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Larry Orlansky

b. 1958

Larry Orlansky was born and raised in Greenville, Mississippi.  He worked as a counselor at Camp Jacobs before attending Louisiana State University, where he earned his bachelor's and law degrees.  In 1983, Larry married Naomi Schiffman, a native of New Orleans, and they have two kids.  Larry is a partner at Stone Pigman Law Firm.  He and his wife are actively involved with the Touro Synagogue, the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans, and Henry S. Jacobs Camp.

Scope and Content Note

Larry describes growing up Jewish in Greenville, Mississippi, where he was one of four Jewish kids his age.  He talks about the temple his family attended and notes that his childhood congregation switched from a full-time rabbi to part-time student Rabbis.  In Greenville, Larry's family was active in the Jewish community.  As a teenager, Larry worked as a counselor at Camp Jacob, a summer camp run by the Union for Reform Judaism.  He says this experience provided him with a network of friends and connections and helped build his Jewish identity.  Larry talks about his college experience at Louisiana State University, meeting his wife there, and staying on for his law degree.  He traces his career path from clerking with a federal judge in New Orleans to joining the Stone Pigman Law Firm, where he was eventually made partner.  Larry talks about his involvement with the Touro Synagogue and the New Orleans Jewish Community Center.  Six months before Hurricane Katrina, Larry and his wife moved into a new home in the Lakewood neighborhood of New Orleans.  Just before the storm, Larry and his family evacuated to Baton Rouge and stayed with his sister.  The first floor of his house was severely damaged when the 17th Street Canal broke and his neighborhood flooded.  After being unsettled and staying with various family members for over two years, Larry and his wife eventually rebuilt their home and returned to Lakewood.  Finally, Larry reflects on the aftermath of the storm and the resilience of New Orleans and its Jewish community.

 

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How to cite this page

Oral History of Larry Orlansky. Interviewed by Rosalind Hinton. 27 January 2008. Jewish Women's Archive. (Viewed on December 24, 2024) <https://jwa.org/oralhistories/orlansky-larry>.

Oral History of Larry Orlansky by the Jewish Women's Archive is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at https://jwa.org/contact/OralHistory.