That's three generations. People had great respect for him.
Ann: Nobody questioned his ability or his knowledge, I suppose.
Fa
Janice: I think it was probably the typical retirement syndrome. He didn't want to. He was
bitter at having done it. He was bitter anyway, because he had been embittered . . . I know that at
the time he was passed over as president of the CCARCentral Conference of American
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Rabbis161 . . . whether there was anything that had embittered him before that or not, I don't
know. But this I do know. I also know that the reason that they had passed over him was in part,
at least . . . there may have been some other reason . . . I haven't studied it . . . but in part, at least,
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because of his strong antagonism to Zionism. This was already getting to be something that
161
The Central Conference of American Rabbis was founded in 1889, is the oldest and largest rabbinic organization
in North American. It works to enhance and foster unity and excellence among Reform rabbis and the application of
Jewish values to contemporary life.

Page 100 of 136
people felt very positive about. Not all of them. Even through the first ten years that Rabbi
Rothschild was here, there was still a strong group of a few rabbis who were strongly anti-
Zionist.
Ann: Not here in Atlanta?
s
Janice: No.
Ann: Other than Dr. Marx.
e
Janice: That's right. But there were lay people who were, who tried very hard to . . .
iv
Ann: That's what I wondered. Were there any lay people in Atlanta who were particularly
vociferous or outspoken in their stand against Israel in the Thirties and Forties? Can you recall
anyone?
ch
Janice: In the Thirties and Forties, some of the most respected people in town were . . .
Ann: . . . anti-Zionist . . . the people who were . . . in the American Jewish Committee?
Wasn't that the . . . what was it called?
<crosstalk>
Janice:
Ann:
Ar
The American Jewish Committee does wonderful work.
No, that's not the one.
ily
Janice: They get a bad rap because it's so closely named.
Ann: It's close. What's the name of it?
Janice: American Council for Judaism.162 Yes, there were. Even in the late Forties or early
m
Fifties . . . you can check it by my book, but I haven't read my book in a long time. There was a
movement to start a congregation here, as there were in other cities, where there was a strong
Fa
group opposed to the trend toward . . . what it really was, was toward Jewishness. That was
happening in all these congregations that were being taken over by younger men who wanted to
bring their congregations into the twentieth century, with mainstream and so forth. Dr. Marx
ba
was not unique. Atlanta was not unique. As a matter of fact, living in Washington I've been
doing a little bit of research on something I said I would do with Washington Hebrew
Congregation history. I was surprised to find out that their changeover was much later. We
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162
The American Council for Judaism (ACJ) is an organization of American Jews committed to the proposition that
Jews are not a nationality but merely a religious group, adhering to the original stated principles of Reform Judaism.
The ACJ was founded in June 1942 by a group of Reform rabbis who opposed the direction of their movement,
including the issue of Zionism.

Page 101 of 136
thought we were so slow in Atlanta. They were like 20 years behind us. It all had to do with the
proclivities of the rabbi.
Ann: Who was their rabbi?
Janice In those days it was Norman Gerstenfeld.163
s
Ann: He too, was anti-Zionist?
Janice: He wasn't that old. He was older than my husband, but he was in school about the
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same time. As far as Atlanta history is concerned, I just mention another city because this was
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not something awful that Dr. Marx did to the congregation. It was . . .
Ann: . . . a trend . . .
Janice: . . . because there were so many people who, for one reason or another . . . In
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Washington, I think it was a different story. But for Dr. Marx's generation, they had been
trained, as my family was, too . . . they believed this. I believed it too until I met Rabbi
Rothschild and saw the error of my ways, in the Universalist spirit and in believing that the only
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difference between us and them was that we went to a different church. We had a different
concept of G-d. But we didn't understand ethnicity. We didn't understand culture, because we
didn't know it. We didn't know our own Jewish culture enough to care about preserving it. We
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knew that we were supposed to care and that we were proud we were Jewish, but we couldn't
explain why we were proud we were Jewish.
Ann: Because you didn't have the educational background?
m
Janice: We didn't have the education. Everything is a trade-off in life. This is something that
I believe our ancestors traded for coming to America. There wasn't the facility here for the kind
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of general learning in Judaism . . . generalized among people . . . an opportunity for Jewish

learning that people had in Europe. We had freedom. We had mixing and all these wonderful
things that we're glad we had, but we missed the Jewish education.
ba
Ann: When you reflect on it now, though, do you think that the experience that the Jews of
the mid-nineteenth century, from Germany primarily, Austria, the Germanic countries, the ones
that really began the Reform movement . . .
Cu
Janice: . . . and there were a lot of them from Russia and Poland, too, who melded into the
Rabbi Norman Gerstenfeld, succeeded Rabbi Abram Simon at the Washington Hebrew Congregation, in 1938.
163
He served the congregation for more than 30 years and was a presence in the national Reform movement.

Page 102 of 136
culture which was German because that's what was here.

Ann: Do you think the experiences they had that pulled them away from that strong
educational background, that strong feeling for the Hebrew, the ritual and a lot of the old
traditions . . . were those influences already dissipated by the time the next wave came from
s
Eastern Europe that allowed those people who became the AA congregations and their ilk, those
who began their congregations in the 1880's and 1890's and retained a good deal of that
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yiddishkeit?164 Was it made possible because the others had come earlier and kind of paved the
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way? What made their experience so different?
Janice: I think that we owe a great deal to each other. They certainly came in at a time when
our ancestors had paved the way for them in many ways. However, they brought in with them
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the kind of feeling for Klal Yisrael165 that we are getting from them now. It's a two-way street, in
my view. You must remember that a lot of this, what we call yiddishkeit, was just that. It
wasn't necessarily learning. It wasn't . . . but at least there was a feeling for Zion, for ritual. I
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don't like ritual. I reject most of it on a personal basis. But I can see what it does for a person. I
can see that you have to know something before you can reject it happily and keep going from
there in a positive way. I do think that a lot of them totally rejected religion because it was too
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confining. The so-called ethnic laws and so forth that had been inculcated that were . . .
Ann: . . . we're talking about the German Jews now that came, the early ones?
Janice: No, I'm not. Im talking about . . . I think that the German Jews who came in much
m
smaller numbers . . . more alone than the other waves of immigration were . . . that they basically
opted out . . . where they opted out . . . because there wasn't anybody to hold on to. The great
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service that [Rabbi] Isaac Mayer Wise gave this country in organizing the way he did was that
there's no word Reform in any of those organization names. The idea was not that they would
be Reform as such, but that they would be a union.
ba
Ann: Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
164
Yiddishkeit literally means "Jewishness", i.e. a Jewish way of life in the Yiddish language. In a more general
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sense it has come to mean the "Jewishness" or "Jewish essence" of Ashkenazi Jews in general and the traditional
Yiddish-speaking Jews of Eastern and Central Europe in particular. From a more secular perspective it is associated
with the popular culture or folk practices of Yiddish-speaking Jews, such as popular religious traditions, Eastern
European Jewish food, Yiddish humor, and klezmer music, among other things.
165
Klal Yisrael (Hebrew for the Whole of Israel) refers to the idea of the whole of the Jewish people, no matter
where they are and their interconnections.

Page 103 of 136
Janice: Yes. The idea was to try to have a togetherness feeling, so the congregations would
form. People would stay Jewish and have something to hold on to. Then, 20 years later, when
the big waves of immigration came, the mores were so very, very different. The culture was so
very, very different. They had their own groups. They came in groups. They didn't have the
s
same problem of dropping out that the earlier ones had had. The early ones were dropping out
because of marriage. Where did they find a Jewish community with a Jewish girl to marry?
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They would go back to Europe, get a bride, come back over here and live in some little place
iv
where they tried to be Jewish. But they didn't have . . .
Ann: . . . they didn't have the support system.
Janice: Yes.
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Ann: There were no kosher butchers, and all the rest of it.
Janice: Yes, so they dropped out. I think that the idea of Reform that had started in Europe166
made much more sense to them than the ethical Judaism167 and prophetic Judaism.168 The idea
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that you could be a good Jew, and a religious person, without all the ritual . . . that it was
impossible for them to keep or to observe meant a lot to them. Then when the people came in
groups, they were better able to observe it. They had the foundation of Jewish communities
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when they arrived. It was very different from that. I'm hoping we're coming together more now,
and it's just . . .
Ann: What was the relationship between Dr. Marx and Rabbi [Harry] Epstein?169 Did they
m
have a relationship at all? Rabbi Epstein had been here for a very long while, even at that point.
Janice: I don't know. I don't think they had much of a relationship.
Fa
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166
The Reform movement in Germany stressed the idea that they did not want to reject ritual but they wished to
adapt it to the modern world (such as performing the service in German.) They wanted to adapt ritual, not negate it.
Thus, Janice is saying that early, isolated Jews wished to keep tradition and ritual, rather than abandon it or even
adapt it, but found it impossible to do in the circumstances of their actual life.
167
Ethical Judaism follows the belief that is consistent with ethical commandments (as opposed to ritual
commandments.) That is, for example, to be kind to other people, honor your father and mother, be fair in your
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dealings with others, give charity, etc. but not necessarily keep all the ritual commandments.
168
Prophetic Judaism follows the belief that Jews should lead an ethical life, but also to be change agents: that they
need to make the world a better place because they are commanded in the Torah and by the prophets to do so.
169
In 1928 Rabbi Harry Epstein (1903-2003) served as the rabbi of Ahavath Achim from 1928 to 1982. Under his
leadership the congregation began to shift to Conservatism, which they adopted in 1952. Rabbi Epstein retired in
1982, becoming Rabbi Emeritus and Rabbi Arnold Goodman assumed the rabbinic post.

