TRAVEL

Jews Continue to Call the Rural South ‘Home’

By Nathan Posner

Across the rural South, Jewish communities are springing up, dying out and surviving. This series, a combination of portraits and interviews, explores contemporary Jewish life, with a focus on Jewish individuals and communities in towns with populations of less than 50,000. The two synagogues I visited for this first installment are long-established but are fighting to continue to serve their communities.

In Selma, Alabama, a city known for its civil rights history, the town and Temple Mishkan Israel have both seen its headcount drop heavily since the 1960s. With only three active members, the community works to maintain the 120-year-old synagogue building and tries to educate those who visit the community.

Across the state border in Rome, Ga., Rodeph Sholom has had a long and friendly history with the surrounding community, but continues to face antiSemitism as they try to preserve their historic congregation. They are also combating the loss of younger generations who have moved away from the northern Georgia town.

A few blocks away from the bridge where John Lewis was beaten on Bloody Sunday, past pharmacies and stores that mark the names of Jewish owners long since passed, sits Temple Mishkan Israel, a beautiful building in Selma that was once a spiritual home to over 500 community members. The stained-glass windows and ornate bimah and ark, which still contains Torahs for visitors to use for services, are part of the 121-year-old building. While there are no longer weekly services at the temple, members continue to maintain the sanctuary and hope to repair the roof and turn the building into a museum. Ronnie Leet, president of the synagogue, was born and raised in Selma before heading to college — the only four years he’s left town — and has been working on this mission over the past few years along with other community members.

For almost a century from the time Temple Mishkan Israel was founded in 1867, the Jewish community flourished. Between 350 and 450 Jews lived here in the early 1940s, per Leet, with “most of the businesses downtown” being Jewishowned. Hanna Berger, another member of the synagogue, was born in Selma and never expected to return permanently, something she said is common: “It's a typical story, not only in Jewish communities, but immigrant communities in general, that people come in, and they start businesses and try to build a life ... and by the third generation, the children don't want to run their store.” Leet was one of the few who came back to help run his family’s business in Selma, but said that he was only one of three young people “of a thriving Jewish community … that came back.” Yet even now, he feels his connection to Judaism has strengthened over recent years: “I feel more connected than I ever have. … I stay connected through this building, through different venues, that I can learn more about.”

The synagogue was central to the community, with non-Jewish members often attending services. Berger described the decades during which she grew up in the '40s and '50s: “At Friday night services, there were always some guests and some kids ... who were not Jewish and [we] would go to church services with their friends. … It was small as cities go, but it really was active, and we felt we were part of the [Selma] community.”

By the early 1970s the congregation no longer had a full-time rabbi. Like many rural Jewish communities, it began to rely on “traveling rabbis” and eventually moved on to student rabbis, before dropping the tradition of an “in-house” rabbi completely.

In 1997, there was a reunion of the families and their descendants, called “Home for the Holidays,” which brought over 220 people back to the synagogue, including many descendants who had never been to Selma before, per Leet. This sort of national network for the congregation is helping the synagogue transform itself, as the community has come together to help with repairs to the roof and the overall maintenance of the building. “It proved a point, people love their roots,” Leet said. “They love Selma, and they love this temple.” Even with this support, however, the few remaining community members have had to work hard to continue worshipping. Member Steve Grossman ran services after the congregation could no longer support a student rabbi, but that came to a halt after Grossman was tragically killed in a car accident.

Many southern Jewish communities now find themselves in the same boat as the one in Selma, with long-standing communities continuing to shrink. In Rome, Ga., Congregation Rodeph Sholom still holds services, now on Zoom, for its relatively small membership. Founded in 1875, the congregation had full-time rabbis until 1955, then relied on student rabbis from Hebrew Union College for the following 40 years. Nowadays community members and visiting rabbis help conduct services at the Reform congregation. The synagogue, now headed by President Nancy Brant, has a core group of around 15 to 20 members who participate in services and activities through the congregation, as well as a “huge mailing list,” per Brant. The synagogue also has an active brotherhood and sisterhood, and a religious school run by congregation members, although currently there are no students that would attend.

