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A New York Jewish childhood at the Dalton School where privilege met progressivism

JL;DR SUMMARY Holly Cowan Shulman reflects on her upbringing as a Jewish child attending the prestigious Dalton School in Manhattan during the mid-20th century. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish IdentityNew YorkAssimilationJewish PhilanthropyPrivilegePost World War IiGerman JewishProgressive EducationDalton SchoolYorkville

Places mentioned

New York City, New York, United States
"I was born in Manhattan on Dec. 1, 1943, at Lenox Hill Hospital and was a New Yorker all my life before I married and moved away."
Chicago, Illinois, United States
"My fathers family was split between Eastern and Central Europe... my father on the south side of the city near the University of Chicago."
Connecticut, United States
"She would come with us to our summer house in Connecticut, and I went with her to the vacation home her family was building, and to her home in Harlem."
Massachusetts, United States
"In 1951, we went on a trip to Otis, a farm in Massachusetts."
Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, United States
"In the 7th or 8th grade, I read The Diary of Anne Frank. I devoured it one summer when I was at my parents vacation house in Marthas Vineyard."

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Retrieved 2026-04-25 05:32:31 UTC
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