Page 104 of 136
Ann: How about Rabbi [Joseph] Cohen170 from Or VeShalom?171 He also was a 50-year
man, I think. Was he not?
Janice: I really don't know, but my impression . . . of course, it would be much better to do
this in a scholarly way instead of giving impressions. I'm sure that a scholar could find this
s
information very easily, maybe even in my book. But I don't have it at the moment. My
impression was that Rabbi [Tobias] Geffen172 and Dr. Marx must have had a relationship
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because these were both real scholars. Not that Epstein isn't, but he was a much younger man
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then. They wouldn't have been on the same par with each other. They probably would have
been at odds for reasons of Zionism and other reasons. Also, I think perhaps there wasn't a
closeness with Cohen, if this was in fact the case, not only because he too would have been a
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little bit different generation, but also because Rabbi [Joseph] Cohen did not speak much
English. I conversed with him in Spanish, but he had very little English. They were a small
congregation. They were like . . . the Temple was a benefactor, or Temple members were
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benefactors of their congregation. They were concerned with paying the bills and getting started
and all of that in those days rather than whether they had a rapport with the Reform rabbi or not.
Ann: What about Rabbi Rothschild and his relationship with other rabbis in the community?
ily
Janice: He saw to it that he had a good one. He had a good relationship, from his point of
view anyway, with Rabbi Epstein. Every now and then he could sense that Rabbi Epstein was at
least feeling dicey if he didn't act that way toward him. He managed to pull it out. He and
m
Epstein were on a first name basis. They had a good time together according to the report I got
from [Rabbi] Rothschild when they traveled to Europe and Israel together in 1950.
Fa
170
Rabbi Joseph Cohen received his training for the rabbinate in Turkey and accepted his first pulpit in Havana,
Cuba in 1920, where he was spiritual leader of the Congregation Union Hebraic de Cuba. In 1934, he moved to
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Atlanta, Georgia, and was installed as Rabbi of Congregation Or VeShalom three days after his arrival. In addition
to his rabbinical duties, he served as the teacher and principal of Or VeShalom's Hebrew school. Rabbi Cohen was
also active at the Atlanta Bureau of Jewish Education, the Adult Institute of Jewish Studies, the Atlanta Jewish
Federation, and was the first president of the Atlanta Rabbinical Association. Rabbi Cohen retired in 1969 and died
in 1985.
171
Congregation Or VeShalom was established by refugees of the Ottoman Empire, namely from Turkey and the
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Isle of Rhodes. The congregation began in 1920 and was based at Central and Woodward Avenues until 1948 when
it moved to a larger building on North Highland Road. The current building for OrVeshalom is on North Druid
Hills Road.
172
Rabbi Tobias Geffen (1870-1970) was an Orthodox rabbi and leader of Congregation Shearith Israel in Atlanta
from 1910-1970. He is widely known for his 1935 decision that certified Coca-Cola as kosher. He also organized the
first Hebrew school in Atlanta, and standardized regulation of kosher supervision in the Atlanta area.

Page 105 of 136
Ann: I didn't know that.

Janice: You didn't know that? They were co-chairs of the UJA [United Jewish Appeal]173 that
year, the [Jewish] Federation [of Greater Atlanta].174
Ann: In 1950?
s
Janice: In 1950. Which after all was only a few years after Rabbi Rothschild came here.
Don't forget also that . . . now I'm giving his point of view that he's given me. I don't know what
e
Rabbi Epstein really thinks nor, I suppose, did my husband know. Just think of it from Rabbi
iv
Epstein's supposed point of view. He had waited all those years for the rabbi at the Temple to
resign, to retire. A young fellow comes in. For the young fellow to pull the weight that he did
and not let him take his turn at being the chief rabbi of the city, so to speak, you can understand
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why he wouldn't have been real happy with this. What really happened was that when a . . . not
pro-Zionist because Jack Rothschild never considered himself a pro-Zionist . . . but when
someone who was not an anti-Zionist and who was trying to bring the Temple in the mainstream
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and learn how to be Jews, took over the bimah175 of the Temple, a lot of people from AA
resigned and joined the Temple. That could not have set very well with Rabbi Epstein either.
Jack knew this. He was sensitive to these things. He tried to behave in such a way that would
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ameliorate these supposed bad feelings. Apparently, they had a great time together. They were
in Israel for what was Jack's first trip in 1950. Then they were due to be a week in France
visiting DP [displaced persons] camps.176 Air France,177 or whatever the domestic version of Air
m
France was at the time, was on strike. Poor guys, they were stuck in Paris [France] for a week
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173
The United Jewish Appeal (UJA) was a Jewish philanthropic umbrella organization that collected and distributed
funds to Jewish organizations in their community and around the country. UJA existed from 1939 until it was
folded into the United Jewish Communities, which was formed from the 1999 merger of United Jewish Appeal
(UJA), Council of Jewish Federations and United Israel Appeal, Inc.
ba
174
The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta raises funds which are dispersed throughout the Jewish community.
Services also include caring for Jews in need locally and around the world, community outreach, leadership
development, educational opportunities. It is part of the Jewish Federation of North America (JFNA).
175
Hebrew for platform. The bimah is a raised structure in the synagogue from which the Torah is read and from
which prayers are led.
176
A Displaced Persons (DP) camp was a temporary facility for displaced persons after World War II. Most of them
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were in West Germany and Austria. They mostly housed former inmates of German concentrations camps but also
included refugees from all over Europe. Some of them were in the old concentration camps themselves such as
Dachau and Bergen-Belsen. The UNRRA took over the administration of the camps from the military. Many of
them became more or less permanent homes while the displaced persons relocated around the world or were
repatriated. By 1952, only Fohrenwald DP camp was still open. It closed in 1957.
177
Air France is the national flag carrier for France.

Page 106 of 136
with no place to go, just a few installations that were driving distance. This friend of mine that I
had worked for in Washington was living in Paris then. I'm sure Rabbi Epstein had family and
friends because Reva [Chashesman Epstein] was from there originally. They just had a ball.
They came back. All the way over, it was either Air France or one of the really good airlines.
s
They didn't have kosher food on the airlines in those days. Jack was telling me about these
wonderful dinners that came out. Epstein gave his portion to him. They had a real good time
e
together. It blew people's minds to have these two guys who were supposed to be at loggerheads
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with each other come back first naming each other. They went on the junket. I have a picture, as
a matter of fact, of the two of them taken at one of the television or radio stations in those days . .
. I think it wasnt television . . . [unintelligible: 25:10] . . . The other one that he really felt like a
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soul mate with was [Rabbi] Emanuel Feldman. They were really good friends.
Ann: That's an interesting juxtaposition . . . the most Orthodox of the rabbis in town.
Janice: That's right. Jack used to say that he and Manny agreed with each other completely on
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everything, except Judaism. It was true. They thought alike on social issues and on everything
except the theological and ritualistic part of Judaism. They respected each other and each other's
points of view, even though they didn't buy into them. They were . . . that was the Harris's
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horses.
Ann: Who were they? Tell us about the Harris horses now.
Janice: You know, Bess Harris . . . I can see her husband now, but I can't think of his first
m
name . . . they had horses and . . .

Ann: . . . and where were their horses? What part of the city?
Fa
Janice: Probably also in the same general area. I'm not sure. I think they lived out on Powers
Ferry Road. Maybe the horses were where they lived. They belonged to the Temple, but they
were big helpers in founding Beth Jacob.178 Of course, this was the beginning of Beth Jacob.
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Naturally they took over this young rabbi who was, I think, engaged at the time. He wasn't
married when he actually came here. They befriended him. The two rabbis went horseback
riding together. They had a wonderful time. Manny was a lot younger than Jack . . .
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Ann: How old was he?
178
Beth Jacob is an Orthodox synagogue on Lavista Road in Atlanta founded in 1942 by former members of
Ahavath Achim who were looking for a more Orthodox congregation. Beth Jacob is now Atlantas largest Orthodox
congregation. The first location was a converted house on Boulevard .

Page 107 of 136
Janice: . . . but Jack felt that this was an older brother feeling for him.
Ann: How old was he when he came, do you remember?
Janice: My recollection is 23. It was really a wonderful, warm relationship. Do you want me
to tell the story? I've told it in my book.
s
Ann: Go ahead and tell it.
Janice: It's one of my favorite stories about what happened apropos of the two of them and
e
horses. You know the story?
iv
Ann: I know it, but go ahead and tell it.
Janice: The two of them were on the dais one night waiting for whatever was to begin. Frank
Garson was in the middle. You know who Frank Garson179 is? I suppose anybody listening to
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this tape, if they don't know, they better find out. He was the major benefactor with a wonderful
pithy sense of humor, and an accent that I wish I could imitate. He's going like at a ping-pong
match listening to these two guys talk across him about the horses. Finally, he sticks his finger
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into Manny's face and says, You ride horseback? Feldman says, Yes, Mr. Garson. You think
only a Reform rabbi can ride horseback? Mr. Garson said, No. But when a Reform rabbi falls
off a horse, the people ask, 'Did he get hurt?' When an Orthodox rabbi falls off a horse, the
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people ask, What was he doing on a horse? Love it, love it. Anyway, they remained friends.
They remained such good friends that when my son, long after his father died, was in Israel and
wanted to get married in Israel, he knew what the rules were. He knew that his mother would
m
absolutely go up in smoke if she were asked to prove that she was Jewish and that she was
married by a rabbi, when she was married to one and by several. He didn't ask me. He didn't
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even tell me about it until the wedding. He wrote to Rabbi Feldman whom he knew had
impeccable credentials with chief rabbinate in Israel. He said, Please kasher180 me so that I can
get married legally in Israel without asking my mother. So I tell you, they were good friends.
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179
Frank Garson (1886-1955) was an Atlanta businessman and philanthropist. He founded the Lovable Company,
manufacturing lingerie and brassieres. He was born Frank Gottesman and later changed his name to Garson. Garson
was active in the United Palestine Appeal, the Jewish National Fund, the Jewish Welfare Board and the Anti-
Defamation League of B'nai B'rith.
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180
Kosher/Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food that may be consumed according to halakhah (Jewish
law) is termed kosher in English. Kosher refers to Jewish laws that dictate how food is prepared or served and
which kinds of foods or animals can be eaten. Food that is not in accordance with Jewish law is called treif. The
word kosher has become English vernacular, a colloquialism meaning proper, legitimate, genuine, fair, or
acceptable. Kosher can also be used to describe ritual objects that are made in accordance with Jewish law and are
fit for ritual use.

Page 108 of 136
Ann: That's wonderful. Tell me about how tough it was being a rabbi's wife. First of all,
when did you get married? What year and what was the date?
Janice: December 29, 1946.
Ann: Who were the rabbis who married you?
s
Janice: Dr. Marx and Rabbi Freehof from Pittsburgh. It was tough for me at first because
even though I had been born here and I've always lived here. In a way that was an advantage. I
e
didn't have this feeling of needing to go out and make an effort to meet people. I already knew
iv
people. I felt friendly. I've always been and still am really interested in meeting people. I don't
remember names, but I'm genuinely glad to see people. I usually remember a lot about them if
I've met them before, even if I don't remember their names. In that way, it was easy. But
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because I had grown up here, knew so many people, and had been brought up in such a different
milieu [French: social environment] I had a difficult time with my friends who didn't understand
why this man that I saw fit to marry was trying to make them Jewish. I had a tough time being a
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buffer, being in the middle. I was anxious to plug into what he was teaching. I trusted that what
he was doing was the right thing. I was anxious to take it, but I didn't understand enough to
know how to explain this without getting terribly upset myself when friends came to me instead
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of to him. I didn't like being the middleman. I was in this way a middleman in many ways
with my own family, with my mother. My father didn't say much. He was just happy with the
whole thing, but . . .
m
Ann: I was going to ask if your parents were pleased, displeased, or . . .

