THE NEWSLETTER OF THE SOUTHERN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY FALL 2020 VOLUME 24, NUMBER 4 Alfred Uhry to Inaugurate Lecture Series Honoring Janice Rothschild Blumberg

We are delighted to announce that the The Temple where her late husband Southern Jewish Historical Society Jacob Rothschild served as rabbi, and (SJHS), the Breman Museum, and The more. The series will feature noted Temple in Atlanta have established an scholars who will examine the cultural, endowment fund creating the Janice artistic, and historical themes that have Rothschild Blumberg Lecture Series on been interwoven through her life. Southern Jewish History, Culture and Alfred Uhry’s Driving Miss Daisy is part Arts. Alfred Uhry, the Pulitzer Prize- of a trilogy (with The Last Night of winning author of Driving Miss Daisy, Ballyhoo and Parade) that depicts Jewish will present the inaugural lecture, life in Atlanta, where he, like Janice, which will be held virtually on Sunday, was born and raised. He not only December 6, at 4 p.m. Eastern Time Top: Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta received the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for on Zoom. Scott King, Jacob dramatic writing, he also has won an Rothschild, and The annual event recognizes the Janice Rothschild Academy Award and two Tony contributions of Janice Rothschild at an Atlanta Awards—one of very few writers to Blumberg to both Atlanta and southern banquet honoring receive all three honors. King, 1965. Photo Jewish history. “Janice has helped to by Bill Rothschild. “We are excited to kick off this lecture shape the study of the American Jewish Bottom: Alfred series with Alfred Uhry, and we invite South throughout the 20th and now 21st Uhry, James Earl Jones, Boyd everyone to donate to the endowment century, and we want to honor her Gaines, and fund to help make it a success for years extraordinary contributions to southern Angela Lansbury to come,” said Jay Silverberg, SJHS culture, art, and Jewish history,” said during a 2013 revival of Driving incoming president. Phyllis Leffler, SJHS president. The Donations can Miss Daisy. be made at jewishsouth.org/ author of numerous books and articles, Wikicommons. Janice received the SJHS Samuel store/make-donation. (Be sure to Proctor Award for Outstanding Career highlight the Janice Rothschild Scholarship in Southern Jewish History. She is a former SJHS Blumberg Lecture category.) president and remains active in the Society. Her memoir What’s The December 6 lecture is free. To attend, register here: Next? Southern Dreams, Jewish Deeds and the Challenge of Looking Back While Moving Forward will be published in Spring 2021. bit.ly/3iVHbdS. While this first event will be held remotely, future lectures will rotate among the three sponsoring In addition to being an accomplished historian, Janice has led an organizations, with the 2021 lecture set for next fall’s SJHS eventful life as a native Atlantan, civil rights activist, leader of conference in Charleston.

Support Southern Jewish Archives—And Double Your Impact! Some years ago, former SJHS president Scott Langston and his wife Donna generously funded an SJHS archival grant program that enables the Society to support vital archival projects across the South. Recent grants have helped digitize a Memphis Jewish newspaper, preserve family papers in Norfolk, and assemble primary sources for a virtual museum in Augusta. In addition to their regular yearly contribution, the Langstons have pledged an annual matching grant. If the Society can raise $500, the couple will match it, boosting the fund by $1000 annually. Each year, worthy grant requests go unfunded for lack of sufficient funds. These new dollars can go a long way toward preserving and making accessible the critical documents of southern Jewish history. To donate and help us earn the match, go online to jewishsouth.org/store/make-donation, click on “Grants,” and specify “Langston Archival Grants” on the Checkout page. Thanks in advance for your support!

