Happy Chanukah - The Jewish Georgian

Page 16 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN November-December 2011
The Jews of Augusta, Part II
BY
Stuart
Rockoff
The late 19th century saw the arrival in
Augusta of growing numbers of Jewish
immigrants from Eastern Europe. A handful
came from the town of Kobren, located in
the Russian Pale. In 1889, five of these
immigrant families in Augusta formed a
small minyan in 1889 that met in Morris
Steinberg’s apartment, located above his
store. Steinberg had come to Augusta from
Russia in 1886, when he was 23 years old.
He became the leader of this small minyan,
which adhered to Orthodox Judaism, in
contrast to the Reform practices of Children
of Israel. Soon, the group brought in a
shochet, Abram Poliakoff, to supply them
with kosher meat. The minyan grew quickly,
reaching 100 Jews, many of whom were
single men.
As the minyan grew, divisions developed
over Jewish practices. Some of the
members did not keep their stores closed on
Saturdays, which upset other members of
the minyan. In 1890, a disgruntled faction
broke away to form a new minyan, which
they called the “Keep Saturday Society.”
Soon after, Jake Edelstein, who had been
one of the original founders of the
Orthodox minyan, broke away to form yet
another group.
In 1891, these three competing groups
merged to form Congregation Adas
Yeshurun. Jacob Tanenbaum was the first
president of the congregation, which initially
met in a building on Market Street. The
Orthodox congregation grew quickly, and,
in 1895, it purchased land for a synagogue.
Each of the sixty members pledged money
to the building fund, and Adas Yeshurun
soon built a modest synagogue for $1,800,
which included classrooms and a mikvah in
the basement.
Despite having a new home, Augusta’s
Orthodox Jews had not quelled all of their
divisions. In 1902, Adas Yeshurun split
over a dispute regarding the shochet. When
the congregation hired a new kosher butcher,
the old shochet, Abram Poliakoff, led a
breakaway group that prayed together on
Reynolds Street. After three years, the two
groups reunited as Adas Yeshurun, employing
both shochets. Both butchers were kept
busy as Augusta’s population of Orthodox
Jewish immigrants continued to grow.
By 1907, about 500 Jews lived in the
city. The Orthodox Adas Yeshurun had 65
member households, while the Reform
Children of Israel had only 42. In 1909, the
women of Adas Yeshurun founded the
Daughters of Israel, to raise funds for needy
Jews. Later, the group focused its charitable
efforts on the synagogue and Hebrew
school. By 1915, Adas Yeshurun had outgrown
its synagogue and purchased a former
church on Ellis Street to use as its new
home. True to its Orthodox practices, the
congregation outfitted the old church with a
balcony for female worshippers and a mikvah.
The interior of Adas Yeshurun
Over the years, the members of Adas
Yeshurun made some cultural accommodations
and religious innovations, while
remaining true to Orthodox Judaism. In
1930, the board, most of whom had been
raised in the United States, voted to change
the language of the annual meetings and
minutes from Yiddish to English. Also,
members were no longer satisfied with a
hazzan/shochet as service leader and hired
their first ordained rabbi, Henry
Goldberger, in 1944. Rabbi Goldberger
introduced some changes, including a
Friday night service, a mixed-gender confirmation
class, and a Sunday morning minyan
club for post-bar mitzvah boys. Despite
these innovations, the congregation
remained committed to Orthodox Judaism,
which was explicitly written into its 1949
constitution. According to this constitution,
“The Rabbi must be an ordained Orthodox
Rabbi.” The congregation continued to hold
minyans twice daily and still employed a
shochet.
Among the Orthodox shul’s leaders
was Aaron
Tanenbaum, who
became one of the
foremost Zionists in
the South. Sixteenyear-old
Tanenbaum
left Poland for the
United States in 1889
to join his father,
Jacob, who had settled
Aaron
Tanenbaum,
ardent Zionist
and longtime
leader of Adas
Yeshurun
in Augusta after peddling
for two years in
Georgia. Aaron peddled,
as well, during
his first two years in
Georgia, after which he
and his father had
enough money to bring
over the rest of the family from Poland.
In Poland, Aaron had been a Yeshiva
student. While studying Talmud was a far
cry from peddling in rural Georgia, Aaron
continued his studies informally.
Tanenbaum was an early, ardent Zionist,
forming Augusta’s Lovers of Zion, the first
Zionist organization in the Southeast,
around the turn of the century. In 1901,
Tanenbaum traveled as a delegate to the
World Zionist Congress in London. Over
the years, he attended several other Zionist
conventions. Tanenbaum was unwilling to
compromise his religious practices and
decided to buy a dairy farm so he could
more easily observe the Jewish Sabbath and
other rituals.
By 1907, Augusta had two Zionist
societies: the Lovers of Zion and the
Daughters of Zion. There was also a chapter
of the Jewish Socialist-Territorialist
Labor Party in Augusta, one of only two in
the entire South at the time.
While Tanenbaum worked as a dairy
farmer, most other Augusta Jews remained
concentrated in commercial trade. Jewishowned
stores lined Broad Street in downtown
Augusta. Brothers Jake and Charles
Schneider owned a large department store
in the first half of the 20th century. In 1894,
Henry Simowitz and his large family left
Hungary for the United States. After spending
several years in Cincinnati, the family
moved to Augusta, where Henry opened a
clothing store. Henry and his wife, Annie,
had eleven children; of their six sons, five
Broad Street, where many of
Augustaʼs Jews owned stores in the
early 20th century
remained in Augusta and owned a variety of
businesses. Sam and Joe Simowitz opened
the S&J Shoe Store; their younger brother,
Bernard, later became a partner in the business.
Harry Simowitz owned the Augusta
Trading Company, while Louis owned a
store that sold electric Victrolas.
Although Augusta’s Jewish community
remained divided into two different congregations,
they came together in 1935 to create
the Young Men’s Hebrew Association
(YMHA). The founding meeting was held
at Adas Yeshurun, though members of
Children of Israel played a crucial role in its
founding and success. One of these leaders
was Nathan Jolles, a local attorney who had
served as president of Adas Yeshurun and
vice-president of Children of Israel.
In 1935, the YMHA dedicated its first
building on Greene Street, which became a
social center and meeting place for the
entire Augusta Jewish community, in addition
to offering athletic and theatrical programs.
Augusta Mayor Richard Allen took
part in the building dedication. During
World War II, the YMHA building was used
as a USO club for Jewish soldiers stationed
at nearby Camp Gordon. In the 1950s, the
YMHA moved to a new property on Sibley
Road and became known as the Jewish
Community Center. Later, the JCC built a
new facility on Weinberger Way.
Originally known as the Young Menʼs
Hebrew Association, the Jewish
Community Center continues to
serve the Augusta Jewish community
today.
This article is excerpted from the ISJL
Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish
Communities. Readers are invited to learn
more about the history of Jewish communities
by visiting www.isjl.org and looking
under the History tab. The
Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern
Jewish Life (ISJL) considers the encyclopedia
to be a work in progress; it encourages
the public to contact Dr. Stuart Rockoff at
Rockoff@isjl.org with additional information
related to the history of Jewish communities
in Georgia or other communities
of the South. Throughout the thirteen-state
Southern region of the United States, ISJL,
an eleven-year-old grassroots organization,
is dedicated to providing educational and
rabbinic services, promoting a Jewish cultural
presence, and documenting and preserving
the rich history of the Southern
Jewish experience.
Next issue: The Jews of Augusta, Part
III—The evolution of the Jewish Community:
building, growing, and changing