Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on April 14, 2020

Herman Schafer brought his bride, Rosa Goldsmith, to their home in Mount Airy in 1888, they were the only Jewish couple they knew of in the county. The nearest Jewish synagogue was in Statesville so Rosa instructed her sons and, eventually, other Jewish children and a few Christian children in the tenets of the faith. The Schafer boys are seen in this 1910 photo. From left are Henry, Isadora, and Sigried. Isador ran a lumberyard on West Pine Street in Mount Airy for many years.

Easter is a tricky holiday. It moves around.

The scriptures are clear on when the events happened that are celebrated today as Easter. Jesus and his disciples were in Jerusalem to observe Passover. That always happens on the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month called Nisan.

The Hebrew calendar has always been calculated by the moon, so Nisan 15 is always on whatever day the full moon closest to the spring equinox happens.

Because the Christian world operated on a different sort of calendar, in 325 CE church leaders determined Easter would happen on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.

Are you still with me?

Sometimes these competing calendar calculations mean Passover and the Easter Holy Week line up, more or less, as they do this year. The festival of Passover started on Wednesday, April 8 and ends this Thursday.

Regardless of when theyve happened, folks in this region have observed both. Surry County is filled with a wide variety of religious traditions. Herman Shafer, a successful retailer and real estate investor moved his new wife, Rosa Goldsmith, to Mount Airy in 1888. She noted in an interview not long before her death in 1964 they were there only members of the Jewish faith for 12 years,

There is a larger variety of faiths today but the majority in Surry have always been some form of Christianity.

From the earliest records of the region people living here in the 1700s had little or no access to churches or preachers of any faith on a regular basis. When a minister traveled on a survey crew, with merchants, or newly arriving settlers, word spread like wild fire. People would walk for days to hear a church service or to have their children baptized.

The Moravian men sent to build Bethabara had at least four guests travel to them to share the first Easter Sunday of what would become Winston-Salem. The community diary of April 14, 1784, notes two men from the Etkin River came and stayed the night. They likely lived in what is today Surry County.

In the early times, resources and effort were spent on establishing farms, businesses, and homes. Few church buildings in the area are recorded before the middle 1800s. Most worship in this region took place in peoples homes or, when needed, theyd open barns, mills, or storehouses. If the weather permitted people simply met in a clearing or meadow for worship.

As communities grew and resources increased, people came together to build simple churches across the countryside. Town congregations, with the strength of wealth generated by businesses, saw more substantial buildings erected in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The closest Jewish Synagogue was built in Statesville in 1891.

The Yadkin Valley News reported on plans to build a magnificent new building to be erected by the Methodists on Franklin Street in April 1893 with a $10,000 price tag.

The end of winter has traditionally brought unpredictable and occasionally, dramatic weather. Newspapers across the region reported on the Great Easter Freeze in 1894, that severely damaged the timber trees, especially with the hot, dry summer that followed.

In 1901 the Mount Airy News wrote about a well-known spring phenomenon: wind. The wind has been howling for several months and now that Easter is past we are having better weather for which we are profoundly thankful.

The Yadkin Valley News summed up this season well in 1893 when it reported:

Easter was a beautiful day. Eggs and chickens were all the go. Everything begins to look like life again with the farmers around Mizpah. Spring work has begun in earnest. Farmers are busy plowing their land and the planting their gardens.

Happy Easter! Chag Pesach samekh! Joyous Spring!

Whether this season is about lamb and bitter herbs or chocolate rabbits and colorful eggs for you and yours However you spend today, the staff of the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History wish you all great joy.

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CAPTIONS:

SCHAFER BOYS Herman Schafer brought his bride, Rosa Goldsmith, to their home in Mount Airy in 1888, they were the only Jewish couple they knew of in the county. The nearest Jewish synagogue was in Statesville so Rosa instructed her sons and, eventually, other Jewish children and a few Christian children in the tenets of the faith. The Schafer boys are seen in this 1910 photo, left to right, Henry, Isadora, and Sigried. Isador ran a lumberyard on West Pine Street in Mount Airy for many years.

t this April 1952 ad used their free chick giveaway as a customer draw to the store on Market Street in Mount Airy.

LITTLE WHITE CHURCH Few congregations had a dedicated church building in the 19th century. People gathered in homes, barns, or storehouses for holidays or when a traveling or circuit minister came to the area. Sometimes impromptu platforms and benches were erected for special occasions or speakers such as the Sunday after Easter when the Crooked Oak Primitive Baptist congregation hosted what the Yadkin Valley News described as a first tabernacle in the wilderness style event that was enjoyed by a great crowd. The photo, from the Surry County Digital Heritage project, is Zion Primitive Baptist in the Crooked Oak community.

Herman Schafer brought his bride, Rosa Goldsmith, to their home in Mount Airy in 1888, they were the only Jewish couple they knew of in the county. The nearest Jewish synagogue was in Statesville so Rosa instructed her sons and, eventually, other Jewish children and a few Christian children in the tenets of the faith. The Schafer boys are seen in this 1910 photo. From left are Henry, Isadora, and Sigried. Isador ran a lumberyard on West Pine Street in Mount Airy for many years.

Maundy Morning sunrise at Mount Airys beautiful Oakdale Cemetery is a place many walk to enjoy the peace and to contemplate their thoughts of those whove passed on. American religious traditions vary but many closely associate the Easter story of Christs resurrection with cemeteries and the hope and certainty their religious beliefs give.

Moravians around the world have celebrated sunrise on Easter morning with brass bands and singing since 1732. Mount Airys Moravians generally traveled to Mount Bethel church in Virginia before they began officially forming in 1923. They met in homes and store fronts and began building what is still their church home, Grace Moravian Church on North Main Street, in September 1925. Rev. Robert Iobst, minister at Grace from 1954-1958,is shown leading the Sunrise Service with the churchs brass band in that time.

Easter is both a major religious holiday and the de facto start of spring. Easter bonnets and dresses for church were joined by garden gloves, flowers, seed packs, and the arrival of chicks. The tradition of giving dyed chicks to children in their Easter baskets began when most families raised chickens. The practice has fallen out of favor as fewer homes have hen houses in the back yard but this April 1952 ad used their free chick giveaway as a customer draw to the store on Market Street in Mount Airy.

Few congregations had a dedicated church building in the 19th century. People gathered in homes, barns, or storehouses for holidays or when a traveling or circuit minister came to the area. Sometimes impromptu platforms and benches were erected for special occasions or speakers such as the Sunday after Easter when the Crooked Oak Primitive Baptist congregation hosted what the Yadkin Valley News described as a first tabernacle in the wilderness style event that was enjoyed by a great crowd. The photo, from the Surry County Digital Heritage project, is Zion Primitive Baptist in the Crooked Oak community.

Often at home in early days

Kate Rauhauser-Smith is the visitor services manager for the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History with 22 years in journalism before joining the museum staff. She and her family moved to Mount Airy in 2005 from Pennsylvania where she was also involved with museums and history tours. She can be reached at KRSmith@NorthCarolinaMuseum.org or by calling 336-786-4478 x228

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Easter celebrations through the years - Mount Airy News

Category: Jewish Heritage Month
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