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Hi, I am Katie Weber. I am a project archivist with the Houston jewish history Archives located at Rice University And I am here today talking to linda berger linda, would you like to introduce yourself? Thank you Katie. Hi, I'm linda burger and I am currently the

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ceo of jewish family service. Just about to celebrate my 15 years there as ceo Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. We're really excited to be. I mean it's just me. I'm really excited to hear from you and hear about your, uh, your

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whole history and your experiences in texas uh, in Houston. Uh, so to strike that off, I would love if you could tell me about your family history and how your family came to be in texas. It's a pleasure. And just like to say that today happens

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to be uh, the anniversary of my mother's um six, uh, your site her the day of her death. And I feel so honored to be talking about her family um, and my family today. So I do it with her in mind and thank you for selecting

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this day. Um, you know, most of our family came to the United States in the late 1800s and um, entered into the ports that you would expect like Ellis island some through Baltimore, some through Galveston's. Um, but because they came in the 1880s and 1890s, my

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grandparents were all born in this country. And so and by the time they were born, most of them were already in texas and I thought in, in memory and in honor of my mom, I would talk about her family, specifically my great grandfather max, her father

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was born in Chicago and um Came to, I'm sorry, he was not born in Chicago, he was born in bialy stock in 1880 and he came to through Baltimore to Chicago in 1898. Why did he go to Chicago? I don't know the answer to that. Um

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but that's where he came and um he was already married at that time and was going to send for his wife and for first child that was already born. It's my grandfather, a Milton Feinberg who was born in Chicago um and he came to um Beaumont

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Because he heard from an uncle of his that was living in beaumont that opportunities were really great. It was around the time of spindletop in the 1900s and so all along the way he picked up scrap from the oil fields and pedaled it as he was

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making his way to beaumont. And what's neat about my great grandfather and his family is that um they really were uh the beginning of the jewish community in Beaumont. They, my grandfather, my great grandfather max would ride his horse and buggy into Houston um every month

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or so to pick up kosher meat so that the jewish community would have access to kosher food at some point when he was a little more successful. He sent away from my great grandmother's brother who also lived in bialy stock, they mostly came from that area.

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Sometimes it was called Russia, sometimes it was called Poland depending on the year. Uh but he was a show hit, he was a ritual slaughter. And so they brought my great uncle to Beaumont so that they would no longer have to make that trek back and

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forth by horse and buggy to Beaumont. So um that's something that he did. I also learned that he was part of the community leadership that purchased a home for the jewish community to have their first synagogue in Beaumont. Um Years later when my grandfather, a Milton

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Feinberg was a little older and out of college. He wrote a lot of letters to my grandmother who was born in Tyler texas and they met because my grandmother Bonnie's brother married a Beaumont girl and moved to Beaumont. And so that's kind of how those things

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were happening in those days. Um Anyways, my grandfather wrote all these love letters to my grandmother before they got married and I've been fortunate enough to have uh in my possession about three years worth of those letters which happened to be during this time. And one

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thing I learned is that he lived in the hotel Beaumont as a young adult before he was married and that's something I didn't know, but all the letters were coming off of that letterhead and it made a lot of sense because um there were seven kids

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in the family, um only six actually survived into adulthood, but I imagine it was a pretty full house and um once you left for college, I'm not sure they expected you back in one of the letters, he talked about going with his father to an event

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at the Rice Hotel in Houston, that was for the jewish community, and he said in the letter, that were about 1000 people there, which was really an interesting moment. I've been to a few events in my Time where there have been 1000 people gathered for the

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Jewish community and even if he was, let's say, a you know, exaggerating or estimating up what if there were 500 or 600 or 700. It was kind of amazing to think of that many people coming together for a Jewish event um in those in the 1928,

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And um at the Rice Hotel and he said that his father really made him go from one table to another to to speak to everybody and work the room. And why I found that so funny is that one year when my mom was visiting here in

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Houston and we had an event at one of the synagogues, um as I was leaving and she was waiting for me, she said, um I figured out you're just like your grandfather, my father, he really knew how to work a room, so now I know he

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learned that from his father. And um anyway, so we really do love working rooms. So that was kind of a cute story that I never would have known if I hadn't seen these letters. Um after during the time that he was doing the scrap business, he

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did send a cousin or he sent this um he sent a nephew to el paso to start a scrap business there. Now in those days when they were very early in Beaumont doing this work in the scrap business, he said it was a really rough time.

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He even bought a revolver for my grandmother to keep it home in case she needed to protect herself. So it's kind of a different time than, than we know of now. Um at some point he transitioned into dry goods and he ended up having this wonderful

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dry goods store in Beaumont where they sold everything. Um It reminded me more, I wouldn't just say dry goods reminded me more of a department store where you could get, you know, wedding dresses and you could get things to use in the kitchen. And as um

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the depression years were coming and things were so bad. He decided to open a kitchen in um in the, in the, in the store so that people could come in for very little money to buy a lunch. I think I saw something that a nickel bought

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you. Um, you know, a full meal and and it was also a marketing strategy because if you came in for lunch, you might see something you wanted to buy on the way out. So he seemed to have a really good sales uh, intuition anyways. Um, I

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think times during the depression were really, really hard. His oldest son, Sam Sam was also born in bialy stock and came with his mother to the states as I told you earlier. Um he um, he poisoned himself because he had a life insurance policy and he

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thought that would help the family. And at that time and they say that my grandfather max never got over, um never got over that. And um, the, my, my story tells me that two years to the day max also died by suicide by throwing himself in

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front of a train. I don't know if it was exactly two days, but I can say that the death certificates are two days apart from each other. And um The tragedy of that of course is for any family to have to live through one, much less