The synagogue was built on land purchased from the neighboring St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in 1938, a small part of a long and friendly history between the two places of worship. While

Temple Mishkan Israel President Ronnie Leet and congregation member Hanna Berger in the shul sanctuary in Selma, Alabama.

Ronnie Leet outside of the historic synagogue in Selma.

Rodeph Sholom President Nancy Brant and her husband Jeffrey Brant in the synagogue’s sanctuary in Rome.

Miriam Loya, a sophomore in high school, is one of the few young members of congregation Rodeph Sholom.

the synagogue doesn’t hold many large services, with the exception of Passover and b’nai mitzvah celebrations, the church allows the congregation to use their larger social hall. After the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue, hundreds of community members attended services at the congregation, and local religious leaders spoke. So many came, in fact, that the service hall was full, and the ceremony had to be telecast.

While the Rome community has been supportive and friendly to their Jewish neighbors, and the congregation itself, there has also been a fair share of harassment. There was the nearby Klan rally in 2016, which congregants protested, as well as anti-Semitic papers plastered on the door of the synagogue in previous years, along with other small threats and acts of intimidation. Anne Lewinson, a congregant and professor at Berry College, believes these acts aren’t representative of the Rome community: “I do think there’s a fair bit of ignorance … a lot of people just don’t know that a Jewish community exists.” The wider community has also been accepting of Jews, at least in Miriam Loya’s experience. The daughter of Lewinson and her Muslim husband, Miriam attended the synagogue’s school when it was in operation and is now a sophomore at Rome High School. For her bat mitzvah, she invited her entire class to the service, recalling that “even though they didn't really know what was going on at all and didn’t understand what's happening … they were very welcoming.” Loya is open about her religion to classmates, and finds that they are often “curious,” as “most of them don't really know what [being Jewish] means.”

While the congregation has been able to host services, and has a very active group of members, they find that they are sometimes taking unique measures to maintain the kinds of program-

ming on offer at larger synagogues. Lewinson’s son, Matt, was trained for his bar-mitzvah by a rabbi, but in the following years he’s had to train the next generation. Small rural synagogues like Rodeph Sholom often rely on their members to maintain the building and services, and to help keep the community alive, Lewinson said: “If anybody was going to teach the religious school kids, it was going to be members of the community; if anybody was going to sweep up after an event, it was gonna be members of the community.”

While the Brants and Lewinsons have only come in the past two decades, some of the community's older members still attend. Rich Chanan, the son of a Holocaust survivor, moved from a heavily Jewish area in New York, and has been at the congregation since 1985. Coming from a place with a high concentration of Jews, he quickly found that the “Jewish culture was minimal” here, compared to where he grew up. Chanan has also found that the ignorant can be dealt with: he’s had a Klan member re-wire his house while having a full conversation around the actuality of Jews as compared to the myths that circulate. He follows the work ethic that his father, a survivor of Bergen-Belson, taught him: “If you showed you could do every kind of work you were assigned before the guards, the guards respected you and preserved you. Sometimes they will not beat your head as hard. They'll give you some extra food

to take home.” But he also believes in the importance of not backing down. In his time at the synagogue, “there has been a dismal reduction in the crowd,” and he is worried about the fact there are so few children left in the congregation.

Others are more optimistic about the congregation's future. Nancy Brant said, “there are people that used to be here, and used to have family here, who still support us monetarily,” which helps the congregation maintain security and programming it would not otherwise be able to afford. Jeffrey Brant, Nancy’s husband and a former president of the congregation, eloquently explained the situation around the issue of building maintenance: “People ask, why do you keep having this building with only a few people here? We want to keep the Jewish community going here as much as we can. ... And it’s not so much the financial stuff; it is just that we need members and we need the people.” Nancy Brant likes to call their congregation “the little temple that could,” an apt name for a synagogue that continues to serve Jews in the heart of rural Georgia. ì

Congregation Rodeph Sholom on East First Street in Rome, Ga.

TRAVEL

Jewish Charlotte, A City of Art and Culture

What do you get when you mix an affluent Jewish community with the arts, culture, and southern hospitality? Robyn Spizman Gerson The answer is Charlotte, North Carolina, an easy to drive-to destination that stands on the shoulders of generous donors and transformative philanthropic visionaries.

