History of the Jews in Omaha, Nebraska

Last updated

The history of the Jews in Omaha, Nebraska, goes back to the mid-1850s.

Contents

The Jewish community in Omaha, Nebraska, has made significant cultural, economic and social contributions to the city. [1] The first Jewish settlers came to the city shortly after it was founded in 1856. The most numerous Jewish immigrants were from eastern Europe and the Russian Empire. They arrived in four waves of immigration to the US in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Immigrants were active in working class and socialist politics, especially during the 1920s and 1930s. Others established themselves as merchants and businessmen in the city. The Jewish community supported philanthropy and created important cultural and charitable institutions. Born to socialist parents in Omaha, renowned Jewish feminist author Tillie Olsen worked when she was young in the meatpacking plants and helped organize unions. [2] The Jewish youth organization Aleph Zadik Aleph was established by immigrants in Omaha. [3]

Today there are many Jewish families who have lived in Omaha for four generations. These families have followed the expansion of the city to the west, with the center of their residential areas and synagogues having moved from Downtown Omaha and the Near North Side to the West Omaha suburbs. New Jewish immigrants have come to the city from Russia and Eastern Europe since the 1980s. Historically Omaha served as a point of migration for Jewish Americans who moved on to other cities. Today people from across the country can recall Omaha in their family histories. [4]

History

Pre-1900

In 1856, the first Jewish settlers, mostly merchants and businessmen, arrived in Omaha. From the beginning, leaders of Orthodox Judaism and Reform Judaism worked to create strong congregations. [5] In January 1871, Temple Israel was founded as the first Jewish congregation in Nebraska. Immediately afterwards, the congregation formed a burial society and established the Pleasant Hill Cemetery in order to provide ritual services to the city's Jewish community. The first confirmation service was held in 1872, and the congregation was incorporated with the city of Omaha in 1873.

In 1884 the congregation dedicated the first synagogue in Omaha at 23rd and Harney Streets. [6] Later in the century Eastern European Jews immigrated to the city. [7] In 1886, an Edict of Expulsion was enforced against the Jews of Kiev, which led many to migrate from the Ukraine to the United States. Omaha became home to hundreds, as they settled in the older neighborhoods of the city. [8]

By 1890 the federal census recorded 1,035 Jews in Omaha. [5] In 1892, Temple Israel invited the newly ordained Rabbi Leo M. Franklin, a recent graduate of Hebrew Union College, to become their rabbi. [9] Franklin immediately set about spurring changes aimed at strengthening Reform Judaism in the congregation, such as the adoption of the Union Prayer Book and the ritual recently endorsed by the Central Conference of American Rabbis. [10] Franklin also pushed to increase the Building Fund, slated for the construction of a new and larger Temple for the Congregation. As time passed, Franklin gained a reputation as an eloquent and idealistic preacher. He won prominent admirers among Omaha's Christian community as well, such as William Jennings Bryan. [11]

Franklin was active in work outside the Omaha congregation. He established a Reform congregation, B'nai Yeshurun, in Lincoln, Nebraska; helped found the first normal school in Nebraska for the training of religious teachers; served as the editor of the Omaha Humane Society's publication, and lectured in other cities (most notably Sioux City, Iowa). [12] In 1896, the congregation elected Franklin to another five-year term as rabbi. Franklin's prominence led to an invitation to speak in Detroit, Michigan, in 1898. He was immediately offered the rabbinate at that city's Temple Beth El. [12] Franklin accepted Beth El's offer, leaving Omaha in January, 1899. After his departure, Franklin remained in contact with his former Omaha congregation, and participated closely with planning and building of Temple Israel's new Temple, completed in 1908. [13]

1900-2000

In the early 20th century, Anshe Sholom was a Hungarian congregation located in the Near North Side neighborhood, along with B'nai Jacob, a Conservative congregation. [1] As generations of congregants passed on or moved out of the neighborhood, both congregations closed. Their cemeteries are next to that of Temple Israel on Pleasant Hill. [14]

