Betsy Anne Bamberger Lesser, Interviews with Jews in Utah, Accn 998

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Betsy Bamberger Lesser l-27-83 p.4 BL Ye s, I persona 11 y f e 1 t t h at. ~~d t h en my Sl. ster f o llowed, she felt also that she wanted to be confirmed because I hw.d been confirmed. And we felt a sense of obligation to our grandparents. L What kind of atmosphere did you grow up with. BL Completely assimilated. Completely assimilated. I went to the Wasatch Schocl up and through seventh grade and then I went to Rowland Hall and I sang in the choir. And I learned most of my bible and most of my religious training was done through Rowland Hall. The biggest influence on my religious life, I would say, was Mrs./S9n~ 7 /J. Jones who was the bible teacher at RowlandHall. I And she taught us the old testament, new testament, and comparative religion. And then actually when I de c ided that I wanted to be confirmed, that I would be confirmed, my last yeu.r at--of sunday School was very important to meJ because I again learned comparative religion with Louis Zucker.And he made a tremendous impact on me -- a spiritul impact. And he and I were great friends and remained friends. L How old were you when you were confirmed. BL Oh, about 16, I guess. L How would you describe the impact that Louis Zucker made. BL He was just such--he stimulated .my intellectual curiosity. We discussed comparative religion and he always used to call me "The Little Christian;• because I would always bring in the Christian point of view and we would discuss Christianity and compare it with Judaism. They were just wonderful intellectual discussions. He was a fabulous teacher. And I just admired him tremendously. And, as I say, he really stimulated my interest in many, many things. I mean--the confirmation meant nothing to me. It was all so -- let's see, I was 16. We're talking about 1938. And so L This was the depression. BL Yes, --that didn't affect us. But mostly the fact of what was going on in Europe. L In Germany. Were you conscious of that? BL I remember being conscious of it little by little. L How so. BL Well, I remember being ill. One time. And hearing Hitler, Hitler speak over the air and having heard something about what that meant. And the fright and fear. And also we did have relatives writing to us and wanting money to get out of Europe. And the tremendous problem with my parents . They didn't know whether to send money because they heard that most of the money was being confiscated by the time they were reached. And they didn't know whatto do. And we heard some of that. And of course, I never knew whether my parents