Janice: . . . they were pleased. They were in shock at first, but they were very pleased.
Fa
Ann: For a variety of reasons, I imagine. One of which was the mere fact that you were
getting married, second of which was that you were marrying someone who was Jewish.
Janice: I don't think they even cared about that. I think that, to be quite blunt about it, the fact
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that he was a person of importance and of great . . .

<interview is interrupted by a visitor and then resumes>
Ann: We're back. You were talking about the difficulty of being the middle person . . . a
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middleman.
Janice: Yes. That was difficult. While I thought I had developed elephant skin, it was just
baby elephant maybe at the time. It took a while to stop being bothered by things that people

Page 109 of 136
would say that were critical. They didn't tell me things that were critical of me. That never
bothers me . . . if it's done in a nice way. After all, I was in the theater. I was in orchestras. I'm
used to taking direction and critique. I appreciate it. It wasn't that. If they had anything against
me, they told other people. If they had something against my husband, they told me. That was
s
what was difficult . . . that was very difficult. How shall I put this? I was sort of betwixt and
between when it came to affluence and the show of affluence. I had inherited beautiful things so
e
that my home and the little bit of jewelry I had and things like that looked like we were affluent.
iv
We were, in fact, struggling to make it on the salary that my husband had. On the other side of it
. . . I had been trained . . . my grandmother and my great-grandmother thought that I was going to
be a grand dame. I had the accoutrements to do it with as far as . . .
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Ann: You had the manners and the stuff?
Janice: I don't know about that, but I had the silver and the stuff and this and that, but that
wasn't my life style. It shouldn't have been for a young couple. It couldn't be because of our
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income. On the other hand, all the people that I was dealing with as the rabbi's wife were
beautifully dressed . . . all of these things that I had been brought up to believe all went with the
package, which I couldn't do. In a way I had a little difficulty there, but it was sort of a positive
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kind of difficulty because I knew what to expect. It wasn't as if you're in business and one day
you have it and one day you don't have it. It was something that we didn't have and it was
gradually going to get better. What I did was to learn how to do the things that I really wanted to
m
do and make things. Not clothes, but I did learn to . . . in those days we wore hats. I did learn
how to manage with the hats. To redo them myself and that sort of thing.
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Ann: To change the ribbon, the flowers, and whatever.

Janice: Yes. What I could comfortably do without, which was casual things. I had to have
more nice looking going-out clothes than my friends did, and could afford them less. I learned
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how to manage.
Ann: You put up a good faade. Is that what you're trying to say?
Janice: I don't know, but looking back on it I think it taught me a lot. It was a good exercise.
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I can't remember ever feeling . . . ever pushing to get more money, which I know a lot of people
do. I just felt that this will come in time. Things will be easier in time, and they were. When the
children were small, there were ways in which I had to figure out how to manage differently

Page 110 of 136
from my contemporaries. One example I think of was help. We had full-time help in those days,
when we could keep it. I knew I wasn't really great at keeping full-time help. If they didn't live
on, they at least stayed through dinner. In Haynes Manor, where we lived, we had a lot of
friends who were more affluent than we were. They had small children, too. My friends had
s
extra help come in . . . a laundress and a cleaning man. They had certain days off, because they
could juggle the help that they had so there would always be someone home for the children. I
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couldn't do that. I couldn't pay as much as they were paying when you had to one up your
iv
neighbors to keep the help. I had another way of doing it. My parents were in town. They were
very anxious to have the children. They had the children . . . Sunday was the day they wanted to
have the children. In order that I would not have problems with my help on so many Sundays
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that I had to go out for weddings and things that I had to do with my husband, I gave my help
every Sunday off. My friends were furious with me. You're doing this and we can't do it. I
said, Did I get mad at you because you could pay more than I do?
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There were all of these little petty things that happened when you're young that made
being a rabbi's wife difficult. Today's woman would say, Why in the devil didn't you go out
and get a job? You just didn't in those days. If I had, if it had entered my mind, I would have
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felt that it would diminish my husband to do it. He probably wouldnt have felt that way. He
would never have told me not to do something I wanted to do. I wanted to go into the theater.
He said, Fine. But in those days, it looked as if your husband couldn't take care of you. You
m
just didn't do it if you didn't have to. There were other ways of skinning a cat, and I did. What
else?
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Janice: About his death?

Ann: We've already covered all that period of civil rights and all of that before so theres no
point in going over that territory.
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Janice: Yes. Most people didn't know that he was really sick again. The doctors all thought,
and he thought, that he had made a great recovery from the heart attack that he had the middle of
May.
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Ann: This was in what year?

Janice: Nineteen seventy-three. In fact, our doctor permitted us to go away. We went down
to the beach for a week before the holidays. Right after the holidays, they felt that Jack was well

Page 111 of 136
enough so that he could go back to work. He had been back to work on a limited basis but that
we could go on a real vacation. We planned it to coordinate with the Union Convention which
was in New York in early November. We were away for two weeks in Spain and then New
York. When we came back from New York . . . first of all, our very dear friend, Maurice
s
Eisendrath,181 dropped dead in New York on the eve of his retirement. That had been a shock.
Then we got back here. I forget whether [David] Ben-Gurion182 died before or after Maurice but
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it was about the same time. There were all these things. There was the Yom Kippur War183
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which was the worst thing. That really required getting out to these rallies in the community to
do something about . . . not only about raising money, but to try to improve the feeling for Israel.
Ann: That was a terrible Fall . . .
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Janice: You couldn't tell a person in a leadership position, Take it easy. You had to say,
Don't go out at night, or specific things. They didn't. He tried to take it easy and do whatever
the doctor told him, but he just didn't succeed. There was a week in early December, when his
Janice:
Her name?
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long-time secretary/administrator/factotum, the woman who really ran the Temple, dropped . . .
Ann:
Eloise Shurgin. She was feeling miserable all day. He kept telling her to go home.
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She wouldn't go home until the end of the day. She dropped dead in the carport getting out of
somebody's car who drove her home because they knew she was sick. Three people in the
congregation, maybe it was two and Eloise, died. The funerals were all within a few days. One
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of these women was a very close friend who had had heart surgery. She died on the table.
Ann: Who was that?
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Janice: Hildegard Bennett [Tornow].184 She and I had worked together. She was a dancer,
dance teacher and choreographer. She and I had worked very closely together on these shows in
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181
Rabbi Maurice N. Eisendrath was the executive director and president of the Union of American Hebrew
Congregations from 1943 to 1973.
182
David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973) was one of the primary founders and the first Prime Minister of Israel.
183
The Yom Kippur War was fought by the coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria against Israel from
October 6 to 25, 1973. The Arabs launched a surprise attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism. Egyptian
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and Syrian forces crossed ceasefire lines to enter the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights, which had been
captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. The Israelis managed to halt the Egyptian offensive and then forced
them back to the pre-war lines. After the cease fire the Israelis withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula.
184
Hildegarde Bennett (d. 1973) was her stage name. She was the head of the dance department at Spelman College
and a former co-director and choreographer of the Atlanta Ballet. She was active in the Jewish community as well.
She was married to Dr. Abraham Tornow.

Page 112 of 136
the Fifties. We were very, very fond of her. All of this took its toll. The next week he started
getting chest pains. The specialists all felt that it was angina.185 They kept telling me it's not
life-threatening. He just needs to take it easy to make the pain stop. Of course, we know better
today. They didn't go away after he really tried to take it easy. It was the week between
s
Christmas and New Year's, so he didn't have a lot to do that week. He still couldn't make them
go away. It got so bad one day that . . . he had a very high threshold . . .
e
Ann: . . . for pain?
iv
Janice: . . . so that if anything hurt him, really hurt him so that he noticed it, it had to be really
strong. One day he called me. I was downtown. He said, You better come home and take me
down to the doctor. He had already taken himself several times during the week. I took him to
ch
the cardiologist's office in Crawford Long [Hospital]. He came out to the waiting room and told
me afterwards, I'm going to put him in. It's not life-threatening, but I'm going to put him in so
we can watch him. Make him really take it easy, and get it over with.
Ar
Then he went into great detail to explain to me what an angiogram186 was . . . that if he
wasn't over it in a few days that they were going to do an angiogram. Believe me, with my
second husband and even friends, each of the two people that I have dated since my second
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husband died, I have gone out for angiograms. I feel as if I could practically perform one now.
Anyway, it was quite different from what they do today. I don't understand. Evidently, the
knowledge of those days was such that they didn't do them right away.
m
Ann: Somehow I tend to believe somewhere they find those things out.
Janice: Yes.
Fa
Ann: Tell me about your children. I just realized, you've mentioned Bill a couple of times.
You've not mentioned your daughter.
Janice: Marcia187 is an educational therapist and she . . .
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Ann: What does that mean? What does she do?

Janice: She was a school teacher. She has a Masters in Special Education. She was a school
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185
Angina pectoris is chest pain from heart disease or coronary artery disease (blocking of the arteries leading to the
heart). Worsening angina leads to a full-blown heart attack.
186
An angiogram is an X-ray test that uses a special dye and camera to take pictures of the blood flow in an artery or
a vein. It is used to look at the arteries or veins in the head, arms, legs, checks, back or belly.
187
Marcia Rothschild died in an automobile accident on April 19, 2015 outside Knoxville, Tennessee. She was 67
years old.