Find us on Facebook. Search for “Southern Jewish Historical Society.” Visit our website: jewishsouth.org. 1. President’s Message By Phyllis Leffler Officers and Board 2020 In normal times, this would be the newsletter you’d receive right before PRESIDENT the start of another conference. In normal times, my message would say Phyllis Leffler that I look forward to seeing you at our conference site (in this case, VICE PRESIDENT Charleston). These are not normal times—and yet, the one thing that has Jay Silverberg a ring of normalcy about it is that our SJHS work proceeds. SECRETARY This, then, is my last column as president. It has been a privilege to serve Marni Davis in this role. Despite being involved in the Society’s committee work for TREASURER years, I have learned so much about the collaborative, thoughtful, David Meola imaginative, and engaged people who participate as members, committee chairs, and office holders. I deeply appreciate the support and IMMEDIATE PAST cooperation I have received from the people who do the work of the PRESIDENT organization—handling our finances, overseeing membership, making Dan J. Puckett decisions about grants, producing our journal and newsletter, and organizing our conferences. BOARD OF DIRECTORS Truly, SJHS runs very smoothly because of its collaborative nature. Sharon Fahrer Joshua Furman As I review this past year since Charlottesville, a good chunk of it has occurred with the constraints Eric Goldstein of COVID. Thanks to members of the board, we have pivoted to a virtual Zoom environment and Dana Herman we have been able to bring you meaningful programs. Throughout the summer, we co-hosted six Jeremy Katz very strong programs with the Breman Museum. I sincerely thank board member Jeremy Katz, Stephen Krause director of the Cuba Archives at the Breman, for reaching out to us with this opportunity. In Adam Meyer October, SJHS@Home presented weekly programs to suggest a taste of what the Charleston Josh Parshall conference might have looked like. I am deeply grateful to board members Shari Rabin, assistant Shari Rabin professor at Oberlin College, and Josh Parshall, director of history at the Institute of Southern Ellen Umansky Jewish Life, for organizing this series. Bernie Wax (emeritus) The rest of the work of SJHS has occurred CORRESPONDING SECRETARY seamlessly, as we have held virtual board meetings Shari Rabin when needed. Treasurer David Meola has been amazingly responsive while teaching his courses JOURNAL EDITOR from home, managing life with young children, and Mark Bauman organizing an international move! Ellen Umansky 678.828.7484 [email protected] has done a double job as chair of the nominations committee and membership co-chair, as well as JOURNAL MANAGING EDITOR advisor any time I needed her. Eric Goldstein has Bryan Edward Stone chaired our grants committee with incredible [email protected] thoughtfulness and competence, pivoting to focus on the kinds of grants that are feasible in our JOURNAL FOUNDING current environment. Mark Bauman and Bryan MANAGING EDITOR Stone continue to produce a superb journal, and Rachel Heimovics Braun Deb Weiner constantly produces the Rambler with RAMBLER EDITOR interesting and meaningful articles. And, of course, Deborah R. Weiner Barbara Tahsler is simply indispensable for keeping Send editorial inquiries to our membership records and always being ready to [email protected]. Phyllis Leffler and Jeremy Katz in Charlottesville, 2019. send out materials as needed. It really does take a Photo by Dale Rosengarten. Send address changes to: village! I am grateful to all of them and will miss Barbara Tahsler our regular interactions. SJHS continued on page 5… PO Box 71601 Marietta, GA 30007-1601 [email protected] New Officers and Board Member Elected for 2021 MEMBERSHIP CO-CHAIRS At the October 25 membership meeting (held virtually), Jay Silverberg was elected president of Ellen Umansky the Society. He takes over from Phyllis Leffler, who will remain on the board as immediate past- 914.428.0289 president. Josh Parshall was elected vice president/president-elect. [email protected] Bruce Beeber Karen Franklin was welcomed as a new board member. A noted genealogist, Karen is director 770.399.4222 of family history at Leo Baeck Institute in New York City. She is a past chair of the Council of [email protected] American Jewish Museums and JewishGen.org. An active SJHS member for many years, her essay “Resources for Southern Jewish History: A Family History Perspective,” co-authored with © 2020 Southern Jewish Historical Society Anton Hieke, appears in the current issue of the Society’s journal.

