Jews first came to Port Gibson in the 1830s and they lived there through the 20th century, but now the Jewish community is down to one person.
By 1859, there were 22 Jews living in Port Gibson and they signed a charter for a congregation called Gemiluth Chassed, which means “House of Kindness”. Although no official synagogue was build until 1892, the congregation grew, opening a cemetery, school, and both B’nai Brith and the Free Sons of Israel chapters. The official Moorish-Byzantine, brick synagogue was built in 1892 after the temple leaders decided it was time since “[their] Christian fellow-citizens often ask why the Israelites have no church”.
In the beginning of the 1900s, the demographics in Port Gibson changed drastically as young people left in search of opportunities in the bigger cities, such as Memphis, New Orleans, and Baton Rouge, and as the elderly came to retire, increasing the average age of the community. Within just 10 years, between 1910 and 1920, Port Gibson’s Jewish population declined by 30%. As young males continued to leave for jobs, so did young females in search of husbands. Whereas in 1905, there were 171 Jews in Port Gibson, by 1937 only 44 remained. The last services were held there in 1978.
With no Jews left to worship at the synagogue, it was scheduled for demolition in 1987 to become a parking lot for the gas station next door. Bill and Martha Lum, a Methodist and a Catholic, instead bought the synagogue and are restoring it, as Bill Lum claimed that “[the synagogue is] part of the heritage of [Port Gibson], and we just couldn’t stand to see it destroyed… the Jewish heritage is deep rooted here, and that’s where we all come from, after all back to Abraham”.
Source: Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Jewish Life Source: Applebome, Peter. "Small-Town South Clings to Jewish History." The New York Times. The New York Times, 28 Sept. 1991. Web. 21 Apr. 2017 Photo Source: Jewish Heritage Report - Sam Gruber Word Count: 296