Kline, Eleanore 1985-06-11
Eleanore Kline speaks about her love of books as well her husband (a Jewish Rabbi)'s love of Jewish art and art in general. She speaks of the Synagogue congregation and the respect they earned from other denominations.
General Interview Information
Interviewee Name: Eleanore Kline
Additional Parties Recorded: n/a
Date: June 11, 1985
Location: Lubbock, TX
Interviewer: Jan Blodgett
Length: 01:00:56 (1 hour)
Abstract
Tape 1, Side 1:Coming to Lubbock, July 1, 1960, worked in Lubbock synagogue, previously lived in Mississippi, placement of the Rabbi, hit or miss, invitation only, uncomfortable times in Mississippi, stayed for the children to grow up, came to Lubbock when heard of the congregation, interest in the arts, women's council, 10 minute talks and impossible for Rabbi, sponsored his weekly lectures, Mrs. Kline's hobby of books, enjoys the give and take with books, people did not agree with her opinions, program at the library seventeen years, the congregation, ninety families, continued to be about same size, large number of physicians, the Rabbi, teacher all around, goal to teach Judaism, family calendars full of dates, dates when he spoke to other churches, Methodist respect, all denominations wanted him to speak, talked with Methodist congregation, based on Isaiah, president asked if he had a vine and fig tree, reference in the text, Rabbi did not, brought the Rabbi the vine and fig tree, returned yearly to tend to them, Relationship with the Ministers, Mr. Dotts family friend, first to the house when the Rabbi passed away, wanted Mrs. Kline to have the funeral at the church, not accepted based on feelings from the Rabbi, teachers of the Religious school, once volunteers, now paid, Mrs. Kline teaches Hebrew alphabet, taught by the Rabbi himself, she had no previous Hebrew knowledge, School for students, Mrs. Kline worked with students, worked with Rabbi when they had a basic understanding, Bar Mitzvah felt like students' schooling complete, thirteen year old knowledge of the faith, confirmation, held by the Rabbi and Mrs. Kline, committed the students for two more years, graduation ceremony, Texas Tech's aid in the Jewish community, few students from Tech attend services, Mrs. Kline's view, students devoted during youth, college break for independence, marriage rejoin the Jewish church, Campus organization, one on campus, known more for name than association, organization on Mississippi University campus, met every two weeks, she and the Rabbi attended, would cook supper, being an optimist, would not go into political aspects, uphold optimism, everything going to be alright, Jewish faculty, one in particular, mathematician, offered job in business world, wrote back- felt like a boy going through Bar Mitzvah, suit and tie every day, Israeli engineer, others mentioned, experiences with the book club, change in literature, not much difference in people, more accepting attitude towards change
Tape 1, Side 2: Review for the paper, Mississippi, review books, articles in paper, A Hobby of Reading, infinite love for reading, Mrs. Kline's technique-- takes a book, reads first chapter, reads last chapter, if book is liked then she reads all of it, the Rabbi's Jewish Art, pursuer of lost causes, thesis for seminar, told history professor he wanted to do lecture on Jewish art, told no such thing as Jewish art, the Rabbi set out to establish it, if art was Jewish and the art he did was Jewish it was included, Synagogue architecture, spoke to class about synagogue architecture, class assigned the problem of designing a synagogue, large auditorium needed only for holidays, Christmas, Easter, Rabbi had problems understanding this, encouraged to not worry about it, made a study out of synagogue architecture, the Rabbi's thesis-- worked on it, reworked numerous times, art and languages, grew up with a general interest in the arts, originally from Hungary, linguist, Mrs. Kline majored in languages, mentions being able to pick up European languages, goal to marry a man who knew more than she did, married the Rabbi for his linguistics, the Rabbi's definition of art and artist-- art is successful communication of a valuable human experience, non-objective art-- disposable art, artist--person with the ability to perceive more than a normal person, travel around the world- trip to China and Jerusalem, other stops along the way, new year the Rabbi wanted to go back to Tokyo, learn more about their art, trip never made,
Range Dates: 1960-1985
Bulk Dates:
Access Information
Original Recording Format:cassette
Recording Format Notes: digitized, audio CD available in Reading Room
Transcript: no
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