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two. but most of the family who were still under mother's um their mothers keep went with her to New York and my grandfather and my grandmother um went to El paso and they joined the scrap business that my great grandfather had sent his nephew to, to

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begin. And so once they came to el paso, so did all of the siblings except one eventually. So the Feinberg clan ended up primarily in el paso. And again, significant parts of both the, of the jewish community, both the reform and the conservative. Um you know,

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everybody in those days kept kosher by the way. It wasn't like a thing who keeps and who doesn't, if you were jewish, he kept kosher. So when they all came to el paso, they also kept kosher was a cute story about my, they say that my

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grandfather Milton Feinberg got sick within the first three years of moving to El paso and and his doctor told my grandmother that if he had um if she fed him some pork product um like bacon that he would get better. And so they like to say

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that once the trade made it into the, into the house that it never left. So um that's kind of a cute story they shared with me many years ago. Um My dad was born in El paso and his father uh was from Chicago. That's interesting. I

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don't know if the two families ever met in Chicago, but they both ended up in El paso. And my dad once he got married, went into the scrap business as well And um and actually they split off and it was no longer just scrap business, but

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also a pipe and supply business and my grandfather and my dad and my uncle were in that business until about 19 69, I may be off by a year or two, maybe 68. Um, but until that time it was a huge family business, the cousins are

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still in that business in El Paso. I hope, wow. Well thank you for that colorful family history. Um, it just, you know, touches so much of what we know about small town, jewish life in texas. So glad that you're helping us add to that tapestry of

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knowledge. And I think if I could just share with you about growing up and being part of a vibrant jewish community of el paso, I, there's a lot of things that I attribute, uh, to growing up their first, it was just this lovely, lovely, uh, small

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city to raise a family. And um, it was always diverse. Um, it was always because it was on the border with Warez Mexico. Um, there was a lot of back and forth and um, there were lots of members of the jewish community who had, um, businesses

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right across the border. A lot of, um, I remember a lot of jewelry and kind of gift kinds of things, restaurants and we, we went back and forth across that border so many times without any thought about it. I know today it's a little different, but

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I would just say we kind of saw it as one big city. It was pretty exciting as a little girl to have to say us when you ran across the back across the border. And uh, and we were afraid what if, what if they didn't believe

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us as we told the immigration people who we were. Um, but from a jewish point of view, the jewish community was small. A number I have in my head and I don't know when it grew this big and they're historians that will be much smarter than

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me on this. But I remember there being about 1500 families total in the El paso area. Um, most of the time I was growing up there was a reform synagogue, Temple Mount Sinai and there still is and there was a conservative synagogue Benezet in and there

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still is, there was also um, a chaplain that was on the Fort Bliss army base and a jewish chapel there. And sometimes we would go out there for services as well. And jewish soldiers were always welcome in our home. My grandmother's home, my in many people's

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homes for all the holidays. And there are a lot of cute stories I hear from people in Houston who were, who met in El paso. Maybe one of them went to University of texas, which at that time was probably called um, the texas college of mines

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or a different name, but um, they met there and and would be stationed at Fort Bliss. So very cohesive jewish community. Um, some of the jews that came to el paso came to el paso through Mexico and um, I know my brother in law's family, the

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Marcus family um, you know, they were originally from Syria and I don't know the details of their story other than they came from Syria through Mexico and many of their family are still in Mexico city. And and of course my brother in law and his family

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are are now in el paso. Um There were also spanish jews or mexican jews that were part of, of our growing up in the youth groups and things like that. Um, some things that I think are really important that kind of framed why the jewish part

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spoke to me like I was born just a few years after the state of Israel was became a a nation. Um many holocaust survivors ended up in el paso. And so there was certainly that undercurrent and I call it an undercurrent because as a very young

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child, um, I never heard stories um, as I got a little bit older, I knew for example, that are wonderful across the street neighbor Larry Gladstone had been uh in a, in a camp and he was from Hungary and I knew many members of his family

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and therefore many, many um, of them were impacted, but I never once had a conversation with him about the war. We never talked about surviving and we never talked about it with his Children. It was much more um, a very quiet thing that said I guess

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almost like um with whispers. Um, but it was there and um a lot of the kids my age as they grew older, Israel really was important, whether it was through young Judaea or um any other organization that was really connected to Israel, I shared with you

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at one time that several people of my age group became jewish communal professionals and who had been working for the national organizations like uh Michael Novick who is working for the joint distribution committee and before that he was um the federation director for the jewish federation

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in Seattle and Russell Robinson who worked for United jewish appeal for many years and then became the Ceo and president of jewish National Fund worldwide and then me who stayed in Houston but always committed to the jewish community, but there are also at least a dozen

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of our peers that we grew up with who made um ali out to Israel either right after high school or right after college and have stayed there all these years. So I do remember when I was three years old, I was in nursery school and um

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I was queen Esther in the poor um parade and and king a hash of eros was my friend jimmy Gold Farm and um one day I was traveling through Israel as an adult and I end up at this um uh kibbutz and somebody says from the

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kibbutz, anybody here from texas, do you happen to know anyone in el paso and I'm like well I'm from el paso. And they said, oh my gosh, my husband jimmy Goldfarb is um it's from el paso and so she ran to find him and we got

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to reconnect and I said I found King Maha Shapiro's, you know, at most java in, in Israel. So um truly are my group really just had this info fusion that I don't know where it came from. Some people say el paso has lithium in the water.

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Maybe it came from that, I don't know, but we are super charged jewish group of peers and it's pretty cool. Wonderful. That's so funny. Such a funny story. I wondered, so you are a jewish professional and have been for a long time and so many of

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your peers are, I was wondering if you could talk about your early, I mean outside of your family, your early involvement in these sorts of jewish organizations. Uh, and what was that like for you? And what were the sort of things that you were focused on?

