The Southern Shmooze
April 2022
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The Charleston Daily Courier, Charleston, South Carolina, April 9, 1827
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Dear Friends,
This is the month Jews across the South and around the world will be celebrating Passover, or Pesach in Hebrew. One of the most important holidays of the year, Passover commemorates the divinely-led Exodus of the Jews from bondage in Egypt.
At the seder, the ceremonial meal where the story of the Exodus is retold each year, Jews are reminded that they should consider themselves to have been personally liberated from bondage due to their ancestral connection to Moses and the Hebrew slaves. It is a powerful message connecting past and present that rings true throughout the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience. We are the sum of our past and our present and our striving toward the future. So as we celebrate this year, please take a moment to think about the Museum, our mission to explore our unique past and present, and how you personally fit into that mission.
A zizzen Pesach (a sweet Passover),
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Kenneth Hoffman, Executive Director
👉 Don't forget to Save the Dates of June 11 and 12 for our "Grand Opening" celebration. Registration information coming soon!
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From the Collection
Smolkin Family Artifacts
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One of our most recent collection acquisitions includes a fascinating look into the events of Young Judaea life in the South – and the transcontinental relationship of Mollye and William “Revel” Smolkin. Mollye, born in 1925 to Morris and Jennie Plotka, joined Young Judaea as a teenager in Mobile, Alabama. Young Judaea – and its Southern chapter, where Mollye was a member – focused on strengthening Jewish identity in a pro-Zionist environment. Regional chapters of Young Judaea regularly held conventions to connect young across state lines, as shown by Mollye’s badge for the 1941 Young Judaea convention held in New Orleans. She was active in numerous other Jewish organizations in Mobile, including the Progressive Club, where she taught her future husband – a fellow Mobile native Mollye had known from childhood – to dance. |
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Mollye and Revel married in the midst of World War II, just as the groom enlisted in the Marine Corps. Their October 1941 ketubah, designed by Sol Nodel, has “SAMPLE” faintly printed in red halfway down the ketubah. According to the Smolkin family, this might have been due to not having enough time to order a new ketubah or because the synagogue might have supplied it. Revel went on to serve as a U.S. Marine Corps captain overseas and continued with the Marines as a public information office in China after the war. He apparently made a good impression in China, as Rabbi Bertram Korn wrote Mollye from China in January 1946, “[Revel is] really the first Mobilian I’ve been with for any length of time in service and it’s quite wonderful to have him around… while a lot of our officers, married and unmarried, are running wild here in China, Revel is a good boy.” The couple reunited soon after and moved to New Orleans. |
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Revel and Mollye, who taught herself financial management, founded W. R. Smolkin & Associates and worked together to build the nationally-renowned real estate consultancy. The Smolkins remained very involved in the Jewish community, including Revel, who chaired the United Jewish Appeal’s annual campaign. Thank you to Shelley Smolkin Hébert and Stuart Smolkin, who graciously compiled and donated their parents’ records to the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience. |
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Images: Young Judaea convention badge, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1941
Mollye and William “Revel” Smolkin Ketubah, Mobile, Alabama, 1946
Photograph of Revel Smolkin with children in China, 1946; Smolkin’s “Order of the Golden Dragon” signifying he crossed the International Date Line, c. 1940s.
Mollye and Revel Smolkin, Louisiana, 1944
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A Conversation with David Lowe
Sunday, April 3, 3:00-4:00pm Central
NOT TOO LATE TO REGISTER!
Join MSJE on for a conversation with David Lowe, author of Touched with Fire: Morris B. Abram and the Battle against Racial and Religious Discrimination. Lowe will discuss the life and legacy of Georgia-born and raised civil rights lawyer Morris B. Abram. This fascinating biography was awarded the National Jewish Book Award.
MSJE Members receive 15% off book purchases and will be given the opportunity to get your book signed after the event. If you would like to become a Member, Click here.
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Judah Benjamin Panel with
Author James Traub
Sunday, April 24, 4:30-5:30pm Central
Join Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina's hosts, Judge Richard Gergel and Robert Rosen as they welcome James Traub, author of "Judah Benjamin, Counselor to the Confederacy", and our own Kenneth Hoffman, director, Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience to discuss this fascinating and controversial figure.
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GiveNola 2022
GiveNola Day Returns May 3, 2022
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For 24 hours on Tuesday, May 3rd, hundreds of New Orleans non-profits will be participating in GiveNOLA Day – a great opportunity for you to support MSJE! We will be competing for matching gifts against other museums and organizations to see who can raise the most money and who can receive the most individual donations. There are even cash prizes for museums who receive donations every hour throughout the day.
Last year we exceeded our GiveNOLA Day goal of $18,000. We've set a goal this year of raising $25,000. Will you help us reach it?
The important thing to know: YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE FROM NEW ORLEANS TO PARTICIPATE. Anyone can donate and at any amount.
Can't wait to give? EARLY GIVING starts Monday, April 18!
