Restoring St. Francisville’s Jewish history Though the Jewish community of St. Francisville faded into history long ago, the community’s effect on the Louisiana town is still celebrated today. On Dec. 9, the first day of Chanukah, there will be an echo of the ancient Chanukah rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem, with the rededication of the renovated Temple Sinai. Local author Anne Butler will do a presentation on the history of Temple Sinai and the Jewish community of St. Francisville. A reception will follow at Grace Episcopal Church. The St. Francisville Jewish community dates back to the 1850s, as the town became a cotton distribution hub. The first Jewish immigrant was Julius Freyhan, who would leave a large legacy. He opened Julius Freyhan and Co. dry goods, and after the Civil War he became a real estate speculator and opened cotton gins, opera houses, saloons and stores. When he died in 1904, Freyhan left $8,000 for the establishment of the town’s first public school, which was named in his honor and was used until the 1950s. The original building burned in 1907 but was quickly rebuilt. It is located next to the Temple. The successful businesses owned by Jewish immigrant families ran the gamut from Moritz Rosenthal the shoemaker to Max Dampf ’s general merchandise store selling “dry goods, clothes, shoes, staple and fancy groceries,” from Abe Stern’s livery stable selling horses and mules to the fancy Meyer Hotel, from Morris Burgas whose dry goods store offered the highest prices for cotton and moss, to Freyhan & Co.
Inside the renovated Temple Sinai which became the principal source of supply for dozens of Louisiana parishes and Mississippi counties, in a single year selling upwards of a million dollars worth of goods and handling some 14,000 bales of cotton. Freyhan purchased land that would become the Jewish cemetery in 1891. Two years later, a group of Jewish merchants gathered to establish a synagogue, but it was not formally incorporated until 1901. Temple Sinai acquired title to the cemetery and began a campaign for its own building. In January 1903 Temple Sinai was dedicated at 4740 Prosperity Street with a large interfaith crowd on hand. The congregation would be relatively short-lived. Temple Sinai had trouble attracting a fulltime rabbi, and not much more success bringing in part-time rabbis
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Southern Jewish Life
December 2012
9