Congregation Beth Israel (Gadsden, Alabama)

Beth Israel
Basic information
Location	761 Chestnut Street, Gadsden, Alabama,  United States
Geographic coordinates	34°00′51″N 86°00′39″W / 34.014076°N 86.010783°W / 34.014076; -86.010783Coordinates: 34°00′51″N 86°00′39″W / 34.014076°N 86.010783°W / 34.014076; -86.010783
Affiliation	Reform Judaism
Status	Inactive
Website	bethisraelcongregation.org
Architectural description
Architectural style	Classical Revival[1]
Groundbreaking	1922[2]
Completed	1923[2]

Congregation Beth Israel (Hebrew: בית ישראל‎) was a Reform synagogue, located for most of its history at 761 Chestnut Street in Gadsden, Alabama.^[3] An outgrowth of Gadsden's Jewish religious school, it was founded in 1908 and incorporated in 1910.^[4][5] It moved into its Chestnut Street building in 1922,^[1][4] and joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in 1924.^[4]

From 1911 to 1944 it had no rabbi, and was led by "lay-religious-leader" Hugo Hecht.^[2][4] In 1944, Beth Israel hired its first full-time rabbi, Ernest Appel.^[2]

The synagogue was fire-bombed and its windows smashed in 1960, during a Friday night service. Two members who rushed outside were wounded with a shotgun by the attacker, a young Nazi sympathizer.^[6]

Membership was never high; the congregation had 38 members families in 1918,^[5] and this grew to 60 families in 1960.^[2] Membership fell as major employers closed operations, and Jews emigrated from Gadsden. By 2008, family membership was down to 26.^[2] The synagogue closed in 2010.^[2]

Early history

Founded in 1908,^[4] and incorporated in January 1910,^[5] Beth Israel grew out of Gadsden's Jewish religious school, which was established in 1903.^[4] Initially the congregation had no rabbi. Every second Sunday from 1910 to 1911, Ferdinand Hirsch, a student rabbi, would come to Gadsden and teach the Sunday School in the morning and hold services in the afternoon.^[4]

Hugo Hecht, a young immigrant from Germany, acted as "lay-religious-leader" from 1911 to 1944.^[2][4] He conducted Shabbat and funeral services, wrote sermons, taught the Sunday school, and acted as secretary and treasurer. After a number of years, officers of the temple decided he should be given a remuneration of $20/week for his work.^[2]

Membership was 38 families by 1918. The congregational school held classes weekly, and had 15 students and 3 teachers. That year the synagogue's total income was $700 (today $10,200).^[5]

Beth Israel broke ground and laid the cornerstone for its Classical Revival building at 761 Chestnut Street in March 1922, and moved in the following year.^[1][2][4][7] The Masonic dedication service was attended by hundreds of Gadsden citizens, and the main speaker was Reverend W.R. Rigell of the First Baptist Church.^[7] The completed structure had a stained-glass window with the Biblical verse fragment "LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF" (Leviticus 19:18) above the front door.^[2]

The congregation joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in 1924.^[4] Gadsden's Jewish community was not as badly affected by the Great Depression as others in more agriculturally-based towns, and benefited from an influx of Jewish servicemen from nearby Camp Sibert during World War II.^[2]

Full-time rabbis, attack

In 1944 Beth Israel hired its first full-time rabbi, Ernest Appel. From a long line of rabbis from Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland), Appel emigrated to the United States in 1936 as a refugee from Nazi Germany. By 1946, when he moved to a synagogue in Maryland, the congregation had grown to nearly 30 families.^[2]

After receiving ordination from Hebrew Union College, Saul J. Rubin became Beth Israel's rabbi in September, 1958.^[8] There he met and married Elsie Parsons, Hecht's granddaughter.^[9] Rubin served until 1960, when he became assistant rabbi at Congregation Beth Ahabah in Richmond, Virginia.^[8]

On March 25,^[10] 1960, the synagogue and its members were subject to an antisemitic attack. About 180 members were attending a Friday evening service to dedicate the new Zemurray Social Hall, and led by then-rabbi Saul Rubin and Rev. John Speaks and Dr. Franklin Denson of First Methodist Church, when windows were smashed and the synagogue fire-bombed. Two members—Alvin Lowi and Alan Cohn—who rushed out to see what was happening were met by Jerry Hunt, a 16 year-old Nazi sympathizer, who wounded them both with a shotgun, then fled. Lowi was just shot in the hand, but one of Cohn's aortas was nicked, and he almost died, requiring 22 US pints (10 l) of blood.^[2][7][6] Earlier that week Hunt had attended a rally for antisemitic and white supremacist politician John G. Crommelin, and had had a fight with a Jewish boy over a chess game at the Gadsden Community Centre.^[2]

