Sarah Levinson
Sarah Byers Levinson was born in Dallas in 1888. Her father, Frank Byers, came from Stubbein, Germany, where he had studied to become a rabbi, and left Europe to avoid being inducted into the army. He arrived first, landing in Wichita Falls before settling in Dallas, then sent for her mother, who was from Poland. The couple had a young son named Heine, who died in a tragic accident before Sarah was born. The family was very poor, and Sarah remembered charging groceries in a book and being teased at school over her simple lunches, though the bullying eventually calmed down.
Sarah's father earned a living peddling goods by wagon in the countryside and later ran a meat market and grocery store on Alamo Street, with her brother Abe rising early to deliver goods. The family kept a strictly kosher home, observed all the holidays, and learned Hebrew from a tutor who came to the house. Sarah taught herself to sew from neighbors and made clothes for her daughters. She married in 1904 and moved to Waco, where her daughters Hazel, Thelma, and Felice grew up, returning to Dallas around 1925 after her mother died and moving in with her father on Bryan Street.
Sarah's life centered on Tepherath Israel, which grew from services held in members' homes and rented cottages in Old North Dallas to a synagogue on Grand Avenue in South Dallas and later a new building. She helped organize the sisterhood, chaired its life membership effort for some 28 years, and ran the synagogue kitchen. She raised money through silver teas, bazaars, and plays, sent clothing and aid overseas to orphans, and worked for the UJA and Israel. After her husband's death she moved in with her daughter and son-in-law, helping raise her grandchildren, and remained a warm, devoted, and observant member of her community.
Full Transcript
This is Ginger Jacobs. I'm talking to Sarah Byers Levenson and it is May the 4th, 1977. How long have you lived in Dallas? Well, I've been born in Dallas. And how old are you, may I ask? How old am I now? I'm 89. And were your parents here before you? Sure, yes. For many years? When did your parents come? Well now my father came over here first. What year? About? Well he was here five years before I was born and so they they got they didn't want to go to the army so the men all came here and tried to make a life a new life for themselves and my father came here and left my mother in Europe and then when he got settled here he came here they came to they they landed in Wichita Falls I remember that they said that name and then as soon as he came over here and it didn't take for a couple of years he sent for her and she came over here and five years later after that, more from the time they got married five years, they had a little boy.
His name was Heine. He was a darling little boy and then I was born. Well my mother asked him to come in and take care of me and he said I'll be there in a minute and he went out and got a stick with a nail in it and fell on it and it killed him. So they lost the little boy. The name was behind me and then I was born. Well I don't remember very much as a baby of course I don't know and the the recollection that I have is that when I was old, we moved to where the Mercantile Bank building stands now.
Do you know why your parents happened to come to Dallas? Yes. How did they get to Vujda Falls? Where did they land? I stated that the reason they came to Dallas, my father wanted to get away from the army. In the United States No from Europe Okay And he attended the Asshibbe He studied to be a rabbi And when they wanted to induct him into the army why the men discovered that some of them And landed in Wichita Falls and then they came to Dallas. And then the way the men made a living was they got a wagon and they got a horse, and they peddle it out in the country and they get material from some of the stores, let them have it.
I remember one of the men's name was Mittenthal and they give them the material and they take it to the country and then they trade it for eggs and chickens and stuff like that, bring it back here. The families in the meantime had a little book, went to the grocery store, charged everything and when the eggs came in and the chickens then they paid them that way. We would ask our mother to give us a liquor to buy some gum and she'd say well we don't have any money. I remember that distinctly and we would say well you can just write in the book you don't need any money.
But we managed to get along we never knew we were poor and as the men other men came in from Europe they all stayed in the different homes and as borders and paid their way as little as they had and that way that's how they made that living until they got on their feet. About what year would you say this would be? Well see I was born five years after they were married so can't you figure that out? Well that would be about 1890. I was born in 1888. 88 yeah. That's when I was born. And then how about how old were you when this was happening?
Oh, I must have been that seven-eight years old, you know, little girl. Just before the turn of the century then, about 98. Now, what happened after your father? Well, when he came here, first thing they thought about, of course, was a shul. Well, they couldn't afford it, sure, so they met in each other homes And one week they meet in this home one week in that home and that way And then as time went on then they rented a little house and performed the serenials and he was the rabbi of course he didn charge him for it he just did it because he was ordained to be a rabbi he wasn an ordained rabbi but he wanted to be and so in that way now we're not going from there what shul was this to fair this and do you happen to remember when they established that shul Was it 1890, perhaps, or was it another year?
Well, let's see. When we were on Highland Street, I remember, I was a little girl, and I was, they rented a cottage on Highland Street. It's Ackerd now, I think. And we used to sit on the steps and watch them, and they had a curtain up, and then we'd go in there, and we'd pull the curtain back, and we'd watch them. Was that for the women? The curtain dividing the women and the men? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And if my father was living I think we'd still have a curtain. Do you know that I can't go into a show and sit there a man? I just can't do it.
