Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities - Greenville, Mississippi
Overview >> Mississippi >> Greenville
Historical Overview
|
Greenville, Mississippi, sits on the Mississippi River between Vicksburg and Memphis. Known as the “Queen City of the Mississippi Delta,” Greenville serves as the seat of Washington County and an important riverport for the Mississippi Delta. From the late 19th century until the late 20th century, it was a bustling commercial center with a reputation for being one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the state. The majority of the Greenville’s historic population was Black, and white Protestants made up the city’s elite, but Greenville also attracted a significant immigrant population that included Italian, Chinese, and Jewish communities.
While Greenville was home to writers David Cohn (Jewish) and Shelby Foote Jr. (born to a Jewish mother but not raised Jewish), the most well known lines about local Jews was written by poet William Alexander Percy in Lanterns on the Levee (1940):
While this quote glosses over racial exploitation that undergirded the Delta economy and ignores those local Jews who never achieved financial success, it encapsulates the broad outline of Greenville’s Jewish history and the Jewish community’s historical role in the economic, civic, and social life of the city.
|
The area that became Greenville attracted white settlers by 1803, and the present city dates to the 1820s. Jewish migrants arrived in the mid-19th century but did not establish firm roots until after the Civil War. Jewish Greenville grew considerably during the late 19th century as the city became a trading hub for the rapidly developing Delta region. Greenville’s Jewish community continued to grow through the mid-20th century, when it became the largest Jewish population in the state. By the late 20th century, younger Jews from Greenville began to seek opportunities elsewhere, and the local community has become considerably smaller than in its peak years. The local synagogue, Hebrew Union Congregation, remains active, however, and attracts members from a number of nearby communities.
Early Jewish Settlers
As of the 1830 U.S. Census, 1,976 people lived in Washington County, which had been established three years earlier. Of those early residents, 1,184 were enslaved people, and their majority grew rapidly in the subsequent decades. As Euro-American settlers established large agricultural labor camps (plantations) in the area, trade opportunities increased. Planter William W. Blanton established the original site of Greenville in 1824, and it developed into an important riverboat stop, for the import of supplies and enslaved people and the export of agricultural products, primarily cotton.
It is not clear when Jews first arrived in the area, but evidence demonstrates a Jewish presence by the mid-1850s. A Prussian native named David Lippman received his naturalization in Washington County in 1855. He did not stay permanently, however, and had relocated to California by 1870.
Jewish residents may have lived in Greenville prior to the Civil War, but local histories do not indicate their presence. Union soldiers burned the first Greenville settlement during the siege of Vicksburg in 1863, and the city rebuilt a short time later about three miles from its first location. Morris Weiss opened a store on land owned by the Blanton family in 1864, which became the second site of Greenville in 1865. He and his wife Hannah had six children as of the 1870 census, born in New York, Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Three other people lived at their home: Nathan Goldstein, a Jewish man who worked in the Weiss Store as a Clerk; Charlie Ringold, a Black man who worked as a porter in the store; and a Black domestic worker named Jane Canady.
Nathan Goldstein had arrived in Greenville in 1868. Born in Warsaw in 1849, he immigrated with his father around 1858. When his father died a few years later, he became a ward of the Jewish Children’s Home in New Orleans, where Morris Weiss’s mother served as matron. Goldstein developed a small business in New Orleans before moving to Greenville, where he quickly became a partner in the Weiss store. In 1876 Goldtein married Emeline Weiss, Morris and Hannah’s second daughter. The marriage typified the intermingling of business and kinship networks among Jewish families at that time, and after Morris Weiss died in 1886, he managed the business with Hannah Weiss, his mother-in-law. The Goldstein and Weiss families—and several families who became related to them through marriage—formed a major contingent within Greenville’s emerging Jewish community.
It is not clear when Jews first arrived in the area, but evidence demonstrates a Jewish presence by the mid-1850s. A Prussian native named David Lippman received his naturalization in Washington County in 1855. He did not stay permanently, however, and had relocated to California by 1870.
Jewish residents may have lived in Greenville prior to the Civil War, but local histories do not indicate their presence. Union soldiers burned the first Greenville settlement during the siege of Vicksburg in 1863, and the city rebuilt a short time later about three miles from its first location. Morris Weiss opened a store on land owned by the Blanton family in 1864, which became the second site of Greenville in 1865. He and his wife Hannah had six children as of the 1870 census, born in New York, Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Three other people lived at their home: Nathan Goldstein, a Jewish man who worked in the Weiss Store as a Clerk; Charlie Ringold, a Black man who worked as a porter in the store; and a Black domestic worker named Jane Canady.
Nathan Goldstein had arrived in Greenville in 1868. Born in Warsaw in 1849, he immigrated with his father around 1858. When his father died a few years later, he became a ward of the Jewish Children’s Home in New Orleans, where Morris Weiss’s mother served as matron. Goldstein developed a small business in New Orleans before moving to Greenville, where he quickly became a partner in the Weiss store. In 1876 Goldtein married Emeline Weiss, Morris and Hannah’s second daughter. The marriage typified the intermingling of business and kinship networks among Jewish families at that time, and after Morris Weiss died in 1886, he managed the business with Hannah Weiss, his mother-in-law. The Goldstein and Weiss families—and several families who became related to them through marriage—formed a major contingent within Greenville’s emerging Jewish community.
