USA > South Carolina > The Jews of South Carolina, from the earliest times to the present day > Part 11
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published a most interesting literary autobiography of him in Publica- tions of the American Jewish Historical Society, No. 6, pp. 113-121. In No. 11 of the Publications, pp. 131-7, G. Herbert Cone, Esq., publishes some "New Matter relating to Mordecai M. Noah." See finally Daly : Settlement of the Jews in North America, pp. 96 et seq., and Morais : Eminent Israelites of the Nineteenth Century, pp. 255-258. There is a notice of his appointment as Consul at Tunis in the City Gazette of March 29, 1813.
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1800-1824
Abraham Alexander was a clerk in the Charleston Cus- tom House in 1802, and Auditor in 1809; David Cardozo was Lumber Measurer in 1802 and for more than twenty years afterwards; Israel Myers was Import Inspector in 1802.
Jacob Cantor was an interpreter and translator of lan- guages in 1802; so was S. H. Massias; Isaac Cardozo was an accountant in 1813; so was Abraham Tobias in 1822, who afterwards became a prominent merchant. Manning Cantor was a comedian.
Isaac Lyons, Isaiah Moses, Barnet A. Cohen, and Morde- cai Cohen were planters.
Myer Moses was a member of the "South Carolina Society for the Promotion of Domestic Arts and Manu- factories" in 1809. He was a Commissioner of Free Schools in 1811,60' a Director of the Planters and Me- chanics' Bank in 1811, he was one of "a Committee of Twenty-one for Adding to the Defences of the City" in 1813, and a Commissioner of Public Schools in 1823.
Solomon Cohen was a director of the Bank of the State of South Carolina, in Georgetown, in 1819.
Philip Cohen was a member of the Board of Health from 1819 to 1823; Mordecai Cohen was a Commissioner of the Poor House from 1811 to 1818, a Commissioner of Streets and Lamps in 1817, a member of the Board of Health in 1819, and a Commissioner of Markets from 1819 to 1823.
In military affairs-as in every other period of the his- tory of South Carolina-the Jews played a not unimportant part. Myer Moses was a captain in the 1st Battalion of
" Not " Commissioner of Education," as stated in The Jewish Encyclo- pædia, art. "Charleston." There was no such office in existence at the time. Nor was he, as stated in that article, one of the first Commis- sioners. This office had been in existence for over a hundred years before he was elected to it. The writer of the article is in utter confusion con- cerning the personality of this Myer Moses.
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South Carolina Volunteers in 1809-afterwards promoted to major. Philip Cohen was lieutenant in the same com- pany, and Solomon I. Cohen, ensign; J. C. Levy was sec- retary of the Charleston Riflemen from 1811 to 1813; Elias Levy was 2d lieutenant of the Charleston Neck Rangers in 1822.61 In the War of 1812 Jacob De La Motta served as surgeon in the regular army; 32 Abraham De. Leon served as surgeon's mate; 63 Abraham A. Massias was a captain-promoted to major in 1814.64 Hyam Cohen was commissioned 2d lieutenant of Rifles in 1812 and was pro- moted to 1st lieutenant of the 1st Rifle Regiment in 1814.65 Levi Charles Harby was a midshipman in 1807, in the United States Navy, and was captured by the British during the war.es Myer Moses was a captain of militia in this war; so was Chapman Levy, of Camden.67' Jacob Cohen enlisted at Savannah, Ga., on January 22, 1815, and served as a private in Captain William F. Bullett's com- pany of the Georgia militia.65
In Freemasonry the Jews of South Carolina have always taken a prominent part. We have seen Isaac Da Costa a member of a Masonic lodge in Charleston in 1753. We have seen, likewise, that he established the "Sublime Grand Lodge of Perfection" in that city in 1783, In an old volume of minutes, kept in French, of La Candeur Lodge, dated 1793, there are no less than twelve Jews whose names are inscribed as visitors during that year.60 The Supreme
These data are compiled from newspaper files and almanacs in the Charleston Library.
Heitman : Historical Register (1789-1903), p. 365.
43 Ibid., p. 366.
et Ibid., p. 315.
" Ibid., p. 696.
" Wolf: The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier and Citizen, p. S3.
"7 ()'Neall : Bench and Bar, Vol. 2, p. 282.
e8 Taken from a "Military Declaration" on file in Washington.
