So my aunt Paula, Berman’s wife, registered me in Public School 217, quite nice public school, not far from my house. And I was there, this was sort of April until June, and began to learn English there, but I was deeply uncomfortable. And that is although, you know, I had no reason to believe this, it looked to me like everyone in the class was not Jewish, because in America it’s difficult to tell Jews from non-Jews. Many Jews have blond hair and blue eyes. And I began to feel uncomfortable there; I thought the same thing would happen to me as happened in Vienna.

My grandfather, I don’t think, sensed this, but he and I always had a very good relationship. And he had gotten to know Mr Braverman, the principal of the Yeshivah Flatbush, a very good Hebrew parochial school two blocks away from my house. And he always wanted me to have more of a Hebrew education, and he volunteered to tutor me in Hebrew if I was willing to work with him, so I could take the entrance exam, and maybe get a scholarship for the Yeshivah Flatbush. I had no interest in learning Hebrew, I had no interest in going to the Yeshivah Flatbush, but I was dying to get out of 217, so he tutored me and I got in to the Yeshivah Flatbush.

[Q] Did you know English when you came up?

Did I know any Hebrew beforehand?

[Q] English.

I picked up English so rapidly. I… I don’t remember having any difficulty with it, but you know, kids pick up English on the street and I think by the time I spoke to the Yeshivah… I went to the Yeshivah, I already spoke English quite well. I hadn’t… didn’t know a word before I came here, but my brother spoke some English, and of course my uncle and aunt spoke English. I don’t remember the sequence and if it was seamless.