In her Polish passport, Regina Kawer Greene is listed as Rachela Grynblatt, born in 1920. Special Collections, College of Charleston. I always knew there was something different about my mother that set her apart—not just from other mothers, but from other people, too. First, there was her accent—her Eastern European and yet slightly nasal French […]
Painting by Kathryn Baker Lotzoff, Esther and Jake Baker’s daughter. Courtesy of Larraine Moses. “Miz Clara,” as she was ever so fondly addressed by her many loyal customers, was my grandma, Clara Kligerman Baker. She owned and operated Baker’s Grocery on Park Street in Columbia, South Carolina, for more than 40 years. She was petite, […]
Sid Dubin in the door of Temple Beth Or, no date. Courtesy of Neil Dubin. Turn out the lights when you leave. It’s a simple statement that we’ve all heard. Seems reasonable, seems easy, but how do you do it? How do you do it when it’s your synagogue and you’re not only leaving, you’re […]
The Baum family (l to r): Garry Baum, Bernie Baum, Becky Baum Lourie, Cheryl Baum, Harry Baum, and Ann Briskin Baum, Temple Beth El, Camden, SC, Rosh Hashanah 1995. Courtesy of the Baum family. Garry When I was growing up in Camden, South Carolina, in the 1960s and ’70s, the city had a population of […]
Irvin (l), Caroline, and Raymond Rosenblum, children of founding member Nahum Rosenblum, in front of Temple B’Nai Israel, in Anderson, SC, 1954, six years after it was built across the street from their home. Collection of Sandra Lee Kahn Rosenblum. My earliest recollection of going to shul in Anderson was around 1947. I was about […]
To Honor the Survivors and Remember the Dead: Building a Memorial in Marion Square I am the child of Holocaust survivors. Henry Popowski and Paula Kornblum Popowski were both from Kaluszyn, a Polish town 50 miles east of Warsaw. Before World War II its population numbered approximately 10,000—80 percent of whom were Jews. My father was 11 years older than my […]
Moise, Ward, Grierson ad In 1845 pharmacist Philip M. Cohen (1808–1879) was described as “a Jew . . . doing a large fine bus[iness who] has made [considerable] money. In[dustrious] and indefatigable.”1 This evaluation comes not from a letter or a newspaper article, but rather, from America’s earliest credit reports. In 1841 the Mercantile Agency began […]
Seymour Lynch, 1950s, enjoyed sitting in the sun outside his liquor store at 120 Central Avenue, Summerville, SC, while waiting for customers. He was in the habit of stacking boxes on the sidewalk to show he was open for business. Courtesy of the Lynch family. The first settlement of Summerville, known as Pineland Village, began after the American Revolution, its development fueled […]
The Schneider family celebrated Albert and Fannie’s 50th wedding anniversary in 1960 at Temple Beth Elohim, Georgetown, SC. Left to right, front: Fannie and Albert Schneider; middle: Anne, Jean, and Dorothy Schneider, and Cecil, Harold, and Philip Schneider. Courtesy of Deborah Schneider Smith. My grandfather Albert Max Schneider arrived in Georgetown around 1906 at the invitation […]
Three generations of the Rosen family gathered in November 1995 for the dedication of the new bridge crossing the Sampit River, named in honor of former Georgetown mayor Sylvan Rosen,seen here standing beneath the sign, flanked by sons Larry and Benedict. Special Collections,College of Charleston. My family’s history in Georgetown begins around 1887 when my […]