Herbert Berlinsky was born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1924 and spent most of his life there. His parents both came from the small Polish town of Morgalitsia; his mother, Bella Berlinsky, left the area earlier than his father, Philip Berlinsky, did. Philip left his hometown to become a tailor's apprentice in Warsaw about 1905; about 1910, he came to New York to be a tailor. He worked to bring over his family. About 1914 or so, Bella Berlinsky and Philip Berlinsky, relatives by marriage, were married. They lived in New York until Bella went south to Charleston, S.C., to visit her parents who had opened a grocery store there. Once with her mother, she would not go back to New York, so her husband Philip moved to Charleston to join her. Eventually his brother Hyman moved to Charleston also, and they opened a shop called New York Tailors. Herbert was one of six children, four boys and two girls; his brothers were Morris, Herbert, Danny, Norman, and his sisters, Haddie and Barbara. He grew up on St. Philip Street, with a bunch of other Jewish boys whom he still sees weekly; many belong to the "1924 club"--Jewish boys in the neighborhood born that year. He mentions going to Hebrew School, and being raised Orthodox; at age fourteen, once he was bar-mitzvahed in a simple ceremony and a simple party, he had more free time, not having to go to Hebrew School. (Only girls, he says, went to Sunday school; boys went just one day a year when they gave out candy.). With more time, he started playing sports at the YMCA, where he made more gentile friends, who became life-long companions. Berlinsky recalls no anti-Semitism at all, growing up; he first encountered it when he joined the Army. He attended public schools, and then the Citadel, leaving to join the Army, where he saw active duty in Germany. Throughout the war, he was ignorant of Nazi atrocities against Jews. He returned to Charleston and the Citadel, but left school to join the family business, which has changed over the years. At first, he spent a lot of time on the road, selling clothes to specialty shops throughout the area. Although he still calls on some small stores, run by the sons of those he first knew, he now spends more time selling to large outlets and buyers and to catalogues. His first wife and the wife of his older brother were not Jewish; his family accepted that, but "were not happy." Eventually, both married Jewish women and Berlinsky thinks that Jewish identity is important. His family eventually gave up on keeping kosher, but they still observe the major Jewish holidays. He said that if his stepchildren married non-Jews, he would accept them, so as to stay in touch, but he would be happier if they married within the faith.