Now I don't remember, did you say your father was from Russia or Poland? He was from Stubbein, Germany. From Germany. So then... My mother was from Poland. I see. I see. And did they meet here in the United States? No. They met in Europe. They married there. In Europe. Uh-huh. In Europe. And then he came over first, and then he brought her. Now, how did he get to Wichita Falls? Now, then I don't know. I guess they got rides or something. You don't know? No. Then I don't know because, see, I wasn't bored. Yes. But you never heard them. You never heard them say anything.
No, that's all right. Do you remember what the Jewish education was like in balance when you were growing up? Was there any kind of Hebrew school? Oh yes, we had a man come to the house to teach us Hebrew. We didn't have a Hebrew school. Well, the man's name was Benuffin, and I think he was the great grandfather of the stirring boys and he used to come to the house every day and teach us Hebrew and I was their prized pupil I not bragging but that the truth And she don believe it And so I could read I could write Hebrew and our parents couldn my father could speak English but my mother couldn't, he learned English right away.
And we had to speak, they spoke Jewish to us, so naturally we learned how to speak Jewish. And to this day I can read Hebrew and speak Jewish. Your father's name was Byers. What was it? Frank Byers. Frank Easter Byers. Now, what about your public schooling? Let's see, what was the first school I went to? Or did we go to school? Now about where was that school? You know that goes back a long time and I know a lady like me, it's hard to remember. Yeah. All right, that's, oh you got it on? Oh I bet you could tell me. Do you about what was it Alamo?
I believe you said it was Alamo Street. No that's the Alamo came later but we went to this school and I remember distinctly well we my mother used to make watermelon preserves all the time and so we had and she'd bake her own bread and we had holly so we didn't have a knife to cut it with the bread knife you know bread knife so we'd tear it off and we'd take that for our lunch. And when we got to school, we'd see the other little kids with their fancy sandwiches, and we'd get in the corner, and we'd eat, you know, and kind of ashamed of it.
But, and then we'd get up and walk around, and they'd follow us, and they'd call us Christcales. So we didn't say anything. We just kept very quiet, and we walked around. And then we'd, time, the bell rang, time to go in. But it finally quieted down and calmed down. And I think that was a good way to handle it. You ever said anything to your parents about it? No, we never said anything. There was nothing they could do about it. And had we made an issue over it, perhaps it would have been, you know, tragic. But we didn't and it calmed down. Do you remember some of the kids you went to school with about that time?
Well, we went to school with the Topwasters, Januskas, I don't know, there was quite a few. They all lived in the same neighborhood? Yeah. It was all in North Dallas. Oh, we lived in little bitty houses. A little while, I remember, and a little step to go up, and they'd have a rocking chair on the porch, and the women would get out on the porch and drink coffee and talk to each other. And if one had a sense of why, everybody pitched in and baked, and there was Mr. Noski and Tammy Tablaski and all of them, and there were just one big family. It really was.
I wish it was like that today, but it's not. Yeah. What were the Sunches like? What was the bar mitzvah? We walked everywhere. We didn't have, see, we could walk. It didn't make a difference, right? You could walk. Even when I lived in Waco and the girls went to school. We could walk to the high school, the grammar school, the library, here was a show in Waco. We never did, we didn't have volumbriles. We didn't know where it was. We'd walk for miles and miles and miles. Did you have a horse or buggy? Was there any type of transportation that you had when you were in?
No I didn't have it but when I got married and I moved to Waco my sister-in-law had one and I learned how to drive a horse and I can just see myself now and she was sick and she couldn't drive and I used to take her for a ride and it really was it was really nice. But what year was that? That's after I got married and moved to Waco. What year were you married? in 1904 and we moved to Waco and I tell you in those days when we moved there we moved right across from my mother-in-law they had a grocery store and in this whole world there are not any people living like there were then.
The black people lived here and the white people lived next door to them. never any trouble never any problems and everything was just so nice and so quiet and let see where did y go to school And that was in Waco then? Uh huh. Uh, in Waco school and here was, we didn't ride, we walked. Everybody walked and everybody was happy. Well now, in school in Dallas, did you just go through the public school and you went to high school? What was the high school like? Where did you go to high school? Well, the high school was all right, but we had to walk about, I don't know how many miles up hills and down hills, and there was snow and rain, and we never, we couldn't ride, we didn't have a nickel to ride.
What was the name of that school? We had a nickel, technical high. huh? We never had money to ride a bus. That's hard to believe but it's the truth and we never knew we were born. We were happy. Right. Do you remember about how long it took you to walk? No, I don't remember that but I know we always got there on time. Do you happen to remember about what time you had to get up in order to get to school? No, but my father was very, he took care of all the that and my mother they didn't run around and go any places and they you know they had time for everything.
What were some of the activities that they did? I can't remember it. I can't remember any fun we had. We weren't looking for fun. Did you go past high school or did you finish high school? No just finished. Were there four years of high school or two years? I don't know about three and a half. What was your observance like at home? Jewish observance, tradition, how did you observe? We were very very religious. Even today it was instilled in me and it worries me that you know I don't now I can't keep but when I when I kept house my house was strictly kosher. The rabbi could come and eat at my house.
