Memories of Fayetteville

I was thrilled to read a September 28 article about the Jewish community in Fayetteville, Ark. (“A Symbol of Religious Unity Rises in the Shadow of Wal-Mart”) My wife and I were in graduate school there between 1956 and 1961.

Though we did not have a congregation, we did have a Jewish community — 20 of us. There were a handful of professors — Sachs, Siegel, Kramer, Himmelstein and Stern — and their families. Indeed, my wife ran a “religious school” for six children in the Himmelsteins’ finished basement. We still have a watercolor that another professor, Reif, painted for the school for Passover.

Our group would get together every month to discuss an article from the then-liberal Commentary magazine. Little did I realize the impact that these discussions would have on us. We trace our subsequent very active involvement in synagogue life and social action to those stimulating evenings.

Sixty miles south of Fayetteville was a synagogue in Fort Smith. We attended High Holy Day services there, thanks to the warmth and generosity of that community.

My wife Myrna and I listened to our daughter read Torah on Yom Kippur last month in the small town of Brattleboro, Vt. We owe a debt to those professors in Fayetteville who helped make possible the pride we felt listening to our daughter.

Neal Goldenberg
Bethesda, Md.