CJH The Israelitic Society

The short successful life of our first Jewish organization

How it began

The tale begins as an example of "chain migration". Simson Thorman, who bought land here in 1837, writes home to relatives and friends in Unsleben, Bavaria about how good it is here and inviting them to join him. In August 1839 a party of 15 Jews from Unsleben Bavaria arrive in Cleveland. Now our Jewish settlers numbering about sixty in a city of about 6,000 are ready to organize to support each other as Jews in a new land.

As Thorman and the other Unslebeners were at the group's center, its name and mission followed the example of Unsleben's Jewish communal group: the Israelitic Society,

That new organization was both synagogue and community. It served the Jewish community's religious life with services, education, and burial grounds, and with welfare and more. It was also the Jewish community's interface with the larger community. Today we might consider it as synagogue and Jewish Federation combined.

Was there an Israelitic Society in Unsleben?

That our first settlers, many of them from the Bavarian town of Unsleben, formed the Israelitic Society so quickly suggests that they had been in a similar group before.

Our oldest document, a Farewell Card known as the Alsbacher Document as it was written to Moses Alsbacher, the leader of the group that arrived in 1849, and his wife Yetta, supports that thinking. Its 233 signatures show there was a large Jewish population. That the message was written by Lazarus Kohn, the community's teacher, shows there was an organization that that could hire and pay a teacher. We also know that in 1856 its Jewish community was able to buy a burial ground.

Was there such a community body, and what was its name?

We reached out to CWRU Professor Jay Geller who is an expert on the history of Jews in modern Germany. He soon found a reference to the "Israelitische Gemeinde Unsleben" (Unsleben Israelitic Society or Community of Israelites). It was in an 1868 German publication.

We believe that our founders organized following the structure they left behind and gave their new communal body the same name, the Israelitic Society.

Image below from Prof. Jay Geller, CWRU

below: 1845 Great Gift to Israelitic Society, land for its first synagogue

Surprisingly, no copy of this historic document is on public display. How good to think of it being viewed by visitors to its modern counterpart: our Cleveland Jewish Federation and also in the core exhibit of the Maltz Museum.

The second document, the deed to Willet Street Cemetery dated August 7, 1840 has always been available at the Cuyahoga County Recorder and is now online.

The third document, recorded on September 17, 1844 is the deed to land for our first synagogue, a gift from the agent for the original owner of this part of the Western Reserve. Though Congregation Anshe Chesed had been formed in 1842, the gift was made to the Israelitic (also Israelite) Society.

One object remains: the headstone of Alexander Kahnweiler, buried in Willet Street Cemetery by Society members on Friday, August 7, 1840 -- the same day the cemetery deed was recorded. The original stone, unreadable after 180 years of Cleveland weather, is now stored at Mayfield Cemetery. A new headstone will soon be dedicated.

Thanks to Prof. Jay Geller, CWRU

    Learn more on these pages:
      • 1839 Farewell Card (the Alsbacher Document)
      • 1840 Petition and its history
    • 1840 Israelitic Society deed to Willet Street Cemetery
      • 1840 First Jewish Burial (same day as deed!)
      • 1840 Headstone of Alexander Kahnweiler
      • 1843 Land for our first synagogue: the Great Gift
      • 2017 Discovery of the 1840 petition

Top of Page CJH Home