How was Pesach? Well we had the traditional services at home and then afterwards my father would be the old sit there and diving for hours you know Change dishes Oh change dishes I should say We had our dishes up in the attic there in a shelf. Did many of the people change dishes then? Oh yes, they did. I don't remember anybody that didn't keep kosher then. I really don't. Do you remember if there was a chef here in town? Did they chef the meat here? Were they able to get it here? There was no problem. Was the meat market also in Old North Dallas close to that?
To Alamo Street? Do you remember the side streets about where it would be? Now my father had a meat market and I used to and he kept sold mozzas and stuff like that and And her father, my brother Abe, used to get up at 4 o'clock in the morning, deliver the meat and the groceries, and then come home and then go back and walk to school. How did he deliver the... Did he walk? No, he had a wagon then. You did? Did most of the people have their groceries delivered by wagon? Yeah. Brotherhood come in? Uh-huh. Do you have any idea about the year that was?
No. Between 1900 and 1910 maybe or whatever. Was it before you were married? Well, I just went on to have the grocery store and they made living that way. But then that was before you were married that I delivered the groceries. Yeah, yeah. I see. And then when I got married we moved to Waco. Have you got that? Go ahead. You're fine. We went to Waco and uh we had the girls went to school there didn't you believe? Were you born then? We moved to uh When we moved to Waco you were not born? Well when we moved to Waco Hazel was born there How long did you live in what?
Because I remember distinctly that my sister-in-law used to have a dressmaker right near her and she get material and she get more than she needed and she say tell the dressmaker to give me the material so I could make Hazel some dresses I remember that distinctly It was right next door to us And then, uh, Thelma was born. And then Felice. And then, uh, well, they went to school there. Hazel went to Baylor and they went to public school there. They went to the temple in Waco because then we moved here when my mother died we moved here and y'all had, police when we moved here how old were you?
19. 10. So that was about 1925 when you moved back. What was the city like when you moved back to Dallas? Well there were a lot of changes of course. What were some of the changes? Well we had automobiles and of course my father went to show on Highland Street. We didn't have our show yet and he'd go on the bus and I used to bake cake and pickle herring and bar eggs and send it down there for Charlottesville so they'd have something in those days they allowed us to do to take cake and stuff to the show but now they won't but we had a strictly kosher home my father just walked around and I I'd say to him, Daddy, I thought you didn't see so good.
How did you see that spoon there? It wasn't exactly in the right place, but he saw it. And we respected him enough that we listened to him. Where did you move when you moved back to Dallas in 1925? I moved in the house with my father. What was the address? Do you know? 3505 Bryan. Okay. And then, let's see what happened then, oh gosh. Oh, then they built that show on Grand Avenue just before he died, but they didn't complete it. And they wouldn't put a curtain up and they'd just like to kill me. But had he lived, they would have. But we didn't have a Sunday school and Rabbi Annis was the first rabbi we had.
Do you know him? Yes. Do you happen to remember when they built the shill on Grand Avenue when they moved south? We could figure that out couldn't we? The shill moved to South Dallas about 1940 would you say? Somewhere about there, 31 perhaps. Yeah. Okay. What was the shill like when it was built then in South Dallas and how had it changed? Well, it was a beautiful shore and people wouldn't, we wouldn't ride, nobody would even park a car in front of the shore. They wouldn't be seen riding a car. And I used to, I lived on Bryan Street and I couldn't ride, I couldn't walk.
So I'd spend the night with my daughter, Thelma, and her family and I'd walk the shore. Now where did Thelma live? How close was she? Oh no, not just about five or six blocks from there, not very far. South of the Lord? Uh-huh, not very far. And I don't know, we were all, we just kept everything so strict. We were really religious. We didn't realize how easy it was to keep kosher, to keep, to walk, to do this and do that. But now it seems like a hardship. It really does. and the man that one thing they did do they didn't have a curtain up but they did the men were seated on one side and the women on the other side and I've got a little incident but I can't tell it and it caused trouble I'll tell you that.
It's all right. And so we had we had a big family in fact one day we had services and the whole show was just family but it was like a family affair really and they just dwindled down now but everybody just they were just going together they just wouldn't separate so anyway one lady was there a visitor and she sat right near me and on the front seat there and she said who is that over there on the BIMI I said that my uncle Who is that I said that my cousin And who is that Well that my brother And she got so angry with me she didn believe a word I said She got up and she left But we were all family I remember that so distinctly How is it that you were all family?
Had they intermarried between several families? Well, the Tabalaskis and the Richovskis and all that family, you know, the different people, Saltis lived there. And that was when, after we built our family, that show that was the time that we organized our sisterhood. We had 13 members at the time and Mrs. Annis was such an adorable person, so nice. We met at her home, we had meetings there, she would give dinners and all kinds of affairs just to get the women interested and so then we appointed a president. Let's see, I don't remember who the first president was. I wish I had given those books away.
But Sarah Berman was one of the presidents of the Wilds and the Wilds were all there and they're such ardent workers you know that and in those days not only the adults worked but the children all worked. If we gave any kind of an affair at the show and in some family they had a child that was old enough to do anything they would come there and help us. They would cut the grapefruit for us and they would fix everything and it was really it was really special and we felt like we just belonged to one big family. Then that was in the early 40s?
Yeah, yeah when we built that show there and they had a we had a kitchen there and everything was kosher and everything was strictly you know And then when Rabbi Annas came, he organized a Sunday school, a Hebrew school, and he had it really going there. And they really made the show what it was. Now, he was the first round, and he was the first one to organize a Sunday school and Hebrew school there? Yeah, uh-huh, uh-huh. Now, what did you do prior to then? Where did the kids go? Where did they study? Like when you were growing up? Besides the Hebrew teacher that came into the home.
Yeah that all I remember myself How did the others do Well did some of those kids go to other shuls for their Sunday season Well they went to Sheriff Israel And I imagine in Sheriff Israel they must have had it But Thelma finally took her child out and put them in the temple because of the way they talked to her. They weren't very nice. But at our shul, everything was just realized, just a big family. And then we had the sisterhood and from then on we started working. And then Sarah Berman got up, she was, Sarah Wild Berman got up and she said, why don't we have a life membership organized?
And so we said, well we could try so they may be the chairman of this and I've been chairman ever since for about 28 years I think and then then when we moved to this shule over here we finally built this shule and we have a milk kitchen there we have a meat kitchen and all the money uh we had over 100 members life members now besides the deceased ones that were members and we built the milk kitchen and the meat kitchen and all the money that we get from Life Membership now goes to the kitchens to equip the kitchens and we they have a lovely group of women they really do well now can we go back and can you remember and compare the services and what they were like from when you were a child like Rosh Shoshana and Yom Kippur and Sukkahs.
Did a lot of people observe Sukkahs? Did they have Sukkah in their homes? Oh, we always had Sukkah. Always. When you were kids, early? Oh, always. We had one at home and we had one at the Shul. Did a lot of people? Always had it. What about Shavuot? Was that well observed? Yeah, we observed all the holidays. And did all the people walk to Shul? Yes, ma'am. When did they start moving from Old North Dallas, from Caroline Street and from Alamo Street down to South Dallas? Do you remember offhand? Uh-huh. Do you remember about what year you moved from Brock to Plymouth? It a long time because I was married and I had children and they were all grown And how old were you feeling when you moved to Dallas No, but when did your father move from Alamo to Bryan Street?
About when? Well, see they were on Akron, on Highland Street. And I never did understand how he moved so far away. But that's when he moved. That's when they started building this shill here because they... Oh yes my God. But then he walked to Shill on Shabbat still. Oh yeah. How about the services on Rosh Hashanah when you were in the old shill on Highline Street? We can call it a shul. It's a house. Or a house. Well, I imagine they were just, they had everything equipped there for, you know, for the services. They had the tower, they had everything, the bimbing, just like they would in a shul.
Was the bimbing in the middle of the shul then? No, as I recollected now, it was, see, the women sat at the end here. And then at the front was the shul for the men. You might know the men have the best one. but then it was at the front. I remember it. Did the services last well into the afternoon? Do you remember? Yeah. Was it all in Hebrew? Yeah. Did the people bring their own prayer books? Yeah. Everybody had their own prayer book and it was all in Hebrew. Did they have a chazam? Do you remember? Well I think my daddy performed services until they got a rabbi.
Okay what was Purim like? Well it was just kids come to shul I read them again. I remember on Grand Avenue when we had Purim and they had those costumes and the children had the most gorgeous costumes and those little children they all call me Aunt Sarah. So we had we gave a prize to the one that had the nicest costume and that wanted me to be the judge and I said well I really can't be a judge because to me they all look good and if that was really the hardest job of my life selecting These little boys that helped us work and do things, you know, and then, oh yes, we observed everything according to tradition.
Have you always been members of Teferoth? You've never changed your affiliation? Never, never. What about the kids? Are they still at Teferoth? Are they gone to other shuls or perhaps to temple? No, see, when we moved here, Felice went to Cherith Israel, so naturally when she married Mike, they all went to belong there and they stayed there. and Thelma started at the temple so she was there but I have remained at Tepherah Israel. I'm very loyal to Tepherah Israel. Yes. Do you find changes in the services at Tepherah Israel now from what it was when you were growing up? Why did she ask me that?
Well it's different. Now the men and the women sit together and the women sit on one side and we're just segregated. And the men sit on the other side, some of them, and it's entirely different. It's just not the same. What are some of the differences besides the seating? Besides the seating? Well, I hate to tell you, but I think that the difference is, and it really is sad, that we're not as close to each other as we used to be. We've just drifted apart. Now there are people there now who have never done anything for the show and they're officers and those that really should be officers are not officers.
And there's just a difference. Now when Izzy Strax was there, I thought he was one of the nicest men that I ever met. He really helped us. It doesn't make any difference what you needed or how you needed. He always helped you. And when I left there, I thought that he was just one of the nicest men there. He was really a big help. But when you go to Shure, it seems like to me that it's just not our family anymore. many of them passed away There was Uncle Ben Tablaski and Izzy Wow and and so many other people that I just you know don want to call their name but now their children have really taken over There's Sylvan Goldstein and Issa Tablaski and that makes it a little nicer and High Swartz has worked hard there and when you go there and see all the children taking over it makes you happy.
Are there as many activities that you're able to participate in that the shul does for itself as they used to? Or has that changed? Like when the women prepared the dinners, I assume that they did, if they did. Do other people do it now? Do they bring it in? And is there less chance to participate? You can bring in food now. Well, when they work at the shul. Do the women themselves do a lot of preparation? Oh, yeah. Has there been change there? I had charge of the kitchen that was my job and ever since we moved over there and I planned the menus and we had a lovely group of women working there and we all worked together in harmony and peace and we served meals that were really I hate to brag but they really were nice.
Do the women have as much changed to do that today as they did? Well you see I haven't been there in the last year and I really don't know what they're doing now. Did they do that up until the last year when you were there? Do it constantly? Different. They had professionals to bring it in? No they do it themselves. They still do it? I think they do. Now they have a Seder there and I don't know I really don't know how you know how they handled it because I wasn't there. Do you happen to remember how long they've had the seder at the show?
What is it? The second? The first year. Is this the first year? Do you feel that less people have seders at home than they did when you were growing up? Well I don't know whether they have less seders or not but I don't think they're in that just don't compare to what we used to have. How? Because they don't observe everything like they did. See we never would talk during the Seder, but now they talk a little bit. Did you hear the whole Haggadah slowly Oh slowly yes ma Was it read in Hebrew Everything in Hebrew Yes ma But not now we don of course you know Well one nice thing about now though the children read the four kashas that that sounds about.
One of them says in Hebrew, one of them translates it. That makes it nice. Yeah we try to raise them the best way we can now. Sure. What about the organizations in the life you know organizational life Jewish organizational life when you were growing up in Dallas what were some of the groups that were in Dallas? Well you see the only one that I was really interested in was Tephereth Israel and I tried to do the things that you know the best of my ability and we always made success of everything we used to have silver teas and and we'd send baby clothes overseas when they had the war and we just gave all kinds of affairs and we never we never did really pay for the food we used to go out and I'm ashamed to say but we used to go out and chanur in fact I have a friend here now I'm not gonna tell you his name but when he sees me puts his hand in his pocket because he thinks I'm selling something And I told him one day, I said, I just want to say hello to you.
I don't want to sell anything. But we always been on affairs and made money. We always made money. We had to. What were we going to do? We had to have money to run the show. Was that already when the show was in South Dallas? Yeah. Did you do anything like that before when the show was still in Old North Dallas? Well, I told you that I used to bake cake and pickle herring and hardball days and send stuff over there. but you can't do that now you have to cook everything bake everything at the shore. When they did they have any other affairs like that was for Shalashutas did they have any other money raising affairs how did they make money?
I don't remember on Highland Street what they did to make money I really don't but they seemed to get along all right but I guess the expenses weren't as high there you know then as they are now. If everybody contributed a little bit it would help. Right. But now everything is so high. The salaries are high and everything. Did they sell seats for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur on Highland Street Do you know Sell suites Seats Oh seats Sure they sell seats Did they sell the Haftaras on the holidays So the man who had the Haftara would make a donation Well, no, I don't remember that.
I was a young year when I did that. Over there, I don't remember too much. Were there...oh, I'm sorry, go ahead. What were you going to say? I was going to say that of course I was grown when they had Grand Avenue initial and I was a very ardent worker and my whole life was dedicated to helping them and seeing what I could do to help them. What was your social life like with the Jewish kids when you were growing up on Highland Street or you know and the show was on Highland Street? I don't think we had any. play hopscotch and things like that.
What about when you got to be your teenage years and went to Bryan High School as you said it was instead of Tech? Well I don't think we had too many failures that we did people didn't have that kind of money they had still had problems you know and we really didn't until we all grew up and got married and had children of our own and we went on on our merry way. Well, what did you do after school? Was there any recreation or on weekends? I don't remember that either. The time I got through walking, I was tired, I guess. So it was a full day then.
And it was mountains too. It wasn't sidewalks. You had to go through hills and things like that and walk, you know. Can you imagine walking from Alamo Street to Brian High? and no sidewalks. Was it built up around there at all? Yeah, it was built up. Were they stores or houses? Well there were houses and stores you know of course not like now. What about some of the cultural and civic federate organizations? Did you have any other organizations other than your life centered around the Shill? Well, it seemed like that everything that took place and it took in the Shill, I don't know, you know, it was through the Shill.
That's all we thought about was the Shill. I can't understand it myself, but it was all everything was the Shill. We gave all kinds of parties, we gave all kinds of Bazaars and just everything, it was right in the show. And when we gave the silver tea, we used to sit there and take grapes and dime and make silver, you know, make it all silver and have fruit and everything like that. And the women worked so hard, but they never thought they worked hard, they really didn't. Do you remember about when that was? Was that after Mrs. Annis was here? Well, it started during the time when Ms.
