Louis

Louis and Tillie Karnofsky came to the United States in the 1880s, living in New York City and having several children. Sometime in the 1900s the Karnofsky family would move to New Orleans, Louisiana, where Louis would work as a “junk dealer.” However, this is not exactly their story, but rather how this Jewish family remained in the heart of a young boy forever. An African-American, only six years old, whose name also happened to have been Louis.

Louis lived in a poor single-mother household and worked for the Karnofsky family who lived nearby. He spent a lot of time there, including sometimes joining them for meals. He worked with Morris and Alex, two of the Karnofsky teenagers, buying and selling junk. “I used to love to help Alex Karnofsky Hustle up Old Rags + Bones etc. During the day. Get out into that good sunshine,” Louis later recalled. He emphasized how glad he was to work for this family. “We managed pretty good,” he wrote. “We at least had lots to eat, and a roof over our heads.”

Louis had a particular knack for singing, and the Karnofskys would make sure that never left his mind. They “kept reminding me that I had Talent — perfect Tonation when I would Sing,” he wrote. One day when he was working with Morris, Louis eyed a cornet in the window of a pawn shop. Morris gave him two dollars, but Louis had to save his money for the rest, setting aside 50 cents each week. 

Finally, Louis would be able to buy the cornet. “Boy was I a happy kid,” he remembered. Morris wanted Louis to play it even when he could not play well, which Louis found very encouraging: “they could see that I had music in my Soul. They really wanted me to be Something in life. And music was it. Appreciating my every effort.” Louis held onto the cornet for a long time. 

At this point, you may be wondering: who exactly is Louis, and why should you care? That might be best explained with just a tad more information. His full name is Louis Armstrong. That Louis Armstrong. 

“When I reached the age of Eleven I began to realize that it was the Jewish family who instilled in me Singing from the heart. They encouraged me to carry on,” Armstrong would write in a memoir, Louis Armstrong + the Jewish Family in New Orleans, La., the Year of 1907. He had penned this while sick in the hospital in 1969.

Perhaps Tillie Karnofsky, the mother, played a role in Armstrong’s appreciation of music as well. He enjoyed her “Russian Lullaby” which she would sing when holding the baby, and even joined along. “I would always look forward to singing the Russian Lullaby with them,” he wrote.

Armstrong very much appreciated Jewish culture throughout his life, and loved eating matzo. Right there in the hospital, where he wrote this memoir detailing his childhood alongside the Karnofskys, he noted how “I enjoyed All of my Jewish meals. So Tasty — Deelicious.” He even wore a Star of David. 

It is incredible that such a legendary musician found so much inspiration from the Jewish family he spent a lot of time with. His exposure to Jewish culture was definitely a positive one, which may explain why, in his words, “I had a long time admiration for the Jewish People.” 

And even more importantly, it is a Kiddush Hashem not only to see how Louis Armstrong had such a close relationship, and felt cared for, with a Jewish family, but how his rise to fame clearly came about with the aid and encouragement of the Karnofskys. When reflecting on working for the Karnofsky family, he expressed that “I began to feel, like I had a future and ‘It’s a Wonderful World’ after all.”