Other early arrivals included the Scott and Waldauer families. H. Scott came to Greenwood with his family in 1867, where he ran a grocery and eventually opened two saloons. Scott was also the agent for the Pabst Milwaukee Brewing Company. Louis Waldauer arrived in 1873. In 1886 he founded a business with Nathan Erlich. Waldauer eventually sold that business and founded the Waldauer Cotton Company. He also owned a farm at O’Reilly in Bolivar County and owned rental properties in Greenville’s Black neighborhood.
Jewish business owners also became involved in Greenville’s civic life from early on. In 1875 Leopold Wilczinski won the city’s first mayoral election. He also served as president of the Washington County Board of Supervisors. Theodore Pohl, a liquor wholesaler, held multiple local offices and was a prominent member of the Cotton Pickers, the local Elks Lodge. Civic and fraternal activities also extended to sports; James Nathan, a business partner of Theodore Pohl, was involved with the Mississippi Valley Baseball Club. Greenville’s third elected mayor, Jacob Alexander, was also Jewish.
Jewish political and civic leaders helped Greenville weather multiple crises during the 1870s. A devastating fire in 1874 destroyed 45 homes and 62 businesses; it also forced a considerable proportion of residents out of town. Of the destroyed business, 25 were Jewish-owned, and most of those were under- or uninsured. Greenville’s population rebounded quickly, reaching 2,000 individuals by 1878. That year a major yellow fever outbreak killed one-third of the town’s residents, including 18 local Jews. Citizens with the means to do so fled the city. Of the three elected officials who remained in Greenville during the outbreak, two were Jewish: Nathan Goldstein and Theodore Pohl. Following the epidemic, Harriet Blanton Theobold (the widow of Willam W. Blanton) donated land for a city cemetery. The burial site was divided into three sections for white Christians, Jews, and African Americans.
Jewish business owners also became involved in Greenville’s civic life from early on. In 1875 Leopold Wilczinski won the city’s first mayoral election. He also served as president of the Washington County Board of Supervisors. Theodore Pohl, a liquor wholesaler, held multiple local offices and was a prominent member of the Cotton Pickers, the local Elks Lodge. Civic and fraternal activities also extended to sports; James Nathan, a business partner of Theodore Pohl, was involved with the Mississippi Valley Baseball Club. Greenville’s third elected mayor, Jacob Alexander, was also Jewish.
Jewish political and civic leaders helped Greenville weather multiple crises during the 1870s. A devastating fire in 1874 destroyed 45 homes and 62 businesses; it also forced a considerable proportion of residents out of town. Of the destroyed business, 25 were Jewish-owned, and most of those were under- or uninsured. Greenville’s population rebounded quickly, reaching 2,000 individuals by 1878. That year a major yellow fever outbreak killed one-third of the town’s residents, including 18 local Jews. Citizens with the means to do so fled the city. Of the three elected officials who remained in Greenville during the outbreak, two were Jewish: Nathan Goldstein and Theodore Pohl. Following the epidemic, Harriet Blanton Theobold (the widow of Willam W. Blanton) donated land for a city cemetery. The burial site was divided into three sections for white Christians, Jews, and African Americans.
Organized Jewish Life
By the time that the yellow fever epidemic precipitated the creation of a Jewish cemetery, the local Jewish community had already begun to establish formal institutions. Rabbi Charles Rawitzer of Memphis led holiday services for a group known as Zedek Israel from 1871 to 1879. Jewish men formed a local chapter of B’nai B’rith in 1871. In 1877 a Young Men’s Hebrew Benevolent Society formed with 23 members. It is unclear whether religious practices at that time followed orthodox customs. While 1870s newspaper accounts indicate that men in Jewish wedding parties wore hats and that ceremonies included Hebrew blessings, the visiting rabbi, Bernhard Henry Gotthelf of Vicksburg, served a Reform congregation.
In 1879 local Jews established Hebrew Union Congregation—a name that indicated their adherence to Reform Judaism. Founding officers were M. Morris, president; Nathan Goldstein, vice president; Theodore Pohl, secretary, and Herman Wilczinski, treasurer. The congregation formed a religious school in 1881, and a women’s group known as the Ladies Hebrew Union became active around the congregation’s founding.
The newly chartered congregation initially sought to construct a synagogue on land donated by Harriet Blanton Theobold, but they ultimately converted the assembly hall of a wood-frame school building that they already owned. (Local Jews had been active in an English-German School operated under supervision of Rabbi Rawitzer and had established a Hebrew Union School around 1881.) By the mid-1880s the congregation had a synagogue, a school, a resident rabbi, and a parsonage (the rabbi’s residence).
The first resident rabbi to serve Hebrew Union Congregation was Rabbi Joseph Bogen. Born in Germany in 1842, Rabbi Bogen arrived in the United States with his wife, Mathilde, and three (of an eventual five) children in 1873. In the United States he served congregations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Keokuk, Iowa, before assuming the pulpit at Hebrew Union Congregation in Greenville, where he remained until 1901.
