Michael Biderman

260 Colborne Street, Corner of Horton Street and Colborne Street

My name is Michael Biderman, and I and my family were members of the B’Nai Moses Ben Judah Synagogue here at the northeast corner of Horton and Colborne. And this is where I went to Hebrew school, and this is where I was Bar Mitzvahed.

Everybody knew everybody else. You weren’t a family, but you were a family. It was just part of the family that was B’Nai Moses Ben Judah Synagogue.

One of the founding families in the city, at least from the B’Nai Moses Ben Judah family, was the Silverstein family. My parents were friendly with several of the kids, and the grandmother lived with them on Chalmers. And I can remember (because my parents were very close with this family) that we would go visit, and you know, say hello to this bubbe, which is Jewish for “grandmother,” Bubbe Silverstein. And we were so close that, at the synagogue I was at, there would be a Chanukah party, and the original tradition was to give money as a present. But I remember Bubbe Silverstein would give Chanukah geld to all of the Hebrew school. And everybody would get a – I think it was a – silver half-dollar. And because we were like family, we got a silver dollar. [laughs]