“You have to understand the kinds of institutions these places were. Imagine an incredibly difficult Catholic hardcore boarding school, only instead of priests they were full of rabbis. Basically we were not allowed to watch television, go to the movies, we were not allowed to read a newspaper. We could not look at a magazine like GQ even, in case there were pictures of girls dressed in lingerie we might get excited. We were not allowed to fraternize with the opposite sex whatsoever. We had to wear specific types of clothing—button sewn collars, suit pants, a prayer shawl underneath our shirts. We had to pray three times a day. We had to bless before we ate, after we ate, before we went to the bathroom, after we went to the bathroom, for every little thing there was a blessing. And they would watch you. It was just very stifling, not a normal adolescent existence.”

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