Rabbi Wechsler (pronounced Wexler) lead the congregation's sponsoring a Jewish farming settlement in the Dakota Territories. The settlement attempted to help Russian Jewish immigrants find livelihoods working the land in the American West. Though the farm colony ultimately failed, he was considered an innovator and modernizer. Late in his career, after leaving Minnesota, he worked to improve educational opportunities in Mississippi for blacks. He served at Temple Mount Zion from 1878-1886.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A duplicate portrait photograph of Nellie Weiss Bondy in her wedding dress. Nellie Weiss married Louis Bondy in 1886: the event is reputed to have been the first Jewish wedding in Duluth.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A photograph of the front exterior of the Temple Israel synagogue. The Temple Israel Congregation was incorporated as Congregation Shaarei Tov in 1879. This building occupied 501-503 10th Street South in Minneapolis.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A contract between the Russian Brotherhood synagogue and Joe Isololen regarding payment for congregation membership. Payment amounts are specified, and the congregant is assigned seat 35A in the synagogue building.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
The Mains family were photographed in Russia before their move to the United States. Alexander Mains, seated at the far left, eventually settled in St Paul, Minnesota, where he married his wife Daisy and ran a successful shoe store.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Kafka became Sexton (custodian) of Temple Mount Zion in 1874. He was responsible for the care of the Temple, keeping the heat on, collecting contributions, and carrying out the directives of the congregation president. Whether the pay for his service was insufficient can only be conjectured, but Kafka left his job for a post on the St. Paul Police Force.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
The Shapiro family lived on the second floor of the building above the butcher shop. The woman in the upstairs window is Rose Shapiro. The man to the left of the fire hydrant is Max Shapiro, and the man in the apron is Sam Shapiro. Carl Shapiro is to the right of the horse.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Max Shapiro stands behind the counter at his butcher shop. An unidentified man stands at the end of the counter. The first Jewish Range residents lived in the Tower/Lake Vermillion area. They were peddlers, merchants and distributors who supplied first the lumber industry, then the mining community with provisions, dry goods and selected services.
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
Harry Silberstein driving a horse-drawn wagon used for collecting scrap metal. Scrap metal salvage was one of the occupations accessible to Jews. For immigrants leaving Europe in the late 1880s, scrap collection was an open field which required minimal capitalization and a willingness to move about. It also allowed the collector to be his own boss and avoid mandatory factory work hours which would have conflicted with Sabbath observance. Paper-Calmenson was founded 1891 and is still in operation.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
View showing the front exterior of the Synagogue Kenesseth Israel. Kenesseth Israel was formed sometime in the late 19th century from the combined congregations of Ohel Jacob and Beth Midrash Hagodol on Minneapolis's North Side. The congregation was Orthodox, active, and engaging of newly arrived immigrants, providing them with medical care and free shelter. The culturally and religiously important Minneapolis Talmud Torah grew out of Kenesseth Israel's Hebrew School. The building shown here was located in the middle of the block on 6th Avenue North and Lyndale Avenue North.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Etta Zrive and Abraham Bearman were born in different Lithuanian shtetls in the 1870s. Their clothes and home furnishings suggest they were economically comfortable by the time that this photo was taken in the early 1900s.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Frontal view of the third Mount Zion Temple in St. Paul, Minnesota, located at Holly Avenue and Avon Street, designed in the classical style. This was the location prior to the fourth and current Mount Zion on Summit Avenue, designed in the modernist Bauhaus style.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Four unidentified men stand inside the Milavitz Jewelry and Tobacco Shop. The counter on the right shows tobacco products while the counter on the left displays jewelry.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Mr. Milavitz stands in front of his store. A young girl stands to the side of the doorway and a child in a carriage is visible on the left side. Many avenues of employment were closed to Jews, resulting in a concentration of Jews earning a living as small shopkeepers. Many graduated from peddling to keeping a store after years of travel and establishing accounts on the road.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
The picture includes several generations of Cohens, standing on a porch, including a set of Old-World-looking grandfathers. The mohel wears the tallis and kippa: he performed the ritual circumcision at the bris.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
The Kronicks were close-knit family from the Iron Range. Several other Jewish Range families are represented in this photograph, including the Grais', Gordons, Garbers, and Londons.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Jesse Codden stands holding the reins of a pony while her four younger brothers sit on its back. The Codden family of St. Paul were one of the founding families of Sons of Jacob Synagogue.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A reprint of a photograph of the Popkin family sitting at a dining table set with plates and glasses. 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. The Popkin family lived in Duluth.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives