Pearlstine/Lipov Center for Southern Jewish Culture

New historical marker recalls Jewish roles in Aiken economy

We are enjoying a fabulous weekend celebrating in Aiken.

New historical marker recalls Jewish roles in Aiken economy Dozens of members and friends of Aiken's Adath Yeshurun synagogue focused their attention on downtown Aiken on Saturday afternoon for the placement of a new historical marker remembering some of

Aiken synagogue celebrating centennial anniversary

We are excited to join the festivities in Aiken this weekend! Stay tuned as the Center for Southern Jewish History goes on the road...

Aiken synagogue celebrating centennial anniversary The Adath Yeshurun Synagogue in Aiken has plans to recognize its 100th birthday starting this weekend.

Welcome former NPR Jerusalem correspondent Linda Gradstein back to the College of Charleston Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Program this Sunday (2/27) at 10:00 am. She and Professor Joshua Shanes will be discussing current events in Israel.

Register: https://bit.ly/spring22lindagradstein

Brunch will be served at 9:00 am for all in person attendees.

Join Sisterhood KKBE for their FREE Annual WRJ YES (Youth, Education, and Special Project) FUNDraiser on Sunday, February 27th at 12:00 pm. Dr. Susanna Ashton from Clemson University will be discussing James Matthews and Mordecai Cohen’s Golden Plates: A study of bondage and belonging with a wealthy Jewish slaveholding family and the man who ran.

Mordechai Cohen was one of Charleston's richest and most philanthropic citizens. He was also a brutal, unrepentant enslaver. Hear the story of James Matthews, who was enslaved by the Cohen family, as his testimony, Recollections of Slavery in South Carolina, is brought to life by Dr. Susanna Ashton of Clemson University.
Join us as we learn the unvarnished, inconvenient truth about the participation of Jews in the slave trade.
Rabbi Stephanie Alexander will facilitate the question and answer portion of this important, compelling program.

This program is the annual WRJ/Sisterhood YES FUND fundraiser and is being presented at no charge. To learn more about the WRJ YES Fund: https://files.ctctusercontent.com/353c0320801/209df060-fe7f-4772-892e-2577ac2d622c.pdf?rdr=true

Please note that voluntary donations will be matched 100% by KKBE Sisterhood.
Voluntary donations can be made by check, payable to:
KKBE Sisterhood
Mail to: Bonnie Silverberg, Treasurer of KKBE Sisterhood
7016 Windmill Creek Rd., Charleston, SC 29414

RSVPs and inquiries can be emailed to: [email protected].
You will receive a zoom invitation closer to the event.
For more information, please go to the KKBE Sisterhood's website at: bit.ly/KKBEsisterhood or the event page: https://facebook.com/events/s/kkbe-sisterhood-presents-the-h/2191932724280376/

To learn more about who James Matthews and Mordecai Cohen were: https://files.ctctusercontent.com/353c0320801/e7367f48-3ed1-40c8-af75-8cff51c6ef4d.pdf?rdr=true

To learn more about Dr. Susanna Ashton: https://files.ctctusercontent.com/353c0320801/da9e14b6-30d4-4556-80bc-1bbdde0436e7.pdf?rdr=true

Cotton Capitalists

What we're reading this weekend: one of the wonderful things about offering a course on Southern Jewish History is an excuse to revisit some of the very best. This is what class prep looks like this weekend:

https://nyupress.org/9781479879700/cotton-capitalists/

Cotton Capitalists Honorable Mention, 2019 Saul Viener Book Prize, given by the American Jewish Historical SocietyA vivid history of the American Jewish merchants who concentra...

Project MUSE - Simon Gerstmann’s War: Religion, Loyalty, and Memory in the Post–Civil War Claims Courts

What we're reading this weekend: "Simon Gerstmann's War: Religion, Loyalty, and Memory in the Post-Civil War Claims Courts" by former P/L Director Shari Rabin and Assistant Director Adam Domby. It's a fabulous and revealing tale, so be sure to check it out at the link below!

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/840044

Project MUSE - Simon Gerstmann’s War: Religion, Loyalty, and Memory in the Post–Civil War Claims Courts In late 1891 a debate erupted after the North American Review published an article criticizing Jews and their supposed lack of military service. The article, attributed to a U.S. Army veteran named J. M. Rogers, decried Jews for a lack of patriotism. Rogers explained that in his eighteen months of C...

Call for Papers:
“Southern Jews and the Atlantic World”
47th Annual Conference of the Southern Jewish Historical Society
Hosted by the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina
October 21-23, 2022
Charleston, SC

The Southern Jewish Historical Society will host its 47th annual conference on October 21–23, 2022, in Charleston, South Carolina. The conference theme is “Southern Jews and the Atlantic World.” Following current historiographical trends, this conference aims to expand upon the traditional regional framework that has characterized the study of Jews in the American South and, instead, considers southern Jewish life through a global lens.

Charleston was a major port in the Atlantic mercantile system and has remained at the heart of southern Jewish economic, cultural, and religious life for more than three centuries. Representing the cosmopolitan world we seek to illuminate, the Holy City is an ideal place to explore the trans-Atlantic history of southern Jewry. We invite proposals for individual papers, traditional panels, roundtables, graduate student workshops, as well as alternative formats that highlight the texture of Jewish life, culture, and business around the Atlantic and their convergence in the American South.