Page 113 of 136
teacher for Special Ed for many years. Since then . . . I think thats the term for it . . . she
counsels children and sometimes parents as to how to handle their children who have problems
with learning . . . its not educational, its learning . . . .
Ann: . . . learning disabilities?
s
Janice: . . . learning consultant. If its the learning process that they're having trouble with,
she can test them. She can do a lot of things for them. Mainly now she does a great deal with
e
computers, teaching them how to improve their study skills through the use of computers.
iv
Ann: She lives here in Atlanta?
Janice: Yes. She's done some writing, collaborative handbooks and textbooks. Things like
that.
ch
Ann: She's totally freelance? She doesn't work for anyone?
Janice: Now she is. She did work with somebody. It was one of these freelance and yet with
a group for a number of years. This year she's on her own and would love to see her clientele
Ar
picking back up again. She had more than she could handle when she was with a group. She
still has to get back to where she was. She loves being alone.
Ann: How old is she now?
ily
Janice: Forty-six.
Ann: She's never been married? Your son?
Janice: He's 45. You saw him just now, so you know what he looks like. The interesting
m
thing is, as far as their looks are concerned, is that people always thought he looked like his
father and she looked like me, which is not really the case, except that they got the coloring in
Fa
that direction. He has the features more of my family. She has the features more of her father's
family. She also has her father's sense of humor, but in a little bit different way. She has a
terrific sense of humor, but it's not the same side of it that her brother has. She went to Simmons
ba
[CollegeBoston, Massachusetts]. They both went to Westminster [SchoolAtlanta,

Georgia].188 She from high school on. He from sixth grade on. The reason for that was that
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188
The Westminster Schools is a private Christian day school in Atlanta, Georgia that originated in 1951 as a
reorganization of the North Avenue Presbyterian School, a girls' school and an affiliate of the North Avenue
Presbyterian Church. Dr. William L. Pressly served as Westminster's first president. In 1953, Washington Seminary,
another private school for girls founded by two of George Washington's great-nieces in 1878, merged with
Westminster. The resulting school was co-educational until the sixth grade, with separate schools for boys and girls
continuing through the twelfth grade, a practice that continued until 1986 and provided the basis of Westminster's

Page 114 of 136
schools were going to close. That was the year that Georgia had on its books that there would be
no public schools if ordered to integrate. It was about a year after the Temple bombing. I got
downright hysterical. I said, I can take a lot of things, but I cannot take my children not having
the best education they can get. You talk to Dr. Pressly tomorrow. He did and they tested well.
s
I realize there are a lot of other kids who tested well, too. If their parents or siblings hadn't gone
to Westminster in those days, they didn't get in. Actually, Marcia didn't get in even though she
e
tested very well because there were no openings in the seventh grade. They put on another
iv
section in boys sixth. That's how he got in before she did. She got in the next year, in high
school, where there were some openings.
ch
Ann: This is Ann Hoffman Schoenberg introducing the second side of the fourth tape of an
interview with Janice Browne Oettinger Rothschild Blumberg on April 2, 1994, in Atlanta,
Ar
Georgia, for the Jewish Oral History Project of Atlanta, co-sponsored by the American Jewish
Committee, the Atlanta Jewish Federation, and the National Council of Jewish Women. We
we're talking about schooling and you started to say . . .
ily
Janice: I'm very proud of both my children. I felt that in those days when they went to
Westminster, the boys school was far better than the girls [school]. The girls were still very
social, very much in the mold of the schools that had gone together to form it. Marcia got a good
m
education, but there was too much of a social atmosphere for me to feel that it was the best place
for her to have gone. She wanted to go, because her brother was going. I felt that it was the only
Fa
place for him, because he really needed what they had to offer. He did extremely well.
Ann: You never felt uncomfortable, as parents have in recent years, with the lack of Jewish
teachers and all this other business that went on?189
ba
Janice: Do you know what went on . . .

Ann: . . . No, I didn't. . .
Janice: . . . and how they solved it? First of all, let me answer the first question. When my
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plural name.
189
This concerns a long-standing policy that was in place at the Westminster Schools barring non-Christians from
faculty positions. Following some years of controversy and national media coverage, the employment policy was
changed in 1993.

Page 115 of 136
children were going there, there were a number of Jewish families whose children went there.
From time to time, somebody would call my husband and ask some question about their teaching
Christianity. His answer was, It is a Christian school. It says it's a Christian school. You take
your choice. You don't have to send your children there if you don't want it. It turned out that
s
while our children were in high school there for two successive years, the winner of the Jewish
Bible Contest for the State of Georgia was a Temple child from Westminster. That's how badly it
e
hurt them being in a Christian school. It certainly didn't hurt our children. They had their ways
iv
of handling it. It enforced my feeling, which I really learned later in life and got a good view of
it myself for a personal value, as to the fact that the more you know and the more you feel of
your own faith, the better you relate to other people and the better they relate to you. This has
ch
certainly proven true.
Let me tell you what's happened in recent days. I heard about that brouhaha that they
were having, before I even read about it. Friends would say, What does Bill think? I would
Ar
ask Bill. I think that my grandson was already going there before this started, or at the time that
people asked me a question. After all, his child is in the school. What does he think of it? I'd
ask him. He wouldn't answer me anything. My answer was always, I think that it must have to
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do with the trustees rather than the administration. Ever since Bill came back to Atlanta he has
been asked from time to time to be a guest lecturer there. So if they didn't want anything like
this . . .
m
Ann: . . . why would they have asked him?

Janice: He felt that it was home. He loved it. One of his biggest thrills when he came back to
Fa
live in Atlanta was that he was welcomed back at Westminster like a visiting [unintelligible:
4:00]. Anyway, you know how they resolved the situation? They took the clause out, but in
such a way that they could engage non-Christian teachers for non-religious subjects. Guess who
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they engaged? I don't know if they have someone else now or not. Guess who the first non-
Christian teacher was and to teach what? My son, Bill, who is an ordained rabbi, to teach Judaic
studies. That's how prejudiced against Jews they are.
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Ann: Interesting.
Janice: I think it's great. He loves it. He's having a marvelous time.
Ann: Is he teaching full-time?

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Janice: No. He's a lawyer by professor.

Ann: That's what I thought.
Janice: As I understand it, he has one class. He lectures one class a week wherever they tell
him to go. In other words, whatever . . .
s
Ann: . . . age group or whatever group of kids . . . they select the group and he . . .
Janice: Yes. It may have changed since he told me about it, but I think, the way it is. He
e
loves it. He's having fun. When he had his Sukkot190 party this year, I was here for it. There
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were a number of the teachers from Westminster and others who came. It was really fun. He
gets a big kick out of this.
Ann: Tell me about how having had a rabbi for a father influenced your children . . . just as
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it had a distinct impact on your life, putting you in the spotlight, and that sort of thing.
Janice: I think it was very difficult for the children. I think they both had problems because of
it. They didn't discuss the problems with me, which was our fault, their father's and mine. We
Ar
didn't really know how . . . at least, I didn't know how to bring this out so that they would tell us
when they had problems. A rabbi's child is deemed different.
Ann: I imagine it's the same with a minister's child, too. Any clergys child, don't you think?
ily
Janice: Yes. I remember once when one of them was very, very small, I was having a
problem. I went to a child psychiatrist whom we knew just for consultation, not with the child. I
wanted to stay on track. If I sensed that I was losing control of a situation, I wanted to get
m
professional help. I'll never forget. I said to him, Look, we don't expect our children to be
examples to the community. They're not expected to do anything that other children aren't
Fa
expected to do, except for Sunday school. But we want them to be just . . . He listened as long
as he could. Then he said, Do you think that when the grocer's wife is pregnant, the two of
them sit down and talk about the fact that they're not going to be special? That's why ministers
ba
and teachers and so forth have the worst kids on the block. Whether you intend it or not, the
pressure is there and you have pressure from other people. I remember once at camp . . . the
first year that they were at camp, we were talking to Bill's counselor. He said something about
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190
One of the Harvest Festivals. It is seven days long and comes after the ingathering of the yearly harvest. It
celebrates G-ds bounty in nature and G-ds protection, symbolized by the fragile booths in which the Israelites
dwelt in the wilderness. During Sukkot Jews eat and live in such booths which gives the festival its name and
character.

Page 117 of 136
how he was hard to handle as a kid, rambunctious. He was always good and honest. He had
wonderful qualities except that . . . Both of the kids did, but they were just busting out all over.
He especially, as far as the energy was concerned. When the counselor got through telling us
whatever it was he had to say, I said, I hope you're taking disciplinary action or saying
s
something to him at the time because after all he's living here for a month.
Ann: Where was he, at [Camp] Coleman?191
e
Janice: He was at Blue Star.192 I don't think there was a Coleman at the time.
iv
Ann: I dont know. Im not aware.
Janice: I dont think it was that early . . . it was getting started a little bit later than that. He
said, Yes, Ma'am, I did. I said, What? He says, I told him, I said, 'You of all people, the
ch
rabbi's son . . . ' If you multiply the one time that we heard it by all the times it must have
happened that we didn't hear it, I think rabbis' and ministers' kids have a terrible time.
Ann: I think you're right. You have mentioned several times that Bill has his father's kind
you think he inherited of you?

Janice:
Ar
of wry sense of humor. What else about him reminds you of your husband, or of you? What do
I don't know. It will probably come to me. What I think he inherited is his father's
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analytical brain. I think from me he may have gotten more of the curiosity for study and
research.
Ann: You have one grandson [Jacob]?
m
Janice: He's a dream. Aren't all grandchildren? He really is insofar as what you get from
whom. Bill was very close to my mother but his tastes . . . he did inherit from my mother and
Fa
from me a taste for antiques and for love and sentiment. That he got from me. That he really got
from my side of the family.
Ann: Which is the sentimental stuff?
ba
Janice: Sentiment and also a real appreciation of having things that were handed down in the
family. He really cares about that. He loves woods, beautiful hardwood, or the beautiful woods
in making up furniture. He learned cabinetry at one time, and has made some of the pieces that
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he has. That [is what] he's interested in and it did not come from his father. The interesting
191
Camp Coleman is a Reform Jewish summer camp in Cleveland, Georgia that was established in 1964.
192
Blue Star is a Jewish summer camp in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains.

Page 118 of 136
thing is as close as he was to my mother . . . he adored her and she him . . . he did not pick up her
interest in music. He has the same kind of appreciation for art that his father had. If there's
something that strikes him, fine, but not so much to know art for art's sake. He loves sports.
He's like his father with sports and with . . . I don't know that he plays cards literally with people,
s
but he loves to play card games on the computer. That was something his father did to relax.
There were no computers, but he would sit down to his desk at home when he was waiting for
e
me or unraveling in the evening . . .
iv
Ann: . . . play solitaire?
Janice: . . . play solitaire. Bill does it on the computer.
Ann: What about Jacob?
ch
Janice: Jacob is a whiz with computers. I don't know that he's ever done those games, but he
did do all kinds of kids' games. Jacob, interestingly enough, has gotten from his mother a real
love of art, of going to museums of art. He doesn't appreciate classical music now. He did when
Janice:
He's a teenager. Let's face it.
Ar
he was a little baby, but he's gone into what's popular for kids.
Ann:
Yes, but I see an awful lot of my family in him. The interesting thing is that he gets
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this from his mother. She and I are very congenial, by the way.
Ann: His mother's name?
Janice: Hava.
m
Ann: Hava. They are no longer together?

