Sara Wagner, June 9, 2017

Sara Wagner, June 9, 2017

Sara Wagner is a Louisville, Kentucky native and the current head of the Jewish Federation of Louisville as of 2017. Wagner reflects on her Jewish upbringing, the traditions her family observed (such as keeping kosher), as well as her family’s roles in the Jewish community. She includes a brief background of her family history and her ancestors’ journey from Poland and Ireland to the United States in approximately 1890. She also describes growing up in 1960s Louisville and the Jewish culture in the city at the time. She makes note of the shift in religious practices that have shaped Jewish culture in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Wagner describes her college experiences at the University of Wisconsin from 1983-1987 and discusses her involvement in a Jewish sorority, Sigma Delta Tau. She describes meeting her husband, Howard Wagner, in the 1980s and living in Boston, as well as her work experience with Rabbi Kaminsky at Brandeis University from 1987-1989. Following her time in Boston, she discusses her job search process and her decision to return to her hometown. Wagner describes her transition back to Louisville and her work on the Community Relations Council. Wagner explains the merger details between the Jewish Community Center and the Jewish Federation of Louisville in 2009. She also describes her eventual job promotion to President of the Federation in June of 2015. She reflects on the strengths, challenges, and future challenges of both the Federation and the Jewish community of Louisville in general.

Louisville (Ky.)

Jewish children

Jewish families.

Jews--Identity.

Judaism.

Worship (Judaism)

Religion

Jewish women--Kentucky

Childhood

Anti-Semitism

Antisemitism

Discrimination.

Jewish leadership--Kentucky

video

2017oh381_jk058

Carol Ely

Sara Wagner

Keneseth Israel

Jewish Community Center (JCC)

B'nai B'rith Youth Organization (BBYO)

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Brandeis University

Jewish Federation of Louisville

Holidays.

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Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.