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Museum Store Poll
What would you like to see in your Museum Store?
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Galanty's Store, Lake Providence, Louisiana, c. 1900. |
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Choose the top 3 items you'd like us to carry...
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"Shalom Y'all" Kitchenware
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Meet Our New Board Member
Leslie Lux
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Leslie Pick Lux was born and raised in New Orleans. Growing up, Leslie connected with other Jewish children through the Touro Synagogue Youth Group, SoFTY and Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Utica, Mississippi. She attended Isidore Newman School and Newcomb College where she was president of her sorority, Alpha Epsilon Phi.
Leslie moved with her husband to Louisville, where she was active in the Jewish Hospital Auxiliary and The Temple among other local charities. Her children, Paul, Benjamin, and Hillary were all born in Louisville and in 1990 they moved to Saint Louis. While in St. Louis, Leslie continued to serve on the boards of the Jewish Hospital Auxiliary, St. Louis Zoo Friends, and Temple Emanuel and numerous school committees.
A long-time interior designer and business owner, Leslie is now retired. She and her husband have relocated part-time to the Warehouse District in New Orleans.
Fascinated by the many stories, both similar and different to her own, Leslie is thrilled and honored to serve on the Board of the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience.
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Passover Haroset
A recipe from MSJE Board Chair Jay Tanenbaum's mom,
Patricia Wise Tanenbaum (z”l)
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Haroset, or charoset or charoses, is a paste made of chopped apples, raisins, nuts, and wine. It is one of the foods contained on a seder plate during the Passover meal and symbolizes the mortar that the enslaved Israelites used to build Egyptian cities during their centuries of captivity. Most families have their own recipe for haroset, passed down through the generations, connecting us each year to our own past as well as the Jewish people's past. |
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This Month in Southern Jewish History |
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LOUISIANA: April 2, 1905
The 50th Annual Meeting of the Association for the Relief of Jewish Widows and Orphans is held. President Abe Kahn and Superintendent Michel Heymann give positive reports on the Home's finances and its relationship with the Isidore Newman Manual Training School, which had been established two years earlier as a school for the Home's residents. Mr. Heymann reports that the Home currently houses 69 boys and 75 girls.
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GEORGIA: April 7, 1968
Just three days after Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated, Rabbi Jacob Rothschild, of The Temple in Atlanta, delivers a stirring address to an overflowing, ecumenical crowd in the Episcopalian Cathedral. Among his praise of Dr. King's courage and achievements, Rothschild adds, "The only fitting memorial to Dr. King must be a firmer dedication to his teachings and to the united America which he sought."
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VIRGINIA: April 16, 2007
Dr. Liviu Librescu, a 76-year-old Romanian Jewish Holocaust survivor and engineering professor at Virginia Tech, is one of the 32 victims killed in the mass shooting at the university in Blacksburg. In a heroic act, Dr. Librescu holds the door shut with his body as the killer tries to enter the classroom, giving his students enough time to climb out the window. Today, the nearby Librescu Jewish Center, established by the Chabad-Lubavitch of Virginia, honors his memory.
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MISSISSIPPI: April 21, 1927
The Mississippi River levee at Mounds Landing, twelve miles from Greenville, is breached during the Great Flood. Greenville, the "Queen City of the Mississippi Delta," is home to 375 Jews at the time. Like thousands of Southerners along the river, many Jewish homes and businesses are ruined in the flood. Some leave town for good, but most stay, rebuild, and become a significant part of the city's merchant class.
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OKLAHOMA: April 22, 1989
Nearly two million acres of land in the Oklahoma Territory is opened to homesteaders as the Land Rush of 1889 begins. Much of the land had been deeded by treaty to the Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, and Seminole Indians, who had earlier been removed from the eastern United States. Waiting for many of the homesteaders in Ardmore is Samuel Zuckerman, who had established a store among the railroad workers two years earlier.
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SOUTH CAROLINA: April 24, 2003
Columbia political leader Isadore Lourie dies. Lourie served in the State House of Representatives and in the State Senate from 1964-1992, when he gave up his seat and helped his African American successor win his electoral race. Former College of Charleston president Alex Sanders said of Lourie, “During the turbulent time of the ’60s, Isadore was... the most meaningful voice that connected black people and white people,” In 1996, Lourie help found the South Carolina Jewish Historical Society.
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So Many Ways to Support MSJE... |
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GIVE ONLINE
MAIL US A CHECK
to PO Box 15071, New Orleans, LA 70175
DONATE FROM YOUR IRA
required distribution
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DESIGNATE MSJE
as a recipient of your Donor Advised Fund
DONATE STOCK
or other marketable securities
INCLUDE MSJE
in your estate planning (we can help)
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Shalom. Make yourself at home.®
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Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience
818 Howard Avenue | New Orleans, LA 70113
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Banner images (l-r): Members of Congregation Beth Israel in Clarksdale, MS, c.1910. Collection of Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience; Blue Star campers, North Carolina, 2016. Courtesy of Blue Star Camps.
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