Rambler, Fall 2020 2. SJHS@Home Serves Up Diverse Program Mix

In place of our annual conference, the Society’s SJHS@Home transformed into “Rosh Hashanah Jam Cake,” served in the series in October used the Zoom format in creative ways to Cohen household each year to represent “the flavor and hope engage audiences in a diverse mix of topics related to southern for a sweet New Year.” Jewish history and culture. The three sessions The goal of the series offered a variety of was not only to entry points for people present historical interested in southern content, but also “to Jewish history. The bring together the “Virtual Museum” community that appealed to people surrounds SJHS in the with personal absence of a physical connections to the conference,” said co- topic and drew from organizers Shari museum studies and Rabin of Oberlin material culture College and Josh methodologies. Parshall of the “Distinctive or Institute of Southern Typical?,” the most Jewish Life. The series “academic” also offered the presentation of the opportunity to attract three, addressed new participants, both important scholars and “lay” historiographical people. Jam cake, before, during, and after. Top left: questions in the study Ferris called her mother’s recipe box a Around 45 people “conversation” between women of different of southern and backgrounds and generations. Bottom left: American Jews. The participated in the Ferris in action, on Zoom. Photos by Deborah innovative one-night Weiner. Above: The finished product, served cooking demonstration with a nice glass of whiskey. Courtesy of used the popular genre “Virtual Southern Marcie Cohen Ferris. Jewish Museum” of food media to conducted by Anna Tucker, curator of the Museum of the discuss Jewish identity, Southern Jewish Experience. Attendees brought their own local community, and relationships between Jews and non- southern Jewish artifacts to this interactive discussion about what Jews. The series “not only replicated what happens at an SJHS objects can tell us about the past. They enjoyed sharing stories conference, but used Zoom to its full advantage, allowing us to about their objects in break-out groups, which reported their go into people’s homes and create conversations across findings back to the entire gathering. Several participants geographical distances,” noted Rabin. expressed interest in replicating the program in their own communities. More than 60 people attended “Distinctive or Typical? Baltimore and the Writing of Urban Jewish History,” with Eric A Workshop for New Scholars Goldstein and Deborah Weiner, co-authors of On Middle Ground: In addition to its three public programs, SJHS@Home A History of the Jews of Baltimore. Josh Parshall moderated a sponsored an online workshop on November 6 pairing up- discussion of how one of the oldest forms of southern—and and-coming scholars with established scholars to discuss American—Jewish history, the local community study, can be works in progress. Four graduate students and early career updated to reveal more about the complexities of the Jewish historians were invited to share papers on southern Jewish experience by paying closer attention to local contexts. history with designated readers who have addressed Some 54 people enjoyed “SJHS in the Kitchen: A Southern similar topics in their own work. At the workshop, each Jewish Cooking Demo.” Marcie Cohen Ferris, author of the new scholar introduced their work, the reader offered classic Matzo Ball Gumbo: Culinary Tales of the Jewish South and a comments, and the discussion was opened to the group. Blytheville, Arkansas native, discussed the role food played in her Topics ranged from pre-Civil War Jewish encounters with family’s hybrid southern and Jewish identity, with additional enslavement and abolitionism to Jewish political figures in remarks by food scholar Margaret Weinberg Norman. Ferris the Sunbelt South more than a century later. The then prepared a jam cake from a “very southern workshop filled an important function of the annual recipe” (featuring copious amounts of homemade blackberry conference: welcoming new thinkers to the field and jam) her mother, Huddy Cohen, learned from a non-Jewish connecting them with resources and guidance. friend. Under Huddy’s care, the classic southern dish

