Children dressed in costume, standing outside of Temple Emmanuel. Purim is a religious holiday that celebrates the defeat of Haman, the Persian minister who plotted the annihilation of the Persian Jews. It is a holiday marked by re-enactments of the story and subversive merry-making.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Purim is a holiday celebrating the rescue of the Jews from extermination at the hands of Hayman, the chief minister to the King of Persia. It is day of put-ons, jokes, and theatricality, and children perform plays about how Esther and Mordechi outwit Hayman.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A Christian clergyman is shown painting over Swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti as an act of goodwill. Graffiti was found on windows, doors, walls and sidewalks at the synagogue. The vandalism took place in 1978 on the 40th anniversary of ""Crystal Night,"" Germany's campaign to liquidate the Jews.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Saul Upin is standing, reading from the Haggadah, the text for the Seder observance. The Albert Lea Jewish community was relatively small. The 1930 American Jewish Yearbook census put the population at 29 people, which was undoubtedly its peak.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
The context of the display is unknown. However, the two women in the photo are Mrs. Arthur Horwitz (left) and Mrs. H. Z. Mendow (right). Note the photos in the background display featuring prominent Minneapolis Jewish leaders, including Rabbi Solomon Silber, Joseph Shandfield and Rabbi Samuel Deinard. Below the portraits are photos of Minneapolis synagogues and the first Jewish Sheltering home.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
View of the front exterior of Congregation B'nai Abraham, which occupied what was originally a Methodist church at the corners of 13th Avenue S. and 9th Street in Minneapolis. The Orthodox congregation was founded by Romanian Jews who settled in neighborhoods on Minneapolis' South Side.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
View of the front exterior of th Mikro Kodesh Synagogue. One of several North Side Orthodox congregations, Mikro Kodesh was founded as Anshei Russia (Men of Russia), but changed it's name to Mikro Kodesh (Holy Assembly) several years later. The name change reflects a growing away from the congregation's ties to the place where they came from, and towards the America they settled in.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
View of the front exterior of the Sons of Jacob building was located at College and Wabasha in downtown St. Paul. The Orthodox congregation was organized in 1872 by Polish Jews, and was the second Jewish congregation incorporated in the state.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Butcher David Gantman rescued these Torah scrolls from a St. Paul synagogue (possibly the Sons of Moses) which burned to the ground. The Orthodox Sons of Moses congregation was largely composed of Russian and Romanian Jews, and worshipped in what had been a church on the West Side of St. Paul on Thirteenth and Canada St.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A photograph showing members of the Miller, Gordon, Orenstein, Naftalin and Davis families gathered around the dining table. The Davis family lived in Minneapolis. Passover Seders begin with a retelling of the story of the deliverance of the Jewish people from Egyptian bondage. It includes foods symbolic of the years of slavery and flight from Egypt. Seders are family and community observances, held primarily in the home.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
The Dining Room Crew gather for a photo during the Seder of 1943 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Women front from L to R: Sadie Hemleben; Lil (Mrs Louis) Koplow; Goldie (Mrs Nathan) Koplow; Fannie (Mrs Myer) Koplow; Zelda (Mrs Jacob) Mosow; Ida (Mrs Homer) Caplan; Tinny (Mrs Gus). Others in no particular order: Hulda (Mrs Sol)Bailin; Ada (Mrs Joel) Silverton; Mayme (Mrs Joe) Breslow; Estelle (Mrs Tony) Steinberg; Hemleben; Rose (Mrs Max) Stein; Mayme (Mrs Rubin) Light; Florence (Mrs Morris) Ackerman; Dorothy (Mrs Louis) Hurwitz.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Mt. Zion became the first Jewish congregation in Minnesota Territory, receiving its charter in 1857. The building in the photograph at 1300 Summit Avenue in St. Paul is the current home of the congregation. Designed by Eric Mendelsohn, the building is in the Modernist Style, one of four Jewish community buildings designed by Mendelssohn during the post-war period. Groundbreaking occurred in 1950, and the building was dedicated in 1954.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
View of the large crowd gathered outside for the funeral of Rabbi Samuel Deinard, facing 24th Street and Emerson Avenue at Temple Israel synagogue in Minneapolis. Rabbi Deinard died from a heart attack just as temple members were gathering for Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism. The year before the temple had changed its name from Shaarai Tov to Temple Israel. Seven years later in 1928 the congregation would build a new temple at the same location under Rabbi Albert Minda.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
View of the large crowd gathered outside for funeral of Rabbi Samuel Deinard facing Temple Israel synagogue at 24th Street and Emerson Avenue in Minneapolis. Rabbi Deinard died from a heart attack just as temple members were gathering for Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for Jews. The year before the temple had changed its name from Shaarai Tov to Temple Israel. Seven years later in 1928 the congregation would build a new temple at the same location under Rabbi Albert Minda.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Portrait photograph of the young men and women in the graduating class of 1954, from the Minneapolis Talmud Torah. Most of the young people in the photo are about 13, the age at which they would participate in their bar or bat mitzvah.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Five gentleman hold shovels to the ground at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Temple of Aaron synagogue on September 20th, 1970. Listed on the back from left to right: Allen Freeman, Dick Smith, Louis Lipschutz, Max Bearman and Alan Levey. The groundbreaking included a stone from Jericho in the Holy Land. In 1972, construction was completed that doubled the square footage of the building, allowing for more space devoted to educational, social and aesthetic purposes.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
An unidentified woman chatting with Leah Barron (seated). This Hadassah-sponsored luncheon may have been an Interfaith Tea. The teas were carried on by Jewish and non-Jewish Women's groups interested in promoting cross-cultural education and understanding.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives