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all Oral History
1986

William Waldman

William Waldman, who went by Bill, was among the young Jewish men in Dallas whose parents belonged to B'nai B'rith and who felt a junior order should be organized locally. Around 1929 to 1930, when he was 18, he and a group of friends came together to form AZA Chapter No. 135. He recalled fellow charter members including Dr. Joe Rothschild, Dr. Saul Katz, the Ute brothers Oscar and Hyman, Iser Waal, Johnny Smith, Melvin Yonick, Joe Bach, Isaac Goldstein, Eli Coble, Izzy Heckman, Isaac Sobel, and Manny Reichman, an attorney who served as the group's first sponsor.

Waldman remained active in AZA for about five years, from roughly 1929 to 1934, until he was about 21. He served as the chapter's second president, likely in 1931 or 1932, following Joe Rothschild, and he was captain of the AZA basketball team and played on its softball team. The chapter raised money through events such as dances and "hobo dances," and traveled to places including Oklahoma City to perform a play remembered as the Judas Maccabeus Degree. He recalled saving photographs and newspaper write-ups of these activities.

Waldman was active in Congregation Shearith Israel, noting that most of the young men belonged there rather than the Temple, whose membership was largely German Jewish at the time. In 1931 or 1932 he and Dr. Saul Katz debated members of the Hillel at the University of Texas on Jewish political aspirations in Palestine before a packed house at the Jewish Community Center, and he later spoke on "the Jew as a patriot" at an Armistice Day program. He belonged to B'nai B'rith's George A. Levy chapter, the social FHH organization, and the AOTA, the alumni group of Dallas AZA, which produced plays under Aaron Spelling's direction.

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