In 1879 local Jews established Hebrew Union Congregation—a name that indicated their adherence to Reform Judaism. Founding officers were M. Morris, president; Nathan Goldstein, vice president; Theodore Pohl, secretary, and Herman Wilczinski, treasurer. The congregation formed a religious school in 1881, and a women’s group known as the Ladies Hebrew Union became active around the congregation’s founding.
The newly chartered congregation initially sought to construct a synagogue on land donated by Harriet Blanton Theobold, but they ultimately converted the assembly hall of a wood-frame school building that they already owned. (Local Jews had been active in an English-German School operated under supervision of Rabbi Rawitzer and had established a Hebrew Union School around 1881.) By the mid-1880s the congregation had a synagogue, a school, a resident rabbi, and a parsonage (the rabbi’s residence).
The first resident rabbi to serve Hebrew Union Congregation was Rabbi Joseph Bogen. Born in Germany in 1842, Rabbi Bogen arrived in the United States with his wife, Mathilde, and three (of an eventual five) children in 1873. In the United States he served congregations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Keokuk, Iowa, before assuming the pulpit at Hebrew Union Congregation in Greenville, where he remained until 1901.
The Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries
Greenville continued to develop into the early 20th century, growing to a population of nearly 10,000 people by 1910. Washington County nearly doubled its population during that period, reaching approximately 49,000 residents. As the local cotton economy attracted Jewish newcomers, and as established Jewish families diversified their interests, Jews took part in a greater variety of businesses. I.B. Isenberg, for example, kept an inn and ran a store before building one of Mississippi’s largest ice factories. He became a major ice distributor in the Delta. Louis Elkas of Leota owned one of the area’s largest plantations; his son William “Willie” Elkas owned one of the town’s first movie theaters, in addition to the income he accrued as a planter.
At the turn of the century, three large, Jewish-owned department stores operated in downtown Greenville: Leyser & Co., Hafter’s, and Nelms & Blum. In addition to these stores were a number of Jewish-owned shops that catered to a more modest clientele, including Black customers who came from in-town and from the surrounding countryside. Sam Stein’s store proved the most historically significant of these. Stein emigrated from Russia in 1905 and spent time in New York before trying his hand as a peddler in the Mississippi Delta. After suffering a gunshot wound during a robbery on the road to Vicksburg, Stein settled in Greenville and began selling jewelry in front of Finlay’s Drug Store. With the help of local investors he opened a clothing store on Walnut Street in 1908. Several years later he married Fannie Aarenzon, whose father operated a shoe store in nearby Greenwood. The store, known simply as “Sam Stein,” maintained its focus on affordable clothing for working people for decades, and Sam’s grandson Jay Stein eventually expanded the business into the publicly traded Stein Mart chain.
Yetta and Isaac Weinberg, who arrived in Greenville in the 1870s, established another large Jewish family, and their son Joe Weinberg became a significant Jewish businessman in Greenville. Born in Greenville in 1876, he attended business college in the 1890s and returned to Greenville where he opened a haberdashery. He later founded The Leader, one of the first businesses in Greenville to mark prices on its goods, eliminating the need to bargain. Weinberg was most influential as chairman of the Board of the Greenville Bank and Trust Company, and as a civic leader and philanthropist. In 1911 he constructed the Weinberg Building, which housed the Greenville Bank on the ground floor and a variety of offices above. Judge J. David Orlansky rented an office in the Weinberg building in the 1950s and recalls that Joe Weinberg kept a wrench in the desk drawer of his bank office, so that he could perform maintenance on the building’s radiators himself.
The turn of the century brought a new rabbi to Greenville and, not long after, a new synagogue. Rabbi Abram Brill arrived from nearby Helena, Arkansas, (his first pulpit) in 1901. He had a prior connection to the growing city, as his wife, Edna, was the granddaughter of early Jewish leader Nathan Goldstein. Rabbi Brill helped raise funds for a new building, which was completed in 1906 at a cost of $30,000. The new synagogue was a near replica of the recently constructed B’nai Israel synagogue in Natchez, and it occupied the site of the former Greenville temple at the intersection of Main and Hinds Streets.
Yetta and Isaac Weinberg, who arrived in Greenville in the 1870s, established another large Jewish family, and their son Joe Weinberg became a significant Jewish businessman in Greenville. Born in Greenville in 1876, he attended business college in the 1890s and returned to Greenville where he opened a haberdashery. He later founded The Leader, one of the first businesses in Greenville to mark prices on its goods, eliminating the need to bargain. Weinberg was most influential as chairman of the Board of the Greenville Bank and Trust Company, and as a civic leader and philanthropist. In 1911 he constructed the Weinberg Building, which housed the Greenville Bank on the ground floor and a variety of offices above. Judge J. David Orlansky rented an office in the Weinberg building in the 1950s and recalls that Joe Weinberg kept a wrench in the desk drawer of his bank office, so that he could perform maintenance on the building’s radiators himself.
The turn of the century brought a new rabbi to Greenville and, not long after, a new synagogue. Rabbi Abram Brill arrived from nearby Helena, Arkansas, (his first pulpit) in 1901. He had a prior connection to the growing city, as his wife, Edna, was the granddaughter of early Jewish leader Nathan Goldstein. Rabbi Brill helped raise funds for a new building, which was completed in 1906 at a cost of $30,000. The new synagogue was a near replica of the recently constructed B’nai Israel synagogue in Natchez, and it occupied the site of the former Greenville temple at the intersection of Main and Hinds Streets.