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Uh, In addition to Israel during that time? Although I have to say, and there were certain key things that happened during, from, you know, I was 12 years old during the six day war and that my memory of the six day war is not, I mean

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obviously we're really proud of Israel, but I was a volunteer at an outdoor sidewalk sale for a store or a department store? I love. And I still remember one of my friends mothers uh coming and just hysterical thing, I need to buy winter clothes at this

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sidewalk sale. And she's just buying everything because my daughter Jackie, Jackie Wiener Margolis is in um Is in Israel and because of the six day war, I mean we were 12 years old, she was being sent to Switzerland by the government to get her out of

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the country and so her mom was trying to figure out how to get clothes that were warm enough to be there for that time. So that's like the little story I remember in addition to the big Israel stories and the other thing, there were two other

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things that I think really impacted me greatly. Um one was soviet jewelry because in those years before 1970 is when we were trying to get people out of what was then called Russia and um you know youth groups and at sunday school and other places, we

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were really focused on that and I got really like I was just imagining one day being able to go there and I would hear stories of, of young teenagers being brave and going there and what they found and I couldn't imagine being that brave, but those

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are the stories that really start to make make you think and care. And I think the other thing which is not a jewish thing, but it's a, it is and that is Nostra aetate which was the um, the cat, the pope, the Pope, it is a

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Vatican to um, saying that he absolved all jews of um, any, any accusation of decide and hopefully, I mean eighth grade, I didn't know those words probably or however old I was, but what, what I do know is that my closest friends that weren't jewish at,

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you know, they would go, um, we go away for easter vacation and when we would come back all of a sudden they couldn't be my friends anymore because the jews killed christ in there and what they learned at, at, at church. And so these things were

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really significant in my own development, but also in how we, how, how I chose to do. And then the other thing that was probably even as significant as all the youth groups I joined is um, that I won a camp scholarship. I did, I was at

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sunday school, I went every sunday and all of a sudden it's the last day and they say, and you know my name and you won a scholarship to camp swig in Saratoga California. And it was in those days union of american hebrew congregations is what it

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was called for reform jews and there was a family in el paso who um, funded these scholarships to send kids. I never would have been able to go. I mean I was the oldest of four. My dad was no longer working in the family business, He

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had a um illness that prevented him from being able to work and my mom was making a living as a full time teacher, um supporting four Children and a husband who couldn't work. So um that really that gift to me um transformed my life, I loved

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Camp Swig and how did I, you know, some kids went to campus Kramer, my siblings, one the ones that went to campus Kramer which was much more of a sports jewish, but still more sports and and Camp Swig was just so much more infused with jewish

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learning and um you know the games we played were like um the allocation game, it was called the star allocation game, which was really impactful and I actually have the book that was written by the man who created all these games that I ended up playing

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as a, as a young child, but you know, it was like your job is to make allocations to holocaust survivors, Israel all these things and you had to make decisions and you voted by how many stars you gave to each, you only had a certain number

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of stars. And so very early on I really was um impressed by um the significance of jewish communities um and how they really work. So um as soon as I could, as soon as I was old enough, I belong to um the misty which was Mount

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Sinai Temple youth group, I was active at the united synagogue youth group even though I'm not sure that I was actually a member but I went to all their things. Um as soon as I was old enough in the eighth grade I was uh in the

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BBg world and B. B. Y. O. And I went from you know being a pledge if you will to being the regional president of BBg for um texas and Oklahoma. And so all of these things really um were formative for me and I don't know how

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I could have been anything else. You know um My mom would drop me off at the J. C. C. And I would just practically lived there. Um Part of it was she had four kids all different ages, she could drop me off. I was in heaven.

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Um the the Federation director and his wife, their names were Olga and Ali Winkler and all Ollie was in charge of the Federation and the J. C. C. And Olga was in charge of jewish family service and she just you know attached herself to me and

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she gave me all of these opportunities like we created a march for soviet jewelry and we brought all of the youth groups and other organizations together and we marched from the synagogue to the J. C. C. And I got the opportunity to plan it and to

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be be part of it. So um there was a big every time there was a big Israel program she had me as the youth person on the committee and talking to the media and just being so engaged. Um My mom never wanted me to go to

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Israel so she let me go to um camp in a brit in Starlight pennsylvania and I went there um for all the leadership things, I went to Shreveport Louisiana for the district leadership uh groups and um probably the most significant thing I remember as a young

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person is creating a little conclave in el paso for the A C. A. And B B. G. And my dad had friends at the at the phone company and he got a speaker phone which wasn't typical even in businesses and he brought it to the J.

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C. C. And in the middle of the night because we waited till it was daytime in Russia. We were able to call a man by the name of alexander Temkin and he had a daughter who was our age and we already knew that they were trying

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to get out of Russia and um we didn't think about what language he was going to be able to speak but he um he we had to call the operator, the operator had to place the call for us, she had to call us back when the

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call was there. I mean it was nothing was like it is today where you could just go on WhatsApp and be connected. So um everything was like a big deal, very exciting and thank God Olga Winkler spoke Hungarian and so did alexander Temkin. So they had

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a wonderful conversation and she was able to tell him how jews young jews in el paso texas, um really cared about about them. And the only other little story about that is there was an organization nationally called students struggle for soviet jewelry, it's no longer around,

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but it was, and um I called them to order 200 t shirts, you know, that said that and something else, and this young person probably, you know, was probably like a college person, who knows what I was talking to, he was so excited and he said,

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where tell me about el paso texas, we've never had such a big order and um but we got it and just that's so how how can I have chosen a different life? I don't know, it's just what I love, that's so wonderful. Yes, thank you for

