Appreciation to Myron Berman for material found in Richmond's Jewry, 1769-1976
Prepared for The Guide to the Historic East End, Spring 1994,
published by the East District Initiative

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The Jewish community in Richmond, for many years concentrated in the city's East End, has been important since the American Revolution. Before the end of the 18th century, when the free population of Richmond was less than 2,500, Jews comprised at least 100 souls, a percentage higher than was then the case for New York or Philadelphia. Most were from German speaking Europe; it was not until late in the 19th century that Jewish emigrants from Eastern Europe, Poland and Russia became predominant.

The Virginia Gazette for March 22, 1787, carried the following announcement:

"To Be Let - The noted tavern, at the foot of Church Hill, known by the name of the Bird in the Hand. It has every necessary outhouse and a good garden. . . . It is fitted for two tenements, as stores, and would suit a merchant with or without a family."

Jacob Mordecai and his new bride took over the tavern, located at 25th and Main, across from today's Tobacco Row. Jacob Mordecai went on to become a leader in the Jewish community, and in Richmond's community life for more than 40 years.

The first organized Jewish worship services were held prior to 1818 in a room on 19th Street, between Grace and Franklin streets. The worshipers soon moved to a facility at the southwest corner of 19th and Main. After several years, the congregation bought a parcel on the west side of Shockoe Valley on Mayo Street (a short spur off 14th Street between Dock and Cary streets) and constructed the city's first synagogue building. Beth Shalome was dedicated in 1822; it was the sixth Jewish congregation in the United States. The handsome old brick structure survived until 1935, when it fell victim to an early version of urban renewal. The cemetery associated with Beth Shalome was founded in 1791 and was located on Franklin Street between 20th and 21st streets. By 1816 this cemetery appears to have been full because a new plot for cemetery purposes was acquired on Shockoe Hill (adjacent to the Shockoe Hill Cemetery at Fourth and Hospital streets); later it was known as Hebrew Cemetery.

Gradually the first Jewish cemetery in Virginia became neglected; when Franklin Street was paved, the road surface was elevated, and the cemetery was 4 feet below grade. Shortly after the Civil War, the monuments were laid flat and the plot filled with dirt. A reporter for the Richmond Dispatch wrote in the May 12, 1866, edition concerning the Franklin Street cemetery:

"[It is] a vacant lot, overrun with rank weeds and grass, showing the track of wagons and bearing the hoof marks of horses, and which is washed into deep ruts and gullies by the rains of many a season. Hundreds of persons pass it by daily, and if they think of it at all, it is as a piece of waste land, most unaccountably allowed to remain in a useless and neglected condition."

This condition continued for 40 years; the filled-in cemetery site was used first as a blacksmith shop, then as a coal yard. Not until 1909 was the cemetery fenced in and properly commemorated. In 1955, the cemetery was reconsecrated as part of the celebration of 300 years of Jewish life in America.

Jewish emigration in the 1840s and 1850s, mostly from German speaking Europe, settled farther west, on Marshall Street near the intersection with 11th Street, where the synagogue was located.

In 1856 Kenesseth Israel synagogue was founded by Polish Jews and was to remain a citadel for traditional Jewish practices for almost a century. Rabbi Rosenberg was a early religious leader. The congregation was first located on Main Street between 19th and 20th streets, but the building was destroyed by fire in 1869, and the congregation then relocated to Mayo Street near Beth Shalome.

Jewish settlers, like members of other immigrant groups, adapted themselves to existing circumstances. Most seem to have accepted the institution of slavery, although misgivings are expressed frequently in the papers and correspondence of the community. Slave owning was common, most being household servants or hired out to local businesses. A number of Jewish merchants catered to slaves and free blacks. These merchants were cited by officials more than once for keeping their shops open on Sunday when slaves and free blacks congregated at the Old Market along 17th Street. Moses Abraham Waterman was one of the outfitters on 17th Street.

When the Civil War came, most Jewish families sent their sons to serve proudly in the Confederate Army. As the human costs of the war escalated, a section in Hebrew Cemetery on Shockoe Hill became the last resting place for many soldiers. They lie in the only known Jewish military cemetery outside Israel. The very unusual cast-iron cemetery fence was designed by Richmond artist William B. Myers and for years after the war the Hebrew Ladies Memorial Association decorated the graves of the fallen each May in a well-attended and moving ceremony.

Jewish emigration from Eastern Europe continued after the war. In the late 19th century Polish and Russian Jews continued to settle in the East End, especially between Broad and Main streets and 18th and 20th streets. Kenesseth Israel decided to return to Church Hill. In 1908 it formally dedicated a new synagogue on 19th Street, known as the Nineteenth Street Schul. Also important to the life of the community was the "Neighborhood House" operated by the Council of Jewish Women at the southeast corner of 19th and Broad streets. The building is still there. Sports activities for children, a summer camp program, arts and crafts instruction, and English classes for the new immigrants were among the programs offered.

At the corner of 19th and Grace streets a vacant lot at 201 N. 19th marks the site of the Belle Bryan Day Nursery and Free Kindergarten. Opened in 1891, it served the neighborhood for more than 60 years.

After World War I, emigration from Eastern Europe declined, the new Americans at the foot of Church Hill assimilated, and the urge to live in compact neighborhoods declined. Members of the congregation moved to Richmond's west end, especially after World War II. The Nineteenth Street Schul continued to serve its congregation at the old location until it was closed in 1952.

The building still stands on the east side of 19th Street, between Broad and Grace, its Star of David plainly visible on the gable. But it long has been used as a warehouse.

There are still members of Richmond's Jewish community with fond memories of growing up at the foot of Church Hill, with aunts, uncles and grandparents nearby and receiving their early religious training in the solidly built old synagogue.

Beth Ahabah Museum and Archives at 1109 W. Franklin St. has an interesting collection of materials relating to Richmond's Jewish Community.