Andes was here. Ms. Andes really put us on the track, Rabbi Ms. Andes. I think, didn't she come in 1943 or 44 perhaps? Maybe into 42? Well, I see, Felice said Marty was born. It was there, so it must have been at that time. Mm-hmm. What type of housing did you have over the years? Do you remember was it a single you know just a house where you want family dwelling and was it when you moved on Brian or when your dad moved on Brian was it it wasn't apartment it was just a single family dwelling. In fact when police moved bought this lot here I stood there with tears in my eyes I said look where you're moving out in the country look at it now it doesn't take long to develop a city.
Do you know what year Felice bought this house? Then it was 1949 I believe Felice said that she bought the house. Did you build a house out here? What was it like out here when the house was built? Well it was just like a forest. Were there houses out south we're just a block south of Northwest Highway. Well it didn't take long for it to develop. You know like they do now they put them up. Right and of course this is a single family dwelling. What about your family structure over the years? You mentioned that you're at how many people were in your family how many brothers and sisters did you have?
I had four brothers and and two sisters. Did most of the families have pretty good sized families in those days? Yeah, they've all passed away except my baby sister and myself. And did you have aunts and uncles or relatives living in the home Did your grandparents live with you Not with us but the whole town full of relatives You name them we got them And they all so nice too Well when you were a child, you said your mother had a boarding house. Not a boarding house, no. I'm sorry. No, they used to take one man in, you know, that came over from Europe, and didn't have a family, and was getting ready to bring his family over and tell he got a job.
he'd stay there and they paid rent and I don't know how much they paid but that's how they did they all did that and if you had a wedding or you had any kind of affair a bar mitzvah everybody in the neighborhood pitched in and did something. Now what was the bar mitzvah like then? What'd they do? I really don't remember that. I don't remember a bar mitzvah. I really don't. Do you know if it was in the shul? did they have a party in the shill or did they come back to the house and everybody have a party do you remember well in those days i think everything took place in the house or out in the yard you know something like that we didn't have much then what about the weddings well the wedding they had had it headed out in the yard and then they went in the house and they but like i say everybody you know they didn't put on because they didn't have the money Yes.
But life was better than it is today. Not so many complications, not so many problems. Parents always at home with the kids? Yes, ma'am. I was never away from my home when my children got there. I don't care what I did when they got home, I was there. And that's how times have changed. Did you walk the kids to school? No. Or did they walk by themselves? By themselves. Well, we used to sleep on Bryan Street even. We'd sleep with the door open, and we didn't have any air conditioning. We just had fans that was hot. And we walked to the park and had all kinds of music and things going on.
Nobody was afraid. Nobody got hurt. And the next block up was nothing but black people there. but nobody was afraid Now you afraid to get out on the porch Times have changed Your father when he came here what was his occupation You said he had studied in the yeshiva and then he went to peddle What did he do after he peddled? Well, you see, I wasn't born when he came here. Okay. They all went to the country and peddled. When I think of that, that was just sad. You know. And to think he couldn't buy a nickels worth of something at the grocery store, he didn't have any money, but oh just give us the book.
Don't need any money. But did he continue? Oh go ahead. Did he continue pedaling or how long did he peddle? On that I don't remember. I don't remember that. And then after he got produce and stuff he started the grocery store? Where was the grocery store located? On Alamo Street. On Alamo? Did you have many- We used to walk from Alamo Street to Sanger's, where they are now. We didn't even have a knuckle to ride the bus. We survived. Were you-clothes, did you buy them at the store? Were they ready-made or did you-were they sold them on? Clothes, ready-made. I made them. I made every stitch of clothes that my girls wore, even when they grew up.
And did your mother also make you clothes? I imagine the kind of clothes I wore, I imagine she did. Because I sold that little dress I wore at school, and it didn't look so hot. Oh, I could make beautiful clothes. Did you learn, did your mother teach you? No, the way I learned was there was a dressmaker right next door to her. Her name was Miss Smith and she was kind of old. And Miss Friedman, I think it was Barry Shackman's mother, lived across the street. She used to show me how to sew a sleeve in. And Miss Smith would let me come over there.
Papa would give me a little piece of material. and I'd go over there and she'd I'd run the airings for her. I'd go up the grocery store for her and she showed her, let me use her machine. Mama wouldn let me use it because she said I run it So Miss Smith showed me how and then one lady was making some drone work and I don know whether you know what that is or not Drone work Have hemstitches Hemstitches You make spiders and everything. So they used to buy sugar and flour and sacks. So we'd take the sacks and we'd rip the sacks open. We'd wash them.