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sharing all of that with me. It feels like you're, we're just being formed in this like crucible of good jewish experience um as a young person and how special uh and sure that that's happening in texas and all over and has been um I wanted to

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know if you could tell me now about how, what happened, that if you could walk me through from being an adolescent who was so involved in jewish life and jewish organizations in El paso to how you became a jewish professional and just kind of your um

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you know the different jobs that you've had on this career path. Absolutely. So um I knew that I wanted to um be the head of a jewish federation. That was my goal. Um That's that's what I I felt that all the things that I had learned

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about would put me I could care about Israel and I could care I could care about everything soviet, jews Judaism. And I went away for orientation at UT in Austin. And I had a random roommate who I told her well this is what I want to

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do but I don't know what undergraduate degree I'm gonna get because I think I just have to have my Master's in social work and I have to figure out how to get there. And she happened to come back from seeing some papers on a on a

00:34:33.150 - 00:34:54.090

table that she looked at. And it was about this new program at U. T. For um there was a five year Um undergraduate graduate program where you ultimately got your master's in social work. Um you did your undergraduate either in sociology or psychology and then you

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took um an extra 12 hours or 15 hours of um social welfare studies and for that you got a certificate of completion. Well I believe today you can get an undergraduate degree in social work at U. T. But that was the beginning of that program. So

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um you know my first placement I I applied for that program I went into it. I have this woman to thank what I remember about her. Besides she found me that is that she took her jeans to the dry cleaner to be laundered and pressed and

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I never heard of anybody doing that. So those are the two things I remember and but she found me my path. And um I You know from day one I was in the right place for undergraduate. I did a field placement with U. T. Hillel and

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with what was then called Southwestern texas state which was now today it's texas state um in san Marcus and my job there was to create jewish community with the students. And um that was part of my Hillel assignment and then the other part of my placement

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was with the jewish federation. And um I learned um so much from that and when it was time to go to graduate school I suggested that rather than doing it in the jewish community perhaps I should get some experience in the broader community and the graduate

00:36:38.990 - 00:36:57.600

school agreed and I ended up doing my field placement with the state um Legislative budget board which I really loved and I learned a lot there and of course that's something I've been able to apply um all my life. So I'm very very lucky about it.

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Um I would have liked to have stayed in Austin and if there had as everybody always has wanted to stay in Austin if there had been a a job at the legislative budget board I probably would have stayed I'm guessing. But because there wasn't um I

00:37:18.090 - 00:37:35.620

chose Houston and I chose Houston because I knew a lot of people from Houston. I was single and jewish and finding a jewish partner was really important to me and I just thought that I had a better chance on the dating scene in Houston and then

00:37:35.620 - 00:37:58.270

I might in el paso. So I moved to Houston. I lived with one of my roommates mothers in the very beginning until I found a job. I had a really hard time finding a job in the jewish community. The jewish federation was located in the lobby

00:37:58.270 - 00:38:17.840

of the J. C. C. Not in the lobby, the basement of the J. C. C. And um I met with Hans Mayer then and other people like marty Carp worked there then and Suzanne Jacobson. But they didn't have any openings. So eventually I took a job

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after the second time they offered it to me, I finally went to Harris County child welfare where I took custody of kids from birth to seven years old and I loved the job although it was a little bit scary. You drove all over Harris County no

00:38:37.740 - 00:38:55.250

matter where I got lost so many times and there's no gps s and you would buy these big orange key map books and you know um I got lost a lot but you certainly learned the city inside out that way And I would go into homes

00:38:55.250 - 00:39:17.520

by myself and you know oftentimes interview people about how they were treating their Children so um and then take them often. Not usually from the parents but from school or somewhere else. Um and what I found is I love the job but one day my phone

00:39:17.520 - 00:39:37.010

rang and it was the J. C. C. A man named Neil Pearlman who worked for jerry wishy and uh Neil called and said he had a couple of jobs, one in senior adult work and one in adult work and I forget one other one. So I

00:39:37.010 - 00:39:57.450

said okay and I'll come interview and I remember driving into the parking lot of the JCC and thinking what am I doing here? I'm like so happy in my work. Um But I went in and the job bob I interviewed for was called adult group supervisor

00:39:57.450 - 00:40:21.460

I think and I was to be in charge of all the adult programs and um that included singles programs as well as adults. And they didn't offer me very much money and I will say that they I was probably making $11,000 working for the for Harris

00:40:21.460 - 00:40:38.890

County child welfare with my big old masters degree and they offered me $12,000 and I just thought I'm happy why would I leave for so little money? So I said thank you very much and I turned it down and went back to work and about two

00:40:38.890 - 00:40:52.430

weeks later I got a call saying that they had just heard I turned it down and what would I come there for and I am like you know I hadn't thought about it so I said $13,000 and I don't know if I could have asked for

00:40:52.430 - 00:41:09.450

more or not, I have no idea. But by the time I got home that night I had a new job and um as I went to work there the person who was in charge of the singles programs for the J. C. Had quit and moved to

00:41:09.450 - 00:41:32.300

California. I mean within a few weeks and so rather than hire someone do they just said you'll do that too. And so um immediately I was the new singles person for the jewish community and um I was overwhelmed within the first few days of people calling

00:41:32.300 - 00:41:48.610

and asking me out on dates because I was the new singles director and I don't know where the wisdom came but I just said oh my gosh I'm so flattered, thank you thank you so much for asking. But this is my work and I can't go

00:41:48.610 - 00:42:06.630

out with people that I work you know on behalf of. Um and I really want you to come to the program so where that wisdom came but it was my mantra and I pretty well kept to it for the years that I was there. Um my

