10/25/2023
Did you know that jazz legend Louis Armstrong wore a Jewish Star necklace for most of his life?
Armstrong was born in New Orleans on August 4, 1901.
For the most part he was raised by his grandmother but was also cared for by his Lithuanian Jewish neighbors, the Karnofsky family.
He started off as a delivery boy for the family and was soon given meals, a place to sleep and even included at their Shabbat table.
The jazzman would later write in his memoir that the Karnofskys treated him as though he were their own child. Mrs. Karnofsky used to sing Yiddish and Russian lullabies for him at night before bed.
Later Mr. Karnofsky gave Louis money to buy his first instrument, a $5 cornet. “When I reached the age of Eleven, I began to realize it was the Jewish family who instilled in me singing from the heart,” Armstrong recalled. “They encouraged me to carry on.” Fluent in Yiddish, Armstrong wore a Star of David until the end of his life in memory of this family who helped raise him.
Naveed Anjum