" Minutes of La Candeur Lodge .- Collections of the Home of the Tem- ple, Washington, D. C.
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1800-1824
Council of the Thirty-third Degree for the United States of America, Scottish Rite Masonry, originated in Charleston in 1801.70 The first Register of the Supreme Council, sent out in 1802, included among its officers and members: Emanuel De La Motta, Treasurer-General of the Holy Empire; Abraham Alexander, Secretary-General of the Holy Empire; Israel De Lieben and Moses C. Levy, Grand Inspectors-General. In 1806 Lodge No. 9 was a Jewish lodge. Emanuel De La Motta was Worshipful Master; David Brandon, Senior Warden; Samuel Hyams, Junior Warden; Cherry Moïse, Treasurer, and M. L. Henry, Sec- retary.11 David Labat was Treasurer of Lodge No. 45, a French lodge-La Reunion Française. Isaac Canter was Secretary of the Grand Lodge, Israel De Lieben Hospitaller Brother, and David Labat Tyler.
So much, then, for the record of the Jews of South Caro- lina commercially, professionally, politically, and socially. It is in truth a remarkable record. The Jewish community is now at its zenith.72
For a history of Scottish Rite Masonry see Richardson: Centennial Address. ( Washington, D. C., 1901.) See also Allocution of the Acting Grand Commander, etc. (Washington, D. C., 1901.)
7 This lodge is now known as Friendsbip Lodge, No. 9.
" The following are two interesting references in the literature to the Jews of Charleston at this period :
" The Jews of Charleston enjoy equal literary advantages with the other members of the community. Most of the parents being rich, the prejudice is here despised which confines the important object of educa- tion to the tenets of religion; and the Hebrews can boast of several men of talents and learning among them. Those Jewish children who are intended for professions receive a bandsome classical education. There is now in the city an academy, where the French, Italian, Latin, and Greek languages are taught, together with other branches of learning. The Rev. Carvalho, mentioned above, also teaches the Hebrew and Span- ish languages."-From a letter written by Mr. Philip Cohen, a merchant in Charleston in 1811, and printed in Hannah Adams's History of the Jews, p. 465 (Boston, 1818).
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Not less interesting and equally remarkable is the story of the religious development of the Jews of South Carolina during this period, for it was during this period that those events were gradually shaping themselves which were later to exercise an enormous influence upon the evolution of American Judaism, an influence that has hitherto not been sufficiently recognized-if, indeed, it has been recognized at all. It was in Charleston, in 1824, that the first great intellectual movement was born among the Jews of Amer- ica. This movement will be the object of our next consider- ation.
"In the province of South Carolina, especially in Charles Town, there were, as my friend Leo de Blogg wrote me in 1816, very many Jewish scholars who especially devoted their attention to the teaching of the Hebrew language. Their former Rabbi was called Carvalo, formerly a teacher in the Jewish school at New York. This man was very active and organized a school where instruction was given in Latin, French, English, and Spanish, besides Hebrew."-Sol. Ephr. Blogg: Edificiun Salomonis (Hanover, 1831).
CHAPTER IX-THE REFORMED SOCIETY OF ISRAELITES
JE have discussed at length the per- sonnel of the Jewish community in Charleston during the first quarter of the nineteenth century. We re- peat here the statement that at the beginning of the nineteenth century the Jewish community of Charles- ton was the largest, the most cul- tured, and the wealthiest Jewish community in America- a statement that is not without bearing upon the subject of our present study.
