https://ohms.wisconsinhistory.org%2Foral-history%2Frender.php%3Fcachefile%3DWSA0186.xml#segment25
Partial Transcript: Morton came to Eau Claire as a graduate student when he got a job as a professor of political science at UW-Eau Claire. He moved to Eau Claire from Minneapolis, where he went to graduate school and did not expect to stay very long in Eau Claire. He retired from being a professor in 2000.
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Partial Transcript: The Jewish community bought their synagogue in 1959 and moved in 1960. the synagogue had originally been a Wesleyan church. At that time, the congregation had access to a few rabbis. One of them was Orthodox, although a majority of the congregation was either reform or conservative. Morton was raised Orthodox, but he tends to be more conservative.
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Partial Transcript: There was about 40 households in the congregation during Morton's presidency. Many Jewish kids from Eau Claire went to Madison for college and did not return to Eau Claire. Many members of the Jewish community were involved in business when Morton arrived. Each member of the Jewish community equally contributed to giving money for the purchase of the synagogue.
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Partial Transcript: The congregation held services monthly that were conducted by lay people on Friday night. They did not have a Torah reader for typical monthly services. They always had a rabbi on the high holidays. The congregation never had a full time rabbi due to finances and a dwindling congregation.
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Partial Transcript: Around 1991, the congregation had some new families join, which began a period of growth. Morton was president of the congregation from 1971 to 1993. Several times, Morton tried resigning as president, but the congregation would not elect anyone else. The congregation hit a low point in the mid 1980s when there were just below 30 households. Luckily, UW-Eau Claire started hiring more Jewish people and so the congregation survived.
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Partial Transcript: The congregation would hired a young student or professional to teach religious school on Sundays. The kids would learn some Jewish history and do arts and crafts. Some of them would learn to read a little Hebrew. Morton once taught an adult group how to read Hebrew. Some members would take their children to the cities for bar mitzvah training.
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Partial Transcript: Morton took his son, Neal, to Minneapolis once a month for bar mitzvah training. His son Matt had a less traditional religious education. Morton's daughter was also taken to Minneapolis for religious training, but Morton taught her some Hebrew prayers himself. His daughter, Judy, had her bat mitzvah when she was almost 16 years old.
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Partial Transcript: Under Morton's presidency, the congregation combined the men and the women. He united the men and women chapters of B'nai B'rith, which was controversial. During his presidency, women were more apart of services. The Eau Claire congregation was one of the first conservative congregations to allow women to become officers.
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Partial Transcript: Morton grew up in New York, which had a large Jewish population. This meant that he "did not have to do anything to feel Jewish," while living in New York. As a graduate student at the University of Minnesota, Morton started participating more in the Jewish community to answer gentiles' questions about Judaism. When he moved to Eau Claire, Morton was made to feel so welcome by the Jewish community that he became more involved in Judaism than he had ever been before.