This close-by geographic journey proved that “it’s a small world when you’re Jewish” at our very first stop. A well-researched list of must-visit venues and (pre-approved) appointments was generously orchestrated by my husband Ed’s wonderful cousins Anita and her husband Marvin Shapiro, a retired internist who settled in Charlotte in 1973. After a four-hour car ride from Atlanta with sister and brotherin-law Esther and Mike Levine on board, we arrived at Shalom Park, Charlotte’s 54-acre tree-laden, meticulously landscaped campus.

Shalom Park embraces the pulse of Charlotte’s Jewish life and is home to most of the local Jewish organizations, including Temple Israel, the Conservative synagogue, and Beth El, the Reform synagogue, along with the Sandra and Leon Levine Jewish Community Center, the Charlotte Jewish Day School, the Charlotte Jewish Preschool, Jewish Family Services, the Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte, JCC’s Camp Mindy, the Federa-

Temple Israel’s breathtaking sanctuary exterior, with stained glass windows. (Photo Courtesy of Temple Israel)

Stunning interior at The Grand Bohemian. (Photo Courtesy of The Grand Bohemian)

tion’s monthly Charlotte Jewish News, and so much more. Shalom Park is a magnificent Jewish world unto itself, supported by the entire community, and welcoming all to utilize its facilities, including the soon-to-be-built “Home of Generations” retirement community.

The first visit Anita coordinated was to their synagogue, Temple Israel, erected in 1992. Founded 125 years ago, the congregation was established by a small group of families, which has grown to 540 families today. Greeted by Rabbi Michael Wolk who, during the COVID-19 pandemic, visited the backyards and patios of over 100 families to connect with his congregation. Formerly a rabbi in Louisville, Kentucky, Rabbi Wolk’s personable, neighborly greeting was meaningful and his pride in Temple Israel was evident.

We were also welcomed by the synagogue’s vivacious membership director, Erin Goldstein, whose grandmother, Geraldine “Gerry” Ashkenazi, was the executive director of Ahavath Achim in Atlanta for decades. We toured Temple Israel, this exquisite semi-circular sanctuary and architectural masterpiece that features floor-to-ceiling stained glass windows majestically adorning the sanctuary with an exquisite palette of primary colors. The windows depict the biblical narrative from Creation to the entry of the Israelites into the Promised Land. Time capsules from decades ago are thoughtfully built into the cornerstone of the building.

On the other side of the campus was Temple Beth El, the Reform temple in Charlotte, with its façade reminiscent of Jerusalem. As you drive around Shalom Park, you will marvel at the architectural masterpieces. One minute it’s modern, and the next there’s a peaceful feeling of the old world. The Sandra and Leon Levine JCC, a sprawling red-brick building ominous in scale, is the centerpiece of Shalom Park’s campus. Filled with art that includes pieces donated by local collectors of esteemed glass artist Jon Kuhn, the main entry features halls of glass and beautiful artwork from wellknown artists.

From a Judaic library and resource center to the Blumenthal Center and so much more, Shalom Park leaves

Shana Tovah

The Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta wishes you and your family a happy and healthy new year.

The Firebird or Le Grand Oiseau de Feu sur l'Arche sculpture by Niki de Saint Phalle in front of the Bechtler Museum with cousins (L to R) Marvin and Anita Shapiro, Ed Gerson, and Esther and Mike Levine. no stone unturned. A particularly beautiful sculpture, The Levine JCC Butterfly Project, honors the 1.5 million children who perished in the Holocaust. Designed by local artist Paul Rousso, the sculpture is adorned with almost 6,000 ceramic butterflies created by the city’s faith, school, and community groups. At every turn, this community is immersed in an artistic expression of purposeful connection. (www.charlottejcc.org) As you travel around Charlotte, even the street signs reflect the generosity of Jewish donors. At first glance, you’ll see the Levine Avenue of The Arts. We visited the Mint Museum of Craft and Design, a spectacularly curated collection representing many distinguished artists from around the world. Charlotte is filled with galleries like the Bechtler Museum of Modern Arts, the Harvey Gantt Center, and the Luski Gallery at the Foundation for the Carolinas, a stunning collection of glass and paintings that celebrates the philanthropy of artful giving. Be sure to check the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center (www.Blumenthalarts.org) for upcoming schedules of events and entertainment, as well as the Levine Museum of the New South. (www. levinemuseumofthenewsouth.org)

