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Show MAX COWAN AUGUST 18, 1972 RD: Yes. MC: Oh, yes. There was always a little difference between the two groups. That is, they were generally the richest group, the B'nai Israel. They were the more assimilated group of American people. They had already been here a longer time. They had already made their mark. Everybody came here poor, but they were ahead of them, fifty years ahead of them in getting here so they had already made their mark. RD: Hypothesis, if an immigrant came here and had a leaning towards a Reform synagogue, would he be accepted even though he was poorer? MC: Yes, he would have been accepted. The only ones that would be that way would be somebody who came from Germany or from Western Europe, because those from Eastern Europe, they gravitated to the-- RD: --conservative? MC: To the Conservative, to Montefiore. HR: Yes. MC: They did. But it would not have made any difference to B'nai Israel, as far as their wealth. They would be glad to get an extra member. They would carry them. They were that way. This community is quite unique in that it is an ambidextrous community. By that I mean that some people belong to both, in support of both of them. 31 |