Congregation B'nai Israel is one of the oldest reform congregations in West Tennessee. Leaders of the congregation are certain that there was a small congregation in Jackson prior to 1885. Tombstone inscriptions in the old cemetery on Madison Street show dates prior to 1875. All the remains were moved to the new cemetery on Hollywood Drive, then called Neeley Street.
The Jackson Jewish community has a long and rich history with the first congregation being formed in the mid-1850s.
DN English, local historian, has found through her research that when Jackson was incorporated in 1824 there were already Jews living in the "West Tennessee Territory", which is what the area was called previously. By 1825 Jews living in Jackson were listing in the local records. In other words, Jews have been living in this area since before there was a Jackson, Tennessee.
In 1885 the religious needs of the Jewish Community were such that they required a place to meet and worship together. President J. Friedlob, Secretary Victor J. Woerner and Trustees Henry Myers and Nathan Baum applied for a charter to establish a congregation. A charter was granted on May 14, 1885.
They first met in the homes of some of the members - Mrs. Rosenthal at 180 Highland and Nathan Baum, Mr. and Mrs Phillips Marks, Mr. and Mrs Louis Marks, all of whom lived on West Deaderick. They also met in the hall above M. Tuchfeld's store at 107 North Market Street, which eventually became Kisber's Department Store.
The congregation had originally purchased a lot on North Cumberland Street for $500 in July of 1885. A lack of funds, however, prevented them from construction a building. Finally in June of 1897, they traded the lot, plus an additional $600 for the Cumberland Presbyterian Church's building. This was their place of worship until 1941. Currently the pews, donated from Cumberland Presbyterian Church's existing building in 1885, are still in use at the synagogue.
In 1924, under President Joe Rosenbloom, a Temple Building Fund was established. With sufficient funds in hand, ground was broken for the new building in April of 1941. This was due in large part to the then President A.S. Lindy and his co-chairmen Sam D. Rosenbloom and Jonas Kisber, Sr. The corner stone was laid on August 24, 1941 and the first service held in the new synagogue was on Rosh Hashanah Eve, September 12, 1941.
Several members of the congregation have held places of honor in the commercial, civic and fraternal life of the city. Alfred Besinger, J.C. Fesenthal and Lewis Englander all served as Aldermen of the City. Joe Rosenbloom served as President of the Chamber of Commerce.
At its largest, Congregation B'nai Israel had about 120 families. Over the years, children have moved away, people have retired to other places and the congregation decreased in size. Today we are about 38 families, but we remain active as a Jewish Community and within the larger Jackson Community.
The Congregation B'nai Israel temple at the corner of West Grand Avenue and Campbell Streets was built in 1941-1942 when the Jewish community decided to "go north" after outgrowing its temple, located where the Jackson Madison County Library now stands on College Street in downtown Jackson from 1907 until 1941. Classrooms were added to the West Grand Street property in 1962.
The building has beautiful stained glass window windows, handcrafted by the Laukhuff Glass Company of Memphis. Each window is a memorial to a former member and depicts a Biblical scene. The temple has three Torah's, hand scribed parchment scrolls that are used for liturgical purposes. Two of there were brought to America by families fleeing Germany in the 1940s and were later donated by the Rosenbloom family.
The first president of the congregation was J. Friedlob. He was followed by Victor J. Woener, who served until 1915. J.C. Fesenthal was then elected to a term of 3 years and he was followed by Joe Rosenbloom, who served as president longer than any other individual in the history of the temple from 1918 to 1940. Other active members of the Board of Trustees and Officers of the congregation of note were S.T. Tamm, S.D. Rosenbloom, N.T. Harris, Sam Baum, P. Marks, Louis Kisber, A. Tuchfield, Walter Levey and Louis Marks. Joel Newman has been president of the congregation since 1995.
Women have also held these high positions in the congregation. Both Gertrude Kisber and Shirley Richman had been Presidents of the congregation at one time.
The Consecration service was conducted in 1897 by the late Rabbi M. Samfield of Memphis. In 1902 Rabbi Schneider came to the congregation and he was followed by Rabbi Joseph Bergen, who remained in Jackson until his death in 1917. Student Rabbis from the Hebrew Institute of Religion served the congregation on a bi-weekly basis until 1933 and on a weekly basis during many periods of time since then. In the 1960's Rabbi Appel, a retired rabbi, lived in Jackson and the served the congregation.
Rabbi Barry Diamond now comes to Jackson once a month. Our ritual and spiritual leader, Rabbi Diamond lives in Dallas, Texas.