For lodging, check out the Grand Bohemian Hotel Charlotte, an aesthetically inspired hotel, which is located at the corner of Trade and Church Streets in Uptown Charlotte, a vibrant district filled with museums, entertainment, and dining. Created by Richard Kessler, the Kessler Collection is a visionary family-owned and operated boutique hospitality brand with luxury properties in cities such as Charleston and Savannah. In search of an architect, Kessler hired Gensler Atlanta, whose team was challenged to design the hotel during the building phase. This 16-story, 254-room hotel features a spa, fine dining restaurant with indoor and outdoor lounge seating, and a “park bar.” The lounge and bar on the first floor offer a variety of seating options, while the 16th floor houses the spa, a 24-hour fitness center, and a luxe rooftop bar with unparalleled views of Charlotte.

Charlotte residents enjoy Gleiberman’s Kosher Mart, a Glatt Kosher food grocery. Additional activities include the Panthers stadium, Charlotte’s Meyers Park, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Wing Haven Garden & Bird Sanctuary, Discovery Place, Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens in Belmont, as well as a visit to the U.S. National Whitewater Center for rafting.

When traveling back to Atlanta, make a quick stop in Greenville and enjoy a picnic downtown at the beautiful Falls Park on the Reedy, located at the intersection of S. Main Street and Falls Park Drive. Back on the road, add a pit stop at any of the nearby fruit stands and check out whatever is in season from local farmers.

Charlotte’s southern hospitality is evident, and the only challenge you may face is not having relatives as hospitable as ours. Start at Shalom Park, and my guess is that they’ll have you at “hello.” ì

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A Stroll Through a Jewish London

By Stephen Burstin

Seder Night at Buckingham Palace may not be in Queen Elizabeth’s diary of events for next year, but placing an order for Mazot may just be on the cards for a future King of England.

When Prince William tied the marital knot with Kate, he is said to have married into a Jewish blood line stretching back centuries.

William follows his father, Prince Charles, as heir to the throne and his mother-in-law is Carole Goldsmith. Despite five generations of Goldsmiths marrying in church, some royal observers say there’s a very real Jewish heritage in the Goldsmith clan.

The revelation of a possible Jewish line is just one of countless Jewish links that continue to surface among English society both past and present.

One gentleman who, although not of royal blood, was certainly considered a blood brother to one monarch. He was Sir Ernest Cassel, the best pal of King Edward VII, the wayward son of Queen Victoria.

Cassel was born in mid 19th century Germany where his father, Jacob, owned a small bank but young Cassel ventured off to England alone and penniless aged 17. With an enormous capacity for hard work and a natural business sense, he was soon a successful banker and businessman and one of England's wealthiest men by the beginning of the 20th century.

Cassel mixed in the grandest circles befriending the then-Prime Minister Herbert Asquith and a young Winston Churchill. So constant a companion was he to King Edward, he earned the nickname Windsor Cassel.

The Jewish connection is present in modern day British politics too …and in whichever political direction you turn. Former Prime Minister David Cameron’s great great grandparents were stalwarts in London’s Jewish community. His paternal great great grandfather was Emile Levita, a German financier who was granted British citizenship back in 1871.

Levita, a director of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, which became Standard Chartered Bank, married into the wealthy Danish Jewish Rée family.

When Conservative Premier Cameron taunted his greatest adversary in Parliament, he may just have a moment’s hesitation before heaping insults …for facing him was the then Jewish leader of the Opposition Labour Party, Ed Miliband. Both his father Ralph and mother Marion Kozak were Jewish refugees who escaped the Holocaust.

And on these heated occasions in Parliament, the official referee (or Speaker as he is known) was John Bercow, grandson of Romanian Jewish immigrants.

But if Bercow’s attempts at mediation were ever in vain and the two opponents came to blows, they could have sought treatment for their injuries just yards away across Westminster Bridge at the famous Saint Thomas Hospital … and it’s all thanks to a scion of the Rothschild banking dynasty.