In 1911 a conversion held in Omaha provoked controversy in the Jewish world. Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Grodzenski, Omaha's Orthodox rabbi, published in the HaMassaf magazine that one butcher who lived in his city converted a girl for marriage to a Jewish guy, assuring her that after the conversion she would not have to keep any commandments at all. Rabbi Grodzensky ruled that the conversion was null and void. Rabbi Yechezkel Benat agreed that such conversions should not be made in the first place, but stated that the conversion is valid in any situation. [15]

The J. L. Brandeis and Sons Store Building was opened by Brandeis, a notable member of Omaha's Jewish community, in 1906. Wise Memorial Hospital, named in honor of Rabbi Joseph M. Wise, was located at 406 South 24th Street on a lot donated by Brandeis's wife. Built in 1912 for $125,000, between 1912 and 1917 the hospital treated more than 1,000 patients. In 1930 the institution closed. [16] [17] The Louis Epstein family opened the first motion picture house between Chicago and Denver in 1911.

The Jewish Press began publication in 1920; it is still being published, and Omaha has the distinction of being the smallest community in the United States that is able to produce a weekly Jewish publication. [18] In 1924 Omaha's Jewish community celebrated opening its own exclusive country club, Highland Country Club, in response to policies at established country clubs which excluded Jews. While social practices changed in the city among both Christian and Jewish Americans, Warren Buffett was one of the few non-Jewish members at Highland. He joined the club in 1968 [19] to promote anti-discrimination. [20] The Highland Country Club at Pacific and 132nd Streets was renamed Iron Wood in 2000. It no longer specifies Jewish-only membership, just as most other country clubs no longer exclude Jewish Americans or other minorities. [21] The Omaha Jewish Community Center was founded two years after the country club, in 1926. The JCC moved to its present location at 333 South 132nd Street in 1973. The original JCC was the site of important labor organizing in the city, and has continued to serve as an important center for financial support in Omaha's Jewish community throughout its history. [22]

The 1930 U.S. census showed 2,084 Jewish Russians in Omaha, many of whom were first-generation immigrants who had fled religious persecution in the Russian Empire (including Ukraine). [23] In 1929 a Conservative congregation began holding services at the Jewish Community Center on 20th and Dodge Streets. Beth El bought land for its cemetery in 1927. [14] In 1935 the group named itself the Beth El Congregation. During Hanukkah in 1941, they dedicated a new synagogue facing 49th Avenue at Farnam Street. After fifty years of almost continuous growth, Beth El dedicated a new synagogue in 1991 at 14506 California Street in West Omaha, a more suburban location, where most of their congregants had migrated over the years to get newer housing. [24]

Beth Hamedrosh Hagadol Cemetery is in Sarpy County, next to Hrabik Cemetery and the Bnai Abraham Cemetery. Today all three are referred to as the Fisher Farm Cemetery. They were originally established in 1883 by a now-defunct congregation called Bennea Israel. [14]

Jewish businessmen created much of the commercial development in the Near North Side, especially the important North 24th Street corridor. After helping establish the prominence of the area before World War I, many Jewish merchants maintained their businesses even after the neighborhood was redlined in the 1920s. Housing discrimination forced African-American residents to stay in the community, but especially after World War II, many descendants of other ethnicities moved from the area to the western suburbs of Omaha to live in newer housing. Such suburban development was typical around growing cities in the postwar years.

Jewish businesses left North Omaha only in the late 1960s after their businesses were targeted and destroyed in urban riots. Most Jewish residents had already gradually moved to West Omaha and other neighborhoods. [1] In 1968, there were 7,000 Jews living in Omaha. By the second decade of the 21st century the Jewish population was approximately 6,000. [25]

Notable Jewish Omahans

Aaron Cahn was a prominent Jewish member in the Omaha community who served in the first Nebraska State Legislature. His family were among the first Jewish settlers in Omaha. [26]

In the early 1900s, Edward Rosewater, a Bohemian Jew from Hungary, founded the Omaha Bee and served as its editor. His strong stands sometimes stirred controversy. Notable Rabbi Leo M. Franklin served Temple Israel from 1892 to 1898. Arthur J. Lelyveld, leader of the Hillel organization and president of the Zionist Organization of America, was a rabbi in Omaha for several years.

