JEWISH COMMUNITY

Alexander LEVI is considered by historians to be the first Jewish settler in Iowa. He arrived in Dubuque on August 1, 1833 and soon opened a grocery store. In 1837 he became the first naturalized citizen in the future state of Iowa. (1) Other Jewish settlers included Joseph Newmark who opened a store in Dubuque in 1842. Finding so few settlers of his religion, he left the city and moved west. It is reputed he began the Jewish community in Los Angeles after his arrival in 1852. C. W. SCHREIBER has been considered Iowa's first Jewish junk dealer. He had a growing business by 1851 and after service in the CIVIL WAR returned to Dubuque to establish SCHREIBER & STRINSKY. Iowa's first Jewish physician was Dr. S. Lesser who settled in Dubuque in 1855. Benjamin M. SAMUELS, a pioneer lawyer, was elected a city alderman from 1855 to 1859. In 1857 Hermann Friedlander operated a store. His son was one of a group of students that opened Maimonidas College in Philadelphia. Other merchants included Moses Lippman and A. Goldstein. (2) Dubuque's Temple Beth El along West Locust Street in 2009.

The story of Temple Beth El goes back to 1857, the year that Levi, Dubuque’s first Jewish resident formed an informal worship community with several other recent entrants to the city. (In Judaism, while a community is best served by a spiritual leader who is learned in Torah, ritual and liturgy, services do not need to be conducted by a priest. Instead, a quorum of ten adults is required to fulfill the obligation of prayer, and any member can conduct life cycle events and services.) The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia has listed a congregation in Dubuque as of 1857. This claim may be based on a letter written on January 12, 1857 by B. Eiseman from Davenport to the Occident. (3)

Alexander Levi

On September 25, 1860 with the support of Alexander Levi the congregation had grown and had a name, B’nei Jeshrun (Children of God). (4) It served 100 member families; and met in a rented hall on 5th and Locust STREETS. (5)

On September 26, 1860 Alexander Levi transferred land that he owned to "M. Cohana for the exclusive use of the citizens of Dubuque who are of the Jewish persuasion as a cemetery." Levi then deeded the remainder of the tract to his French partner, Jean Baptist Bourgeois. on May 4, 1863 Levi enlarged the cemetery section by having Bourgeois convey additional land to Cohana. An entry tells that "Bourgeois and Levy convey to the City of Dubuque the west tract of 20 acres except the .6 acre deeded to M. Cohana in trust to be used as a Jewish cemetery." Cohana (also spelled Cahana and on his gravestone as Kahanna) died in 1863. On October 7, 1875 the City of Dubuque conveyed the property to the Linwood Cemetery Association, "excepting so much thereof as has been heretofore deeded to M. Cahana in trust to be used as a Jewish cemetery, containing .6 acres. (6)

By 1862, with new Jewish arrivals from the East, B’nei Jeshrun (Children of God) had a paid Rabbi and Chazzan, or singer of the liturgy; a paid schochet, the person who slaughtered meat in a ritually proper or kosher way; and a religious school where twenty-five children received instruction in Hebrew and German. (7)

In 1890, Bnei Jeshrun had changed its name to B’nei Abraham (Children of Abraham). A second congregation, Knesses Israel (gathering or assembly of Israel), had opened on 15th and Elm possibly to serve recent arrivals from Poland, Russia and Lithuania whose liturgy and culture differed from earlier French and German settlers. A third group Kehilla (literally “community”) appeared for a time and may have been a fraternal organization or a separate prayer quorum or minyan. The Jewish community was firmly established; local newspapers regularly ran stories about Jewish holiday services, celebrations and other temple events. (8)

In 1901, Kenesses Israel had 125 families and was meeting on 10th and Washington. Around that time, the Hebrew Ladies Benevolent Society provided funds for the congregation to buy a lot and 2-story house on Maple between 17th and 18th, which they remodeled into a synagogue. The congregation, forerunner of Temple Beth El, lasted another 35 years until the DUBUQUE PACKING COMPANY bought the property and, shortly after, demolished the building. (9)

Certificate of membership in B'nai B'rith

The current Temple Beth El (House of God) (1) was funded largely by B’nai B’rith Dubuque Lodge 1029 (B’nai B’rith, meaning Children of the Covenant, the oldest continuously operating Jewish service organization in the world. It was started in 1843 and chartered in Dubuque in 1927. (10)

The temple – serving 85 member families - was dedicated in 1939 at a time when Hitler was storming Europe and anti-Semitism was being promoted in the United States by people like Henry Ford and Father Charles Coughlin. (11)

Dubuque and its citizens, however, embraced the congregation. The laying of the cornerstone was an ecumenical affair attended by Jews and non-Jews. Synagogue President, Louis Rotman laid the cornerstone. B’nai B’rith President, Meyer Zuckerman chaired the program and the speakers were Rabbi Monroe Leavens of Des Moines, District Court Judge P.J. Nelson, a Catholic; and Rev. William E. Brehm of the First Congregational Church now FIRST CONGREGATIONAL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST of Dubuque. (12)

Temple Beth El is a small, but vibrant worship community whose families hail from within a 90-mile radius and represent an age span from 6 months to 94. Some members have lived in the region nearly all their lives and have connections back to the temple's earliest days. Others were raised elsewhere, came to the region for school or work, and settled down to build lives within the Temple Beth El family. The congregation has welcomed some recent additions as several young people have moved to the area to begin careers. (13)

Temple Beth El members represent teachers, professionals, leaders of businesses and organizations, and students. The congregation has a strong social justice mission, and many members are active volunteers for area charities and nonprofits. Temple Beth El provides an opportunity to strengthen Jewish identity and deepen respect for Jewish ritual and tradition through the celebration of life cycle events and the observation of Jewish holidays. The temple also provides opportunities for members to live by Jewish values as they help to build and shape Dubuque and the region, much like their Jewish predecessors who founded the Jewish community in the mid 19th century. (14)

Rabbi Alexander

In 2008 Temple Beth El was served by Rabbi Stephanie Alexander, the first Rabbi in nearly fifty years.

Other prominent Dubuque residents of the Jewish faith have included Abraham SLIMMER, James LEVI, and HERZBERGER, Magda.

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Source:

1. Fleishake, Oscar. The Illinois-Iowa Jewish Community on the Banks of the Mississippi River, Unpublished Doctor's Degree Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Harry Fischel School for Higher Jewish Studies, Graduate Division, Yeshiva University, 1957, p. 11

2. Ibid. 12

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid. p. 4

5. R. Hyfler. E-mail December 2, 2013

6. Fleishake, p. 13

7. Hyfler

8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid.

12. Ibid.

13. Ibid.

14. Ibid.