00:42:06.640 - 00:42:31.100

husband Andy um he was he came to meet the new singles worker. I don't remember the first day he came there were 100 and 50 singles that came for a brunch to hear Rabbi Sherman speak about sex and being single. So there were a lot of

00:42:31.100 - 00:42:53.010

people there and Rabbi Sherman didn't show up. And I had 100 and 50 people who wanted to talk about sex. And I told my boss I'm not talking about it. You do it. And what's funny is he did and Joel Duncan who's now the head of

00:42:53.010 - 00:43:11.920

the J. C. C. But we were both new people at the J. So Joel and Alan Joos spoke to everybody about that. And that's what I remember about my first day was there was no way I was I was just happy I knew what to say

00:43:11.920 - 00:43:35.430

about not going out on dates. So So that was my very first singles program. And um we had one program with 1500 singles that came and just another reminder about the times. So when they signed up for three classes we didn't have computers. I was literally

00:43:35.430 - 00:43:50.250

having to do it by hand and um scheduled people and get them into all the rooms and do it manually. And that was that was a really big deal. I would be there till two or three in the morning and often jerry wish she would be

00:43:50.250 - 00:44:09.840

leaving late at night and he'd drop by my office and say you're going home now but it's how intense it was to just try and figure it out without computers and things like that. I was at the JCC and I didn't feel honestly that I was

00:44:09.840 - 00:44:24.080

going to make it up the ladder very um as quickly as I wanted you know today I have a lot of young people come work for me and I think they want up the ladder a little too fast. I wasn't trying to go up the ladder

00:44:24.080 - 00:44:40.250

faster than I thought I should but I did think I should go as fast as say Joel or other people who were as new as I was and it didn't feel like that was gonna happen and an opportunity came and I went to the jewish herald

00:44:40.250 - 00:45:02.760

voice and I became their managing editor and um you know I found out that even though it was a jewish um place, it wasn't it was not me delivering services and doing the work and the way I wanted. So um I did learn what I I

00:45:02.760 - 00:45:18.940

learned to love the samuels and the people who own the paper and I learned to um I think make a really big contribution there. It happened to be in the advent of the computer that came to the herald while I was working there but I was

00:45:18.940 - 00:45:38.650

there just a little under three years and then I went to um the jewish federation where I really thought I would be for the rest of my life. I got there in 19 Aatif or and I realized one month after I was there that I was

00:45:38.660 - 00:45:57.830

pregnant and I remember saying to hans maier, I have bad bad news and good news, what do you want first? And he said um the good news, I said the good news is it's great for the jewish people and he said what's the bad news? And

00:45:57.830 - 00:46:19.670

they said I'm pregnant. And so I worked there part time from, from when I started there until um until uh after the baby was born and then my baby Michael was born and then I went back full time in the campaign department and I never looked

00:46:19.670 - 00:46:40.710

back, I loved raising money for the Federation um because it was for the jewish community, it was about everything that I had ever worked on Soviet, jewelry, um Israel Jewish camps, people in need, you know, it hit every everything that mattered to me in the Jewish

00:46:40.710 - 00:47:02.470

community. So I was there for 17 years and had a lot of different positions. Um ultimately I was associate executive vice president of development again, I thought they were gonna find me one day um just frozen dead. Um the phone talking to people about money because

00:47:02.480 - 00:47:24.310

that's where I plan to be for my whole life. And but my husband had a career as well and his business wanted him to go to France to integrate a business that he recommended that they purchased uh into their infrastructure. And he said my wife will

00:47:24.310 - 00:47:43.500

never go And I said in a minute you know like to take our kids to the south of France and to you know have that life for a while. So literally um we we found out in February of 2001 and by June of 2001 we were

00:47:43.510 - 00:48:06.110

in France. Um And while we were there we got very involved with the jewish community. I actually got on their U. J. Committee and I couldn't speak the language that was particularly humorous but in our little town Exxon Provence. Um there was little cabinet of UJ

00:48:06.110 - 00:48:27.080

folks and they then took me to Marseille to the big folks where we planned the regional fundraising event and they would ask questions in english like maybe your american friend will tell us and tell us exactly what they would do about this in in the States,

00:48:27.080 - 00:48:48.290

you know, so what were their issues how to how to make an event bigger and better than the year before, how to manage the mailing list. So people didn't get more than one invitation because it really makes people mad how to decide what kind of alcohol

00:48:48.290 - 00:49:08.210

to serve so that everybody feels they're getting the quality they want for the um for the gift that they're giving. Um but anyway I had a van, nobody else had such a big van, but I did. So I drove the local people from X. to Marseilles

00:49:08.210 - 00:49:33.920

for the big event and it started at 10:00 on a Saturday night which would never happen in our community and um they had an hour of cocktails, they had um an then you had an hour of speakers and dinner so now you're like at midnight and

00:49:33.920 - 00:49:48.380

then the band starts and the dancing and the everything and so I told them that although many of the problems were exactly the same, I would get fired if I tried to create an event like that in the States. I don't think it would work. So

00:49:48.390 - 00:50:13.190

anyways um jewish communities are very similar um while we were living in France it was 9, 11 happened as well as um going into Afghanistan and and um the mood of the country and the mood towards Jews changed significantly and there were times where my husband

00:50:13.190 - 00:50:39.680

wasn't allowed to be at a big community events because of the corporate challenges. Um What we did do though is join a million people in a um march on behalf of Israel. We actually went to it in paris but that same walk happened in every jewish

00:50:39.680 - 00:50:59.850

community in France at the same time. So that's where the million came from. And um their their rallies are very different. It was in silence. We walked quietly and so many people were telling me that they were planning to move to Israel from France and was

00:50:59.850 - 00:51:19.190

really the beginning of a big exodus of the jewish community to to Israel which I think is perhaps still happening today. So that was interesting times to to be there. And let me just say one other thing about it, B B. G. B B. Y. O.

