History Department

Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities
Overview >> Mississippi >> Aberdeen
Aberdeen, Mississippi

	RESOURCES "The Confederate Note" by Major Sydney Jonas

Perhaps the most memorable of the Aberdeen Jewish businessmen was Morris Gattman.  He and his brother Jake found early success in the mercantile business, but after the Civil War, they split and ran two competitive stores.  Realizing the inefficiency of this arrangement, the brothers came together for business once again, opening a very successful bank.  Their business pursuits became so well known that the town of Gattman, MS is rumored to be named after them.

Another important historical Aberdeen Jew was Major Sydney A. Jonas.  On the Aberdeen parkway there is a memorial erected by the Daughters of the Confederacy to commemorate him.  He was a very well-respected Civil War soldier, the editor of the Aberdeen Examiner, and served in the Department of Agriculture.  Additionally, Jonas was well known for his poetry composition.  His Poem entitled, “The Confederate Note,” eloquently expressed the sentiments of the defeated South.

Jews similarly contributed to public sentiment during World War II.  The Rubels had been a long established family in Aberdeen when in 1939 several members of their extended family arrived after fleeing Hitler’s rule in Germany.  Despite limited English skills, their children, Ruth and Werner Rubel quickly rose to the top of their class in the Aberdeen public schools.  The presence of this new family of Rubels in Aberdeen awakened the local citizens to the realities of the situation in Europe.

Much of the history of the Aberdeen Jews is left in the memory of Mary Golde Howell, formerly Mary Golde Lasky.  The Lasky family was prominent in the economy of Aberdeen, serving as the primary vendor of women’s and children’s clothing.  Her mother, Dorothy Lasky, moved to Aberdeen after marrying Bernard Lasky.  She became a prominent local citizen, who was sought many times to run for mayor.  Though she always refused, candidates vied for her support throughout her life.  Dorothy dedicated much of her life to charitable work.  Her daughter remembers her mother’s commitment to bringing home children around Christmas time who had been referred by the Welfare Department.  At the Lasky home they would be given baths and gifts from the family store. 

Bernard Lasky was a conscientious business and community leader.  His clothing store was boycotted by Aberdeen whites because he was perceived as soft on segregation during the civil rights struggle.  Both he and his wife participated in a group that worked with the FBI to break up a Ku Klux Klan terrorist cell that had targeted the state’s Jewish community by donating the funds that would pay informers.

The Laskys worked diligently to retain their Jewish faith despite living in a predominantly Christian area.  They traveled to nearby Columbus, Mississippi for Shabbat Services, and the seven Jewish children of Aberdeen would travel there each week for Sunday school.  Four of the seven Aberdeen Jewish children were the Laskys.  They practiced in the Reform tradition, and though they did not keep kosher, they never had pork in their home.  Bernard Lasky served as Temple president in Columbus several times.  Though they worked hard to maintain their religious identity, they maintained strong bonds with the non-Jewish members of their community.

No Jews remain in Aberdeen today.  None of the children returned after they went to college, and their parents either passed away in Aberdeen or moved elsewhere for retirement.  Regardless, the history of Aberdeen is consistently punctuated by Jewish contributions, and the town owes many of its commercial successes to the hard work of Jewish individuals.