We'd iron them and we'd draw the threads. And we'd run from neighbor to neighbor and they'd show us how to draw the threads. and we'd make the most gorgeous pieces you ever saw. They used to put them on mantles. When I got married, I wore a dress with a collar that I had made, handwork. When I think of it, I said, well, how in the wide world are there? And I had time for everything. And then I made my granddaughter's clothes. I still crochet and do things. When my grandchildren come over, I go in there and I make down clothes for them, per se. That's how I get them to come around and talk to me.
That's great. Beautiful. Yeah. I have a nice family, thank God. And by the way, Thelma, her husband, and Thelma gave me a check for $100. yesterday to make their daughter a life member. Now she belongs to the temple but she wants to do it for her grandmother. This is a life member of the Sister Milly's affair? Uh-huh. So I'm going to announce it Monday. That's very nice. Wasn't that nice? It really was. Can you, is there anything special other than the shul that you were involved in all these years? Well yes I think so I think we took part in a lot of things. We worked for the for the UJA and Felicia used to take us in the car and we knock on the door as my sister Sigla Bender and we'd knock on the door and she used to kind of set me because after the the lady paid us and she started talking to her.
And I said, we don't have time to talk to her, we got to go knock on the next door. No, we worked for different charity organizations and police always went to. She worked hard. And you take Fay Lise and Florence Tablaski and Ruth Bach and all those, While they worked at the show, when they were young, little kids, they just worked just like slaves. Now what did they do? Well, they'd go in there, if we had to peel the grapefruit, they'd do it, or we had to, anything we had to do, if we ran short of something at the grocery store, they'd run the grocery store and get it.
Did they walk? Yeah, you could walk. That's right on the corner. That man used to give us a lot of stuff for nothing. We very seldom paid for any food when we first moved on Grand Avenue. Because we got it free. We'd go on the market, they'd give us a big sack of lettuce and tomatoes and all that. Now were these Jewish merchants or non-Jewish merchants? They didn't make any difference, they didn't care. It didn't make any difference whether they were Jews or not. We went there and they gave it. We worked hard. When I think of how we walked from Sanger's way up to Deep Elm, and then back again down Lamar, and I would see how we did it in St.
Paul. And everywhere we went, they gave us things. And we put on different kinds of plays and bingos, then, you know, we'd have to have prizes. And they gave us the stuff. And this was all to raise money? And this was raise money for the show? For the show. For the school? I'll tell you what we did that I thought was nice. The silver tea, we took a certain portion of it and we sent it to the orphans in Europe. There was an organization, I've forgotten the name of it. We did that. And then when they needed baby clothes, we put on the fare and we told them to bring us some baby clothes to get in.
Well, they started bringing the baby clothes and didn't look good to us. So then the next time we put on the fare, we charged them a dollar. Then we took that money, we went downtown to the wholesale house, and all over, down, up and down, and we bought the baby clothes and shipped them overseas. Now, where did you ship them overseas? Well, I don't remember that now, but, you know, we had an address to send them to. Well, was this just after the war for kids who were orphans, or was it to Israel? No, for orphans. And we worked for Israel We did a lot of charity work We didn just put ourselves in one place you know But we did a lot of good work in our lifetime, and I'm sorry that I can't go and do it now.
You've done quite a bit. What about Zionism? Were you members of the Zionist organization? Did you work towards Israel or for the formation of the state of Israel? What was it like then? Listen, we worked, I don't know about Zionism, I don't think we were Zionists. And that's, that word that rings a bell or something, but we worked for Israel. We worked, we did it. Were you a member of Hadassah perhaps at all or did you have any dealings with Hadassah? No, no, my sister was a big Hadassah worker, Siga. Did you know her, Siga Bender? I think she used to have all kinds of fairs and they'd give it and the women would get together and have a little party and we'd pay so much to get in and they'd give it to them.
She was an organ worker too, my sister. What about, did you have many friends over at Temple Emanuel? Do you know anything about the Temple community or Sheriff Israel community through the years? Well, sure. What were some of the things? We have a lot of relatives that go to Sheriff Israel. What about the early days? See, police married a man. They belonged to Sheriff Israel. And, of course, we had to associate with all of them. I think we had the wedding there. We didn't isolate ourselves. That isn't a good way to do. What about the Temple people? You said you'd gone to school with the Sanger kids.
Were they members of Temple or Sheriff? No. At Temple, Thelma was confirmed-no, who was confirmed? At Thelma, I think. And, you know, they didn't-they were just owned one family. and when they had a, when they were confirmed they said they didn't want the dress to cost over five dollars. When was that do you remember? In the 30s maybe? Maybe Five dollars wouldn buy anything now but I remember that distinctly And I went out and I bought the material and I made her a dress and she had the prettiest dress up there I really could sew. How is it the police went to Sherath and Thoma went to...
Well, see, we didn't have a son's school at our show. So they both went, so they took both their children to Sherath Israel, you know. Uh-huh. And then when Thelma, when Thelma got, was talking to that man, I told you that man talked to her and he talked so ugly and he said, if you don't become a member, your children can't go to sunscope. Instead of saying, if you want to, if you want to, why don't you become a member, I see your children are going to sunscope. She said, she'd been glad to. I see. And my motto has been all through the years, I've been a hard worker, is we need them, they don't need us.
