Ruth Berkowitch Schneider
Ruth Berkowitch Schneider (b. February 15, 1908) grew up in East Boston and Dorchester, Massachusetts, in a large Jewish immigrant family with strong religious and musical traditions. She attended Boston public schools and later completed business training before working at the Wassermann Laboratory at Harvard Medical School and the Boston Dispensary under Dr. William A. Hinton, the first Black full professor at the medical school. Berkowitch was active in Jewish musical life from a young age, singing in the choir at Temple Israel under the direction of Henry Gideon before becoming involved in the founding of Temple Sinai. She later worked in medical records and school administration while raising her two sons with her husband, Martin Schneider. Throughout her life, Berkowitch remained active in Jewish communal life, music, and family networks, even after the deaths of her husband and both sons.
Ruth Berkowitch Schneider discusses her upbringing in a large Jewish immigrant family in East Boston and Dorchester, Massachusetts, during the early twentieth century. She describes family religious and musical traditions, memories of World War I, public schooling in Boston, and her early work as a stenographer and medical secretary, including her employment under Dr. William A. Hinton at the Wassermann Laboratory at Harvard Medical School and the Boston Dispensary. Berkowitch reflects on her involvement in Jewish communal and musical life through Temple Israel and Temple Sinai, including her years singing in the choir under Henry Gideon and her work teaching religious school students through music. She also discusses marriage, motherhood, work in the Brookline School Department, and family life in Brookline and West Roxbury. Much of the interview focuses on personal loss, including the deaths of her husband and both sons, and the support she received from extended family, friends, and her Jewish community. Additional topics include Jewish life in Boston, anti-Semitism in the 1920s, women’s work during the Depression and World War II, retirement community life at Fox Hill Village, and relationships with children and grandchildren across generations.
The views expressed in these interviews are solely those of the speakers and do not reflect the positions of JWA or its affiliates.
