MAY: WAR IN ISRAEL #7
Baruch Hashem, I hope this newsletter brings you strength, resilience, and hope.
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TORAH THOUGHT OF THE MONTH
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SONG OF THE MONTH
PRO-ISRAEL MOMENT
ARTICLE OF THE MONTH:
The Passover Seder in Civil War-Era West Virginia: A Moment of Faith in a Time of Hardship by our beloved member Nils Skudra.
During the American Civil War, Jewish Americans fought on opposing sides in significant numbers, adopting the Union and Confederate causes, respectively, and asserting their American citizenship while trying to maintain their Jewish identity and religious practices in a predominantly Christian setting. This frequently involved improvisation in order to adhere to traditional Jewish dietary restrictions, together with finding the right moment and space to hold a Jewish festival meal. The story of the Passover seder held by 21 Jewish Union soldiers in West Virginia offers a prime example of how Jewish soldiers adapted to their wartime settings to celebrate Jewish holidays, as well as the importance of faith in a time of national hardship.
In the spring of 1862, as Union troops were operating in the mountains of present-day West Virginia, a group of Jewish soldiers from the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry gathered in the vicinity of Fayetteville to hold a Passover seder. Having been granted leave to observe the holiday, they had a set of Haggadahs and matzah at their disposal but had to seek out the food for the other traditional Passover dishes themselves. Private Joel recalled:
“We … sen[t] parties to forage in the country [for Passover food] while a party stayed to build a log hut for the services… We obtained two kegs of cider, a lamb, several chickens, and some eggs. Horseradish or parsley we could not obtain, but in lieu we found a weed whose bitterness, I apprehend, exceeded anything our forefathers enjoyed.
We had the lamb, but did not know what part was to represent it at the table; but Yankee ingenuity prevailed, and it was decided to cook the whole and put it on the table, then we could dine off it, and be sure we got the right part.
The necessaries for the choroutzes [haroset] we could not obtain, so we got a brick which, rather hard to digest, reminded us, by looking at it, for what purpose it was intended.”1
This scenario profoundly illustrates the innovative spirit that Jewish soldiers brought to their wartime surroundings as part of the effort to maintain their traditional Jewish practices. Serving in a predominantly Christian army marching through a largely rural setting, necessity compelled them to forage for the required Passover food items in the West Virginia countryside, which could not offer all the ingredients traditionally served in a Passover seder. Furthermore, operating in a hostile environment demanded that they keep their arms at their side, for fear of possible attack by Confederate guerrillas. Historian Bertram Korn, author of American Jewry and the Civil War, noted, “It must have been quite a sight: these twenty men gathered together in a crude and hastily-built log hut, their weapons at their side, prepared as in Egypt-land for all manner of danger, singing the words of praise and faith in the ancient language of Israel.”2
As the Passover seder progressed, it took on a comical tone following the eating of the bitter herbs. Private Joel observed:
“We all had a large portion of the herb ready to eat at the moment I said the blessing; each [ate] his portion, when horrors! What a scene ensued . . . The herb was very bitter and very fiery like Cayenne pepper, and excited our thirst to such a degree that we forgot the law authorizing us to drink only four cups, and . . . we drank up all the cider. Those that drank more freely became excited and one thought he was Moses, another Aaron, and one had the audacity to call himself a Pharaoh. The consequence was a skirmish, with nobody hurt, only Moses, Aaron and Pharaoh had to be carried to the camp, and there left in the arms of Morpheus.”3
While this episode might seem bizarre to contemporary Jewish audiences, it reflects the unique ways in which the Civil War shaped Jewish soldiers’ observance of Passover. On a personal level, they had to improvise with the means available to them in order to hold a traditional seder against the backdrop of a largely non-Jewish environment. On a broader level, the holiday took on an ideological significance for Jewish soldiers in the Union and Confederate armies, which they interpreted through the lens of their respective causes. Jewish Confederates drew parallels between the Exodus from Egypt and the South’s secession from the Union, which they regarded as their region’s own departure from the perceived oppressive rule of a Northern-dominated federal government. In contrast, Jewish Union soldiers increasingly linked the Passover story of the ancient Hebrews’ liberation from slavery with the cause of emancipation in their adopted country, and the death of Abraham Lincoln on April 15, 1865, was viewed by many Northern Jews as a parallel to the passing of Moses before he could see the Israelites enter the Promised Land.4 Nonetheless, the shared religious ties between Northern and Southern Jews provided the incentive for occasional fraternization between Northern Jewish soldiers and Southern Jewish civilians, exemplified by the story of Myer Levy, a Union soldier who was invited by a Virginian woman to seder after her son exclaimed, “Mother, there’s a damn Yankee Jew outside!”5
The story of the Passover seder held in Civil War-era West Virginia provides both a humorous and touching scenario in which Jewish soldiers adapted to wartime circumstances while maintaining their religious traditions through improvisation. In many ways, this speaks volumes about the broader Jewish American experience, in which Jews have struggled to become part of the American mainstream while preserving their ancestral identity through adaptation to their surroundings. Furthermore, their perseverance in observing the Jewish faith in a time of national hardship, characterized by bitter sectional warfare that prompted a dramatic rise in antisemitism while at the same time pitting Jews against each other, offers a profound lesson about the value of faith in the midst of crisis. By following this example, Jews can continue to uphold their religious and cultural identity in the face of the challenging issues that confront the Jewish community today.