Rambler, Fall 2020 3. Moses Ezekiel’s Confederate Memorial Provokes Criticism The Confederate sanitized.” The Memorial at monument’s scenes Arlington National include an enslaved Cemetery, created by woman handing a acclaimed southern baby to its Jewish sculptor Confederate-officer Moses Jacob Ezekiel, father and an has come under enslaved man increased scrutiny following his ever since the Unite “master” off to war. the Right rally in Sculptor Moses Jacob Ezekiel is buried at the base of the Confederate Memorial, as are three other Confederate veterans. Wikicommons. Among the critics are Charlottesville in Ezekiel’s descendants. 2017. “While there “Like most such monuments, this statue intended to rewrite are many Rebel monuments on federal property” in battlefields, history to justify the Confederacy and subsequent racist Jim cemeteries, and parks, the Washington Post noted shortly after the Crow laws,” they wrote in a subsequent letter to the Post. “As rally, “the Confederate Memorial stands out, opponents say, for proud as our family may be of Moses’s artistic prowess, we— its location on sacred space in Arlington and its offensive some twenty Ezekiels—say remove that statue.” The U.S. Army, depiction of slaves.” Even the cemetery’s website now which manages the cemetery, recently stated that it is reviewing deprecates the 1914 memorial’s “nostalgic, mythologized vision its policy regarding the “display of divisive symbols” at of the Confederacy” and calls its portrayal of slavery “highly Arlington, including the memorial.

A Source of Light: Exhibit to Honor 100 Years of Jewish Life in Aiken By Steve Silver

Adath Yeshurun Synagogue in Aiken, South Carolina, will Jewish merchants operated more than 20 stores in downtown celebrate the 100th anniversary of its charter in 2021. We will Aiken. mark this impressive milestone with a series of events, including ‣ We have put a spotlight on the impact that Jewish families an exhibit at the Aiken County Historical Museum which will have had on civic life in Aiken and beyond, including a two- run from March to May. term mayor of Aiken, a seven-term South Carolina state A Source of Light: Celebrating Congregation, Commerce and Community legislator, multiple city council members, and leaders of civic will highlight the role that Jewish merchants and their families and nonprofit groups such as the Masons, American Legion, have played in the history of Aiken. Supported by an SJHS Red Cross, and Boy Scouts. completion grant, the exhibit The story illustrates a culture builds on work by the Jewish of tolerance and Historical Society of South inclusiveness that is part of Carolina. the attraction of Aiken to all While small in numbers, the who live here—Jewish or not Aiken Jewish community has —that we hope will continue had an outsized impact on to be “a source of light” to commercial and civic affairs. us all and an inspiration to Here are key findings the people everywhere, exhibit will explore: especially in today’s world that is filled with too much ‣ We were surprised to discover that the Aiken hatred and division. Jewish community dates The outlines of A Source of Left: Adath Yeshurun Synagogue, Aiken. Right: Peddler's license. Courtesy of Adath as far back as the 1850s Yeshurun Synagogue. Light can be seen in a short and includes an video at youtu.be/ appearance by Gustav Poznanski, an early (and controversial) vqU57cH5nsw. To learn more and get updates on anniversary figure in Reform Judaism in Charleston. events, please join the A Source of Light Facebook community at facebook.com/A-Source-of-Light-105359361224008. We ‣ We were delighted to find the original peddler licenses of early Jewish residents (some dating to the 1890s), many of expect to hold some events via Zoom for those not able to join whom went on to open stores in town and become leaders in us in Aiken. establishing the synagogue. Steve Silver, member of the Adath Yeshurun Synagogue and the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina, is project leader of the A Source of ‣ We have identified and profiled more than 40 Jewish businesses and documented that at their peak in the 1950s, Light exhibit.

Rambler, Fall 2020 4. A Racial Reckoning: Judah P. Benjamin Revisited By Stephen Whitfield and Marcia Jo Zerivitz