Presentations might consider the varied origins of Jews from around the Atlantic, Jewish economic history and global connections, Jewish involvement in the slave trade and in the institutions of domestic slavery, the experience of Jews in southern port cities, as well as the formation of local, regional, and diasporic Jewish identities and cultures. Additionally, we encourage contributions that explore the confluence of foodways from around the Atlantic, as well as examples of musical, literary, and artistic cross-pollination.

The deadline for panel and paper proposals is March 15, 2022. Please send a proposal and a curriculum vitae, as well as any inquiries, to program co-chair Ashley Walters ([email protected]).

Image:
City of Charleston, South Carolina, looking across Cooper's River
Painted by G. Cooke; Engraved by W.J. Bennett.
Library of Congress

Students in Prof. Walters’ Southern Jewish History course took a class trip to the Coming Street Cemetery @ 189 Coming Street last Thursday. The Coming Street Cemetery is not only one of the oldest cemeteries in the United States, but also the oldest Jewish burial ground in the South, founded in 1762. Cemetery docents Mary and Cynthia showed students around, relaying information about Charleston’s Jewish history, some notable Jewish families, and even explained some of the different markings and symbols one might see on a Jewish headstone.

The Coming Street Cemetery is an active restoration site, and it is vital to Charleston’s broader history and the Jewish community that these graves be kept and preserved. For anyone interested in visiting the Cemetery or learning more about KKBE’s preservation efforts, please contact Mary or Anita at Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue or to donate to their preservation efforts, please go to: https://www.kkbe.org/donate1.html and enter your donation amount in the box labeled “Cemetery Restoration Gift Amount.”

'If These Walls Could Talk' Documentary to be Featured on SCETV

'If These Walls Could Talk' Documentary to be Featured on SCETV The contributions of enslaved Africans to the architectural beauty of the College of Charleston’s campus are tangible in centuries old bricks marked with the actual fingerprints of those whose labor helped shape the institution's buildings. Now, the entire Palmetto State can learn about this impor...

Home The Old Slave Mart Museum

Students in Prof. Walters' Southern Jewish History course took a class trip to the Old Slave Mart Museum @ 6 Chalmers Street this past week. Historical interpreter Christine Mitchell delivered a powerful lecture and offered a wealth of knowledge for students and instructors alike. Be sure to check it out and ask for Christine when you're in town. Next up: the historic Coming Street Cemetery.

http://theoldslavemartmuseum.org/

Home The Old Slave Mart Museum The Old Slave Mart Museum is dedicated to the history of slavery in Charleston. Established in 1938, today the museum tells the story of how tens of thousands of individuals were sold.

www.jewishsouth.org

What we're reading this weekend: the latest issue of the Rambler by the Southern Jewish Historical Society, of course! Check it out at the link below:

https://www.jewishsouth.org/sites/default/files/rambler_v26i1_web_version.pdf

www.jewishsouth.org

2021 Nation­al Jew­ish Book Award Winners

Congratulations to the winners and finalists of the 2021 National Jewish Book Awards.

2021 Nation­al Jew­ish Book Award Winners Jewish Book Council announced the winners of the 2021 National Jewish Book Awards, now in its seventy-first year.

Tonight's the night! Please join us in a conversation with Rabbi Tamar Manasseh and filmmaker Brad Rothschild @ 7:30PM via Zoom about Rabbi Manasseh's work fighting gun violence in Chicago. Even if you have not had a chance to watch the film, we'd still love to have you.

Register @ https://bit.ly/aintreadyzoom

What we're reading this weekend: Dianne Ashton's canonical "Hanukkah in America", of course!

Herring Barrels | In geveb

We loved reading this beautiful tribute to Yiddish author Dvoyre Fogel through a Lowcountry lens by poet Maia Grace, niece of our very own, Dale and Ted Rosengarten.

https://ingeveb.org/blog/herring-barrels

Herring Barrels | In geveb During the dog days of summer, lines of Vogel’s poetry hummed in my head, and I felt compelled to write back. When I started writing the poems below, Vogel beca

The Power of Purpose: Women Effecting Change | Hadassah Magazine

We are so looking forward to learning more about Rabbi Tamar Manasseh's remarkable story when we speak with her on Nov. 30 as part of the next Charleston Jewish Film Fest event. Here's a sneak peek of the inspiring work Rabbi Manasseh has been doing in her quest to combat gun violence and build community in Chicago.

https://www.hadassahmagazine.org/2021/10/31/power-purpose-women-effecting-change/

The Power of Purpose: Women Effecting Change | Hadassah Magazine Hadassah welcomes some of the biggest names in America and Israel, women known for making the greatest impact on social justice, women’s health, advocacy and innovation.

Chanukah in the Square held Nov. 28

Don't forget to mark your calendars for Charleston's annual "Chanukah in the Square"! We hope to see you there on Nov. 28.

Chanukah in the Square held Nov. 28 The public is invited to join with members of the Jewish community on Sunday, Nov. 28 for the 14th annual Chanukah in the Square extravaganza, sponsored by the Norman J.

Photos from College of Charleston Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Program's post

What we are reading this weekend:

We invite you to attend the bi-annual "Three Rabbi Panel: The Meaning of Judaism" in-person (must be fully vaccinated) or via Zoom hosted by the CofC Jewish Studies Program.

Date: Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Time: 7:30-8:30 PM
Location: In-person or via Zoom
In-person Registration Link: https://bit.ly/threerabbipanelrsvp
Zoom Registration Link: https://bit.ly/threerabbipanelfall21