Despite the completion of a new synagogue, complete with classrooms and a meeting hall, Greenville remained a small Jewish community by national standards. After Rabbi Brill departed in 1911, a succession of rabbis and rabbinical students passed through Greenville over the following decade. The arrival of Rabbi Samuel Rabbinowitz in 1921 brought about another era of rabbinical stability, as he remained spiritual leader of Hebrew Union Congregation until 1948.
Jews remained active in civic life, including educational endeavors, during the early 20th century. Theodore Pohl’s daughter Emma Ody Pohl instituted the first physical education program in the state in Greenville before moving to Columbus, Mississippi, to develop the physical education and recreation program at the Mississippi Industrial Institute and College (eventually known as Mississippi University for Women). Herman Solomon served as a teacher and principal in Greenville from the early 1920s until 1967 and was honored with a school named in his honor. During the final two years of his career he served as principal of the public high school, where he helped to manage the public school district’s voluntary desegregation.
Jews remained active in civic life, including educational endeavors, during the early 20th century. Theodore Pohl’s daughter Emma Ody Pohl instituted the first physical education program in the state in Greenville before moving to Columbus, Mississippi, to develop the physical education and recreation program at the Mississippi Industrial Institute and College (eventually known as Mississippi University for Women). Herman Solomon served as a teacher and principal in Greenville from the early 1920s until 1967 and was honored with a school named in his honor. During the final two years of his career he served as principal of the public high school, where he helped to manage the public school district’s voluntary desegregation.
The Great Flood and the Great Depression
By the time that the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in the Great Depression, Mississippi (among other southern states) had already experienced years of financial struggle. In the Delta, a brief boom in cotton profits ended in 1920 due to a national recession, falling prices, overproduction, and ongoing boll-weevil infestations. Despite the economic turmoil, Greenville was the largest Jewish community in the state, with 375 individuals in 1927.
That year brought a historic disaster to Greenville and the Delta, however. Heavy rains during the summer of 1926 had already raised river levels in the Midwest and upper South, and springtime snowmelt in the North exacerbated the situation the next year. When additional rainfall caused levee breaks 12 miles north of Greenville, the city found itself at the center of the most destructive flood in United States history. Water covered the entire town, and local residents—white and Black alike—fled to the high ground of the levee.
The flooding lasted through summer and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. The local Black population, most of whom worked as sharecroppers or tenant farmers, suffered most acutely. Although white Greenville residents escaped downriver to Vicksburg (safely situated on a bluff), powerful landowners such as LeRoy Percy barred thousands of Black workers from evacuating. In Washington County and other low-lying areas, Black refugees crowded into Red Cross camps only to find themselves forced into grueling flood-relief work, for which they received inadequate rations and no pay. The disaster’s death toll surpassed 1,000 people, and it had long lasting national consequences. The Federal government centralized flood control efforts in the Mississippi Valley, and historians view the flood as a factor in increased Black migration from affected areas to urban centers in the North and West.
Greenville Jews such as Ruth Blum, Alberta Lake, and Ben Wasson served as Red Cross volunteers during the flood. Ernest Waldauer, son of Louis and Lillie Waldauer, remained in town to participate in relief work. His mother had died two days before the levee break, and the family was forced to wait months for the water to recede before they could inter her body. In the aftermath of the flood and the subsequent Depression years, many Greenwood businesses, Jewish-owned or not, closed or had to acquire risky loans to remain solvent. Still, Greenville’s Jewish population increased, and an estimated 450 Jews lived in the city in 1937.
That year brought a historic disaster to Greenville and the Delta, however. Heavy rains during the summer of 1926 had already raised river levels in the Midwest and upper South, and springtime snowmelt in the North exacerbated the situation the next year. When additional rainfall caused levee breaks 12 miles north of Greenville, the city found itself at the center of the most destructive flood in United States history. Water covered the entire town, and local residents—white and Black alike—fled to the high ground of the levee.
The flooding lasted through summer and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. The local Black population, most of whom worked as sharecroppers or tenant farmers, suffered most acutely. Although white Greenville residents escaped downriver to Vicksburg (safely situated on a bluff), powerful landowners such as LeRoy Percy barred thousands of Black workers from evacuating. In Washington County and other low-lying areas, Black refugees crowded into Red Cross camps only to find themselves forced into grueling flood-relief work, for which they received inadequate rations and no pay. The disaster’s death toll surpassed 1,000 people, and it had long lasting national consequences. The Federal government centralized flood control efforts in the Mississippi Valley, and historians view the flood as a factor in increased Black migration from affected areas to urban centers in the North and West.
Greenville Jews such as Ruth Blum, Alberta Lake, and Ben Wasson served as Red Cross volunteers during the flood. Ernest Waldauer, son of Louis and Lillie Waldauer, remained in town to participate in relief work. His mother had died two days before the levee break, and the family was forced to wait months for the water to recede before they could inter her body. In the aftermath of the flood and the subsequent Depression years, many Greenwood businesses, Jewish-owned or not, closed or had to acquire risky loans to remain solvent. Still, Greenville’s Jewish population increased, and an estimated 450 Jews lived in the city in 1937.
