1967 - Banned in Boston

Leonard was beaten by his schoolmates, called names and taunted because he was Jewish.

"Naturally I got into fights over it, as kids often will. You just act it out. You do whatever the situation calls for."

"Children in grade school tend to look for the meanest things they can say to hurt one another. Sometimes, referring to another kid's religion or racial background is the meanest thing they can think of."

"It never got to the point where I wondered what was so bad about being Jewish... I took pride in my parent's warm attitude towards religion."

"I always felt that the religious and social contracts of Judaism were the warmest I knew of, and I felt blessed by them. I always found security in them. What hurt me most was that they were mocking something I got a lot of pleasure from: My religion... I always enjoyed sitting with my father in synagogue. We always went to the synagogue together. Best of all: I remember the High Holy Days: Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. On Yom Kippur – that’s the day of fasting – mother would leave the synagogue early, and she'd go home to have dinner ready for us when we returned. We’d come home at sunset when the fasting was over. And there was the food, hot on the table, waiting for us. It was a wonderful kind of warm tradition."

"As a matter of fact: Bitterness finds no home in my heart."

"I'm not a practicing Orthodox Jew. The synagogue and Orthodoxy are not synonymous – at least not to me. But being Jewish and has been, and will remain, an important thing in my life. It has given me a point of view in social conditions – on what it means to be part of a unique and rich heritage: a heritage all world recognizes and pays homage to. I feel enriched by this heritage. I'm very proud when I read in Life magazine that Pablo Casals, when he was rehearsing with an orchestra, exhorted them to 'Play Jewish! Play Jewish!' I think that many people understand what that means. It's kind of weltschmerz. It's kind of feeling, a romantic attack, an excitement, an emotion that's enriching. It's hard to explain weltschmerz. It's a feeling that's unfathomable."

A paragraph about Sandi and the children follows. "I do think it helps when you marry someone of the same religion... I never thought of Sandra being Jewish. I just thought about her being, because I love her."
"... we want them to cherish the cultural aspects of our religion, and, if they so decide, to practice the religious aspects."

"I hate to think that there are people who live in this country – this country to which my parents came for freedom – who still do not have that freedom. It's an unhappy thing."