Disciplines

Jewish Studies

Abstract

Terrie Polovsky, born around 1942 to a homemaker mother and hatmaker father, grew up in her beloved Parkchester, a vibrant community of 50,000 residents. She grew up forming relationships with people of all backgrounds, including Jews, Irish Catholics, Italians, African Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans. Polovsky emphasizes people of different faiths living in community, even remembering a case in which the Presbyterian church lent her synagogue its facilities when it fell victim to a fire. She notes the close partnership between the church and her synagogue - when the church’s monsignor died, her mother planted a tree in Israel in his memory.

Polovsky grew up in a religious home, but described her parents as liberal. Her family kept kosher and did not do homework on Saturdays, but did go shopping and partake in other leisure activities. Although they were Orthodox, her family felt more comfortable at a conservative synagogue, which became intrinsic to their community.

Polovsky loved school as a child: she attended PS 106, JHS 127, and James Monroe HS. She remembers learning French and Italian, and going on field trips to government-related sites for her joint English and social studies class. Polovsky loved language learning and pursued Yiddish classes in her spare time. She went on to study Spanish at Barnard College, and worked as a bilingual coordinator at JHS 98, which was challenging at times because she was not Hispanic. At the school, she spearheaded a program for the students’ parents to learn English, during which parents came to school for daily English classes and were taken on weekend field trips to places such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Natural History, Spanish and Portuguese synagogue, Bronx Zoo, and Yankee Stadium. She directed this program for ten years.

During the 1968-1969 teachers’ strikes, Polovsky was an active participant while pregnant with her first son. She also remembers fearing her husband would be drafted in the Vietnam War. Polovsky and her family moved to Manhattan from 1965 to 1967, but returned to the Bronx for another ten years. Around 1977 she moved to New Jersey and commuted to the Bronx for work until 1998. She now has two children and two grandchildren.

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