Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on December 26, 2021

Ben Steelman| StarNews Correspondent

Beverly Tetterton spent 31 years heading the local history section of the New Hanover County Public Library, and she's written a shelf of books on county history, including "Wilmington: Lost But Not Forgotten," "MaritimeWilmington" and (with Dan Camacho) "A Brief History of Wilmington."

Currently, Tetterton is board president of the Temple of Israel, and as part of its current "Restoration 150" fundraising campaign, she's written a history of the 146-year-old congregation.

"A History of the Temple of Israel" is a little pricey at $100, but proceeds go toward the $500,000 the Temple needs to repair damagefrom Hurricanes Florence and Dorian.

More: Historic Wilmington synagogue needs 'urgent' repairs, estimate cost at $500,000

"The History of the Temple of Israel" may be ordered by check by writing to the Temple of Israel,922 Market St., Wilmington28401(attention: Restoration 150 Fund).Purchase online atTemple-of-israel.org.

Instead of an academic history.Tetterton'sbook is laid out like a family album, black-and-white, with blocks of textand plenty of photos. There's a lot about the Port City here, of interest to Jews and Gentiles alike.

Although circumstantial evidence suggests a Jewish presence on the Lower Cape Fear as early as 1740, nothing was organized until 1852, when a group of German immigrants organized a Jewish burial society. This led to the "Hebrew Cemetery" section of Oakdale.

More: See inside The Temple of Israel

The 1840s and 1850s brought a wave of Jewish migration from Germany to Wilmington, Tetterton notes. The Civil War brought even more, as Jewish merchants flocked to the city as part of the blockade-running trade or as purchasing agents for the Confederate government.

In 1872, about 40 families banded together to begin organizing a synagogue. A cornerstone waslaidon July 15, 1875, at the corner of Fourth and Market streets. Samuel Sloan, the Philadelphia-based architectwho worked widely through the South, produced a "Moorish Revival" design for the new building. James Walker was the local architect and supervising contractor. (Older Wilmingtonians will remember James Walker Memorial Hospital, built at his bequest.) When the Temple was dedicated on May 12, 1876, it was the first Jewish house of worship in North Carolina.

Although the congregation hasalways been on the small side(around 200 families today), the Temple has had an outsized role in Wilmington life. In 1886, when Front Street Methodist Episcopal Church burned to the ground, the Temple allowed the Methodiststo hold Sunday services in their building for two years. In 1939, when vandals painted swastikas on the Temple doors, Mayor Thomas E. Cooper led police to the scene and personally aided in scrubbing the Nazi symbols off.

Tetterton highlights some of Temple's notable rabbis, including Rabbi Samuel Mendelsohn, who served from 1876 to 1922. A scholar of ancient Hebrew laws and courts, he was respected throughout the community. When Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany, died, Rabbi Mendelsohn delivered the eulogy at a memorial service at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in fluent, academic German.

Rabbi Mordecai Thurman, who saw the Temple through World War II, spoke regularly at African American churches throughout the region and delivered a memorable lecture on Hitler's "Mein Kampf" in 1940 in the auditorium at New Hanover High School.

In 2018, the Temple installed Emily Losben-Ostrovas its first female rabbi.

The book includes a full list of the Templerabbis and congregation presidents. A separate chapter covers the historyof the Concordia Society, the Temple's active women's auxiliary.

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'THE HISTORY OF THE TEMPLE OF ISRAEL'

By Beverly Tetterton

privately published;special edition, $100

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Book on Wilmington's Jewish history helps raise money for Temple of Israel renovations - StarNewsOnline.com

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