Born in Jerusalem, their father, Ben, was briefly a member of the Irgun, a Zionist paramilitary group in British-mandated Palestine. Their mother was the daughter of a Chicago trade-union organiser. She was active in the civil-rights movement and often took her children to protests。
三兄弟的父親本出生于耶路撒冷，曾有一段時間加入了英國統(tǒng)治巴勒斯坦時期猶太復(fù)國主義組織伊爾根。他們的母親是一個芝加哥工會組織者的女兒。她對民權(quán)運動十分熱心，還經(jīng)常帶著她的三個兒子參加游行。

Emanuel père had a practice as a paediatrician, but the family was not materially wealthy; the children were privately schooled and any spare cash was spent on cultural outings. Passionate debate around the dinner table was the norm. Everyone was expected to be well informed and the boys were allowed to swear. Tempers could run high. A discussion of “The Deer Hunter”， a 1978 film, ended in a brawl. For all the chaos, though, there were rules: no prejudice, cruelty or stupidity。
伊曼紐爾三兄弟的父親曾是一名兒科醫(yī)師，但是這個家庭并不是特別富裕。三個孩子都沒是自己在家教育，家里的錢大多都用在與文化有關(guān)的短期出行上。在晚餐桌上進(jìn)行的激烈辯論也是伊曼紐爾家的特色。他們的初衷是讓每個人都能對事物有準(zhǔn)確的了解，甚至連開口大罵也是允許的。但是要知道是脾氣都有控制不住的時候。有一次，他們關(guān)于1978年的電影《獵鹿人》在他們家飯桌上的討論最終又導(dǎo)致了一次大爭吵。但是，無論怎么爭，怎么吵，準(zhǔn)則仍在：絕不歧視，不能殘忍，不可犯糊涂。