Interview with Morris Heifetz, September 26, 1978, Madison Wisconsin

Partial Transcript: Congregation Agudas Achim, Madison, Wisconsin, was founded in 1905 [actually, it was 1904]. Names of some of the first members included W. Feldman, Solomon Sweet, Abe Shapiro. Many of these members arrived in Madison in 1907-08, although Sweet may have arrived in 1905.

Partial Transcript: Old building was at 827 Mound Street, and used to be across the street from the Madison General Hospital.

Partial Transcript: Agudas Achim was not the first congregation in Madison, because The Gates of Heaven synagogue was established in 1857. Agudas Achim was organized as an orthodox congregation with a balcony for women to sit in.

Partial Transcript: The Sisterhood was organized in 1927, and there was no men's club. There was a Chevra Kadisha (Jewish burial society) led by A. Cohen. It was nicknamed the “J.B. Committee” (for Jewish Burial).

Partial Transcript: He arrived in 1923 and joined the synagogue right away, as its youngest member. He began work with the seating committee but later was named the synagogue secretary, a position he held from 1924 to 1949.

Partial Transcript: As secretary, he had to call weekly meetings, send post cards as notices, and employ a collector of bills. When he arrived in 1923, there were about 100 members of the congregation, and during the 1930's and 1940's, the congregation expanded in number.

Partial Transcript: When he arrived, the dues were six dollars a year, and were soon raised to nine dollars a year. He related story of one congregant who thought it was a scandal to pay so much money for the honor of praying. Members had to pay for extra seating for the High Holidays.

Partial Transcript: When Sol Levitan, former state treasurer of Wisconsin, died in 1940, his body lay in state at the Capitol. He was dressed in his religious garbs.

Partial Transcript: There was no split between the Russian and German Jews in Madison because there were few German Jews. Most people did not know nationalities, nor did they care.

Partial Transcript: When Heifetz married in 1924, a German Jew invited him to help himself to the German's furniture as a present. The Madison German Jews established the cemetery at Forest Hill which is now used by the city.

Partial Transcript: When Heifetz arrived in Madison, he became friendly with the Sweets, the Sinaikos, the Meisters, the Steins, and the Shapiros.

Partial Transcript: The Talmud Torah (religious school) of Agudas Achim paid its teachers twenty-five dollars a week. Madison butchers were usually the teachers. Curriculum included Hebrew language and Jewish history. Although there were not many girls enrolled, one of them was a Christian girl, whose mother was a member of the congregation's Ladies' Auxiliary.

Partial Transcript: There were few German Jews immigrating to Madison after 1920, and the congregation did little to help them flee Nazi Germany.

Partial Transcript: The congregation had no special collections for Palestine, except for the Jewish National Fund's “Blue Box,” into which pennies were dropped each week.

Partial Transcript: In 1949, Rabbi Lifschitz informed the congregation that the name Agudas Achim was to be changed to Beth Israel Center after construction of a new building was completed. It was dedicated in 1950.

Partial Transcript: The old triangle, on the side of Park St. which now supports low income housing units, was the Madison Jewish neighborhood. It included Washington, Milton, Mound, Brooks, and Emerald Streets. A nice neighborhood, it was comprised mainly of Jews and Italians.

Partial Transcript: Both the Jewish community and its religious practices are changing. Women can now become rabbis, and Beth Israel Center is no longer an Orthodox congregation. Men and women may sit together, although Heifetz and his wife still sit separately. Beth Israel Center is now a Conservative congregation. Younger Jews are not practicing their religion, and although they still learn Hebrew, they can no longer read from the Torah.

Partial Transcript: In 1937, a group of men split from Agudas Achim to form Congregation Adas Yeshurun, which was closed in 1949. The split resulted from personal differences, and the new congregation did not have a separate balcony for women.

Partial Transcript: There was little anti-Semitism in Madison when Heifetz arrived; it has always been a friendly town.

Partial Transcript: Heifetz attended night school at the Neighborhood House on West Washington. He also spent two years at night school at Central High, where most of his classmates were immigrants, mostly Germans, Italians, and Russians.

Partial Transcript: When he first arrived, Heifetz did not have a job, so he became a peddler, and did not make much money.

Partial Transcript: The Chevra Kadisha (J. B. Committee) required an annual dues of three dollars to finance burials. Some people were too poor to pay for funerals, so the committee absorbed the cost.

Partial Transcript: Heifetz came to Madison because his wife's family, the Tempkins, had come there from Germany several years before. The Tempkins went first to Ripon to live with an uncle, but later moved to Madison. The father arrived in 1911, but his family did not immigrate until 1920.

Partial Transcript: When he was secretary of the synagogue, Heifetz had an honorable position. As a peddler, he would often go out of town. Related story of trip to visit an uncle in Beaver Dam, in which his truck broke down and he was helped by a German farmer because Heifetz knew nothing about motor vehicles.

Partial Transcript: As a peddler, he spoke German with the farmers, all of whom were very friendly. One lady in Mt. Horeb even invited him to attend a church dinner with her; he declined.

Partial Transcript: Madison had three kosher butchers in 1923, one of whom would get meat from Oscar Mayer's. There was also a Jewish bakery in town.

Partial Transcript: There are many Jews in Madison today, but there are too many in the community to retain the family-like quality of Heifetz's earlier days. He doesn't know many people now because he has been ill, but people still say hello to him at the synagogue, even though he doesn't recognize them.

Partial Transcript: As a young man, Heifetz blew the Shofar (ram's horn) during the High Holidays. Now his son blows the Shofar. There is still tradition in the congregation.

Partial Transcript: Heifetz tells a story concerning a Jewish woman who was wished a “Kosher Passover” by the collector. She threw him out of her house because she felt guilty that she did not keep kosher.