The career of Judah P. Benjamin managed to make his escape by sea to (1811–1884) was once considered Bimini and then on to England. rather unproblematic. The “brains of He was not forgotten. In 1925, the the Confederacy” exemplified the Judah P. Benjamin Chapter of the upward mobility that immigrant Jews United Daughters of the could achieve in the South. Confederacy dedicated the site, which In 1951, for instance, They All Are Jews the taxpayers of the state of Florida was published to inspire young maintain as a state park to this day. readers in particular to honor their Because no major Civil War battles co-religionists. Mac Davis’s five dozen were waged in Florida, the Gamble iconic figures began with Moses the Mansion constitutes a rare lieu de Lawgiver and included Judah mémoire of the Lost Cause in the state. Benjamin, Esq., who was until then The cause for which Benjamin fought the only American Jew ever to have and risked his life was also deemed served as a secretary of state. Without worthy of state protection. Exactly a mentioning slavery, Davis’s book decade after the publication of They highlighted Benjamin’s rags-to-riches All Are Jews, for example, Florida ascent and asserted that “his enacted a law making it a crime “to monument in the South are [sic] the mutilate, deface, [or] defile . . . the heroic legends which have been built flag or emblem of the Confederate around his deeds” (p. 49). States of America.” That law, which In 2020, with a long-overdue national exposed the continuity of the reckoning addressing the Confederate secession with the consequences of the slavery that the Top: The Gamble Mansion. Wikicommons. Bottom: This doctored segregationist defiance of civil rights, photo on the petition’s web page envisions a new sign for the state Confederacy sought to protect, the park. Change.org. is still on the books. slaveholding Benjamin is far more By the summer of 2020, both of these likely to induce embarrassment than pride. He can no longer be anomalies were bound to attract notice. The activist seeking to venerated even among southern Jews, who historically struggled rectify injustice is John Sims, a Black, Sarasota-based conceptual to secure their place in a region once notorious for its demands artist. He has organized a petition that seeks to “rename and re- for political and social conformity. contextualize the Judah P. Benjamin Confederate Memorial at But even as the equestrian statues of Confederate generals are Gamble Plantation Historic State Park, out of recognition of the being defaced and removed, consigned to the scrap heap or to horrific legacy of American slavery and the journey towards a historical museums, an anachronism remains in Manatee more inclusive and socially just society.” Sims is seeking to get County, Florida. There, in Ellenton, visitors can inspect the the Confederate flag law repealed too. Gamble Mansion and Judah P. Benjamin Confederate Memorial To sign Sims’s petition, go to: change.org/p/state-of-florida- state historical site. At this mansion, the close collaborator and repeal-florida-laws-honoring-confederate-flag-holiday-rename- counselor of President Jefferson Davis, fleeing for his life, hid out confederate-state-park in May 1865, a month after the surrender of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. From the second floor, the former Stephen Whitfield is professor of American studies emeritus, Brandeis U.S. senator from Louisiana and fugitive from Federal justice University. Marcia Jo Zerivitz, cultural anthropologist, author, curator, could scour the horizon for Union soldiers. From that site he lecturer, and nonprofit consultant, is founding executive director of the Jewish Museum of Florida–FIU.

President’s Message …continued from page 2

As I prepare to leave the role of president, I know that the Society will be in incredibly good hands with Jay Silverberg. He and I have worked as a team these past two years, and his energy and commitment are boundless. I have benefited from his sage counsel and his numerous ideas for the growth of the Society. Jay has chaired our development committee and brings his lifetime engagement in journalism, corporate communications, and nonprofit involvement to the table. I plan to work closely with him as past president to continue to focus, as best we can, to develop our financial resources so that we can continue to do more for our members. Finally, I am thrilled to announce the launch of the Janice Rothschild Blumberg annual lecture/symposium. Please make sure to read about the exciting details on the front page. I look forward to finally seeing you all in person at our conference in Charleston next fall!

Rambler, Fall 2020 5. Memphis Synagogue Placed on National Historic Register By Lynnie Mirvis