To understand the historical development of Judaism in South Carolina we must remember that Beth Elohim of Charleston was practically an offshoot of the old Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community of Bevis Marks, Lon- don. True, in 1800 the Portuguese Jews in Charleston were already in a minority, but Bevis Marks had left its imprint on the synagogue so indelibly that for nearly half a century thereafter the ritual followed was that of the Portuguese communities "as practised in London and Amsterdam,"
Let us now try to get a glimpse of the Charleston com- munity ecclesiastically in the year 1800. We can give no better picture of it than that furnished by an English writer of the parent community in a series of articles which he contributed to The [London] Jewish Chronicle of Decem-
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148 THE JEWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA
ber 28, 1900, and January 4, 1901, entitled, "A Hundred Years Ago." Here is what he has to tell of it:
" The Jews were strictly orthodox. * Members of congregations were ruled with a rod of iron. The most venial offence was punished with a fine, failure to pay which might be visited with severer penalties still. Members were frequently called before the Kahal [congregation] and made to explain their conduct or apologize for it. * In Bevis Marks the government was far more autocratic than in the German con- gregation and it is an oft-told tale how the tyrannous character of their Ascamot [by-laws] had the effect of driving Isaac D'Israeli and many another from the fold of the community. Among the Portuguese the penalty for establishing or even attending a Minyan [assembly for prayer] within the city of London and its suburbs, except during the week of mourning, was excommunication. Anyone even knowing of such a meet- ing and not informing the Mahamad [Board of Elders] of it, was liable to the same penalty. And as late as the year 1522 a gentleman was visited with the utmost rigors of the law because he ventured to have a Minyan at his house on the first night of Pentecost, followed by prayers in the early morning. He and his fellow-worshippers were deprived of their seats in synagogue, their names were erased from the list of Yehidim [voting members], they were relegated to certain places at the back of the reading desk, disqualified from being called up to the law, declared ineligible for two years for any pious duties, and finally fines of £40 and £20 respectively were inflicted upon them.
It was a punish- able offence to offend the President, to stir up public opinion against the action of the Elders or the Mahamad, to strike a person either in the synagogue or the court-yard, to strike or insult anyone in the burial- ground or its precincts. * * * Such offences were variously punished
by fine or deprivation of rights. * * Anyone openly desecrating the Sabbath ceased to be a Yahid. A person who married out of the faith was excluded from being a Yahid and from all the offices and honors of the synagogue. * * Then there was a whole system of fines in vogue, for refusing to accept office, for refusing to be called up. for not attend- ing synagogue when due to be called up, for not attending congregational or committee meetings, for not being present to answer to one's name when it was called, or leaving before the meeting was over without the President's permission. # The wonder is that people could be found
willing to submit to such extraordinary penalties. The synagogue must have had an immense hold upon people in those days to exact so entire a submission. It could only have wielded such a power so long as it
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REFORMED SOCIETY OF ISRAELITES
remained the centre of the social life of the community. A defiance of its ruling would have involved a social ostracism, the fear of which must have exercised as strong a deterrent as the religious penalties that would have been incurred by contumacy. Nor is it difficult to understand why, in early times, the synagogue should have desired to maintain so striet a rule. Some such imperium in imperio was necessary in the interests of the Jewish community. The synagogue authorities felt themselves in a measure responsible to the political powers for the good behavior of their coreligionists. The position of English Jews was not yet consolidated. The footing on which they had been admitted into this country was still somewhat insecure, they enjoyed but scant liberties. A single false step might retard their emancipation, or endanger the liberties already won. With the growth of a new order of things, this regime has passed entirely away." 1
We have presented the story of the Spanish and Portu- guese community in London in considerable detail and we have done so for very good reasons. In the first place, if for "London" we substitute "Charleston," we shall have an absolutely accurate picture of the Jewish community in that city in the year 1800 and for twenty-four years there- after. And in the next place, we have in this narrative a key to the origin of the great intellectual movement, which was born in Charleston in the year 1824, to which we have already referred, and of which we must now write at some little length.
South Carolina was not England. In 1800 Jews in Eng- land were excluded from all civil, municipal, and political offices. No Jew could become a freeman of the city of Lon- don. Jews were thus precluded from opening retail shops and even from plying handicrafts within the precincts of the city proper. In South Carolina, from the day of its settlement, the Jew has never labored under the slightest civil or religious disability whatsoever. In this respect South Carolina was unique among the British provinces. It took the Jews of England over one hundred and fifty years to win by steady fighting, step by step, the civil and
1 The Jewish Chronicle, Jan. 4, 1901. [Editorial.]
150 THE JEWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA
religious equality that were guaranteed to the first Jew who set foot on South Carolina soil. Is it to be wondered at that the Jew in an atmosphere of perfect civil and religious free- dom should develop far more rapidly and in a different way from that in which he developed in the stifling atmosphere at home?
