History Department

By 1870, a loosely bound congregation was formed by the small number of Jews in Greenville.  Services were conducted under the part-time leadership of Rabbi Charles Rawitzer.  Rabbi Rowitzer received recognition in the local paper as a “Rabbi” for the first time in 1876.  Previous to this time, he was simply noted as the head of the English German School.  In subsequent articles Rabbi Rowitzer was noted for performing marriages and circumcisions, and the slow progress of his recognition shows the increasing prominence of the Jewish presence in Greenville.

As more Jews moved to Greenville they reorganized and formed Hebrew Union Congregation in 1880.  That same year, they began building the structure for a temple on land given to them by Mrs. Harriet Blanton Theobold, a wealthy local plantation owner.  Theobold was a non-Jew, yet her benevolence won her the nickname, “Mother of Greenville.”  The building was initially designed to serve primarily as a private school and only secondarily as a worship space.  In October of 1881, the Hebrew Union school was formed.

In 1881, Rabbi Joseph Bogen was hired to lead the Greenville Congregation, making him the first permanent full-time rabbi.   At its inception, M. Morris served as the first president, Nathan Goldstein as the vice president, Theodore Pohl as the secretary, and Herman Wilczinski as the treasurer.  The initial board of directors included Jacob Alexander, Morris Weiss, Isaac Isenberg, Leon Moyse, Sol Morris, Simon Hexter, and Nathan Wilczinski.

Rabbi Bogen soon urged the new congregation to build a proper synagogue for itself.  The Ladies Hebrew Union took the lead in this effort, holding a fundraising dance at the local opera house.  In 1882, the congregation purchased a lot from two of its members at the corner of Washington and Locust streets.  Soon after, the congregation decided to remodel their existing school building into a synagogue rather than build a new structure.  The congregation used this converted school building until 1905, when it was moved to Campbell Street and divided into two residences.

In 1884, there was a short-lived rift in the congregation.  While the causes are unknown, a group of members broke away to form a congregation named Beth Israel.  For Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, they held services at the Masonic Temple, with A.R. Silverberg officiating.  Since the breakaway congregations only worshipped for one day on Rosh Hashanah, the split seems not to have been over orthodoxy and reform.  By November of 1884, the rift had apparently been healed as Rabbi Bogen praised the congregation “for the peace and harmony which now prevails in the Hebrew Union Congregation.”

When Rabbi Bogen left for Texarkana in 1901, Rabbi Abram Brill was hired to lead the congregation.  Rabbi Brill worked to raise funds for a new building, which was achieved in 1906 for a cost of $30,000.  The result was an impressive structure made of brick and stone designed with Grecian Architecture and placed in the same spot as the former Greenville temple. The new building had a sanctuary, religious school facilities, and a meeting hall.  In 1973 the building was supplemented by a recreational and cultural wing and the Lewis-Lantor Jewish Community Center.   The striking resemblance between the Temple in Natchez and the Temple in Greenville can be attributed to the fact that they shared the same architect, Harry A. Overbeck.

After Rabbi Brill left in 1911, the congregation had a succession of rabbis before the arrival of Samuel Rabinowitz, who led the congregation for 27 years as rabbi.  After Rabbi Rabinowitz left in 1948, the following rabbis served the congregation:  Harris Hirschberg; Herbert Hendel; Allan Schwartzman; Jacob Halevi; Abraham Ruderman; Sidney Strome; Stuart Federow; and Sylvan Wolfe.  Stanley Relkin was the congregation’s last full-time rabbi.  Since he left in the 1990s, the congregation has had student rabbis from Hebrew Union College. 

Though in 1962 Hebrew Union Congregation boasted the largest congregation in Mississippi with 200 families, today the congregation consists of about 65 families, and shows no signs of a resurgence.  Nevertheless, the Hebrew Union Congregation continues to be the Jewish center of the Mississippi Delta.  Each year, members organize the Delta Jewish Open, a golf tournament that raises money for such Jewish causes as the Henry S. Jacobs Camp and the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life.  Each year’s tournament begins with a ceremonial shofar blast.  The congregation also holds an annual corned beef luncheon, in which the people of Greenville come to the temple to eat genuine Jewish corned beef.  In 2005, they served 1,400 lunches in one day.  Although its peak years have passed, the Hebrew Union Congregation continues to be the cornerstone of a historic and significant Jewish community.