Bazil Freedman was born in Cape Town, South Africa, on February 6, 1942, to a self-described orthodox family. After his father’s death in 1953, he and his siblings would be traveling with his mother. At 18, he came to stay in New York as his mother met her partner in 1971. The couple would later decide to stay in Long Island while Brazil sought to travel the world. From Paris, France, Rome, Italy, Venezia, and Florence, he soon arrived in Britain to take a ship back to South Africa. Upon arrival, he felt disjoined as nothing felt the same. He then lived with his sister’s family and attended University. Bazil would go on to complete his degree and become a medical doctor, however, his mother would soon pass due to breast cancer. Following his mother’s passing, he continued to travel outside of South Africa and in the 1960s he began working in Berkeley, California. The 1960s were a poignant time in his life as participation in the peace movement changed the way he viewed Judaism into “hippie Judaism.” While traveling in a Volkswagen Bus, Bazil was convinced to move to Eugene, Oregon, by his friend Sveo Brooks and he took a job as a psychiatrist. Upon arriving in Oregon, he was surprised by the polarization between the “old guard” and the newcomers. As he came from a more traditional Jewish upbringing, he never had experience in navigating the different sects of Judaism. Moreover, his hippie Judaism held that someone is Jewish regardless of what others may say—including those in different sects of Judaism. His first encounter of this Jewish schism was at the Temple Beth Israel in Eugene.