Born in North Omaha, Tillie Olsen was a worker and labor organizer in the 1930s in the meatpacking industry, helping organize the United Packinghouse Workers of America in the South Omaha stockyards and packinghouses. She was much influenced by her parents' Jewish socialist community in North Omaha, and was an activist all her life. Later Olsen began to publish her writings (after her move to California). She became an influential feminist author and served as writer-in-residence at several universities. [27]

By the mid-20th century, Jewish people achieved formal elective office in Omaha. Edward Zorinsky was elected mayor of Omaha and served from 1973 to 1976. After that he was elected United States Senator from 1976 to 1987.

Henry Monsky was a B'nai B'rith leader from Omaha. [7] Aleph Zadik Aleph, the men's Order of the B'nai B'rith Youth Organization, began in Omaha in 1923 as a college fraternity. [3]

Additional notable Jewish Americans from Omaha:

Synagogues

Synagogues in Omaha [28]
NameAffiliationAddressLink
B'nai Israel Synagogue (Unaffiliated)618 Mynster Street, Council Bluffs link Archived 2013-05-17 at the Wayback Machine
Beth El SynagogueConservative14506 California Street link
Beth Israel SynagogueOrthodox12604 Pacific Street link
Capehart Chapel Offutt Air Force Base link
Chabad HouseChabad-Lubavitch1866 South 120th Street link
Simon Family Chapel, Rose Blumkin Jewish Home323 South 132nd Street
Temple Israel SynagogueReform13111 Sterling Ridge Drive link
Former synagogues in Omaha [28]
NameOpenedClosedAddressNotes
B'nai Israel1872OpenPark Ave and Johnson StreetLocated at 1502 N. 52nd St. in 1952. B'nai Israel founded Pleasant Hill Cemetery at 6412 North 42nd Street in 1872. In 1889, B’nai Israel became Temple Israel.
Beth Israel1885 ?18th and Chicago
Chevra B'nai Israel Adas Russia1886 ?

12th and Capitol| Russian; also known as "The Kippler Shul"; moved to 18th and Chicago in 1910.

Beth Hamedrosh Hagadol, aka, was built.1883AKA "The Litvsche Shul"
Union of Orthodox Congregations of Omaha1883B’nai Israel and Beth Hamedrosh Hagadol merged to form the UOC.
Beth Hamedrash Hagodol1890
B’nai Jacob Anshe Sholom1909A Hungarian synagogue originally located at 1111 N. 24th St., 25th and Seward, then 6412 N. 42nd St.
B’nai Jacob – Adas Yeshuron1906AKA "The Kapulier Shul" is incorporated at 19th and Beast St., then 24th and Nicholas, and then 3028 Cuming St.
Beth Hamedrosh Adas Yeshuran192225th and Seward
Shaare Zion1926AKA “the Riekes Shul”
1929—Beth El Synagogue1929OpenLocated at 1821 North 20th Street, then 1552 N. 19th St. in 1939Services held at the Jewish Community Center at 20th and Dodge, located at 49th and Farnam in 1952
B’nai Jacob Adas Yeshurun1952
B'nai Jacob Anshe Sholem closes permanently.1985

Cemeteries

Jewish cemeteries in Omaha [29]
NameAddressEstablishedNotes
Beth El Synagogue Cemetery 4700 South 84th StreetThe land for this cemetery was bought in 1927.
Beth Hamedrosh Hagodol Cemetery 8600 South 42 Street, Bellevue 1901Abbreviated to B.H.H.
Golden Hill Cemetery 5025 North 42nd Street1888
Hrabik Cemetery 8600 South 42 Street, Bellevue
Mount Sinai Cemetery 8600 South 42 Street, Bellevue
Oak Hills Cemetery Council Bluffs
Pleasant Hill Cemetery 6412 North 42 Street1871

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Klutznick</span> American politician

Philip Morris Klutznick was a U.S. administrator who served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce from January 9, 1980, to January 19, 1981, under President Jimmy Carter. He was a prominent leader of several Jewish organisations, including as president of the World Jewish Congress from 1977 to 1979.

