Max’s family were religious Jews who kept kosher and dovened. It is noteworthy that at the time in Bukovina, there was a large and acrimonious split between the traditional and the “Enlightened” Jews, who favoured German culture. Ironically, the leader of the Enlightened Jews, and the major Jewish philanthropist of the region, was named Markus Zucker.

The family received their (Jewish) education from what Max called a "melamed", a woman who came in to their town from the city (either Sereth or Czernowitz) to teach. The public school Max attended was 90% Romanian, and the language of instruction was Romanian. For special courses students would have to take private lessons, or go to another town.

Other than the “Pariser Shul”, in Oprischeny, in Sereth there was a Temple, and 4 public and 4 private prayer houses. Sereth had its own rabbi. In Storozynetz, another regional city, (see map) lived 4,832 Jews in 1910, out of a population of over 10,000 inhabitants (48%), among them Ruthenians (Ukranian), Romanians, Germans and Poles. In the Storozynetz District, there were more than 40 small rural communities with several Jewish families living in each. It seems it was quite common in Bukovina for towns to sustain just a few Jewish families, like in Oprischeny.

Czernowitz had one Temple, one synagogue and 28 private prayer houses. The chief rabbi and educator in those years was Rabbi Igal, who led the Czernowitz synagogue. It is interesting that he was a student and follower of the great scholar Samuel David Luzzatto, whom he studied with in Padua, Italy.

During the years Max lived in Bukovina, were the years of the development of Zionism. Both Sereth and Czernowitz had a great number of Zionist organizations, including Hasmonea, Poalei-Zion, and Maccabea. It is worthy to mention that Shalom Aleichem (1859-1916) visited Sereth and presented a series of speeches there, probably during Max’s time there.

Rabbi Igal met the famous “proto-Zionist” leader Perez Smolenskin, who visited Romania in 1874 and who stopped in Czernowitz. In 1900, Theodor Herzl met leaders for discussion of the political situation in Bukovina. Three years earlier, Dr. Meir Avner had been elected to lead three Bukovina representative to the first Zionist Congress in Basel. In Bukovina, the Zionist movement did not include organisations devoted to settlement and emigration to Israel like in Eastern Europe, but rather to Jewish nationalism.

We don’t know of the Zuckerman’s Zionist leanings, but when Max decided to emigrate, and he chose Canada. The Jews of Bukovina were spared the riots and violent anti-Semitic disturbances that plagued the Jews of neighbouring regions and countries. It is therefore not surprising that they did not join in the mass emigration of Jews from Eastern Europe at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th Century. Max stated that the impending army call-up, and the fact that he was a pacifist, was the actual reason he left his Bukovina. Max never served in the Austrian army. He was given a two year army grace. He had to leave before he was 17, or else he would have to serve in the army. There were call ups at age 17, 19 and 21 for physical exams. It therefore makes sense that Max would have left at the age of 17, which again would confirm he was in fact born in 1893, if he left in 1910.

At the time, Bukovina was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Emperor (Kaiser) was Franz-Josef. Max liked Franz-Josef, because he granted equal rights. This is consistent with the how Franz-Josef is viewed by historians, known for being very well liked by the many ethnic and national minorities of his empire.

Franz-Josef was a member of the Habsburg family, and was crowned Emperor of Austria in 1848 at age 18. By the time Max left in 1910, Franz-Josef would be in the 62nd year of his reign. He reigned until his death in 1916. His once huge Habsburg Empire was crumbling during this time, and Franz-Josef was determined to hold on to the last strongholds in the Balkans and Serbia. He had lost major wars and territory to France (1848) and Prussia (1866). There was obvious trouble during Max’s lifetime as well, when Franz-Josef’s brother was executed, his son, Crown Prince Rudolph, committed suicide followed by his wife's assassination, and most famously, his nephew and new heir, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, would be assassinated by Serbian nationalists in 1914 in Sarajevo. This event led to the outbreak of the First World War, and the Austrian army going to battle four years after Max left the Empire.

The Jews in Bukovina were very loyal to the Kaiser and the Empire, and supported his entering the First World War.