by Fred Moleck
Even before Abraham
Last weekend I was in Savannah, Georgia, playing for a wedding of a friend. Savannah is one of the most beautiful cities in the United States.Much of its antebellum charm is created by the numerous monument squares shaded by Spanish moss–covered trees, creating quiet neighborhoods with buildings of high dignity and grace.
Savannah was spared from destruction when General Sherman marched through the South destroying everything in sight.
He chose not to ravage the town, but communicated to Abraham Lincoln that he had made a gift of Savannah to Lincoln.
I know of no documentation stating if Lincoln ever visited to pick up the keys.
Of course, to get to Savannah I flew from Pittsburgh through Atlanta—Atlanta, hub city of Delta Airlines and what appears to be the place where half of the world hangs out.
The Atlanta airport has a history of out-of-control air traffic jams causing delays and thousands of disgruntled passengers. One dreaded the directions on one’s itinerary: “Change planes in Atlanta.”
When I deplaned on Thursday and found my way to concourse B, gate 21, I was astonished by the number of people waiting for takeoff by planes that weren’t there yet.
Many people were just standing around. Some were sitting with laptops and iPods. I even saw three rather large people asleep on the floor in one of the corners.
Most passengers were just sitting and staring silently into space.
I immediately thought of the scene in the movie Gone with the Wind where Scarlett goes to the Atlanta train station and encounters the acreage of wounded and dead confederate soldiers.
The scene is an overhead shot giving the full sweep of the hundreds of dead and almost-dead soldiers.
With so many people surrounding me in the Atlanta concourse, I wondered if these people were not really airline passengers but descendents of the survivors of the carnage of that scene and every so often they enact a ritual of Scarlett’s horror.
All of which leads me to the wedding.
First of all, it was held in the synagogue on Monterey Square in Savannah’s historic section—Congregation Mickve Israel, the Hope of Israel.
The congregation traces its roots back to 1733, five months after Oglethorpe established Georgia. Two other Jewish communities preceded them—New York, 1654, and Newport, Rhode Island, 1695.
Forty-two Sephardic Jews (Spanish and Portuguese origins) left London to establish a new community. Today, the congregation boasts a prestigious history of active participation in the foundation of the United States as well as local leadership.
For example, one of the congregation’s members distinguished himself when he rose to the rank of commodore in the navy and rescued Monticello from destruction.
He also abolished the punishment of flogging.
That’s interesting enough, but the building was constructed in 1878 in fine Victorian Gothic style, complete with stained-glass windows and vaulted ceilings.
It was designed by Henry G. Harrison, whose influence in establishing the neo-Gothic style was enormous. There are few cities in the United States that do not have a Harrison building.
When I arrived at the building I was convinced that it was originally a Catholic or Methodist church, or some other Christian place of worship. No. It was originally built that way
The Savannah building is the only Gothic-styled synagogue in the United States.
Many of the guests were equally astonished. The astonishment increased when the ceremony was conducted by a friend of the bride’s family—a Christian minister.
Talk about diversity, to say nothing at all of acculturation.
Stained-glass windows, sanctuary space, ribbed vaulting, nave, pipe organ, and the Torah enshrined in the center—all cared for and maintained as part of the Jewish congregation of the Kahal Kodesh Mickva Israel—Holy Congregation Hope of Israel, who welcomes the stranger and permits their worship.
This all reaches back to even before Abraham—Abraham Lincoln, that is.
You can reach Fred Moleck via email at fmoleck@comcast.net