Jewish Texans have been a part of the history of Texas since the first European explorers arrived in the region in the 16th century. In 1990, there were around 108,000 adherents to Judaism in Texas. More recent estimates place the number at around 120,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple Israel Cemetery (Omaha, Nebraska)</span>

Temple Israel Cemetery, also known as Pleasant Hill Cemetery, is located at 6412 North 42 Street in the North Omaha neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Galveston, Texas</span>

Jews have inhabited the city of Galveston, Texas, for almost two centuries. The first known Jewish immigrant to the Galveston area was Jao de la Porta, who, along with his brother Morin, financed the first settlement by Europeans on Galveston Island in 1816. de la Porta was born in Portugal of Jewish parentage and later became a Jewish Texan trader. In 1818, Jean Laffite appointed de la Porta supercargo for the Karankawa Indian trade. When Laffite left Galveston Island in 1820, de la Porta became a full-time trader.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leo M. Franklin</span>

Leo Morris Franklin was an influential Reform rabbi from Detroit, who headed Temple Beth El from 1899 to 1941.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple Beth El (Detroit)</span> Reform synagogue in Michigan, United States

Temple Beth El is a Reform synagogue located at in Bloomfield Township, Oakland County, Michigan, in the United States. Beth El was founded in 1850 in the city of Detroit, and is the oldest Jewish congregation in Michigan. Temple Beth El was a founding member of the Union for Reform Judaism in 1873, and hosted the meeting in 1889 during which the Central Conference of American Rabbis was established.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congregation Beth Israel (Scottsdale, Arizona)</span> Reform Jewish synagogue in Scottsdale, Arizona, US

Congregation Beth Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 10460 North 56th Street in Scottsdale, Arizona, in the United States. Incorporated in 1920, the congregation affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism in 1935.

Congregation Am Tikvah is a combined Conservative and Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 625 Brotherhood Way in San Francisco, California, in the United States. The congregation was formed in 2021 as the result of the merger of the Conservative B'nai Emunah and the Reform Beth Israel Judea congregations, with the latter formed in 1969 through a merger of the Conservative Congregation Beth Israel and the Reform Temple Judea. The congregation is affiliated with both the Union for Reform Judaism and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

The history of the Jews in Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada has been noted since the mid-19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congregation Beth Israel (Houston)</span> Historic site in Harris County, Texas

Congregation Beth Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 5600 North Braeswood Boulevard, in Houston, Texas, in the United States. The congregation, founded in 1854, is the oldest Jewish congregation in Texas; and it operates the Shlenker School.

Jews have been living in Maine, a state in the northeastern United States, for 200 years, with significant Jewish communities in Bangor as early as the 1840s and in Portland since the 1880s. The arrival of Susman Abrams in 1785 was followed by a history of immigration and settlement that parallels the history of Jewish immigration to the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anshei Sphard Beth El Emeth Congregation</span>

Anshei Sphard Beth El Emeth Congregation, abbreviated as ASBEE, was an Modern Orthodox synagogue located at 120 North East Yates Road, in East Memphis, Tennessee, in the United States. Established in 1966, with a history dating from 1861, the congregation operated for over 160 years prior to its 2023 merger with the Baron Hirsch Congregation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Houston</span>

The Jewish community of Houston, Texas has grown and thrived since the 1800s. As of 2008, Jews lived in many Houston neighborhoods and Meyerland is the center of the Jewish community in the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Baltimore</span>

Few Jews arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, in its early years. As an immigrant port of entry and border town between North and South and as a manufacturing center in its own right, Baltimore has been well-positioned to reflect developments in American Jewish life. Yet, the Jewish community of Baltimore has maintained its own distinctive character as well.

