Summary(00:30) Gail, born in Brooklyn, first lived in Flatbush than Park Slope from 1976 to 1995, today in Marine Park. Her mother Minnie is from Toronto and father, Manuel Levine, born in Brooklyn. Maternal family originally from Russia, paternal from Poland -- (03:50) Observant Jews, but flexible -- (06:00) Parents married in 1941, two days later Manuel enlisted in the army. Was honorably discharged after being wounded -- (07:00) Levine family lived in apartment on Montgomery Street. Gail and her sister Bonnie grew up in a tradional Jewish home but father had to work on Saturday. Girls went to public school and Gail went to Hebrew after school (talmud torah) -- (10:40) Gail went to Brooklyn Jewish Center on Kingston Avenue, the largest Conservative center with famous cantors -- (12:10) Family joined Union Temple. At that time, service was mostly in English. Most of her friends attended Erasmus High School and Union Temple -- (15:00) Gail was confirmed in 1959 and bat mitzvah in 2004 -- (19:00) History of Union Temple, oldest reform congregation in Brooklyn. Gail's history in community -- (30:00) Growing up Crown Heights was a Jewish world. Fascinated by Manhattan. High school, NYU broadened her world. Evolution of Brooklyn. Park Slope, provincial at a time, became trendy in the 1990s. Brooklyn reinvented itself -- (36:35) Food as an expression of evolving Jewish identity. Interest turned from Ashkenazy food of her parents to Middle Eastern food associated with her wish to emigrate to Israel -- (44:15) Today she is rediscovering a changing and exciting Brooklyn.
NoteTitle supplied by cataloger. Audio interview conducted on 26 December 2019 by Ariane Loeb at New York Public Library. Collected through the Brooklyn Collection Jewish History Project of Brooklyn Public Library. This project is funded by the David Berg Foundation.
SubjectBrooklyn Jewish Center (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.) ; Reform Judaism ; Jews--Identity ; Emigration and immigration
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TitleThe Levine family. Oral history interview with Gail Levine on 2019 December 26 .
Biographical NoteGail Levine-Fried grew up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Her parents, Myrna (nee Minnie Samuel, and Manuel Levine married at the Kingston Avenue Synagogue on August 19, 1941. Gail was born in 1943 and her sister Bonnie in 1946. Manuel’s family emigrated from Poland to America around 1900. Myrna’s family, also from Poland, settled in Canada and Myrna became a United States citizen in 1953. Manuel worked for 25 years managing the sporting goods department at Sears, Roebuck and Company in Flatbush. He felt his Jewish identity hindered his advancement at Sears. The family became members of the Union Temple Synagogue of Brooklyn and Gail was involved from a young age in the community. It was there that she was confirmed, married Bob Fried in 1991, and became bat mitzvah in 2004.