Decline

Membership peaked in 1960, at 60 families. In the 1970s and 1980s factories of major employers such as Republic Steel, and many Jewish-owned stores closed and younger members emigrated in search of employment.^[2] In the 1980s and early 1990s the rabbis were Fred Raskind^{[11][12][13][14]} and Mark Peilen.^[14][15][16] Family membership was still 57 in the early 1980s,^[15] but dropped to 43 in 1993, 38 in 2000, and only 26 by 2008.^[2] That year the youngest member was 48, and there were no children for the educational programs.^[2]

As of 2009^[update], the rabbi was Scott Saulson of Atlanta, who came in once a month to provide services.^[2][3] A former member of the Peace Corps, graduate of Hebrew Union College, and PhD in Semitics from the University of South Africa, Saulson was also chaplain at the Atlanta Jewish Family & Career Services, and was a speaker for the Darfur Coalition of Georgia.^[17] The congregation still held services weekly, but, as was the case during most of its early history, they were lay-led.^[2]

In 2010, the congregation ceased operation.^[2] The congregation's website stated that the synagogue had closed, effective July 1, 2010.^[18]

See also

• Beth Israel

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} Preisler (2008).
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u} Gadsden, Alabama, Institute of Southern Jewish Life website.
3. ^ ^{a b} Leaders and Contact, Synagogue website (January 11, 2008).
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} History, Synagogue website.
5. ^ ^{a b c d} American Jewish Yearbook, Vol. 21, p. 338.
6. ^ ^{a b} Webb (2003), pp. 142-143.
7. ^ ^{a b c} Alabama Historical Association Newsletter, Vol. 25 Iss. 1, p. 13.
8. ^ ^{a b} Shinedling (1963), p. 1491.
9. ^ Rubin (1983), p. 332.
10. ^ Webb (2003), pp. 142-143 and Alabama Historical Association Newsletter, Vol. 25 Iss. 1, p. 13 state that the attack was on March 25, when people were gathered for a Friday evening service. Gadsden, Alabama, Institute of Southern Jewish Life website gives the date as March 26. Friday evening that year was March 25.
11. ^ Central Conference of American Rabbis (1984), p. 394.
12. ^ Central Conference of American Rabbis (1991), p. 380.
13. ^ Webb (2003), p. xi.
14. ^ ^{a b} Central Conference of American Rabbis (1991), p. 367.
15. ^ ^{a b} Rosen (1983), p. 4.
16. ^ Central Conference of American Rabbis (1991), p. 378.
17. ^ Speakers Bureau, Darfur Coalition of Georgia website.
18. ^ Leaders and Contact, Synagogue website.

References

• Alabama Historical Assocation NewsletterPDF (3.48 MB)], Alabama Historical Association, Alabama Department of Archives and History website, Volume 25, Issue 1, Spring 2010.
• American Jewish Committee. "Directories"PDF (6.06 MB), American Jewish Year Book, Jewish Publication Society, Volume 21 (1919–1920).
• Central Conference of American Rabbis Ninety-Third Annual Convention, Central Conference of American Rabbis, 1984. ISBN 978-0-916694-93-7
• Year book of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Volume 96, Central Conference of American Rabbis, 1987.
• Central Conference of American Rabbis Annual Convention: One-Hundred-First Convention, Central Conference of American Rabbis, 1991. ISBN 978-0-88123-031-4
• Congregation Beth Israel website.
  • History, Congregation Beth Israel website. Accessed February 13, 2011.
  • Leaders and Contact, Congregation Beth Israel website. Accessed February 13, 2011.
  • Leaders and Contact, Congregation Beth Israel website, January 11, 2008. Accessed February 13, 2011.
• Speakers Bureau, Darfur Coalition of Georgia website. Accessed August 19, 2009.
• Gadsden, Alabama, Goldring / Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life website. February 13, 2011.
• Preisler, Julian H. Alabama Sample Page, American Synagogues: A Photographic Journey, 2008. Accessed November 12, 2010.
• Rosen, Oded. The Encyclopedia of Jewish Institutions: United States & Canada, Mosadot Publications, 1983.
• Rubin, Saul Jacob. Third to None: The Saga of Savannah Jewry, 1733–1983, S.J. Rubin, 1983.
• Shinedling, Abraham Isaac. West Virginia Jewry: Origins and History, 1850–1958, Volume 3, Press of M. Jacobs, 1963.
• Webb, Clive. Fight Against Fear: Southern Jews and Black Civil Rights, University of Georgia Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0-8203-2555-2

External links

• Congregation Beth Israel website