Myer Samuel Kripke was an American rabbi, scholar, and philanthropist. He was based in Omaha, Nebraska.

The Mikveh Israel Cemetery Beth-El-Emeth at 55th and Market Streets is a Jewish cemetery in West Philadelphia founded in 1850 and dedicated in 1857 by Isaac Leeser’s Congregation Beth-El-Emeth as Beth-El-Emeth Cemetery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Monsky</span>

Henry Monsky was a Jewish-American lawyer and communal leader from Omaha, Nebraska.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "A Street of Dreams," Nebraska Public Media. Air Date, 08/01/1994. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  2. ↑ Olsen, T. (1995) Tell Me a Riddle. Rutgers University Press. p 117.
  3. 1 2 "History and Development of Aleph Zadik Aleph" [ permanent dead link ] B'nai B'rith Youth Organization. Retrieved 9/15/07.
  4. ↑ Pollack, O.B. (2001) Images of America: Jewish Life in Omaha and Lincoln; A photographic history. Arcadia Publishing. p 9.
  5. 1 2 Larson and Cottrell. (1997) The Gate City: A history of Omaha. University of Nebraska Press. p 115.
  6. ↑ "History", Temple Israel. Retrieved 9/15/07.
  7. 1 2 Schreiber, M. (2003) The Shengold Jewish Encyclopedia. Schreiber Publishing. p 192.
  8. ↑ Larson and Cottrell. (1997) p 161.
  9. ↑ Edgar, Irvin I. (1976) "Rabbi Leo M. Franklin: The Omaha Years (1892-1899)," Archived 2008-07-03 at the Wayback Machine Michigan Jewish History, Jewish Historical Society of Michigan, July 1976, pp. 10 - 21 (p. 11).
  10. ↑ Edgar (1976) p. 11.
  11. ↑ Baldwin, Neil. (2001) Henry Ford and the Jews: The Mass Production of Hate , Public Affairs, ISBN   1-891620-52-5, p. 125.
  12. 1 2 Edgar (1976) p. 14.
  13. ↑ Edgar (1976) p. 15.
  14. 1 2 3 "Nebraska - The Jewish Community" Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine , International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies - Cemetery Project. Retrieved 9/6/07.
  15. ↑ ham'asef vol. 16 chapters 20,57,72 and 73
  16. ↑ National Conference of Jewish Social Service. (1955) The Jewish Social Service Quarterly. p. 20.
  17. ↑ "Wise Memorial Hospital", Nebraska Memories website. Retrieved 1/18/08.
  18. ↑ "O! What a Jewish Community" Archived 2009-12-05 at the Wayback Machine , Omaha Jewish Federation, December 10, 2007
  19. ↑ Schroeder, Alice The Snowball A Bantam Book ISBN 978-0-553-80509-3 - September 2008, p310
  20. ↑ Tigay, C. "Long Before Israeli Deal, Buffett Made his Mark on Jewish Community" Archived 2011-07-26 at the Wayback Machine , Jewish Federation of Omaha. Retrieved 7/20/08.
  21. ↑ Pollack, O.B. (2001) p 125.
  22. ↑ Tenenbaum, S. (1993) A Credit to Their Community: Jewish Loan Societies in the United States. Wayne State University Press. p 149.
  23. ↑ Larson and Cottrell. (1997) p 158.
  24. ↑ "History of Beth El" Archived 2007-07-11 at the Wayback Machine . Beth El. Retrieved 9/15/07.
  25. ↑ "Jewish History of Omaha, Nebraska". Beit Hatfutsot Open Databases Project, The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot.
  26. ↑ "Nebraska and the Midwest." Retrieved 9/15/07.
  27. ↑ ABC-Clio Information Services. (1983) The Jewish Experience in America. p 201.
  28. 1 2 Community directory [ permanent dead link ]. Jewish Federation of Omaha. Retrieved 9/15/07.
  29. ↑ Community directory Archived 2004-11-29 at the Wayback Machine . Jewish Federation of Omaha. Retrieved 9/15/07.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.