00:51:19.200 - 00:51:38.350

Came to the rescue because one day my son who was 16, came home and said that at the synagogue there was a sign that said um B. B. Y. O. Trip to Marseilles and um he signed up for it and he was gonna go and first

00:51:38.350 - 00:52:01.040

place it was incredibly brave. Again we didn't have the language but because he did that um the best friends that we ever made we made because the parents that drove the kids ended up becoming close close friends of ours to this day. So I say B.

00:52:01.040 - 00:52:23.820

B. Y. O. B. B. G. The jewish community that connects us all, it really does truly thank you for sharing about all of those experiences how unique and special uh dear! Those. Um I wondered if we if you could tell me some about once you came

00:52:23.820 - 00:52:41.330

back to the States uh and started working at J. F. S. And then maybe we can move into talking about how Not to be sour for the rest of the time but to talk about Harvey and then to talk about COVID. Yeah so while I was

00:52:41.330 - 00:53:03.720

in um while I was in France I got a call from Suzanne Jacobson who works for the Federation and we've known each other for 45 years at least. And she said linda job just opened in Houston. It's the head of the american jewish committee. Um their

00:53:03.730 - 00:53:17.040

their office and you know these jobs don't open and I know you'll be coming back in the year. I think you should apply for it. And I have to tell you I I had to study for that job. I really had to research it. There's a

00:53:17.040 - 00:53:37.260

lot of things that weren't in my bailiwick at all. But I did and I came back to the States for an interview and they hired me. And so before we were literally back in Houston full time um I started working for a. J. C. The Houston

00:53:37.260 - 00:53:55.880

chapter. And um they one of the things they said to me is we kind of hesitate to hire you because if one of those bigger jobs opens in the community you'll go for it and we'll be left holding you know the towel. And I said well

00:53:55.890 - 00:54:14.590

let me make a phone call and I called lee wench who was the head of the jewish federation and I said lee are you planning to leave the Federation anytime soon? And he said uh no the stock market's been awful. You know I wanted to totally

00:54:14.590 - 00:54:28.470

retire at a certain age. It's not gonna happen. I'm here for a while that's all I needed to know thank you. So I called back A. J. C. And say I'm there's no other job I want in the city that I would choose to go for.

00:54:28.470 - 00:54:49.120

So this is good. So I went to work for them and I did love my job and they we I learned a lot. I mentioned Nostra aetate earlier as being significant when I was young. Well one of the big things that happened while I was a

00:54:49.120 - 00:55:15.280

J. C. Was mel, he came out with the passion of the christ film and all the jewish communities around the country were up in arms about it. And um there was a local guy named um is a local guy. Leo lindbaek from a very wonderful catholic

00:55:15.280 - 00:55:32.900

family who was asked by Mel if he could bring the film to Houston and he said well my best friend is jewish. So the only way I'll say yes is if you let The Jewish community come and his best friend is a man named Steven Grab

00:55:32.900 - 00:55:52.120

Burt. So Steven and his dad worked hard to make sure that they could choose 30 members of the Jewish community to go. And when I was invited and some members of a. J. C. I said you know I don't know enough about passion plays and about

00:55:52.130 - 00:56:12.010

all of this I would like to bring in the national expert from a. J. C. To brief us. And so we created this morning briefing before the film and this Rabbi James Rudin who is the expert came and helped us all understand so we could see

00:56:12.010 - 00:56:31.350

it um not through jewish eyes but through um you know catholic eyes and what it is that they were feeling and seeing. And we went and when we got there we had to sign a nondisclosure that we would not speak to the press or anybody about

00:56:31.360 - 00:56:50.460

what we saw. And we signed it. Of course you couldn't go in if you didn't. Um But as soon as we came out another local organization um was standing there speaking to the Chronicle and and and going on. And of course then my guy Rabbi Rudin

00:56:50.460 - 00:57:06.490

said I'll get in so much trouble in um in new york if I don't also speak. I said you made a promise, we made a promise. The answer's no. And I pulled people out of there and we did not speak. So what we got out of

00:57:06.490 - 00:57:31.600

that was um a group was started of jews and christians. Not all Catholics. Some came from other backgrounds um that met together monthly for a long time in a dialogue group to try and get get to understand each other's point of view and it was so

00:57:32.380 - 00:57:53.240

it was at such a high level and it was so great and um at the end of the day Dennis Prager happened to be in town for uh and you know he's a radio co host and a pretty a pretty outspoken uh person. And he came

00:57:53.250 - 00:58:14.870

and at 11 o'clock at night our group got together and he interviewed everybody about the dialogue and what was happening in Houston texas and how jews and christians and Catholics were getting together and trying to understand um uh what what this meant to each group. And

00:58:14.870 - 00:58:33.130

so um we actually won a really amazing national award for all the work. Um I ended up not being interviewed by the new york times but briefing the reporters for the new york times so they would know the kind of questions and the way to go

00:58:33.130 - 00:58:51.050

about their interviews. I mean it was just an incredible thing. And A. J. C. Got you know they they also got a lot out of it you know because we didn't speak that day right when we came out. And so um you know it's hard sometimes

00:58:51.050 - 00:59:09.830

it's really hard but it was um we made lifelong friends and I think understanding which is really important. Um Suzanne Jacobson called me one day, you heard that name like three times in this interview and she said linda there's a job opening up and it has

00:59:09.830 - 00:59:29.690

your name all over it and to be perfectly honest with you and I have shared the story publicly so I'm not saying anything when she said mary jean Weston is going to um tell her board tomorrow that she's moving to New Jersey and um they're gonna