Jewish Greenville in the Mid-20th Century
Greenville’s population grew quickly from 1930 until approximately 1960, when it peaked at more than 41,000 people. By that time the city also accounted for more than half of Washington County’s total residents. Jewish growth followed suit. In 1962 Hebrew Union Congregation claimed 200 member families, more than any other Mississippi congregation, and the Greenville Jewish population peaked at an estimated 700 individuals in the late 1960s.
Greenville developed a reputation for tolerance and cosmopolitanism in the postwar period, at least by the standards of segregation-era Mississippi, and local Jews remained significant contributors to local civic and business life. Sam Stein’s son Jake, for example, became president of the Chamber of Commerce in 1950. While Jewish families still owned many local businesses, an increasing number of Jewish men pursued professional careers, especially in law and medicine. (Eugene Bogen, son of Rabbi Joseph Bogen, had reportedly served as the first Jewish attorney in town beginning in 1897.) Jewish-owned Friedman Iron & Metal Co. was also a significant industrial operation in town. Other Jews worked in a variety of professions including education, architecture, management, postal service, and beverage distribution. Jewish women worked as nurses, retail clerks, store managers, and journalists.
While the Jewish population grew, Hebrew Union Congregation did experience a period of high rabbinical turnover after the departure of Rabbi Rabinowitz in 1948. Five rabbis served the congregation from 1949 to 1971, with only one—Rabbi Herbert Hendel—staying for longer than four years. He occupied the Greenville pulpit from 1952 to 1960.
Smaller communities in predominantly rural areas often had difficulty securing long-term rabbinical leadership, but providing spiritual leadership for Hebrew Union Congregation and other Deep South communities became increasingly challenging as the movement for Black civil rights gained prominence in the 1950s and 1960s. Greenville Jews had long participated in white, Christian society, whether in local politics, civic organizations, or the local country club. They generally accepted the laws and customs that structured racial segregation and white supremacy, and many local Jewish families had prospered in Jim Crow Mississippi. When national Jewish organizations aligned themselves with liberal integrationists in the 1950s and 1960s, southern rabbis and their congregants faced competing pressures. Liberal Jewish groups such as the Hebrew Union of American Congregations (UAHC) and the Anti-Defamation League purported to represent American Jews broadly and hoped that southern rabbis and lay leaders would support desegregation and the restoration of Black voting rights. Segregationists viewed Jews with heightened scrutiny, and some white supremacists threatened Jews with business boycotts and physical attacks in retribution for their perceived support of Black civil rights.
Greenville developed a reputation for tolerance and cosmopolitanism in the postwar period, at least by the standards of segregation-era Mississippi, and local Jews remained significant contributors to local civic and business life. Sam Stein’s son Jake, for example, became president of the Chamber of Commerce in 1950. While Jewish families still owned many local businesses, an increasing number of Jewish men pursued professional careers, especially in law and medicine. (Eugene Bogen, son of Rabbi Joseph Bogen, had reportedly served as the first Jewish attorney in town beginning in 1897.) Jewish-owned Friedman Iron & Metal Co. was also a significant industrial operation in town. Other Jews worked in a variety of professions including education, architecture, management, postal service, and beverage distribution. Jewish women worked as nurses, retail clerks, store managers, and journalists.
While the Jewish population grew, Hebrew Union Congregation did experience a period of high rabbinical turnover after the departure of Rabbi Rabinowitz in 1948. Five rabbis served the congregation from 1949 to 1971, with only one—Rabbi Herbert Hendel—staying for longer than four years. He occupied the Greenville pulpit from 1952 to 1960.
Smaller communities in predominantly rural areas often had difficulty securing long-term rabbinical leadership, but providing spiritual leadership for Hebrew Union Congregation and other Deep South communities became increasingly challenging as the movement for Black civil rights gained prominence in the 1950s and 1960s. Greenville Jews had long participated in white, Christian society, whether in local politics, civic organizations, or the local country club. They generally accepted the laws and customs that structured racial segregation and white supremacy, and many local Jewish families had prospered in Jim Crow Mississippi. When national Jewish organizations aligned themselves with liberal integrationists in the 1950s and 1960s, southern rabbis and their congregants faced competing pressures. Liberal Jewish groups such as the Hebrew Union of American Congregations (UAHC) and the Anti-Defamation League purported to represent American Jews broadly and hoped that southern rabbis and lay leaders would support desegregation and the restoration of Black voting rights. Segregationists viewed Jews with heightened scrutiny, and some white supremacists threatened Jews with business boycotts and physical attacks in retribution for their perceived support of Black civil rights.