BOOK OF THE MONTH:
A few years after publishing Ten Times Chai: 180 Orthodox Synagogues of New York City, a photobook of 613 photos of the interiors of existing Orthodox synagogues in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx, and dedicating it to the 23 Holocaust Survivors he met as a Volunteer with the JCC of Greater Coney Island (Connect2ny.org), Michael J. Weinstein received a note from a friend with the words "Mitzvah Goreret Mitzvah," and had to Google the meaning, "one mitzvah leads to the next." Michael, slowly becoming a "Baal Teshuva," a returnee or spiritually awakened Jew, from Long Island, now age 60, started keeping written list with that phrase being the first. As he stepped up his learning from Torah related books, he expanded his list to create an A - Z giant glossary of words, names, and phrases from the Torah. During the same time, he researched his family tree and discovered his Great Great Grandfather, Mordechai Weiss, was a "Melamed," a teacher of Hebrew language and traditions, in a "Cheder," an elementary school, in Pidvolochys'k, a "shtetl," a small village in Galicia, an area during the Austria-Hungarian Empire, modern-day western Ukraine. The list of words, names, and phrases expanded exponentially, and Michael created a "glossary of glossaries" for himself to learn as he works as a financial advisor and Director - Investments at Oppenheimer & Co., and thought it was a little late to enroll in Cheder, Hebrew High School, or a Yeshiva. Using only Torah related books, Michael compiled a list of over pages, and published Essential Torah Words, Names, and Phrases, in February 2024. He included the 23 "haskamahs," letters of approbation, he received from Rabbis, many of them who serve as "Rosh Yeshiva," Head or Dean of a Yeshiva. Michael feels there is no coincidence, he received 23 letters, because 23 was the same number of Holocaust Survivors he dedicated his first book to. Photos of Jerusalem in the book, used to separate one letter of the alphabet from the next, were taken by Michael during a trip to Israel in 2022. In the introduction Michael writes, "My list is obviously incomplete and entirely subjective for what I considered 'essential.' For some readers my list might be considered 'voluminous' and for others, just a mere drop of water in the vast ocean of Torah literature. However, if it can help one or more Jews connect to Torah, then G-d willing, I will have completed my task." The book is intended for anyone, at any age and level of observance. The 88 books in the bibliography as well as the 88 Torah related websites in the book can be used as a springboard for further learning. Michael dedicated his book to his Great Great Grandfather and believes he is looking down from "Shamayim," Heaven, and saying "Yasher Koach," May your strength be firm, and expressing admiration. The book is currently being sold on Amazon and direct from the Author (tentimeschai@gmail.com).
BOOKS BY RABBI WELTON:
J.A. Joel, in Michael Feldberg, “Passover Seders During the Civil War.” www.myjewishlearning.com. My Jewish Learning. Accessed 8 April 2024.
Bertram Korn, cited in Feldberg, “Passover Seders During the Civil War.”
J.A. Joel, in Feldberg, “Passover Seders During the Civil War.”
Feldberg.
Korn, in Feldberg.