00:59:29.690 - 00:59:47.660

have to find a new person for the head of jewish family service and it it's your job linda, it's your job, it has your name all over it and um you need to see yourself there. So I burst out laughing and I said, Suzanne, number one,

00:59:47.660 - 01:00:09.630

I made a commitment to the american jewish committee that I wouldn't leave, you know, in a short period of time. So it had just been about three years. Um number two, ah J. F. S says no. When people need help, my experiences, they say no. Now

01:00:09.640 - 01:00:27.060

why do I have that experience? Because when I worked at the Federation, if, if there was a, if somebody went to JFS for help and it didn't fall within the services and programs they were offering at that time, they would tell them to call the jewish

01:00:27.060 - 01:00:39.020

Federation and I would call the jewish Federation and I would get the call and I would listen to the story and I say, oh my God, but that's why we give money to the jewish family service. You have to call them now they told me to

01:00:39.020 - 01:00:56.050

call you. So that's what I mean about, it was just a place that had that the work they were doing was excellent. It's not a comment on the quality of the work, it was on the scope of the work because what the community needed was significantly

01:00:56.050 - 01:01:11.050

more than it had been able to offer and um I did not, it took me I think it took 3 to 4 months for me before I actually said yes to interviewing and I made them meet me in a I have to find a place that

01:01:11.050 - 01:01:27.470

nobody you've ever seen goes there just to even talk to me about it because I don't know. And then before I interviewed I went to my A. J. C. President and said I made some commitments to A. J. C. And so I need I'm prepared to

01:01:27.470 - 01:01:45.550

stick to it but I need I need to tell you what's on my plate and I got you know the blessings from everybody locally that no this was probably the right thing for me to do and um so you know I have not looked back, I

01:01:45.560 - 01:02:04.430

would say the first few months you know as I was trying to figure it out. I have my master's in social work, I do not have my master's in counseling, social work counseling. I am like the program evaluation, the macro person who can see you know

01:02:04.430 - 01:02:24.220

and drive you towards a vision. But I am not the one that has any licenses to help you through individual problems and therapy. So in some respects it was good because I couldn't step on it you know I was just gonna listen to everybody and do

01:02:24.230 - 01:02:45.330

follow what they had been doing and just so many opportunities came my way. Um So I had a lot of opportunities to help JFS grow and to become the agency it is today. Um I don't think anybody would answer no um today if someone called for

01:02:45.330 - 01:03:07.610

services they might say You know that's a service we don't offer but I can help you find the right place and I will make the connection for you. Um but they would not turn somebody away so we are you know who we are um in 2015

01:03:07.620 - 01:03:34.090

um after memorial day or memorial day we had um that 11 inch rain that really um flooded Meyer land out in particular, some other parts of the city but it really impacted Meyer land and um I learned previous to that that sometimes you need to say

01:03:34.090 - 01:03:56.640

yes when you need help. So if I could just say to that hurricane Katrina that happened in 2005 when I started to work at the J. F. S. Katrina had happened, I was hired when it happened but I didn't come on board until november and um

01:03:56.650 - 01:04:17.510

our work in the beginning was very much a response to Katrina and learning lessons from Katrina And um some of the lessons that we learned were the kinds of things that we applied immediately to the Meyer land um uh floods and so I can't say that

01:04:17.520 - 01:04:40.030

everything we learned was in 2015, I think we learned a lot, um in 2005. you know, have a plan evacuate, tell people where you're going. Uh, you know, share, we have a, we always partner with the Dallas, Jfs, they start taking our calls a day or

01:04:40.030 - 01:04:59.260

two before storm comes so that if people are trying to evacuate or they need help and we're busy shutting down the building or moving things or stuck somewhere, we know that our folks are getting um, answered and responded to. Um, you know, we just, we learned

01:04:59.260 - 01:05:22.240

a lot from that and then my Ireland happened Memorial Day floods happen and then we said yes, we need help and I said yes to anybody, uh, any other JFS in the country if they were willing to send somebody down here to help us. Um, we

01:05:22.240 - 01:05:43.330

took them up on it in hindsight, the Memorial Day floods were a drop in the bucket compared to what happened all along the way. But um, I think it's one really important lesson for anybody who's um, operating an organization is to know when to say yes,

01:05:43.340 - 01:06:05.500

I need help. We need help and we're willing to take you up on it. So that that was a really important lesson. Um, by the time harvey came around, we really were the experts and one thing that happened from Memorial Day to harvey Memorial Day, JFS

01:06:05.500 - 01:06:26.280

was really the central address for responding and um, and the Federation and um, JFS weren't working handing love exactly at that moment were kind of just doing what we needed to do where we were and after it was, of course we, you know, they raised a

01:06:26.280 - 01:06:46.200

lot of money, we were able to help financially assist a lot of people. Um, we did work together, but it wasn't a smooth and lean operating machine. By the time harvey came, we had um figured it out and the the Federation took the lead in terms

01:06:46.200 - 01:07:09.660

of communicating to the entire community in terms of bringing people in from other cities to help coordinating and just letting JFS go and do the work for basic assistance to individuals and families. And um when Covid happened, we took that exact same model and said Federation

01:07:09.670 - 01:07:27.230

will raise the money and deal with issues and J. F s, it's gonna focus on the people who need the help and um, we've, you know, we, we work as one team and that's, I think one of the most important lessons out of all of it.

01:07:27.240 - 01:07:51.090

Uh, we learned a lot of good things and a lot of bad things. So harvey by the time people were hit by harvey, they also um, may have flooded up to six times total and um, individuals in middle age too early, seniors may have already gone

01:07:51.090 - 01:08:10.670

through a lot of their savings to try and take care of rebuilding themselves. People who were not accustomed to turning for help and would never have thought to do it. Um we're then going into their iras or retirement plans and so by the time Covid hit,

01:08:10.670 - 01:08:37.260

quite frankly, the wells are dry and they haven't had the time they need to rebuild them or replenish them. So I have real concerns um, for the long term health of our financial well being of our jewish community, um, particularly for seniors. Um and J. F.

