Browse Items (50 total)

Wides describes his family history and relations in Kentucky. He provides a history of the Wides Scrap Metals company, established in 1946 after his father returned from World War II. He got a loan from his grandmother and opened the business with…

Dr. Martin Kaplan was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1928 and raised in the Bronx, New York City. Both of his parents, Samuel (born in 1899) and Clara Kaplan worked as school teachers. His father was a Russian immigrant from a village named Olshan…

Marty Solomon speaks about his early life growing up on the south side of Chicago, and how he and his family came to live in the state of Kentucky. His parents worked in the bourbon industry and he grew up working in a distillery where they produced…

Max Shapira was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He grew up in Bardstown, Kentucky, where his family's company, Heaven Hill Brands, is located. Shapira lived in Bardstown until he was a junior in high school when he moved to Louisville. His grandparents…

Michael Grossman is a Jewish man who was raised in a Jewish community in Los Angeles, California. His family was not very religious growing up, but following the Six Day War in 1967, he became much more involved in his faith and Jewish organizational…

Mike Ades begins the interview by detailing his family background, including how in 1895 his grandfather, David Ades, immigrated from Lithuania to Baltimore, Maryland and then later joined his brother in Lexington, Kentucky. He discusses how his…

Morris Weiss begins the interview by discussing his family background dating back to Alten-Schoenbach, Germany and how his uncle, Josef Solomon, emigrated to Louisville, Kentucky in 1863. He explains how his family became one of the founding families…

Rabbi Moshe Smolkin was born in Atlanta, Georgia in the late 1970s, though he grew up in Clear Lake City, Texas and Albuquerque, New Mexico. As a child, he practiced as an Orthodox Jew, but he experimented with both other faiths and Hasidic Judaism…

Richard Levy discusses his genealogy and his family's immigration to the United States. He talks about living in Irvine and Lexington, Kentucky and the Right Way Store his father owned. He discusses the role Judaism played throughout his childhood,…

Robin Michler, owner of Kentucky Native Café in Lexington, discusses his experiences as a businessman, international traveler, and Jewish man. He recounts how his maternal family changed their name from Katz to Kane upon their immigration to the U.S.…