When John grew up he married Florence Shanberg, who also came from a poor working-class family. Her father was a junk dealer, while her mother sewed clothes in a sweatshop, a factory where workers were paid slight wages for long, hard hours of work.
By the time young Abbie was born, the family had climbed to the middle class. John ran a medical supply company. Florence no longer worked outside the home because John did not want her to do so. Both the Hoffmans and the Shanbergs were close, and Abbie grew up surrounded by a large, extended family.
The Hoffmans were Jewish. Growing up during the 1940s in a town with a small Jewish community, Abbie learned what it was like to be on the receiving end of prejudice. His experiences with anti-Jewish attitudes influenced his later decision to fight prejudice and other forms of oppression. During his childhood, Abbie and his brother Jack often got into fistfights with Catholic boys in the neighborhood who taunted or attacked them.
Abbie showed signs of mischief and rebellion from early childhood. He fought constantly with his strict father and frequently got into trouble for neighborhood pranks. He was an excellent athlete and became a championship tennis player.
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