Janice: That's right. They've been divorced for four years . . . something like that.
Fa
Ann: She doesn't live here in the city?

Janice: No, she is a professor at the University of Indiana [Bloomington, Indiana].
Ann: What is her field?
ba
Janice: Judaics, specifically Medieval Jewish Literature, Philosophy and History. She's an
expert on mysticism. Not a mystic herself, but . . .
Ann: . . . but has studied it.
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Janice: Yes. I've heard her give a lecture on it. She's excellent. She's brilliant.
Ann: Bill is about to remarry?
Janice: Yes.

Page 119 of 136
Ann: When will he be married? Have they set a date?

Janice: When they get their housing situation settled.
Ann: They haven't set a date?
Janice: No. They haven't set a date because they each have children living with them. They
s
have to get their living situation settled before they can . . .
Ann: . . . he's engaged to Brenda?
e
Janice: Brenda Ives. She's lovely. She has two lovely daughters. Its all very nice.
iv
Ann: Tell me about his education, or I should say his career status. He has changed his
careers several times, has he not?
Janice: I tell you, I was going to write my son the folk singer all over again. Believe it or not,
ch
at one time when he was in Israel studying to be a rabbi he was a professional bluegrass singer.
Not singer so much, but he plays guitar . . . banjo?
Ann: Banjo. Some stringed instrument . . .
Janice:
Ar
He took it like a security blanket when he went away. He was playing in a coffee
house. A group asked him if he could join them, because they were getting bookings on Shabbat
[Hebrew: Sabbath] Friday night, to be flown down to the military bases and entertain. So he did.
ily
But no, he did not mention wanting to be a rabbi to his father, but once in a secondary fashion.
When we were reading his applications for college, one of them wanted a first and second choice
for career. Always the first choice was lawyer. In this case, the second choice was rabbi. His
m
father looked at it and screamed at him and said, You just put that down to aggravate me, didn't
you? He never said another word about it. I think after his father died, this must have started to
Fa
weigh in on him. He didn't mention it to me for a year or so after that . . . I guess a year because
he was finishing law school when his father died. It was about a year later that he let me know
that he was applying to Hebrew Union College.
ba
Ann: He was ordained, he was married in Israel, and then he came back to the United States.
Did he have . . . ?
Janice: . . . he had to finish school . . . just the first year he was in Jerusalem [Israel].
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Ann: Then he came back?

Janice: Then he was ordained. He was for two years an assistant rabbi in New Rochelle [New
York]. Then he went back to law.

Page 120 of 136
Ann: He decided that it really wasn't for him on a full-time basis?

Janice: The funny thing was we had a very dear friend, his father's, I'd say, closest friend from
Hebrew Union College days. He had left the rabbinate to go into his father-in-law's business.
They lived in New Rochelle [New York], and he was a member of the Board. Even from Bill's
s
college days at Yale [UniversityNew Haven, Connecticut], this was like his home away from
home. When he was talking about leaving the rabbinate, I said, Do me a favor. Ask Jerry.
e
My husband and I always felt that Jerry was regretful. He never said it, but that he was a little
iv
wistful about leaving the rabbinate.
Ann: About his decision?
Janice: Yes. So I said, Talk to Jerry. He said, I can't do that. It's not ethical. He's on the
ch
Board. I can't consult him until after I've made up my mind and told the proper people. When
that had happened, I said, Have you talked to Jerry now? He said, Yes. I said, What did
Jerry say? He was quiet for a minute and looked sort of sheepish. He said, Jerry said that he
Ar
was really glad I had made that decision because when I got up to preach I always sounded like a
lawyer. I'm happy. He's happy. That's the important thing.
Ann: He still functions occasionally in a rabbinic way?
ily
Janice: When they need him. I think he's happy being on the Board of the Temple and having
an input. I don't think he's on the Board any more now, but he was. He still takes on volunteer
jobs there. I think he's on the Board of the Davis School.193 I know that he likes having the
m
education that enables him to function in a semi-professional way as a community leader, but not
to earn his living that way and have it full-time. I don't think he realized how long it takes to pay
Fa
your dues, so to speak. When he remembered his father . . . the first he knew . . . his father had
been a rabbi for 12 years when he was born. By the time he was thinking about it, his father was
already an important person in the community.
ba
Ann: You dont start out that way.

Janice: You don't start out that way. I don't think he realized how many years it takes to get to
the point where, let alone important, where you can even function in a place like New York.
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What this assistant, or the rabbi of a small congregation, when you're going up the steps, what
193
The Davis Academy is a private Jewish day school in Atlanta, Georgia for students from kindergarten
preparatory through eighth grade.

Page 121 of 136
can he do? You don't have to be important, but you have to have enough of a platform to be able
to give what you think you can give in an intellectual way, a leadership way. I never really
discussed it with him, but it looked fairly obvious to me that he really didn't realize that you can't
just step out there and do the things, even for the common good. Especially if you live in New
s
York. Especially if you live in New York.
Ann: He just picked a bad place to start. He should have started in a small town in the
e
South . . . a Macon [Georgia].
iv
Janice: Yes. How do you think he would have functioned in Macon?
Ann: They would have loved him.
Janice: He would have loved them as individuals. He does love them. In fact, the man who
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wanted him there, who was a perennial president of the Temple, is a very dear friend and married
to a distant relative. This, in a way, happened to his father about Columbus when they wanted
him when he was new and having a terrible time here. That's a nice story that I like. Would you
like that story?
Ann:
Janice:
Yes. Tell me.
Ar
We were sitting like this on our porch, just wondering. I think Bill was not quite here
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yet. Marcia was a baby. We were really wondering how we were going to manage. Things
were about as bad as they got. The phone rings . . .
Ann: . . . you're talking about both financially, and with Dr. Marx?
m
Janice: Yes, and with the congregation. In the midst of this, the phone rings. He answers it.
It was Simon Schwob.194 The three monied moguls195 with that congregation I will mention.
Fa
That's the part of the story. Simon Schwob was one of them, probably the leader of them. He
tried to talk Jack into coming to Columbus. He had no children. He has a nephew who has taken
over his business, I think. It's Schwobilt Clothes. He said, I will endow the rabbinate for your
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life if you will come and take it. I know how bad things are for you now. Jack hesitated just
long enough for [Simon] to realize on the other end of the phone that he was hesitating. He kind
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194
Simon Schwob (1886-1954), was a Columbus, Georgia industrialist and philanthropist. He was president of
Schwob manufacturing and four related companies and a strong supporter of the movement to establish a college in
Columbus. He was also concerned with charitable and Jewish activities in the Columbus community. Schwob was
born in Alsace-Lorraine and came to the United States in the early 1900s.
195
Moguls are important persons with great wealth and power.

Page 122 of 136
of looked at me, because I guess he figured that I could tell what the conversation was and he
wanted a reaction from me. Schwob said, I promise you [a] lifetime [of] comfortable living.
Sidney Simons is your cousin. That's my mother's first cousin, a close, close relationship.
Your name is Rothschild. What more can you want? The big family in Columbus in the
s
Jewish community are the Rothschilds. It was funny. They were all good friends, but mother
wouldn't go there to live after she had . . .
e
Ann: It's a too small pond?
iv
Janice: Not so much for your ego, but for your intellectual enrichment. My cousin Sydney
Simons Klumak Meadows [sp] moved here for the same reason. Do you know her?
Ann: Yes. I've talked with her on the phone.
ch
Janice: Yes. It wasn't the kind of life mother wanted. It certainly isn't the kind of life I
wanted or he wanted. G-d forbid he should have tried to be a Civil Rights leader . . .
Ann: . . . in Columbus. . .
Janice:
that.
Ann:
Ar
. . . that would have . . . all of Simon Schwobs money wouldnt have helped him with
I know what I was going to ask you. Something I skipped over. It was the founding
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of Temple Sinai and the relationship that your husband had with [Rabbi] Dick Lehrmann.196 I
wanted to at least get some input on that, because we did not talk about it.
Janice: Dick looked upon him as a real mentor. He went to the cemetery much more than I
m
did. He told me that he really went to the cemetery and tried to commune with him.
Ann: Dick Lehrmann had been his assistant?
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Janice: Yes.
Ann: For three or four years?
Janice: Three years, which was the rule in those days: three years right out of school. What
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Jack had in mind was when the time came, a few years before retirement, he would get them to
take whoever he had that he liked as an associate so that he could, if the congregation wanted, be
in a position to take over. What happened was he got the person he wanted, which was Alvin
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196
Temple Sinai was founded in 1968 as a reform congregation and met in a variety of locations before establishing
a synagogue on Dupree Drive in Sandy Springs. Rabbi Richard Lehrman was chosen as the congregation's founding
rabbi. The current rabbi is Rabbi Ron Segal (2016).