In this environment, Greenville rabbis and their colleagues across the region mostly attempted to maintain low profiles. Rabbi Herbert Hendel did praise Delta Democrat-Times publisher Hodding Carter Jr.—a foe of the segregationist White Citizens’ Councils that emerged in Mississippi in the wake of the Brown v. Board of Education decision. At a statewide B’nai B’rith meeting in 1960, Rabbi Hendel claimed Carter was one of the reasons he moved to Greenville; the rabbi departed for a congregation in Levittown, Pennsylvania, the same year. Rabbi Hendel’s successor, Rabbi Allan Schwartzman, maintained a publicly neutral position on civil rights issues. He once refused to co-sign a letter with the infamous anti-Communist Rabbi Benjamin Schultz of Clarksdale (who viewed civil rights protestors as anti-American) but he also admonished Jackson’s Rabbi Perry Nussbaum for visiting incarcerated Freedom Riders at Parchman Penitentiary in 1961.
The members of Hebrew Union Congregation varied in their responses to the civil rights movement. Local Jewish business owners such as Jake Stein and Joe Weinberg supported Hodding Carter, who urged white Mississippians to accept the inevitability of desegregation. When the Citizens’ Council attempted to organize a boycott of advertising purchases in the Delta Democrat-Times, the Steins and other Jewish-owned businesses (and likeminded non-Jews) continued to take out ads. While Greenville Jews (like co-religionists elsewhere in the region) often expressed some sympathy for the cause of desegregation, the community did include supporters of segregation. According to Carter’s recollections, Hebrew Union Congregation even contemplated endorsing the Citizens’ Council, but Jake Stein’s leadership helped prevent the congregation from doing so. In 1956 congregation board members including Joe Weinberg signed a letter to UAHC president Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath urging the Reform movement not to support the cause of desegregation. They wrote that “it was the unanimous opinion of the board that segregation is not a religious issue and is not a Jewish issue.” In 1963 congregation president Bernard Goodman and Rabbi Schwartzman objected to the UAHC’s 1963 Biennial Convention, which took the title “A Call to Racial Justice” and featured Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as an invited speaker. Each sent letters to HUAC leadership, arguing that the association of Jews with the civil rights movement threatened the Greenville Jews’ position in local society.
Whereas the Greenville Jewish community remained officially neutral on the question of desegregation, some local Jews gained reputations for treating Black citizens with relative respect. Rabbi Abraham Rudderman ruffled feathers by speaking out against segregation in the late 1960s and earned recognition with local Black organizations for his interest in combating widespread poverty in the Black community. Goldie Williams, a Black woman from a family of sharecroppers and farm laborers, took a job at the S. Goodman store in the early 1950s, which allowed her to avoid the grueling conditions of cotton farming and frequent mistreatment by white farm bosses. At the store, she worked primarily for Sidney Goodman (one of three brothers who inherited the business from their father). Williams later recalled that when Goodman said “thank you” to her, she had “never heard that before” from a boss. Over more than four decades, Williams became close with Goodman and his wife, Corrine. Williams attended the Bar Mitzvah of their son Sam in the mid-1960s; they sat in the front row of her church at the funeral of her husband in 1989. The Goodmans also co-signed a loan with Williams when her son earned his admission to medical school. In 1996 Goldie William’s granddaughter Terri Williams wrote about this relationship and Sidney Goodman’s simple policy of “treat[ing] people like people.”
The members of Hebrew Union Congregation varied in their responses to the civil rights movement. Local Jewish business owners such as Jake Stein and Joe Weinberg supported Hodding Carter, who urged white Mississippians to accept the inevitability of desegregation. When the Citizens’ Council attempted to organize a boycott of advertising purchases in the Delta Democrat-Times, the Steins and other Jewish-owned businesses (and likeminded non-Jews) continued to take out ads. While Greenville Jews (like co-religionists elsewhere in the region) often expressed some sympathy for the cause of desegregation, the community did include supporters of segregation. According to Carter’s recollections, Hebrew Union Congregation even contemplated endorsing the Citizens’ Council, but Jake Stein’s leadership helped prevent the congregation from doing so. In 1956 congregation board members including Joe Weinberg signed a letter to UAHC president Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath urging the Reform movement not to support the cause of desegregation. They wrote that “it was the unanimous opinion of the board that segregation is not a religious issue and is not a Jewish issue.” In 1963 congregation president Bernard Goodman and Rabbi Schwartzman objected to the UAHC’s 1963 Biennial Convention, which took the title “A Call to Racial Justice” and featured Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as an invited speaker. Each sent letters to HUAC leadership, arguing that the association of Jews with the civil rights movement threatened the Greenville Jews’ position in local society.
Whereas the Greenville Jewish community remained officially neutral on the question of desegregation, some local Jews gained reputations for treating Black citizens with relative respect. Rabbi Abraham Rudderman ruffled feathers by speaking out against segregation in the late 1960s and earned recognition with local Black organizations for his interest in combating widespread poverty in the Black community. Goldie Williams, a Black woman from a family of sharecroppers and farm laborers, took a job at the S. Goodman store in the early 1950s, which allowed her to avoid the grueling conditions of cotton farming and frequent mistreatment by white farm bosses. At the store, she worked primarily for Sidney Goodman (one of three brothers who inherited the business from their father). Williams later recalled that when Goodman said “thank you” to her, she had “never heard that before” from a boss. Over more than four decades, Williams became close with Goodman and his wife, Corrine. Williams attended the Bar Mitzvah of their son Sam in the mid-1960s; they sat in the front row of her church at the funeral of her husband in 1989. The Goodmans also co-signed a loan with Williams when her son earned his admission to medical school. In 1996 Goldie William’s granddaughter Terri Williams wrote about this relationship and Sidney Goodman’s simple policy of “treat[ing] people like people.”