This summer, the Anshei to more affluent Sphard-Beth El Emeth neighborhoods to the east. Synagogue in Memphis Prominent Memphis was awarded the honor of architect Francis Mah, placement on the National together with Keith Kays, Register of Historic Places designed the unique for both historic and synagogue building, which architectural significance. opened in 1970 as a The Modern Orthodox notable example of 20th- synagogue, nestled in a century Modernism and residential neighborhood, won awards for its has long been a gathering innovative design, place for the Memphis according to historic Jewish community for preservationist Kelsey Torah learning and prayer, Lamkin. Mah studied the Hanukah dinners, Anshei Sphard-Beth El Emeth Synagogue, Memphis. Wikicommons. Hebrew Bible for Jerusalem Day picnics, and inspiration and used the Purim carnivals. colors of the Mishkan ASBEE, as it is often called, is best known for its International (Tabernacle)—silver, scarlet, purple, and periwinkle-blue—to Kosher BBQ Festival and Competition. The first of its kind in design the interior. the world, the 32-year-old festival has attracted thousands of The congregation recently sold the building after making the participants, including halal-observant Muslims as well as Jews decision to move closer to the heart of the Orthodox from the community and beyond. community, about a mile south. It is unclear what the new ASBEE was created through a 1966 merger of two Orthodox owner, a local real estate company, plans to do with the building. synagogues, Anshei Sphard and Beth El Emeth, which have th Lynnie Mirvis is a community storyteller, maggid-educator, and co-vice roots in the 19 century. The congregations followed their president for programming for the Jewish Historical Society of Memphis members, who migrated from the historic Pinch neighborhood and the Mid-South.

SOUTHERN JEWISH HISTORY, Volume 23 The editors of Southern Jewish History, the annual peer-reviewed conducting historical research and provide a detailed case study journal of the Southern Jewish Historical Society, proudly of an extended German-Jewish family in South Carolina. announce publication of Volume 23 (2020). In addition, as always, the volume includes book, The issue represents the diversity and vitality of exhibit, website, and film reviews. the field of southern Jewish history. In th SJHS members receive the journal as a commemoration of the 100 anniversary of the membership benefit. Also, the first 21 volumes passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, two (1998–2018) are free to download on the articles focus on women’s activism. Leonard Society’s website. Due to the COVID crisis, print Rogoff examines the involvement of southern copies are not currently available for purchase, Jews in the women’s suffrage movement, while but the latest two volumes can be purchased in Diane C. Vecchio provides case studies of Jewish electronic (pdf) format for $10 each or $7 per women in South Carolina whose progressive article. Go to jewishsouth.org for downloads and activism deeply affected that state and expanded online ordering, or e-mail gender-defined social boundaries. [email protected]. David Weinfeld notes the impact of the Lost The first 21 volumes are also available for full- Cause mindset in describing the participation of text searching and free download on Virginia Jews in commemorations of the Civil academia.edu. Please visit our page at War centennial and the tercentenary of Jewish independent.academia.edu/ life in America. Timothy Quevillon offers a deep SouthernJewishHistory. study of Houston Conservative rabbi Moshe Cahana, whose civil rights activism in the 1950s and 1960s was Southern Jewish History is always seeking scholarly articles for rooted in his youth in British Mandate Palestine. In the annual consideration. To discuss or submit a potential article relating to Primary Sources section, Karen S. Franklin and Anton Hieke the southern Jewish experience, please contact the editor, Mark clarify the value of genealogical and foreign language sources in K. Bauman, at [email protected] or 678.428.3622.

Rambler, Fall 2020 6. NEWS AND NOTES E-Journal on Race/Ethnicity in Texas Features Fort Worth Jews Asheville Exhibit Continues to Reach Audiences As racial uprisings spread this summer, the Southwestern The Family Store: A History of Historical Quarterly quickly Jewish Businesses in Downtown compiled a digital issue with 20 Asheville from 1880-1990 is on previously published articles on display at the D. Hiden Ramsey the theme, “An Honest Past: Library at the University of Violence, Race, and Ethnicity North Carolina-Asheville through in Texas History.” Among the November. Since its creation by essays is “Tied and Tethered SJHS members Sharon Fahrer (Geknippt und Gebinden): Jews in and Jan Schochet in 2005, the Early Fort Worth,” by SJHS exhibit has been displayed in the past-president Hollace Ava Fort Worth Jewish Archives at Beth-El windows of downtown businesses, at the Osher Lifelong Learning Congregation. Weiner. Other articles address Institute, and at Asheville’s library and its art museum, as well as a freed slave settlement, the Congregation Beth HaTephila. Adapted into a book, it also serves Chinese in Texas, miscegenation, a Pueblo Indian tribe, and as the basis of a Jewish walking tour. In addition, at six campus Progressive-era Mexicana maternalism. The e-journal is available buildings and a track named for members of the Jewish community, at no cost from the Texas State Historical Association, panels have been placed that document their namesakes. tshaonline.org/publications/an-honest-past. The exhibit can be viewed virtually at history-at-hand.com or toto.lib.unca.edu/web_exhibits/family_store/

