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Biloxi/Gulfport, Mississippi

	RESOURCES History of Beth Israel

The earliest sign of a permanent Jewish settlement along the Mississippi Gulf Coast was the creation of a Jewish cemetery called “Hebrew Rest” in 1853.  Located on Reynoir Street in Biloxi, and not used for years, this cemetery was purchased by Jews in New Orleans, most likely the Gates of Mercy Synagogue.  Frederick Reynoir deeded the land to L. Klopman of the “Hebrew Society of the City of New Orleans to be used as a burying ground until there shall be a synagogue in Biloxi.”  The Gates of Mercy already had a cemetery at this time period, and the most likely explanation for this purchase was the 1853 yellow fever epidemic in New Orleans, during which many of the city’s residents fled to safer areas, including places like Biloxi.  Thus, the Hebrew Rest cemetery was most likely purchased for Jews fleeing New Orleans, who ended up dying in Biloxi.  Though there is some variance in the estimated use of the cemetery, most figures approximate the number buried at Hebrew Rest to be between 10 and 20. 

By 1916, the city took control of the abandoned land of Hebrew Rest.  In response to the widening of Reynoir Street, many of the tombs were moved to the naval reserve.  The city issued notice to the families of Cecile Schwartz, Oury Bernard, Aaron Cohen, Mrs. Mathilda Harnthal, Henry Lyons, Lazarius Leopold, Brandly Friedlander, and Michel Levy, warning them of the possible displacement of their family graves.

During the several decades after the founding of the cemetery, a few Jewish families lived on the Gulf Coast, but never in enough concentration to form a congregation.  Most of these Jews owned retail stores.  As late as 1937, only 41 Jews lived in Biloxi/Gulfport.  During the 1930’s, Jews owned at least three stores in Biloxi, including a furniture store owned by the Cohens, a ladies’ clothing store owned by I. B. Rowe, and the Rosenbloom Clothing Store owned by James Rosenbloom. For those who wanted to worship, they traveled to either New Orleans or Mobile to attend synagogue.

World War II was a watershed event for Biloxi and its Jewish community.  The opening of Keesler Air Force Base brought new life to the Jewish population of Biloxi, as the city’s economy boomed during the war years.  With the arrival of these new Jewish residents, there was a growing desire for organized worship.  These new Jewish residents were the catalyst in the founding of Congregation Beth Israel.  One of these new residents was Abe Silver, who served as Beth Israel’s lay leader for many years.  Silver arrived in Biloxi to be an electrician for the base, and was in charge of leading Shabbat services, High Holiday services, and conducting weddings and funerals.  Other Beth Israel members lured to Biloxi by Keesler included Charles Gottesman, Fran Leitner, Zelma Feldman, and Len Fishman.  In 1958, the congregation was officially chartered and finally acquired a synagogue.

In 1953, local Jews established a B’nai Brith chapter, which served to unite a Jewish population scattered among such coastal towns as scattered population of Jews in Biloxi, Gulfport, Long Beach, and Pacagoula.  One of their early projects was an effort to restore the old cemetery.  They faced a difficult project; the cemetery had been so severely desecrated that some of the tombstones were even being used as doorsteps throughout Biloxi.  The preservation effort was further disrupted when Elder Street was built on top of the cemetery site, cutting directly through the burial grounds.  In response, the Beth Israel Congregation built a fence around the site to demarcate it from the surrounding forest.  In 1991 a historical marker was erected to commemorate the cemetery reading, “Original Biloxi Jewish Cemetery, One of the oldest Jewish Cemeteries in the South, established 1855.”  Successes of this venture include the uncovering of the grave of Michel Levy, who was born in Paris, France, and died in 1897 at age 17.  Levy had lived in Biloxi only three months before he died of, “bilious remittent fever” and was buried in Hebrew Rest.  In 1969, when Hurricane Camille decimated the Mississippi coast, the Gulf Coast B’nai B’rith lodge raised money for the recovery effort and even donated a mobile headquarters to the Salvation Army and Red Cross to aid in the clean up. 

Moody Grishman, a native of Romania, was a leader in the consolidation of the Jewish community in the 1950’s.  He found the site for Beth Israel’s synagogue.  In his youth he began farming on a forty acre farm in Gulfport, raising milk cows and chickens as well as producing onions, pecans, and vegetables.  His work farming, which lasted from 1930 to 1939, made him perhaps the only Jewish farmer in the region.  After his foray into farming, he went into the insurance business, which he quickly abandoned in favor of becoming a salesman for Sazerack Company, a wholesale liquor provider.  He eventually went into the real estate business.  He married Elizabeth Calendar Grisham and had four children, only one of whom remains in Biloxi today.

The Gulf Coast Jewish community remained small, but close-knit through the 1980s.  Biloxi/Gulfport had about 100 Jews in 1984.  In the 1990s, the area was transformed yet again by legalized gambling.  Large casinos and hotels covered the beaches in Biloxi and Gulfport.  With the new flourishing tourism business, many Jews from other parts of the country were drawn to Mississippi coast.  Steve Richer came from New Jersey in the 1990s to become the executive director of the Mississippi Gulfcoast Convention & Visitors Bureau.  He eventually became president of Beth Israel and led the congregation during the hardships caused by Hurricane Katrina.  In 2001, 250 Jews lived in the area.  At the time of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the local Jewish community was still growing.  While the storm brought unprecedented destruction to the coast, and the Jewish community suffered its share, the Biloxi/Gulfport Jewish community has already begun to rebuild.  Its future health will likely mirror that of the area itself.