Part: 1234         Session: 12345         Page 308309310311312313314315316317318319320321322323324325326327328329330331332333334335336337338339340341342343344345346347348349350351352353354 of 512

And so the changing from Ochs to Oakes -- I think he used the war as probably a means of expressing more directly how he felt about the assimilation of foreign -- not only Jewish- German but Italian or any other kind of culture -- into the United States. And he was so intent on emphasizing that this was not an effort to conceal the fact that we were Jews, that my brother and I turned out to be the only two kids of our generation, that is of the children of my father's brothers and sisters, and I should add, of their children too -- my brother and I were the only two of either our generation or of the next generation -- because of age differentiation we were nearer the age of the next generation than of our own -- to have been enrolled in Jewish Sunday school from first grade right through confirmation. You notice, not bar mitzvah, but confirmation, at Temple Emanu-El Sunday in New York. But we not only were the only ones to have been enrolled in Temple Emanu-El Sunday school in New York, from first grade right through confirmation, as far as I know none of our first or second cousins -- second or first cousins once removed -- I'm quite sure that none of them were ever sent to Sunday school. That doesn't imply that any of them were brought up to pretend that they weren't Jewish.

They weren't religious at all.

They weren't. Had no religious training. That's true. And some of them have since told me that they regretted this and saw to it that this omission did not take place with their own children. My brother and I did not become terribly religious because of our Sunday school --