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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How did the author feel about the women who sat around his dinner table on Friday nights?
(a) They were too noisy and would escape the house.
(b) He got lost in their conversations but still sat there and listened.
(c) They were they joy in the home.
(d) He was infatuated with one of them so he would listen in rapture to them.

2. The author didn't associate his school years with learning, what did he associate them with?
(a) Avoiding the bullies who tortured him daily.
(b) Building good character.
(c) Proving the teachers wrong.
(d) Chasing the girls in the school yard.

3. What trait did the author's mother posses that she was most ashamed of?
(a) She was superstitious.
(b) She couldn't speak English.
(c) She had a limp on her right side.
(d) She had a large scar on her hand.

4. What did the Jews of Brownsville think of someone "going their own way" or not following tradition?
(a) It was courageous.
(b) It was unthinkable.
(c) It wasn't done.
(d) It was radical.

5. How did the Jews greet the Sabbath?
(a) "As a ghost."
(b) "As a groom."
(c) "As a newborn babe."
(d) "As a bride."

Short Answer Questions

1. What were the author's lasting feelings about his school years?

2. What description does the author give Belmont Avenue?

3. How did the author feel when he walked into his synagogue?

4. What would the author skip pages of his favorite book to read?

5. In front of what building did the author's father meet every Saturday morning?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the author feel about his childhood school?

2. How did the author feel about his religion teachers and why?

3. The author liked to go to his cousin's room right before supper. What did he like to do while he was in there?

4. There was one topic of discussion on the Sabbath nights that always made the author happy. What was that topic and why?

5. What kind of geographies does the author describe in the last part of 'From the Subway to the Synagogue'? What do describing these geographies lead to?

6. How does the author describe the Episcopalian church in his childhood neighborhood?

7. The author's mother was a dressmaker. What was her process of creation?

8. What is the third street the author mentions in "From the Subway to the Synagogue" and what is it's significance?

9. Why did the author have such a hard time when his mother, cousin and her friends started talking about "Heym?"

10. Why does the author specifically remember the second street in 'From the Subway to the Synagogue'?

(see the answer keys)

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