The Late 20th and Early 21st Centuries
Even as the overall population of the Mississippi Delta began to decline by midcentury, Greenville grew through 1960, in part due to the arrival of industrial businesses that had been attracted by the availability of inexpensive, non-unionized labor. As a result, Jewish Greenville flourished longer than some other Delta Jewish communities. Still, Jewish children from Greenville often attended college elsewhere and then moved to larger cities to pursue professional careers. By the mid-1980s, most of the family-owned stores that once lined Washington Avenue had gone out of business, and much of the downtown business district sat vacant.
In the 1970s Greenville experienced a decade of rabbinical stability under the leadership of Rabbi Sidney Strome and continued a radio program entitled “Adventures in Judaism” that educated local non-Jews about Jewish traditions. Hebrew Union Congregation also engaged in a variety of interfaith events with local churches, as they had done in past decades. After Rabbi Strome’s departure in the early 1980s, the congregation employed four more full-time rabbis, including Sylvan Wolf, who served the congregation in the late 1980s, left for a period, and returned during the 1990s. In 2000 Debra Kassoff became the congregation’s first student rabbi, and she served the congregation occasionally from 2003 to 2006, when she served as the Director of Rabbinical Services at the newly established ISJL. In 2010 the congregation hired Rabbi Kassoff, who lives in Jackson, as a part-time visiting rabbi. She generally leads Shabbat services twice a month, in addition to officiating lifecycle events and overseeing conversions.
By the end of the 20th century, Greenville’s Jewish population had fallen considerably. The city remained the primary hub of Delta Judaism, however, and continued to serve Jews from surrounding communities, some of which had already seen their own congregations close down. While the shrinking community and aging population changed Jewish life in the Delta, both longtime and more recent traditions persisted into the 21st century.
Hebrew Union Congregation’s annual Corned Beef Deli Luncheon, for example, originated as a Temple Sisterhood Fundraiser called the Deutsch (German) Dinner in the late 19th century. The menu featured roast beef with gravy, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, and cake. Although the congregation renamed the event the Dutch Dinner during World War I, it continued to employ the same recipes and drew a large crowd from the general community into the 1980s. At that point, the Temple Sisterhood moved to a less labor intensive, corned beef sandwich fundraiser. Jewish men also became more involved in the event over the years, as have a number of non-Jewish volunteers. In the early 21st century, staff members from the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life (ISJL) also made the two-hour drive to Greenville to assist with the preparation and distribution of more than 1,500 lunches. The luncheon fundraiser continued in 2022, despite the disruption caused by the covid-19 pandemic. Another popular fundraiser, the Delta Jewish Open, was a golf tournament that began in 1987 to raise money for Henry S. Jacobs Camp, the ISJL (after its founding in 2000), and other Jewish causes. The tournament attracted participants from well beyond Greenville and began each year with a ceremonial shofar blast. It continued annually until 2017.
In 2008 an estimated 120 Jews lived in the Greenville area, and that number decreased in subsequent years. As of 2022 Hebrew Union Congregation claims 50 member households, many of whom no longer live in the area. Their membership still includes Jews from the surrounding area, including Rolling Fork, Indianola, and Clarksdale, Mississippi, and Dumas and McGehee, Arkansas. In addition to regular Shabbat services and holiday celebrations, the synagogue maintains a religious school that served five children during the 2021-2022 school year. Although congregants from other towns continue to run retail stores, the last remaining Jewish retail store in Greenville is J’s Hub, owned by Barry Piltz.
As Greenville’s small Jewish population maintains an active presence in town—both as a community and as notable contributors to local civic life—they have also dedicated a significant portion of the Hebrew Union Congregation building to preserving their own long history. Lifelong congregant Benjy Nelken developed the Goldstein, Nelken, and Solomon Hebrew Union Congregation Century of History Museum starting in the synagogue library starting in the early 21st century. The collection includes a range of photographs, documents, and artifacts related to Jewish life. These include records from the Temple Sisterhood, photographs of confirmation classes, and pictures from Dachau concentration camp taken by Greenville resident Melvin Lipnick, who aided in the camp’s liberation as a U.S. Army sergeant in 1945. As a public repository for Jewish Greenville’s long and vibrant history, the museum also demonstrates the dedication of the area’s remaining Jews.
In the 1970s Greenville experienced a decade of rabbinical stability under the leadership of Rabbi Sidney Strome and continued a radio program entitled “Adventures in Judaism” that educated local non-Jews about Jewish traditions. Hebrew Union Congregation also engaged in a variety of interfaith events with local churches, as they had done in past decades. After Rabbi Strome’s departure in the early 1980s, the congregation employed four more full-time rabbis, including Sylvan Wolf, who served the congregation in the late 1980s, left for a period, and returned during the 1990s. In 2000 Debra Kassoff became the congregation’s first student rabbi, and she served the congregation occasionally from 2003 to 2006, when she served as the Director of Rabbinical Services at the newly established ISJL. In 2010 the congregation hired Rabbi Kassoff, who lives in Jackson, as a part-time visiting rabbi. She generally leads Shabbat services twice a month, in addition to officiating lifecycle events and overseeing conversions.