01:08:37.260 - 01:09:00.050

S is so in tune to that and we're trying so hard with our partners to keep people afloat. And honestly, we would rather than come to us before. It's a crisis than after. If you come to JFS for help because you now have an eviction notice

01:09:00.060 - 01:09:16.850

and that's because you've been late four times. Well, if you'd come to us the first time, you never would have been late, right, And we would have been working with you to figure out what do you need to do to um get whole again. I mean,

01:09:16.850 - 01:09:33.700

I wish we could afford to hold everybody up for the rest of their lives, but I know that's, you know, the, it's not possible. So then we have to help people figure out what resources do I have, How do I redeploy them? What can I do

01:09:33.700 - 01:09:55.270

to replenish them? If I can't, what do I have to do? Do I have to downsize, do I have to um go into different living scenario, these are things we met rather talk about before it's a major crisis. So, um, you know, We have a disaster

01:09:55.270 - 01:10:20.840

team started in in 2015 and we've never been able to let people go from the disaster team, particularly since Harvey. And so one of the reasons our covid response was so immediate and quick is because I still had the harvey people doing harvey work. And um,

01:10:20.850 - 01:10:43.950

you know, one area, for example, for harvey, we hired a trauma informed therapist and we said, even though harvey will be long gone, the trauma from being in that flooded home will not be, and with storms coming and going our way, we need a therapist that

01:10:43.950 - 01:11:08.240

will be there for at least five years. So we're in that five year period and we still had that trauma informed therapist who now we've asked them to continue for the next 3 to 5 years because the trauma across our, our population is significant. And um

01:11:08.250 - 01:11:33.450

and we understand that it doesn't go away just because you don't see covid anymore or you don't see um the rain will tell you we've had between a three and 500% increase in requests for counseling and the mental well being is in significant danger in our

01:11:33.450 - 01:11:56.370

community right now. And, and, you know, gratefully, I always say that in the world of J. F. S, the inverse is true with everything out there looks financially scary. And businesses have to pull back exactly when JFS has to increase their services and their work and

01:11:56.380 - 01:12:12.310

that's just where we are. I don't play an accordion, I don't even know, I've never held one, but I always think about when it's closed that it's like in its home position and then when the person starts, you know, playing it and the noise, the music

01:12:12.310 - 01:12:31.730

starts coming out there, you know, they're expanding and contracting and that's what I think is JFS is job to expand and contract and God willing get to that home base as often as we can when things are calm and cool and stable, but when they're not,

01:12:31.730 - 01:12:54.420

we're just that accordion player finding the right place, that's who we are. Thank you. That's so wonderful. A great metaphor. Um, we've worked through everything that I expected us to and all the questions I have, but I wanted to make some space for you to say

01:12:54.420 - 01:13:18.360

anything else that you feel like is important or that I haven't asked about or that you'd like to expand on from earlier. So just a few few things. Um, uh, first place, I reread the family history um, Paper I essay I wrote in 1975 and to

01:13:18.360 - 01:13:42.200

be perfectly honest, I was just Shocked at the 20 year old me who had such strong um, opinions and, you know, uh, and voiced them in in a way that I guess a 20 year old would, so, you know, I would say that one thing that

01:13:42.200 - 01:14:09.530

we know as time goes on. Um we we wisdom begins to prevail and um the jewish community, I think we have to think of it in those terms as well. These times right now, these days are very fraught with anxiety and stress. And lots of questions

01:14:09.540 - 01:14:35.500

will the, will the future of the synagogues, you know, come back after everyone's been virtual for high holidays and for the last seven months will young um jewish can be young, jewish adults choose to support our institutions in the ways that we have built them. Um

01:14:35.510 - 01:15:06.820

you know what will Judaism look like when um today and yesterday and God willing tomorrow we continue to welcome people of all backgrounds as jews by choice into our fold. And so, you know, as we project, we have to remember that there were stressful times in

01:15:06.830 - 01:15:29.170

each generation and there were always people thinking they'll never be a strong jewish community. Oh my God, my grandmother started serving bacon, you know, at some point because the doctor told her to the world's coming to an end, who will be jewish if that happens and

01:15:29.180 - 01:15:51.720

you know, all these, all these things um they they happen and they're just part of the wave of um tapestry that we are as a community. And so whether um you know, if if someone is listening to this, I hope that what they'll find is hope

01:15:51.730 - 01:16:15.260

and resiliency and understand that each jewish community in their time frame it in ways that never we never thought of before that. And so I have so much faith in my Children and grandchildren in your generation and everybody who comes along, that the Judaism that will

01:16:15.260 - 01:16:36.050

be, it may not look like the Judaism I grew up with, but it's going to be um, the best it's supposed to be in those days, and we're just part of this amazing chain. And um, I used to think that um, sometimes we break the chain,

01:16:36.060 - 01:16:57.840

but the truth is, I think we open the chain to let more people in. And so, um, you know, we're just an amazing people and I'm so grateful that I was called to do this work, um, and that I'm able to live a life of purpose

01:16:57.840 - 01:17:18.430

and meaning and um, and passion. Wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing all that was beautiful. And thank you for sharing your family's story and for sharing this special day of your mothers, your feet with me. I think she would be so happy. I think it

01:17:18.430 - 01:17:32.460

would make her so happy to know that her her family tree was alive. She had a wonderful childhood, loved it and she would she would be very happy for us to be remembering it