The Jews of South Carolina at the beginning of the nine- teenth century present, indeed, a curious picture. The Jew is by nature essentially conservative. Left to himself he modifies his ideas and his practices very slowly. Wherever he goes he carries the traditions of his old home with him and clings to these traditions as tender memories of bygone days. He had come originally to South Carolina, a child of the old Spanish and Portuguese community in London. It must have seemed strange to him, who was accustomed to speak "with bated breath and whispered. humbleness," to find a land where his brethren in faith labored under no disabilities and where they even occupied positions of the highest trust. Yet here he was, living the old life under new skies, where circumstances were so different and where his whole environment was changed. What was a natural life to him in England became an artificial life in South Carolina, and it was only a question of time when he was compelled to adapt himself to his environment or to pay the penalty which isolation invariably entails.
The personnel of the Jewish community in Charleston comes into evidence here and enables us to understand the subsequent course of events. In the early years of the nine- teenth century Beth Elohim numbered among its members the most intellectual men among the Jews of America; many, too, whose fathers had lived here before them, and who by their industry and by their integrity had made the name Jew respected. The Jew was a man here. The syna- gogue did not, as in England, have to feel itself responsible to the political powers for the good behavior of its mem-
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REFORMED SOCIETY OF ISRAELITES
bers. The position of the Jew was assured and that posi- tion had been strengthened by the conduct of the Jew him- self. The régime of Bevis Marks, which had been in vogue in South Carolina for at least seventy years, was now an anomaly. The Jews of South Carolina had outgrown that régime, and when this fact once became patent there were not wanting men with courage enough to take the first great step in the direction of progress.
And now, before speaking of the reform movement of 1824, we would protest against the prevailing conception that this movement came into existence in consequence of "early tendencies towards laxness and irreligion" and "to stem the tide of already existing disloyalty and irreligion, which were enormous in volume before the reform move- ment took hold." We confess that we once held this view. ourselves, but further investigation has convinced us that it is erroneous.
'We are fortunate, indeed, in that we possess to-day a copy of the Constitution of the Congregation Beth Elohim of the year 1820.2 This furnishes a good idea of the com- munity religiously, as regards its internal economy, just before the time when reform was born. Read along with it the anniversary address of Isaac Harby before the Re- formed Society of Israelites,3 and the article in The North American Review for July, 1826 (pages 67-79), and the picture is complete.
The following extracts from the Constitution of 1820 are worthy of careful note by the student of the development of American Judaism :
" This document has been reprinted in full by the author from a unique copy in the possession of J. Quintus Cohen, Esq., of New York, to whom he is under obligation for the transcript. Before reprinting, he carefully compared this transcript with the original.
3 A Selection from the Miscellaneous Writings of the late Isaac Harby, Esq. (Charleston, 1829), pp. 57-87.
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THE JEWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA
" The Parnass Presidenta shall have the sole direction in the Synagogue, during divine service, and all officers under pay shall be under his control. * He shall be authorized to call before the Private Adjunta any person or persons, who may misbehave either in Synagogue, its enclosures during divine service, or other legal occasions of meeting, and moreover shall make it bis indispensable duty to support, protect, and defend this Constitution, and call any one to account who shall violate the same." -- Rule VI.
" And if any new and unforeseen case shall arise and come before them, for which this Constitution does not expressly provide, they shall be em- powered to investigate the same, according to their best judgment and discretion, and if necessary for the good example and advantage of this Congregation, the said Private Adjunta shall place the offenders under disabilities. and inflict a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars; and all persons whatsoever coming under the penalty of the laws, shall absolutely be deprived of their honors, rights, and privileges, in and out of Syna- gogue, until he, she, or they comply with the fine, disabilities, or other- wise be reconciled to the Congregation."-Rule VII.
"No person or persons shall be sanctioned to combine for the purpose of erecting any other Synagogue or for uniting in any other unlawful- Minyan, within five miles of Charleston; nor shall any person or per- sons, under the jurisdiction of this Congregation, be permitted, under any pretence whatever, to aid, join, or assist at any such unlawful Minyan or Combination.
" All strangers arriving here, who do not, after the lapse of time affixed by the Constitution, become members of the Congregation, shall be liable to all the penalties and restrictions that members are subject to, and shall not be admitted members, until such restrictions are removed. And if any person under the jurisdiction of this Congregation, be guilty of such an atrocious offence, as either to be concerned, aid, or assist as aforesaid, he shall on sufficient proof thereof before the Private Adjunta, forfeit all his rights and privileges in this Congregation, and be subject to a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars; and such offender or offenders, shall never be reinstated into his or their rights and privileges, and more- over be deprived the right of burial inside of the Beth Hiam, until he or they by themselves, executors, or administrators, relations, or friends, pay up and settle the fine that may be inflicted. And any person or persons placing themselves into such predicament, shall incur the penalty, inasmuch as the same, either in joy or in sorrow, shall extend to the whole family under his or their control and jurisdiction."-Rule VIII.