Page 123 of 136
[Sugarman].197 When he died, unbeknownst to the congregation, the Board . . . I knew and Jack
knew that the Board had already decided to make Alvin an associate, looking forward to taking
over . . .
Ann . . . his eventual taking over?
s
Janice: . . . yes . . .
Ann: . . . not quite as soon as he did.
e
Janice: No. They would have had to open it up and go through a process. Alvin would have
iv
had the inside track because that's what the Board and a lot of other people wanted. Even if Jack
had lived, the chances are that it would have been the same outcome. I think it was unfortunate
for Alvin, because he got it before he was entrenched enough and seasoned enough to be able to
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do it without a lot of difficulty. Fortunately, he came through the difficulty beautifully.
Ann: What difficulty do you refer to?
Janice: I think, in any case, that people compare. The transition is going to be hard.
Ann:
definitely there.
Janice:
Ar
It's easier, though, if the old man is no more . . . as opposed to Dr. Marx who is
Yes. In some cases it is. What Jack always said he was going to do when he retired
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was, if he could afford it, take six months or so going around the world and get out of the hair of
his successor. I think he would have. In fact, he had a reputation of being a very, very good
senior rabbi with the guys that he interviewed. The only time he didn't get the pick of the crop
m
was when his friend [Rabbi] Roland Gittelsohn198 in Boston was looking for an assistant at the
same time. The lure of Roland and Boston was something that Atlanta couldn't compete with,
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but Jack had a wonderful reputation with the young rabbis as to how he treated them. I know
that he and Alvin would have gotten along fine, because they did get along fine. They had such
a great respect and love for each other. After all, Jack was proud of Alvin. He had confirmed
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197
Rabbi Alvin M. Sugarman is the rabbi emeritus of the Temple in Atlanta. He began his rabbinate at the Temple
in 1971and in 1974 was named senior rabbi. A native of Atlanta, Rabbi Sugarman received his BBA from Emory
University and was ordained by Hebrew Union College. In 1988 he received his PhD in Theological Studies from
Emory University.
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198
Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn (1910-1995) was rabbi emeritus at Temple Israel in Boston, where he served from
1953 to 1977. From 1936 to 1953, he served the Central Synagogue of Nassau County in Rockville Centre, New
York. Gittelsohn was a scholar on religious and governmental issues who was a Marine Corps chaplain during the
battle of Iwo Jima. He was awarded three combat ribbons for his service with the Fifth Marine Division there. His
sermon at the dedication of the division's cemetery attracted wide attention and was read by many radio and
television announcers during and after the war.

Page 124 of 136
him and helped him get to Hebrew Union College. Alvin was what Jack had dreamed about.
Ann: What was the relationship with Dick?
Janice: Very, very good. They had a wonderful warm feeling for each other.
Ann: Do you know anything about how the congregation [Temple Sinai] formed? What the
s
genesis of all that was?
Janice: Yes. There had been a need for another Reform congregation in Atlanta for a long
e
time.
iv
Ann: The [congregation] that you mentioned that had died aborning apparently, the one that
was related to the group who were anti-Zionists. That must have been back in the late Forties?
Janice: Yes. It didn't even frighten us. We both had the view of people who were pushing for
ch
it as having so unrealistic an idea of the philanthropy that it would take to be able to do such a
thing, that it wouldn't happen. They were not going to be willing to give that much money.
They weren't that committed. That indeed is what happened.
Ann:
Janice:
Ann:
Yes, but the second . . .
Ar
At least, I think it's what happened because it didn't happen.
. . . but the second coming, the Temple Sinai, obviously has been successful.
ily
Janice: That was totally different. This is something funny. The second Reform congregation
in every city I know about, and it was formed about the same time. I don't know what reason for
it, but they're all called Temple Sinai. Pittsburgh [Pennsylvania], Washington [D.C.], they're
m
all Temple Sinai. Not Kansas City [Missouri]. That's called New Reform [Temple]. Those
were people, or a lot of them, who were rebelling in the same way with Cleveland. They were
Fa
rebelling against what they thought was too much Zionism.

Ann: Yes. They were going back to more Classical.
Janice This was to be expected. We went away . . . I think we were in Israel, because we
ba
wouldn't have gone anyplace else for several weeks in the middle of the winter. Yes, that's what
it was. It was 1968. It was the third year for Dick Lehrmann at the Temple. I think he had
interviewed for other places, but he didn't really want to go someplace else. That's the thing
Cu
about Atlanta. People never wanted to leave Atlanta. Jack's first assistant left the rabbinate, at
least for a few years, rather than leave Atlanta.
Ann: Who was that?

Page 125 of 136
Janice: Stuart Davis. Then Dick stayed. The next one was [Philip M.] Posner,199 but he left.
I understand that some of the assistants since Jack died have stayed. Anyway, there was a need
for another congregation. Dick went with our blessings, the blessings of the Temple. I was a
little bit hurt. I felt that this had come upon us suddenly. That Dick was taking advantage of
s
Jack being as lenient and friendly as he was. I had really looked forward to a few years of Jack
not being as pushed as he was . . . not having to worry about not getting everything done . . .
e
competition, and all those hassles that you had. I thought that he had reached the stage where
iv
now he can have a few years of comfort. Having another congregation start was, to me . . .
apparently I was wrong.
Ann: . . . seemed more threatening than . . .
ch
Janice: . . . yes. It wasn't that I didn't want it to happen because I knew it should happen in
Atlanta. I just felt that the timing and the fact that they had accomplished this in our absence, I
was irritated. Apparently I was wrong. Neither my children nor my husband agreed with me.
Ar
They thought I was being really nasty, because I couldn't bring myself to say congratulations
and be really warm about it to start with. I do realize that I was wrong. It certainly needed to be.
Ann: Since then, there have been several others.
ily
Janice: Yes. The city has grown. It had been time for another one for a long time. I saw the
leadership . . . they finally had some good young leadership at the Temple. I saw this being
siphoned off to another congregation. That kind of bothered me, because I didn't want him to
m
have to work so hard.

Ann: You were selfishly looking out for your husband's interests. That was very common.
Fa
It's very understandable.

Janice: Yes, kind of protective.
Ann: Exactly. Looking at my notes . . . one thing I will get into, the last part of your life,
ba
though it has not been spent primarily here in the city of Atlanta. Before I do, can you just
briefly go into a little bit of your relationship with some of the black leadership. Do you have
time . . .
Cu
Janice: . . . another 15 minutes?

Ann: Yes, just very briefly. .
199
Philip Posner was Assistant Rabbi at the Temple from 1968 to 1971.

Page 126 of 136
Janice: Don't let me talk too long.

Ann: You've been very generous with your time today. Some of the leadership of the black
community that you feel you had special rapport with during those years of the Civil Rights
Movement.
s
Janice: Certainly with Sam200 and Billye Williams [Aaron].201 I worked on a panel of
Rearing Children of Good Will. Did I tell you about this before? This was in the early Sixties
e
it must have been because that was preparatory to the schools integrating. It was sponsored by
iv
the National Conference of Christians and Jews.202 The original mothers on this panel, which
was part of a day-long seminar, and supposedly just one day. The mothers were . . . Sara
McDougall, I think, was the moderator. She was, I believe, on the school board then . . . liberal,
ch
wonderful lady. The panelists were Coretta [Scott] King,203 myself, Eleanor Troutman Bockman
for the Catholics, and Dorothy Chang, who was Protestant-Chinese. We were such a raving
success that we kept getting more and more bookings. We had to get substitutes for ourselves. It
Ar
really was a wonderful experience. Coretta didn't have time to do any more. We were friends
because our husbands were friends. She didn't go out on those. I did . . . through that get to
know Carolyn Yancey.204 She was Coretta's first substitute. I don't remember whether there was
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200
Dr. Samuel Williams (1912-1970) was a civil rights leader, teacher, and preacher. He joined the Morehouse
College faculty in 1946 and was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.s philosophy professor at Morehouse. Williams was
m
the fourth pastor of Friendship Baptist Church, serving during the critical period of desegregation in Atlanta and the
United States (1954-1970). He was a founder of SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference), President of
the Atlanta NAACP, and chairman of the Atlanta Human Relations Commission.
201
Billye Williams Aaron is a media personality and advocate for higher education for African-American citizens.
Fa
She received her bachelor's degree from Texas College and later her master's degree from Atlanta University.
During her graduate studies, she met and married Samuel W. Williams, a Morehouse College professor of
philosophy and religion, the pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Atlanta and a distinguished civil rights leader.
She was widowed in 1970 and in 1973 married baseball legend Hank Aaron.
202
The National Conference of Christians and Jews was founded in 1927. Its founders included prominent social
activists who dedicated the organization to bringing diverse people together to address interfaith divisions. Several
ba
years later, the NCCJ expanded its work to include all issues of social justice including race, class, gender equity,
sexual orientation and the rights of people with different abilities. In the 1990s, the name was changed to the
National Conference for Community and Justice to better reflect the breadth and depth of its mission, the growing
diversity of the country and the need to be more inclusive.
203
Coretta Scott King (1927-2006) was an American author, civil rights leader. The widow of Martin Luther King,
Jr., Coretta Scott King helped lead the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. King often participated in many of her
Cu
husband's exploits and goals during the battle for equality. Mrs. King played a prominent role in the years after her
husband's 1968 assassination when she took on the leadership of the struggle for racial equality herself and became
active in the Women's Movement and the LGBT rights movement. King founded the King Center in Atlanta and
sought to make her husbands birthday a national holiday.
204
In 1941, Carolyn Dunbar Yancey earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in education and social work from Wayne
University, now Wayne State University. She taught school in Detroit, Michigan and been a homemaker in Alabama

Page 127 of 136
another one. It was interesting. We met people from all these different school districts and
churches. We were a program.
Ann: Had you realized growing up here at all that there was a parallel society in the black
community? Were you at all aware of that?
s
Janice: When you say parallel, you mean . . .
Ann: . . . there was an upper middle-class group of families in the black community who
e
were interested in good music . . . who were interested in art . . . who were doing some of the
iv
same things that upper middle-class white people were doing. They were just doing it
themselves in their own quiet little way in their own little corner of the world.
Janice: I can't honestly recall whether I was conscious of it or not. I certainly would have
ch
known . . .
Ann: . . . did it surprise you to find that out?
Janice: No, no, no. Whether I knew it or not did not impact on my feeling for the potential. I
Ar
guess I didn't know when I was growing up, a child, that there was such community or the
universities. But I certainly knew it before the Civil Rights Movement205 started. I always had
the feeling, as I'm sure my mother did too, that there wasn't anything inherently other class about
ily
the color of one's skin. We knew that there were these intellectuals in other cities. In fact, I
wrote an article about this on Yom Kippur in the Washington Hebrew [Congregation]. They
have layman's hour between morning and afternoon services.
m
Ann: Between services . . .

Janice: I was asked to be one of the speakers one year. It happened to be . . . I was writing
Fa
and working on it, as I saw the announcement that Atlanta [had] gotten the Olympics.206
by the time she, her children, and her husband, Dr. Asa G. Yancey Sr., moved to Atlanta. In 1982, she was elected
ba
to the Atlanta Board of Education, a panel she served on for 15 years. In 1983, then-Georgia governor Joe Frank
Harris appointed her to the State Board of Regents, making her the first black female to serve in that role. Carolyn
Dunbar Yancey died in Atlanta in 2010.
205
The American Civil Rights Movement encompasses social movements in the United States whose goal was to
end racial segregation and discrimination against black Americans and enforce constitutional voting rights to them.
The movement was characterized by major campaigns of civil resistance. Between 1955 and 1968, acts of
Cu
nonviolent protest and civil disobedience produced crisis situations between activists and government authorities.
Noted legislative achievements during this phase of the Civil Rights Movement were passage of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing
Act of 1968.
206
Atlanta hosted the Olympics from July 19 to August 14, 1996. A record 197 nations took part in the games,
comprising 10,318 athletes.

