A Shtetl Grew in Bessemer - Southern Jewish Historical Society

BARR/A SHTETL GREW IN BESSEMER 27
active in the temple they came when we asked them to, so that
we could have a minyan. 125
It could be that in Bessemer, as in other communities across
America, the younger generation did not share the same ties that
the preceding generations had to tradition and place, especially if
that place were a small town. However, another way of looking at
their exodus is that this younger generation wanted to relive the
experiences of the older generation that challenged them to explore
and discover new areas of prosperity for themselves and
their families-to-be. While certainly the Jews who came to
Bessemer in the 1880s and 1890s were also establishing traditions
in a new place, the suburbanization of America in the 1950s surely
caught up this younger generation, who not only wanted their
own space to establish their own traditions and family but who
also wanted to be like other prosperous Americans. Thus, while
increasing assimilation and intermarriage with non-Jews certainly
affected some of Bessemer’s younger Jews and caused Bessemer’s
Jewish population to dwindle, the lure of greater economic mobility
and prosperity and of a stronger, more secure and
established Jewish community motivated others to leave home. 126
Additionally, Bessemer itself was declining economically by this
period. In the late 1940s, the mines in south Bessemer closed, and
in the 1960s, the Rolling Mill shut down, and Pullman and nearby
TCI began laying off workers. In the 1950s it was clear that unless
you wanted to go into your father’s business, there was little opportunity
to enter a new business or profession outside of
practicing law. And again, without a full-time rabbi, Bessemer’s
temple could hardly be as attractive as congregations with regular
religious leaders.
Nonetheless a definite Jewish presence remained in Bessemer
through the 1960s. In 1962 the city celebrated its diamond jubilee,
and Jewish citizens served prominently on the jubilee committees.
In 1966 Bennett Cherner served as the Jubilee Historical Book
Business Manager and was assisted by Sam Picard and Sidney
Sokol. The directors of the jubilee itself included Jack Kartus, son
of Kartus Korner owner Harry Kartus, Frank Sachs whose family
owned Sachs Furniture Store, and Ralph Sokol. The apogee of the