" All Israelites now in Charleston, who are not Yachidim, and such as
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REFORMED SOCIETY OF ISRAELITES
may arrive hereafter, after one year's residence shall be bound to sub- scribe to the subscription list. and provide themselves and wives (if any) with seats as aforesaid. * * * This law embraces all persons indiscrimi- nately above twenty-one years of age, under an obligation, as before stated, to give their support towards this Congregation."-Rule XII.
"No person being called to the Sephar, having Portos-Hechal, or going up there to offer, shall leave the same, without offering at least one shilling for the Parnass Presidenta, and prosperity of the Congregation, nor shall any ridiculous or unusual offering be permitted.
" Any person offending in either of these cases, shall be called before the Private Adjunta, and at their discretion fined, or dealt with according to the nature and aggravation of the offence, and shall continue under all disabilities in and out of Synagogue, until such decision is complied with." -Rule XIII.
" This Congregation will not encourage or interfere with making prose- lytes under any pretence whatever, nor shall any such be admitted under the jurisdiction of this Congregation, until he, she, or they produce legal and satisfactory credentials, from some other Congregation, where a regular Chief, or Rabbi and Hebrew Consistory is established; and, pro- vided, he, she, or they are not people of color."-Rule XXIII.
" Any person or persons being married contrary to the Mosaical Law, or renouncing his or their religion, shall themselves and their issue, never be recognized members of this Congregation; and should such person or persons die, they shall not be buried within the walls of the Beth-Hiam. unless he. she, or they shall have reformed, at least one year previous to his or their death, and undergone such penance as is prescribed by the laws of our Holy religion.
"Nor shall any person, desirous of consummating a marriage with any female who has lived as a prostitute, or kept a disorderly house, be per- mitted such marriage under the sanction of this Congregation, but should such person or persons so marry without its jurisdiction, and after having lived some years a moral and decent life, he or they shall be entitled to the same right of becoming Yachidim as all strangers arriving in this city."-Rule XXIV.
" Any person or persons publicly violating the Sabbath, or other sacred days, shall be deprived of every privilege of Synagogue and the services of its officers. He or they shall also be subject to such fine and penalties as the Parnassim and Adjunta may deem fit, nor shall he or they be re- admitted to the privileges aforesaid. until he or they shall have paid the fine and suffered the punishment to be inflicted under this law."-Rule XXV.
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This Constitution of 1820, then, reveals the Synagogue as a severely autocratic institution. It controlled its mem- bers, both within the Synagogue and without. Of this we have likewise additional documentary evidence.4 The Con-
* The author is indebted to Mr. H. Harby, Jr., of Sumter, for the fol- lowing original papers relating to the case of The State vs. Solomon Moses-Assault .:
" Simon M. Hart: Was engaged as a member of the Benevolent Society in burying the dead during the last fall, when defendant came to the place & insisted upon assisting. Witness told him he should not do so unless he had permission from the Society. Deft. immediately raised his fist & struck witn. in the face. Deft. had before threatened that he wd. have revenge on him. Guilty. Fined one dollar, in consideration of the defendant having made amends by order of the Heb. Congregation." (May, 1802.)
Here is the part of the Synagogue in the transaction :
" SIR
" The following is taken from the Minute Book of the Adjunta 25 Chisvan 5562-
" RESOLVED unanimously that said Solomon Moses, for the said very unwarentable Conduct at Mr. Abm. Torres house be fined in the sum of Three pounds, and that he make such Concessions as this adjunta shall dictate on the Teba, Just before taken out the Sepher, and that he be depriv'd of all his rights and privilidges untill he fully complies with this resolve. I furnish you with the Copy of the Resolve.
" By Order of P. Pr .- "ISAAC D'AZEVEDO, Secty. " CHARLESTON, 2d Novr. 1801.
" Received the amount of above fine in full.
"D. CARDOZO, Gabay.
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