Page 128 of 136
What I wrote . . . they always want from your own personal experience. It made me go back and
tie in all of my experience with Driving Miss Daisy. It was also the year of the winner it won the
Academy Awards. Also, the Olympics. It made me realize and recall . . . then I turned it into an
article. It was in Reform Judaism. <loud noises in the background, distracting> I recall for that
s
article the attitude I had. For example, I spent one summer, the summer of 1941, in California
going to drama school. I became friendly with the two black kids who were in the show with
e
me. One was the maid and one was the butler, of course. They were theater kids. When the
iv
summer was over, I told my mother that this girl sometimes got to Atlanta with her parents in
theater. I told her when she did to please come and visit me. Mother looked shocked. I said,
But Mother, how can you tell me this? You're the one who told me to judge your friends by the
ch
content . . .
Ann: . . . of character . . .
Janice: . . . by the content of your character rather than the color of the skin. Basically that's
Ar
what she had always taught me. I said, How can you? She said, I didn't say you couldn't be
friendly with her, but stop and think. If she comes to visit you, where will you take her? Who
will you invite to come over and be with her? How will you entertain her? She says, This is a
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practical matter. This has got nothing to do with your being friendly with her. But what kind of
a time do you think she would have visiting you in Atlanta? We were getting mixed messages,
but I always had this attitude because it had been instilled in me from family.
m
Ann: Quickly, since your widowhood, you got more involved with your career as far as
your writing is concerned?
Fa
Janice: No, less.

Ann: Less?
Janice: I haven't had time. No. I did write a book. In fact, I wrote two books. One of them
ba
hasn't been published.

Ann The name of the book that was published is?
Janice: One Voice: Rabbi Jacob M. Rothschild and the Troubled South.
Cu
Ann: The one that isn't published? Or do you not want to say?
Janice: No, we don't. It's a novel. It was called Race Out. We don't know what we're going
to call it. If we ever get anybody interested in being an agent again and I rewrite it, maybe I'll

Page 129 of 136
find a title. I did it in collaboration with a couple from South Africa. It's an anti-apartheid207
novel very much based on facts. When they were feeding this to me some years ago . . . it was
five and six years ago. We finished it just before my husband died, I remember. At least we
finished whatever draft it was that we could then show to people. It's had several more since
s
then. There was so much violence and so many awful things that they said they wanted in it.
They'd tell me the story or sometimes write me a resume of a particular incident. Then I would
e
put it on the computer in my own words and tie it in. We met together for the structure, the
iv
characters and the plot. I would say, Nobody's going to believe that. How can you do it?
They had newspaper clippings to substantiate, or papers of people. They had substantiation for
everything they told me they wanted in it. Since then, most of these things have come out in the
ch
newspaper since the opening up of and doing away with apartheid. This was an interesting
experience. I had been to South Africa a couple of times and had interviewed people there
hoping to write about it. I was really particularly plugged into what was happening there
Ar
because of my experience here in Atlanta. There were so many parallels, even though the vast
difference was in numbers and in legislation because we had our federal government and our
Constitution. This country was on the side of civil rights, even though they didn't do anything
ily
about it for 100 years. It was still written into the Constitution. It was written into the
Constitution in the opposite direction in Africa. I would always let a South African know that I
did understand what the basic differences were. The reactions of people were things that I . . . I
m
had heard them before, here. Anyway, I enjoy writing.

Ann: How long were you a widow before you remarried?
Fa
Janice: The first time a very short time. My two husbands were friends of each other.
Ann: Your second husband's name was?
ba
207
An Afrikaans word meaning separateness or literally apart hood. It was a system of racial segregation in
South Africa enforced through legislation by the National Party, the governing party from 1948 to 1994. Under
apartheid, the rights, associations, and movements of the majority black inhabitants and other ethnic groups were
curtailed, and white minority rule was maintained. Apartheid sparked significant internal resistance, violence, and a
long arms and trade embargo against South Africa. Starting in the 1950s, a series of popular uprisings and protests
Cu
was met with the banning of opposition and imprisoning of anti-apartheid leaders. Along with the sanctions placed
on South Africa by the international community, this made it increasingly difficult for the government to maintain
the regime. Apartheid reforms in the 1980s failed to quell the mounting opposition, and in 1990 negotiations were
begun to end apartheid, culminating in multi-racial democratic elections in 1944, won by the African National
Congress under Nelson Mandela.

Page 130 of 136
Janice: David Blumberg.

Ann: At the time you married him, he was . . .
Janice: . . . he was International President of B'nai B'rith,208 and he was an insurance
executive. He was so much into B'nai B'rith. He was spending 90 percent of his time at that. It
s
never occurred to me that I should learn anything about business, try to relate to business people.
We went to all kinds of company meetings and things like that. I chit chatted with their wives,
e
but the more I saw of them the more I realized that they were Republican conservatives. It really
iv
...
Ann: . . . and you had little in common?
Janice: . . . this was culture shock. The Jewish part of it was wonderful, because it was the
ch
same people and the same issues. Just some of the names were changed. It was B'nai B'rith,
instead of Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
Ann: The politics is all there, right?
Janice:
Ar
Yes, but even some of the people. One of my favorite stories was Rabbi David Wice
from Philadelphia and his wife Sophie, were close friends of my husbands and of Jack's. On our
honeymoon in New York, the first day walking down the street we bumped into them. They
ily
were staying at the same hotel. We saw them a number of times while we were in New York
that week. Shortly after David and I married, of course that was constant travel . . .
Ann: What year was this?
m
Janice: In 1975. This was constant travel . . . for the year-and-a-half to three years. Now I
forget. For the time that he was the president of B'nai B'rith, we never stopped traveling. It was
Fa
all one big honeymoon. The first real trip we took, which was just a few weeks later, was for a
meeting he had in Geneva [Switzerland]. The president of the World Union of Progressive
Judaism209 at the time was David Wice. When I walked into the room, everybody is introducing
ba
my David's new wife to everybody. They start to introduce me to the Wices. I said, I know
208
B'nai B'rith International (Hebrew: Children of the Covenant) is the oldest Jewish service organization in the
world. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the security and continuity of the Jewish people and the State of
Cu
Israel and combating antisemitism and bigotry. Its mission is to unite persons of the Jewish faith and to enhance
Jewish identity through strengthening Jewish family life, to provide broad-based services for the benefit of senior
citizens, and to facilitate advocacy and action on behalf of Jews throughout the world.
209
The World Union for Progressive Judaism was established in London in 1926 and is an international umbrella
organization of the Reform, Liberal, Progressive and Reconstructionist movements, serving 1,200 congregations with
1.8 million members in more than 50 countries. (2016)

Page 131 of 136
them. They always go on my honeymoons with me. David Wice and I have seen each other a
few times in recent years since we're both widowed again. We joke about it. People say . . .
Ann: . . . maybe it's time to go on another honeymoon?
Janice: No, no, no, no. He's a bit old for me, but we are good friends.
s
Ann Obviously that turned out to be a happy relationship . . .
Janice: . . . yes.
e
Ann: . . . with David Blumberg?
iv
Janice: It was wonderful. It was really wonderful. The strange thing that friends found
strange, and I guess in retrospect I do, too . . . I didnt think about it at the time . . . is that we
were so different. I didn't think about it at the time. Our tastes were different. We were just on
ch
absolute different wave lengths about most things . . . about a lot of things culturally, but we
were totally compatible. We really had a wonderful, wonderful life together. My children not
only learned to love him, but I think Bill missed David more than I did even. They were really
close.
Ann:
Janice:
He had children as well?
Ar
One. Jim Blumberg who lives in . . . Actually, David always pronounced it
ily
Bloomberg. I've gotten used to saying Blumberg, but he did occasionally. When somebody
might want to spell it, and you're meeting them for the first time, that's when it made me start
saying Blumberg. Jim lives in Nashville [Tennessee]. We're very good friends. He has two
m
wonderful sons, one of whom got married last summer. Just last week, I had second night of
seder with him, his bride and her parents. It was really, really nice. Delightful people. His
Fa
younger brother is a sophomore in college. Each of the boys, counting Jacob Rothschild, is five
years apart.
Ann: It's kind of a spread for young people. But the time will come . . .
ba
Janice: Yes. Now I'm getting two granddaughters, one of whom is a little one with Bill's
marriage, and I'm looking forward to that.
Ann: Do you have anything else that you would like to include that you thought about? One
Cu
thing I just happened to think about. You told me on the phone that you found an old photograph
of you and all of the other rebbitzin in the community.
Janice: Yes!

Page 132 of 136
Ann: That was the first women's division?

Janice: No. It wasn't the first women's division . . . in either 1968 or 1969, I was asked to
chair the Women's Division Israel Bonds.210 I had definite ideas about how to do this. I think at
that time I was already working on the Visit Israel program, which was designed by the then
s
director general of the Ministry of Israel Tourism, to promote tourism. What he was doing was
trying to get people to form committees in different cities around the world. He asked me to do
e
it in Atlanta. In conjunction with that, I was . . .
iv
Ann: . . . is that when they brought that big wonderful art show here?
Janice: No, I think . . .
Ann: What was it called . . . maskit?211
ch
Janice: Actually, I don't remember. Maskit actually is not art, it's . . .
Ann: . . . crafts and all kinds of . . .
Janice: Yes. The America-Israel Cultural Foundation212. . . I'm a member of the Washington
Ar
group. For the last number of years they have been thought of as just being music. Of course,
Isaac Stern213 started it. It is mostly music because of him, but it's also arts and crafts. That's
another story. But I said, Yes, I will do it. I wanted to incorporate it all into Bonds. I had an
ily
idea of what I wanted to do with the Bond drive to make people realize that their bond money
was not charity. People were mixing it up with [the United Jewish Appeal] . . .
Ann: . . . its an investment.
m
Janice: Yes. It's an investment. It may be charitable for you not to make the interest that you
would make on something else, but still you've got to understand that this is for charity. This is
Fa
an investment.
ba
210
Development Corporation for Israel, commonly known as Israel Bonds, is a broker-dealer that underwrites
securities issued by the State of Israel in the United States.
211
Maskit is a Hebrew word roughly meaning art that falls between high art and arts and crafts.
212
The America-Israel Cultural Foundation is a non-profit that supports artistic life in Israel. Since 1939, AICF has
Cu
played a leading role in helping develop and fund many of Israel's largest cultural institutions. The foundation also
cultivates Israel's future artistic leaders by identifying and nurturing emerging artists and furthering their education
and careers.
213
Isaac Stern (1920-2001) was a Soviet-born violinist and conductor. He was renowned for his recordings and for
discovering new musical talent. Stern maintained close ties with Israel and began performing in the country in 1949.
Stern was a supporter of several educational projects in Israel including the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.