Michael Cohen to Speak on “Cotton Capitalists” A Poet Returns to Meyerland Michael R. Cohen, Tulane University professor and SJHS Acclaimed poet David Biespiel offers a member, will deliver the Adolph and Ruth Schnurmacher Lecture nostalgic yet barbed memoir of growing in Judaic Studies sponsored by the Bennett Center for Judaic up in Houston’s Meyerland district in his Studies at Fairfield University, Connecticut, on Thursday, recently published book, A Place of Exodus: December 3, at 7:30 p.m. The Zoom webinar is free and open to Home, Memory, and Texas. His lyrical writing the public. evokes the Yiddishkeit of this historically Jewish neighborhood even as he obsesses Cohen will draw from his book Cotton Capitalists: American Jewish over a boyhood quarrel with a local rabbi Entrepreneurship in the Reconstruction Era in discussing how Jewish that set him on a path of exile from the success in the cotton industry of the post-Civil War South “insularity” of Judaism. Much of the book influenced the economic restructuring of the region. To attend, focuses on Biespiel’s daylong return to please register at: fairfield.edu/bennettprograms. Meyerland after decades of living away from Texas, as he meditates on the meaning of home and explicates the bittersweet realities of age, youth, and family. Available at amazon.com. Mickve Israel Creates Free Virtual Tour Congregation Mickve Israel in Savannah, New Name, New Leader in North Carolina dating from 1733 and the third oldest Jewish Jewish Heritage North Carolina (formerly the Jewish Heritage congregation in the Foundation of North Carolina) welcomed Samantha Abramson U.S., usually hosts more on board as acting director in July. She brings over a decade of than 12,000 visitors experience at museums and Jewish nonprofits, including the annually. We closed to National Museum of American History, U.S. Holocaust the public in March Memorial Museum, Jewish Museum Milwaukee, and most because of COVID-19, recently as museum educator for the forthcoming Capital Jewish and not having our Museum in Washington, D.C. docent-led tours has kept people from touring our historic neo- Gothic sanctuary and award-winning museum. This strategic hire marks an important milestone as JHNC prepares to reinvigorate its mission and programming. The group So what did we do? We created a free virtual tour, so folks can plans to widen its audience with a focus on family programs and discover our incredible story from the comfort of their own looks forward to forging partnerships with institutions across the homes. We certainly hope everyone will want to visit us in person state and region. Samantha welcomes your responses at when we reopen. In the meantime, take the Virtual Tour at [email protected]. cmitour.org and enjoy!

Rambler, Fall 2020 7. Non-Profit.Org U.S. Postage CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED PAID SJHS NEWSLETTER Permit No. 134 PO Box 71601, Marietta, GA 30007-1601 Jackson, MS www.jewishsouth.org

We Need YOU to Renew! Annual membership dues serve as the Society’s major source of funding. This year, because our conference was canceled, many members have not yet renewed and we are faced with a shortfall. Please renew your membership today! (And consider making an extra donation.)

To renew, join as a new member, or donate online—or to find out how to send a check by mail—visit jewishsouth.org/store/annual-membership. For info on your membership status contact Barbara Tahsler at [email protected].

The SJHS advances the study, preservation, and presentation of the Jewish experience in the American South. We award prizes and research grants, publish original scholarship, support exhibitions, hold a stimulating annual conference, and sponsor creative virtual programming. Members receive the quarterly Rambler and our annual journal, Southern Jewish History. 8.