Temple Gemiluth Chessed (transliterated from Hebrew as "Acts of Loving Kindness") is a former Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 706 Church Street, in Port Gibson, Mississippi, in the United States. Built in 1892, it is the oldest congregation in the state and the only building completed in the Moorish Revival style. The congregation was founded in 1870 by a community of Jewish immigrants from German states and Alsace-Lorraine. Due to declining population as people moved to larger urban areas, the congregation closed in 1986.
| Temple Gemiluth Chessed | |
|---|---|
 The former synagogue, in 2008 | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Reform Judaism (former) |
| Ecclesiastical or organisational status | Synagogue (1892–1986) |
| Status | Closed; abandoned |
| Location | |
| Location | 706 Church Street, Port Gibson, Mississippi |
| Country | United States |
  Location of the former synagogue in Mississippi | |
| Geographic coordinates | 31°57′33″N 90°58′58″W / 31.95917°N 90.98278°W |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Bartlett and Budemeyer |
| Type | Synagogue architecture |
| Style | Moorish Revival |
| General contractor | J. F. Barnes |
| Date established | 1870 (as a congregation) |
| Groundbreaking | 1891 |
| Completed | 1892 |
| Construction cost | $7,000 |
| Materials | Red brick |
History edit
The Port Gibson Jewish community was established in the 1840s by Ashkenazi immigrants from the German states and Alsace-Lorraine. Working first as peddlers, they founded the Port Gibson Jewish cemetery in 1870 and built the synagogue in 1892 on Church Street. According to an 1887 deed, the Hebrew Benevolent Society of Port Gibson, incorporated in 1870, purchased the land for $300.[1]
It is the oldest surviving synagogue in the state and the only building of this architectural style.[2] There were about 50-60 Jewish families during the peak of population at the beginning of the twentieth century.[3] By then most of the men worked as merchants and cotton brokers.[2]
With the decline of the Mississippi River towns in the later twentieth century, the Jewish community dwindled as the next generations moved to larger cities. The congregation closed in 1986.[4] They donated their Torah and artifacts to the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience in Utica, Mississippi.
Threatened with demolition for other development, the synagogue was sold and purchased by non-Jews, who preserved the building.[2][3][4]
Description edit
The exterior features the unusual combination of a Moorish-style keyhole doorway surmounted by a Russian-style cupola. The windows in the turret supporting the dome are also in Moorish keyhole style. The windows on the brick main floor of the building appear from the exterior as simple arched windows.[1]
Based on the interior, the intentions are obvious that the congregation wanted to build a synagogue in the fashionable Moorish Revival style: the colored glass takes the form of Moorish keyhole windows set into arched, masonry window openings, a thrifty solution that gives the effect of Moorish windows without the expense of fancy brickwork. The handsome horseshoe arch of the niche for the aron kodesh is especially graceful.[5]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b "Port Gibson, MS ~ Temple Gemiluth Chassed (1892)". Synagogues of the South. College of Charleston. 2024. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
- ^ a b c Levy Monahan, Carol. "Port Gibson, Mississippi" (Exhibition). Judeo-Alsatians in the Deep South (in English and French). Judaisme d'Alsace et de Lorraine: Museum for Southern Jewish Life. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
- ^ a b Applebome, Peter (September 29, 1991). "Small-Town South Clings to Jewish History". The New York Times.
- ^ a b "Congregation Gemiluth Chassed". Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities. Institute for Southern Jewish Life. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
- ^ Assis, Yom Tov; Folberg, Neil (photography); Hertzberg, Arthur (preface). And I Shall Dwell Among Them; Historic Synagogues of the World. Aperture Books. pp. 82–3.
External links edit
- "History of Gemiluth Chassed", Institute of Southern Jewish Life
- Gordon, American Jewish History