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OUR PAST, OUR COMMUNITY
Our Past, Our Community JEWISH HISTORY IN NORTHEAST FLORIDA AND BEYOND
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Photos courtesy of the archives at Congregation Ahavath Chesed-The Temple
KOL YISRAEL AREIVIM ZEH BAZEH
By Guy I. Benrubi, MD of 1947. At the time, her father Mort Adell was the “man For the entirety of my life I have been imbued with the concept of Kol Yisrael Areivim Zeh Bazeh. The reason is not hard to understand. My parents, who were Holocaust survivors were able to avoid starvation in post war Greece because of the intervention of the JDC. As a child of eight, I remember being taken by my parents to a suburb of Athens where they joined agents of JDC and JAFI to help process Jewish refugees who had been shipped there from Nasser’s Egypt. As my parents were fluent in Greek, English, French, and Ladino, they were invaluable to the effort. A year and a half later, it was my family’s turn, as we immigrated to the U.S. and landed on a Westside New York City pier on a very cold January day of 1958. Our apprehension and disorientation were assuaged by the presence of a tall and confident man who had a badge on his lapel that said “HIAS” Over the years with my multiple roles in the Jacksonville Federation, I have recounted many of these stories during missions, caucuses, and allocations meetings. Recently I received from a friend a packet of letters which had been written by her parents during the first six months from Joint”—JDC, who was sent to Salonika in Greece to see if he could organize the remnants of the Jewish community. The prewar Jewish population of Salonika numbered 60,000, while the 1947 population was barely 2,000 survivors. Two of those were my parents Isidore and Mathilda Benrubi. From Jean’s letter to her father January 30, 1947: One of the questions that someone asked yesterday was how he could get some optical instruments from the states. This man, Mr. Benrubi by name, has just returned to his optical business after having been in a displaced persons camp, after the war. When he returned he found his shop taken over by Greeks, and the equipment and stock all gone. He had a heck of a lot of trouble in getting these back, because the government talks a lot about their concern for the Jews and actually does nothing for their welfare. This Mr. Benrubi and his wife are about Mort and my ages, and have not one living relative out of the 35 or more they previously had. They seem to be a very nice couple, and if he had these instruments he would really be able to rehabilitate himself. He has borrowed some money set up by the Loan Kassa of AJDC (Joint) here to Collection of letters written in 1947. KOL YISRAEL, continued pg. 19 18
Our Past, Our Community
JEWISH HISTORY IN NORTHEAST FLORIDA AND BEYOND Photo courtesy of River Garden Senior Services
PRESERVING 100+ YEARS OF HISTORY
I first met Natalie Glickstein Haas, author/ historian, when I answered the call to work with her in the archives as archivist/ historian.. We became fast friends as we began putting order into the many documents, photographs and artifacts. Thus began the Temple Archives.
Sifted from the ruins of two major fires, gathered from crumbling newspapers, precious scrapbooks, fading photographs and warm memories, Temple Archives began. Precious documents from the 19th century include property deeds, cemetery deeds, financial restart his shop.
My father had been an optician before the war, and in 1947 he was desperately trying to reopen his optical store. The indispensable instrument for that endeavor was an instrument called a lensometer. There was none to be found in Greece. The Germans has devastated the country, and even though they had departed in mid 1944, Greece was papers, articles of incorporation. A cash book dating from January of 1911, gold cufflinks and sterling silver napkins rings belonging to Simon Benjamin are carefully stored as part of our artifacts collection. Women of the Bible created by Ruth Hope Leon are currently on display in our historical case. A walk through the climate controlled storage area will show Yearbooks dating back to 1935, Temple Messengers from 1922, Temple Board of Trustees Minutes from 1931, photographs, musical programs, sermons all recorded on CD and DVDs. Lifecycle events are continually happening and must be documented for future reference. These are immediately plunged post occupation into a vicious civil war, which continued to rage in 1947, and did not end till after massive infusion of aid by the Truman administration in 1948. The letters describe how Mort and his wife Jean, among their other duties and concerns were tireless in trying to find this instrument for my father. They were unable to obtain it in the US as American Optical and other but a few of thousands of files that are kept in our Archives.
I will always be forever grateful to Natalie Glickstein Haas for her foresight, and dedication to our Temple and for giving me such inspiration to follow in her footsteps and continue to maintain the Temple
Ketubah from marriage of Gertrude Israel and Israel Brown of Ocala in 1889. Rabbi J. Kahn of Congregation Ahavath Chesed officiated.
KOL YISRAEL, from pg. 18
Archives. manufacturers were not exporting equipment. In desperation they recruited Jean’s father, a man in his late sixties, who then went on a tireless hunt to find a second hand instrument, and then ship it to Greece. What was more astounding, he hit his meager savings (he was retired at the time) and he was told by the Adell’s to use some of their savings, in order to purchase the lensometer. It finally arrived in Salonika in August of 1947, almost eight months after the process was started. This man did not know my father, but he readily hit his savings to help a fellow Jew. Truly demonstrating the concept of our responsibility to one another.