By the end of the 20th century, Greenville’s Jewish population had fallen considerably. The city remained the primary hub of Delta Judaism, however, and continued to serve Jews from surrounding communities, some of which had already seen their own congregations close down. While the shrinking community and aging population changed Jewish life in the Delta, both longtime and more recent traditions persisted into the 21st century.
Hebrew Union Congregation’s annual Corned Beef Deli Luncheon, for example, originated as a Temple Sisterhood Fundraiser called the Deutsch (German) Dinner in the late 19th century. The menu featured roast beef with gravy, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, and cake. Although the congregation renamed the event the Dutch Dinner during World War I, it continued to employ the same recipes and drew a large crowd from the general community into the 1980s. At that point, the Temple Sisterhood moved to a less labor intensive, corned beef sandwich fundraiser. Jewish men also became more involved in the event over the years, as have a number of non-Jewish volunteers. In the early 21st century, staff members from the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life (ISJL) also made the two-hour drive to Greenville to assist with the preparation and distribution of more than 1,500 lunches. The luncheon fundraiser continued in 2022, despite the disruption caused by the covid-19 pandemic. Another popular fundraiser, the Delta Jewish Open, was a golf tournament that began in 1987 to raise money for Henry S. Jacobs Camp, the ISJL (after its founding in 2000), and other Jewish causes. The tournament attracted participants from well beyond Greenville and began each year with a ceremonial shofar blast. It continued annually until 2017.
In 2008 an estimated 120 Jews lived in the Greenville area, and that number decreased in subsequent years. As of 2022 Hebrew Union Congregation claims 50 member households, many of whom no longer live in the area. Their membership still includes Jews from the surrounding area, including Rolling Fork, Indianola, and Clarksdale, Mississippi, and Dumas and McGehee, Arkansas. In addition to regular Shabbat services and holiday celebrations, the synagogue maintains a religious school that served five children during the 2021-2022 school year. Although congregants from other towns continue to run retail stores, the last remaining Jewish retail store in Greenville is J’s Hub, owned by Barry Piltz.
As Greenville’s small Jewish population maintains an active presence in town—both as a community and as notable contributors to local civic life—they have also dedicated a significant portion of the Hebrew Union Congregation building to preserving their own long history. Lifelong congregant Benjy Nelken developed the Goldstein, Nelken, and Solomon Hebrew Union Congregation Century of History Museum starting in the synagogue library starting in the early 21st century. The collection includes a range of photographs, documents, and artifacts related to Jewish life. These include records from the Temple Sisterhood, photographs of confirmation classes, and pictures from Dachau concentration camp taken by Greenville resident Melvin Lipnick, who aided in the camp’s liberation as a U.S. Army sergeant in 1945. As a public repository for Jewish Greenville’s long and vibrant history, the museum also demonstrates the dedication of the area’s remaining Jews.
Updated June 2022.
Acknowledgements and Selected Bibliography
Special acknowledgement goes to Benjy Nelken and his "Century of History" museum housed at Hebrew Union Temple.
David Cohn, “I've Kept My Name.” The Atlantic Monthly. April 1948.
Davidow, Fred. “A Remembrance of Greenville, Mississippi,” The Jewish Georgian. Jan. 1991.
Ginzl, David J. Stein Mart: An American Story of Roots, Family, and Building a Greater Dream. Tampa: The University of Tampa Press, 2004.
Ruderman, David. “Greenville Diary: A Northern Rabbi Confronts the Deep South, 1966-1970.” The Jewish Quarterly Review, 94, no. 4. 2004.
Solomon, H.W. The Early History of the Hebrew Union Congregation of Greenville, Mississippi, 1972.
Turitz, Leo E. and Evelyn Turitz. Jews in Early Mississippi. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1995.
Waldauer, Ernest. Interview. April 20, 1977. Oral History Project / Washington Co. Library System.
Williams, Terri. “Joined in Struggle 30 Years Ago By the Civil Rights Movement, Jews and African Americans have since Drifted Apart,” The Virginian-Pilot Norfolk, VA. July 7, 1996.
David Cohn, “I've Kept My Name.” The Atlantic Monthly. April 1948.
Davidow, Fred. “A Remembrance of Greenville, Mississippi,” The Jewish Georgian. Jan. 1991.
Ginzl, David J. Stein Mart: An American Story of Roots, Family, and Building a Greater Dream. Tampa: The University of Tampa Press, 2004.
Ruderman, David. “Greenville Diary: A Northern Rabbi Confronts the Deep South, 1966-1970.” The Jewish Quarterly Review, 94, no. 4. 2004.
Solomon, H.W. The Early History of the Hebrew Union Congregation of Greenville, Mississippi, 1972.
Turitz, Leo E. and Evelyn Turitz. Jews in Early Mississippi. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1995.
Waldauer, Ernest. Interview. April 20, 1977. Oral History Project / Washington Co. Library System.
Williams, Terri. “Joined in Struggle 30 Years Ago By the Civil Rights Movement, Jews and African Americans have since Drifted Apart,” The Virginian-Pilot Norfolk, VA. July 7, 1996.