Page 133 of 136
Ann: We're going to do this quickly. This is Ann Hoffman Schoenberg interviewing Janice
Oettinger Rothschild Blumberg for the Jewish Oral History Project of Atlanta, co-sponsored by
the American Jewish Committee, the Atlanta Jewish Federation, and the National Council of
Jewish Women.
s
Janice: We were talking about the [Israel] bond drive. I knew our congregation. I knew that I
wasn't going to have enough pull to make this thing come off, or enough friends who were really
e
interested in doing things for Israel. After all, I was pro-Israel, but I was also realistic. I said,
iv
Why don't you get all of the rebbitzins to be co-chairs with me. That was fine. They said they
would. I invited them all for morning coffee, first calling Estelle Feldman to find out what to do
so that they would accept coffee at my house, and where to buy the cookies. What to serve and
ch
all and so forth. I think all of them came. I'm not sure. I remember that Reva Epstein was a big,
big help. Yet in the picture that I have from the newspaper, she is the only one who is not in it. I
do remember feeling so proud that these women were all together in my living room [although
came to call on me.

Ann: Interesting.
Ar
not for the first time.]. Except for when my daughter was born, our first child, all the rebbetzins
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Janice: Reva [Chashesman Epstein], Louisa [Palatchi] Cohen . . . I don't remember the one . . .
it couldn't have been all of them, because Mrs. [Sara Hene] Geffen was too old . . . I don't think
Mrs. Geffen was there. There was some other one. Of course, the Feldmans weren't here yet.
m
There was no Beth Jacob then. Other than that, I do believe that this was the first time that we
had all been in a room together. That picture reminds me of it. I'm very pleased about that.
Fa
One more thing that I would like to say very briefly. I don't know whether future
researchers will give a darn about this, but I'm very interested. I feel that the culmination of
everything that I've done and learned throughout my life, which was mostly in Atlanta and it was
ba
based on the input here . . . I'm putting to the volunteer job that I have now which is also full-
time as Chairman of the Board of the B'nai B'rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum. This is
the kind of learning . . . pleasant, sugar-coated learning procedure that I feel we badly need in
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this country. I'm delighted to see that Atlanta is starting to have an Archive214 and a collection. I
214
In 1992, M. William Breman gave the lead gift, ensuring the creation of the William Breman Jewish Heritage
Museum. In 1996, the museum opened at the Selig Center on Spring Street in Midtown Atlanta. The Museum
features a permanent exhibit called Absence of Humanity: The Holocaust Years, 1933-1945 as well as exhibitions

Page 134 of 136
would hope that our National Jewish Museum in Washington will eventually have the kind of
backing that will enable us to send out really fine traveling exhibits. Right now we can't do it,
but we have some great opportunities. We have some great opportunities . . . we have an
opportunity because of the loan of a collection that has been offered us from an European
s
collector to become the world center because there isn't one that we know of so far for Jewish
artists. In this collection, I'm talking about Jewish artists such as . . .
e
Ann: . . . [Marc] Chagall215 and people of that ilk?
iv
Janice: Yes, but people know Chagall was Jewish because of his subject matter. I don't think
many people know that [Camille] Pissarro216 and perhaps [Amedeo] Modigliani217 . . . but [Jules]
Pascin,218 [Chaim] Soutine.219 Our friend in Europe who wants to show his collection has
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formed a whole museum for that period work. A great proportion of those artists in that period
were Jewish. They are known as artists, but not as Jews. Of course, any artist of whatever
medium wants to be known for his or her art rather than sexual orientation . . . or religion.
Ar
However, we think that it's a positive thing for learning Jewish history for people to come into a
museum and not only see beautiful artifacts we have and documents that we have such as the
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about Southern Jewish history and Jewish culture. The Breman Museum also includes the Cuba Family Archives for
Southern Jewish History, the Weinberg Center for Holocaust Education, and a library of research materials.
215
Marc Chagall was born in Belarus in 1887. He moved to Paris in 1910 to pursue a career as a painter. Some of
m
Chagalls work was deemed too modern and was confiscated and burned by the Nazis during World War II.
Chagall and his family escaped Europe in 1941 and arrived in New York where he stayed until moving back to Paris
in 1948. Many of Chagalls paintings had Jewish themes, and in 1960, Chagall created a series of stained-glass
windows for the synagogue at Hebrew University.
Fa
216
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter. He acted as a
father figure to all four of the major Post-Impressionists, including Georges Seurat, Paul Cezanne, Vincent van
Gogh and Paul Gauguin.
217
Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. He is known
for his portraits and nudes, which were not received well in his lifetime, but later found acceptance. His main
subject was portraits and full figure of humans, both in the images and in the sculptures. He had little success in his
ba
life, but after his death he achieved greater popularity. He died at age 35 in Paris of tubercular meningitis.
218
Born Julius Mordecai Pincas (1885-1930), Pascin, as he was known, was a Bulgarian artist who later became an
American citizen. His most frequent subject was women, depicted in casual poses usually nude or partly dressed.
He was of the Paris artistic circle. He struggled with depression and alcoholism and committed suicide at the age of
45.
219
Chaim Soutine (1893-1943) was a Russian painter of Belarusian Jewish origin. He made a major contribution to
Cu
the expressionist movement while living in Paris, France. Inspired by Rembrandt and other he developed an
individual style more concerned with shape, color and texture over representation, which served as a bridge between
the more traditional approaches and the developing form of Abstract Expressionism. As a Jew during the German
occupation of France he moved from place to place and was sometimes forced to seek shelter in forests, sleeping
outdoors. Suffering from a stomach ulcer and bleeding badly, he left hiding to get medical help in Paris where he
died.

Page 135 of 136
original correspondence between George Washington and Moses Sexias220 in which Washington
says that this government . . . shall give to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.
These are wonderful things, but they also need to know about the cultural greats that have
contributed to world culture that have come from our people. We're hoping we'll be able to do
s
that and we'll also have a set-up for sending really fine exhibits to places . . .
Ann: . . . other places . . .
e
Janice: . . . such as what is being formulated in Atlanta.
iv
Ann: Where is the museum located? Its in Washington . . .
Janice: It's in Washington at 1640 Rhode Island Avenue . . . northwest corner of Rhode Island
and Seventeenth.
ch
Ann: You're working full-time on that?
Janice: I do. I work at home because they don't have room for me down there. I really do a
lot of writing and a lot of phone calls. Since I don't have an office there, I do the work at home.
Ar
But I'm into the office and doing whatever I have to do. In the theater, we called it building
sets. It's very similar to that when you're putting up an exhibit. I will chauffeur, I will deliver. I
just recently delivered a lot of invitations to the Israeli Embassy because they were sending
ily
things out for a lecture that they had asked us to co-sponsor with them, which was [Yaacov]
Agam221 by the way. I think that I'm being instrumental. He asked me afterwards, when he
found out I was from Atlanta, if I knew of any gallery here that might be interested in having a
m
show. I said, I think I do.

Ann: I think Fay Gold might be interested, you think?
Fa
Janice: I didn't know. I've been in touch with somebody else. That's a good idea, though. I'll
be glad to pass on his address and phone number if she wants it. At any rate, I'm always plugged
ba
220
Moses Seixas (1774-1809) was a first generation Jewish-American whose parents migrated from Lisbon,
Portugal, to Newport, Rhode Island. Seixas rose to prominence as warden of Newport's Touro Synagogue of
Congregation Jeshuat Israel, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Rhode Island, and
co-founder of the Bank of Rhode Island. Seixas is perhaps best remembered for the congratulatory letter he wrote in
1790 on behalf of his congregation to the recently inaugurated President George Washington. Seixas sought
Cu
assurances that the enumerated rights of freedom of religion and enfranchisement would apply to American Jews in
the new republic.
221
Yaacov Agam was born Yaakov Gipstein in 1928 in Mandate Palestine. He was trained in art in Israel, then
moved to Zurich, Switzerland in 1949, where he studied painting and sculpture. In 1951 he went to Paris, France,
where he still lives (2016). Agam is known for his kinetic art, that is, art with movement such as fountains, large
sculpture with light and sound.

Page 136 of 136
into Atlanta. I always will be. In the end, I certainly will be.
Ann: We're certainly glad that you were plugged in today. I think perhaps this may be the
last of the last. I may not have to bother you . . .
Janice: Do you realize how long ago it was when you did the first one? I know that anybody
s
really looking in these tapes will remember.
Ann: It was 1989. That's five . . .
e
Janice: . . . it was before my husband died, which has been over four years.
iv
Ann: Yes. It was August of 1989 is when we started on this.
Janice: Four-and-a-half years ago.
Ann: This is pretty wild. Anyway, it's wonderful. I think it's terrific. I thank you very, very
ch
much.
Janice: My pleasure.
Ar
INTERVIEW ENDS
ily
m
Fa
ba
Cu

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Page 1 of 136

THE WILLIAM BREMAN JEWISH HERITAGE MUSEUM

MEMOIRIST: JANICE OETTINGER ROTHSCHILD BLUMBERG

SPONSORED BY: Taylor Family Fund

<Tape 1, Side 1>

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[Dwight David] Eisenhower.5

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was a bad moment.

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Blumberg, published in 1985.

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Ann: Who were the attorneys?

in town. That was something.

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was what got the man off.

Janice: I don't think so.

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whatever way they knew how to do.

something, it has that element of . . .

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Ann: Still is.

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founded by the Jewish community.

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legislature to close the schools rather than integrate.

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he come with as an agenda?

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Janice: Thats true.

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something that the congregation had looked for.

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Ann: What did he do specifically that you so admired?

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Ann: Because they had panicked in 1915?

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Ann: Give names, dates, and places, if you would please.

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have a temple. He dedicated the first building in Atlanta . . .

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degree from Boston University [Boston, Massachusetts].

Ann: Yes. One hundred . . . 150 years ago.

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