During a brief Twitter argument with black Orthodox rabbi Ma Nishtana over a graphic he created that I found hugely offensive, he mentioned an 1820 synagogue constitution in Charleston, South Carolina that explicitly excluded blacks from its membership.
Rule XXIII of the Constitution of Congregation Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, Charleston, South Carolina, said, “This congregation shall not encourage or interfere with making proselytes under any pretense whatever, nor shall any such be admitted under the jurisdiction of their congregation, until he or she or they produce legal and satisfactory credentials, from some other congregation where a regular Chief [Rabbi] or Rabbi and Hebrew Consistory is established; and, provided, he, she or they are not people of color.”
I looked up the quote and found it in a 1905 book called The Jews of South Carolina, by the then-rabbi of the same congregation, Barnett A Elzas. It’s quite accurate, and incredibly offensive. I do not believe that it is representative of Orthodox shuls nationwide at the time (I see that in the late 18th century New York’s Shearith Israel said it accepted “every free person professing the Jewish religion” and Richmond’s Jewish community said it accepted “every free man…who congregates with us.” Yes, they excluded slaves, but they did not exclude Jews of color, at least not officially.
However, this 1905 book revealed some other horrific racism.
It discusses as a matter of fact how many prominent Jews in South Carolina eagerly bought and sold slaves.
Moses Lindo, an indigo seller, advertised to buy a plantation along with 50 or 60 slaves:
One of them created a poem in his advertisement of selling slaves, extolling how great they are and mentioning that of course if they don’t do their job one should lash them:
Even if you try to justify these sickening examples a being just the way things were before the Civil War, Rabbi Elzas shows his own racism quite explicitly when quoting the accomplishments of another racist Jew, Edwin Warren Moise:
General Moise, as he was familiarly called, was the type of what a good man and citizen should be. Brilliant as was his record in war, his record in peace was no less glorious. He will be ever remembered as the right arm of General Wade Hampton in Reconstruction days, who by his unselfish devotion to the cause, his many sacrifices, and his soul-stir ring oratory, helped to redeem the State of South Carolina from the horrors of carpet-bag rule. True patriot that he was, he sought no political advancement for his services, and though he gave his fortune to the cause, he was content to live as a private citizen.
He then quoted one of Moises’ eulogies:
“When the true sons of South Carolina rose in their might to redeem the State from the hands of aliens, renegades, and negroes he was called to the front, and he did his part like a man and a patriot. The red-shirt Democrats of ’76 still remember how he rode with Hampton from the mountains to the sea, and how his eloquence, his zeal, and courage inspired them to stand steadfast for white supremacy and an honest government. To do this he abandoned a most lucrative law practice, and being elected Adjutant and Inspector-General in 1876, he served for four years, and declined reelection in 1880.”
That a rabbi in 1905 would approvingly speak of white supremacism, even as he realized that Jews were usually the victims of the same bigotry, seems astonishing nowadays.
Interestingly, the current South Carolina Encyclopedia says that General Moises “was a moderate on racial issues. He invited black South Carolinians to join the militia.”
General Moises’ son is then described as someone who attended the South Carolina College for a few months, “leaving that institution when negroes were admitted in 1873.”
It is shocking to read this explicit racism described so matter of factly.
The question for today as I see it is whether we still harbor some of that racism and are just as clueless as the author of this book was.
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