With the massive influx of East European Jewish immigrants to London at the end of the 19th century, Lord Nathan Mayer Rothschild – the first Jewish Lord - came to an unofficial arrangement with the hospital governors. In return for massive donations from Rothschild and his wealthy Jewish friends, Saint Thomas Hospital provided kosher food, Jewish only wards, facilities for celebrating the Shabbat and even separate ice chambers for Jewish bodies.

The arrangement spread to other major hospitals in the capital such as Guys and the Royal London. And at many other famous London landmarks a surprise or two awaits the connoisseur of Jewish trivia.

Westminster Abbey, the traditional church of royal coronations and one of London’s top tourist attractions, was built in 1245 …thanks to some wealthy Jews. The previous church on the site was dilapidated and King Henry III decided it was time for a replacement.

While most of the small Jewish community in Medieval England was impoverished, it also included several wealthy merchants and money lenders. Henry expropriated their monies to finance his new abbey. And when his ‘benefactors’ later sought his permission to venture overseas and seek a new life, Henry refused, thinking there was still more to be had from them.

Their wish to depart England was granted unexpectedly 40 years later when King Edward I banished the country’s entire Jewish population, and they were to remain exiled for 350 years.

Next door to Westminster Abbey and standing proudly outside the Houses of Parliament is a statue of the Jews’ saviour - Oliver Cromwell who led his anti-Royalist forces to victory in England’s 17th century Civil War. Authoritarian and cruel maybe, but Cromwell later orchestrated the return of Jews to England after their forced exile. A devout Protestant and believer in the Old Testament, he was also pragmatic realising the presence in England of European Jewish

Buckingham Palace … perhaps the future venue for a king’s seder night?

Sir Ernest Cassel: so close a companion of King Edward VII he was known as Windsor Cassel.

Prime Minister David Cameron, whose ancestors were stalwarts in London’s Jewish community. Westminster Abbey was built in 1245, thanks to wealthy Jews.

Oliver Cromwell welcomed Jews back to England after 350 years of exile.

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merchants and financiers could benefit his country.

Just feet away from Cromwell’s statue at Parliament and competing for the attention of passers-by is the monument to another of England’s leaders at time of war – Winston Churchill. It is not readily recalled that Churchill was invariably at the forefront in defence of Jewish interests. He opposed the 1905 Aliens Act that sought to restrict Eastern European Jewish immigration; was one of the lone voices against harsh Jewish immigration quotas during the 1930s; and before a packed Parliament after the war urged Zionists seeking a Jewish state to: “Persevere! Persevere! Persevere!”

Not all heads of state were as sympathetic to the Jewish community. In the shadow of the dreaded Tower of London, symbol of oppression, torture and execution in bygone days, the visitor is reminded of the tragic fate that befell the country’s Jewish leaders in Medieval times.

In 1255, the body of a young Christian boy was found at the bottom of a water well in the garden of a Jew named Jopin. On the promise of having his life spared, he was induced by the local priest to ‘confess’ that the boy had been murdered by several prominent Jews as part of the notorious Blood Libel accusations against the Jewish people.

The heads of 18 leading Jewish households in England were then arrested, taken to the Tower of London and, after prolonged torture, hanged in front of baying crowds.

It’s a far cry from 200 years earlier when the Tower was built by King William I after popping over from France and vanquishing the English, earning him the sobriquet William the Conqueror. He invited French Jewish moneylenders to join him and help prop up his new realm.

Caroline Goldsmith: Prince William’s mother-in-law, with Jewish roots?

So delighted was King William with the service he received from his Jewish ‘bankers’ he ordered all his new castles, including the Tower of London, to be sanctuaries for Jews at times of anti-semitic mob violence.

Today’s Prince William, who is destined to be King William V (fifth) has earned the same sobriquet as his medieval namesake, only this time the handsome royal is called William the Conqueror …of Hearts! ì

Former journalist Stephen Burstin was born in London’s East End to Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe and today conducts a variety of Jewish-themed tours in London. www.jewishlondonwalkingtours.co.uk