And always respect them and be, even if you're wrong, don't lose a friend. I see, I see. So then Thelma stayed at Temple when she got older and police having married Mike stayed at Sheriff Israel. Well, we're not having a Sunday school, you know, you couldn't blame anybody. But Rabbi Annis and Ms. Annis sure did do a lot for us. I wish they were here now. Yes. Well, do you have any other comments? We got this closed up. Almost. Do you have any other comments about the city and the community and the Jewish community and what it was like? Well, there's only one thing that has changed a lot.
I wish that they would change the shulps so that a poor person could go there as well as a rich person. I have seen the time when during the holiday, high holiday, that poor people couldn't afford to pay the price of the seats. And I don't think that's right. Did they sell memberships when the Ferreth was first started? Yeah. Do you happen to remember what the memberships were like and how much it cost to be a member of the shul? No I don remember that but I sure it wasn exorbitant No You know couldn have been Right Because in those days a dollar bought you a lot of stuff Right Right Do you happen to know about how many people were involved in the beginning of the fairway On the Grand Avenue?
No, on when you were little. When you were almost. I don't understand. When it was in old North Dallas about how many families belonged to them. Well, they all belonged there because that's the only one I remember. I don't remember another one over there. Yeah, but was it like 10 families or 20 families? Oh no, they had more than that. They had a big Jewish family. See, they grew and grew and grew. Okay, do you have any other comments? Do I have any other comments to make? I just wish we could sometimes go back and do the nice things that we did when we were young in those days.
I remember one time, I'm going to have to tell you this, when Ms. Antis was here, we heard there were two or three poor families in town, and it was during the Passover holidays. So she called me and she asked me, she said, would you go with me to take some people some food for the holidays? You know, like matzah and stuff that's not opened up. And I said, I'd be glad to. So we went to one place that was over a garage and we left a big basket of food there. Then we went to two or three more places and did that. And I thought that that was one of the nicest things that a person could.
I've always believed in helping poor people. Do you ever remember a time when matzo was baked in Dallas or was it always brought in? I don't remember that. My mother baked bread. She'd get in the middle of the night and knead the bread, you know. Oh, that bread was good. I still remember it. And I remember one time my father said, I said, Daddy, my daddy was, and mother, my daddy was one of the finest men that ever lived on this earth. I said, Daddy, why are you giving those people matzahs and Passover things? They haven't paid you for last year. He said, what they had last year, they can't eat this year.
And he'd give it to them. And one day when I moved on Brown Street, a black woman knocked on the back door and I talked to her and asked her, you know we weren't afraid in those days, and she said I'd like to talk to Ms. Byers. I said, well, didn't you know she passed away and she started crying? She said, no, I didn't. She said, because every time I was hungry and I came here, she had fed me. So that's the kind of people we, you know, all the people were like that in those days. And I just wish that we could go back to that age, really.
I understand. Okay, I sure thank you. Okay, this is Ginger Jacobs and I'm talking with Mrs. Levinson again and it's the 18th of May. And you last time mentioned that you had come to live with your daughter and son-in-law, I believe after your husband passed away. When did you... When did I come here? Let see Carol must have been about two years old and Marty is 36 and Marty was about four I think about 30 something like years ago 36 Yeah. So that was about 1945. There aren't, are there or were there many of people of your age living with their sons and daughters at that time and how has it been for the years?
My husband passed away and I had my own home and I had enough to live on. I didn't go to live with him because I had to go. But my daughter just insisted she didn't want me to live by myself. and so I moved in with her and it was a wonderful experience being with the children. What was your relationship with the children Did you work with them Did you help them with the schoolwork Did you play with them With the grandchildren Well, even with my own children, I think times have changed and the mothers don't give always much time to their children as they did then.
Now I find you in those days that my daughter needed something for school, books or something. It wasn't that she wasn't qualified to get it because they were all Valdeck Torens, very brilliant three girls that I had and books anyway. And so if I knew they needed a book or anything at the library and I knew they didn't have time to go get it, I'd get on the bus, There was a bus right there. Get on the bus and go on and get it and do it for them and help them. It wasn't because they couldn't do it themselves. But mothers don't do that anymore like they used to.
They make the child. I don't know whether it's the right thing to do or not. But my children and my grandchildren all verified of me. In fact when I went to the donor luncheon I didn realize how many friends I had What were some of the things you did with the grandchildren as they were growing Well that's what you know just went helped them through with their problems things that they had had to be done. They had to go on trips. Grandma was there to take care of me and they were all very nice to me and we were all a very nice family all of us and I still am in the house with my son-in-law so I guess we both must be nice.
Well last time you were telling me about when your granddaughter used to practice or you used to help her out with other things that she should have been doing and practice her accordion. Yeah that's this girl right here. You see all those trophies up there? We've got them all over. This is a girl that did that. And her mother said, no wonder Carol doesn't know how to keep half. Her grandma did all that for her. But it was so important for her to practice. And the accordion is so heavy, and she loved it. We didn't have to make her do it.