By December of 1947 my father was able to repay Mort, Jean, and Jean’s father for the money that they had outlaid in order to make the purchase. 19
Our Past, Our Community
JEWISH HISTORY IN NORTHEAST FLORIDA AND BEYOND Photo courtesy of River Garden Senior Services
RIVER GARDEN ENTERS ITS 75TH YEAR
By Kari Bell, River Garden Senior Services
From the beginning purchase of a home on
Stockton Street in 1945 to its present 40-acre campus in Mandarin, River Garden touches many lives. It is a part of the rich Jewish history in Jacksonville. Let’s take a walk down memory lane.
The history of the Jewish people in Jacksonville begins some time back in the mid-to-late 1800s. The bustling trade, rail and port community attracted many, and the town soon became home to the largest Jewish population in Florida. Over the course of five decades,
Jewish families grew and congregations developed.
LaVilla, Springfield,
Riverside and Avondale were prime centers of life.
Orthodox, reform and conservative practices were represented throughout.
Despite sickness (1888) and fire (1901), the downtown landscape began to flourish and Jacksonville
Jews became more affluent in the 1910s and 1920s.
In 1922, the Ladies’
Hebrew Sheltering Aid
Society was organized. The founders were Mrs. Moshe 20
Lasky and Mrs. Moses Stein; its first president was Mrs. Louis Shevitz, grandmother of Bernie Datz, a past president of River Garden Hebrew Home. These women recognized a need for the elderly and never wavered in their commitment to establish a Home. Throughout the 1930s and into the early 1940s, these ladies campaigned for their cause. Finally in 1945, with the purchase of land and a stately mansion in Jacksonville’s Riverside area, River Garden Hebrew Home became a reality.
In 1946 the Home opened with four residents. By 1969 its capacity had grown to 192 residents. Many families have grown up with River Garden as a part of their story.
The Sloat family have a layered and loving account. Irene Sloat, a current member at The Coves became involved with River Garden when she moved to Jacksonville as a young bride.
“Mom knew she wanted to volunteer with a Jewish organization so that she could become more familiar with and become a part of the community,” daughter
Lauren said. “Having grown up in New York and spending many weekends visiting her elderly immigrant grandparents in Brooklyn as a child, she was drawn to volunteering at River Garden where the residents, many with the same accented English and The Coves resident Irene Sloat speaking in Yiddish, reminded her of grandparents.” “So much Sloat family history is linked with River Garden. Both our grandmothers became residents; Mom was on the Board of the Home and President of the Auxiliary. Back in those days, Mom and her friend Lois Schneider bought linens for the Home with funds raised by the Auxiliary,” Lisa Sloat said. “The word ‘Tombola’ comes to mind as soon as I think of River Garden.” Irene’s picture is featured Parker Chapel at River Garden. “Our Dad became the unofficial photographer for River Garden events and my young Judea group danced there. I still have the silhouette portrait of me at about age five that was done by an artist on Anniversary Day at the Riverside location,” Sloat said. “In the mid 1960s, Grandmother Sloat, and other residents and friends performed in River Garden plays. And in 1977, Mom was even a part of the committee that directly outside the current RIVER GARDEN, cont pg. 47
Our Past, Our Community
JEWISH HISTORY IN NORTHEAST FLORIDA AND BEYOND Photos courtesy of the archives at Congregation Ahavath Chesed-The Temple
REPAIRING THE WORLD FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS
By Donna O’Steen, Jewish Family and Community Services
The Jacksonville Jewish community has a rich history of “repairing the world” when a need presents itself.
In 1987, when Rabbi Michael Matuson expressed a growing concern about the hunger problem facing some of the congregants at Congregation Ahavath Chesed – The Temple as well as the greater Jacksonville area, two women Sandy Miller, z”l, and Judi Greenhut, z”l. joined him in the fight against hunger.
In collaboration with Jewish Family & Community Services’ Executive Director at the time, Iris Young, z”l, and Rabbi Matuson, Judi and Sandy started the FANN (Feed a Needy Neighbor) program which was designed to collect canned and non-perishable food items for the JFCS Food Pantry.
More than 30 years later, the food pantry continues to serve as an important resource for individuals and families experiencing food insecurity in Northeast Florida. Each year, more than 80,000 nutritious meals are provided to those who have nowhere else to turn.
Inadequate access to quality food hinders families from living selfsufficient lives. However, by meeting this basic need, families are able to focus on life-improving activities such as goal setting, financial planning, parenting, and personal development. Having access to a food pantry is also an essential resource for many seniors who many times are forced to choose between paying for prescriptions or purchasing food. We are proud to say that today, the Max Block Food Pantry, formerly called FANN, is still serving thousands of individuals and families each year.
If you would like to donate food to the Max Block Food Pantry, contact Donna O’Steen at 904- 394-5714; dosteen@jfcsjax. org. To make a monetary donation, visit jfcsjax.org/ donate or contact Susie Menaged at 904-394-5727; smenaged@jfcsjax.org.
