Robert Feinstein and Jessica Elfenbein met in New York City while attending college in 1983 and married soon after. They spent their lives as a young and growing family in the Northeastern U.S., residing in Maryland, Washington D.C., Delaware, and Connecticut. In 2011, Robert received a job offer in South Carolina, a state in which they had no family, social, or religious connections.
In 2024, the couple sat down with StoryCorps to reflect on how South Carolina ticked all the boxes on a checklist they had compiled long before considering their move to Columbia.
TRANSCRIPT:
Elfenbein: I think that we're so lucky to be in this moment because our lives are so much easier now.
Feinstein: Yeah. How has your life been different than what you'd imagined? Any regrets?
Elfenbein: I don't think I have any regrets, but my life is different. I mean, I think that really, even 15 years ago, if someone had said to us, your next chapter is going to be in Columbia, South Carolina, we probably would have been surprised by that.
Feinstein: I would have laughed with utter derision.
Elfenbein: Do you remember that you and I made a list of the qualities a community would need to have in order for us to consider moving to it? So, we said we probably needed to be in a state capital. We knew we needed a Jewish community.
Feinstein: Mm-hm.
Elfenbein: We thought that you had to have access to an airport. I mean, there were certain things we knew we needed. And we made this long list of qualities a community would need to have when, very unexpectedly, you were recruited for a position in state government, which I think even if it had happened a year earlier, we would have scoffed at the idea.
Feinstein: I think so.
Elfenbein: There's no way we would have pursued it. But we had this list, and Columbia, South Carolina met all the requirements on our list. So, we were more open to it than we would have been otherwise.
Feinstein: I was amazed by how supportive you were throughout that process, though.
Elfenbein: I mean, I just looked at Columbia, and it had the University of South Carolina, and I thought, great, that would be fine. I could work there.
Feinstein: Yeah, mm-hm.
Elfenbein: I didn't really understand the place as a one higher ed town. It was really kind of a one-horse town in terms of higher ed.
Feinstein: There are other schools, but yeah.
Elfenbein: …smaller institutions, but….and Baltimore wasn't like that. And so, I didn't really understand. And I didn't understand a really large, complicated institution like the University (of South Carolina) here that doesn't matter how many students you have, you still have one president, you still have one provost, you still have one dean of whatever. And we got very lucky because you came down first. And it was still in the aftermath of the 2008 financial collapse.
Feinstein: Absolutely, and that was at a time when, yeah, you're totally right. That was at a time when South Carolina was a lag, not a lagering all the way, but it was not doing all that well, economically, still as yet in 2011. Boy, is it different now, my God.
Feinstein: Yeah, and you came down first, you took the job down here, and we decided I wouldn't come. Micah and I would stay in Baltimore until we sold the house because we didn't want to have two houses. So, you rented an apartment down here. I stayed up there at the University of Baltimore. And then it took a little while to sell the house there. It took a little while to buy the house here. And then I came down and I just got so lucky to have found a professional home at the University. And, you know, what I tell people is that I would not recommend that strategy. (Both laugh) It worked out for us, and we got lucky. And if I had it to do again, I'd do the same thing. Even with the distance of family and friends, which has been tricky. I guess, if nothing else, our journey has taught me that there's no perfect place and there are excellent people everywhere, right? So…
Feinstein: You are right.
Elfenbein: It's kind of a weird and interesting combination of the two things.
Feinstein: It's a wonderful combination.
