BB Spotlight/Neil Goldschmidt Photo: Alexander Diamond The U.S. Secretary of Transportation, a member of Portland Lodge, talks about being a Jew. by Hank Siegel pillars of the community. He had called my the rest of society, we have become more like father, who had been treasurer of our "The test of a people hasn't really changed it, and a price is being paid." synagogue for as long as anyone could re- very much over time. They must stand for member, to tell him that a Jewish stranger Life was clearly different twenty-five years something. I think of Judaism as a religion was in town and needed help. and a culture that has evolved to stand for the ago for Neil Goldschmidt and his young right kinds of things." friends in Eugene. "We didn't have enough During an interview at the Department of eligible boys to form an AZA chapter, so we "I have a sense that B'nai Transportation in Washington a few months fudged the age of one boy who was not yet B'rith will, over the next 13," he said. And, "because there were so few after taking office, U.S. Secretary of Transpor- of us, everybody was an officer." tation Neil Goldschmidt was reflecting on his ten years, get better than "I really enjoyed being in AZA," he said. "We heritage - and on growing up in a small town. Goldschmidt, at 39, is the youngest it has been during the last used to have regional meetings in Portland, member of President Carter's Cabinet. decade. I've been amazed Seattle and Vancouver. My first real trip was to Vancouver. They put us on a train and all the He was born in 1940 in Eugene, Ore., then at how interested younger way up we picked up members. It was one of a town of some 25,000 people, very few of them Jews. "We didn't have a full-time rabbi people are in joining." the great trips of my life." Goldschmidt credits his experience in AZA until close to the time of my bar mitzva," he with creating a network of friends who have recalled. been very "helpful." "Even today, many of us The Jews of Eugene, Goldschmidt said, "I told my father that I didn't understand go to the B'nai B'rith men's camp in Oregon," "didn't have the same opportunities to be and he said, 'Son, we have a tradition that he said. "We don't talk politics. We just do imbued" with the cultural aspects of. Jewish when someone comes through town and what friends do when they're together. It's just life as did those who lived in a large Jewish needs a little help, we give it to him.' marvelous." community. "I don't say nobody else does it. But it was a AZA also enabled Goldschmidt "to gain an "What we did have was a strong family life, tradition with us as Jews. We just took care of understanding of what was happening in a really strong sense of what Jewish life and people." Jewish life outside Eugene," he said. Jewish traditions mean, and an appreciation Goldschmidt thinks that tradition "has He says his parents are responsible for his of the sacrifices Jews have had to make in broken down" to some extent and Jews are strong stance on human rights. "My mother order to keep their religion," he said. uncomfortable about that breakdown. used to distribute ADL literature in one grade The transportation secretary, who was ap- "Ten, twenty years ago, I doubt you would school to sensitize young people to discrimi- pointed to the Cabinet last August, said that have found many Jewish parents in public nation of all kinds. A lot of impetus came also because his parents were Jewish, they "saw housing. It was traditional for Jews to bring from the sisterhood, the synagogue, and things just a little differently" from non-Jews. their mother and father to live with them, or to from B'nai B'rith-my father was a member. As a result, he came to appreciate the values take care of them in other ways. "AZA gave me an understanding of what of "public service- not running for office- "Now, in the process of becoming part of was happening in Israel and the major role but public service," and of taking care of the Jewish community played nationally in people unable to take care of themselves. tending to the concerns of Israel." There were "obligations that you just did not leave for someone else," he said. With this issue, we inaugurate a series In high school, he played basketball, partic- of articles spotlighting various lodges ipated in theater projects and served as vice He recalled an incident when he was a little and members of outstanding president of the student body. He attended boy. "I was in my father's office one day when achievement. Willamette University, a small Methodist he got a phone call. My father said it was from school, for a year, then the University of Ore- a Jack Brenner. Jack was the president of the gon for another year. Afterward, he went to congregation, a very devout Jew, one of the Israel. "It (going to Israel) was something I 28 INSURE b'nai b'rith The National Jewish Monthly / February 1980