The History of Our Congregation
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When Jonathan Hager built his home and founded Elizabethtown, Maryland in 1742, Jews were living in the western portion of Maryland. A number of Jewish traders from Philadelphian Jewish families were active here already. The best known to us were Levi Cohen and his partner Henry Lazarus who were conducting business in Frederick and Elizabethtown, Maryland.
Western Maryland was then part of the farthest outreach of the Philadelphia trading network. This network was made up of 21 counties including eight counties of Pennsylvania, three lower counties of Delaware, seven counties in New Jersey, and three counties in Maryland. It covered about 20,000 square miles.
Cohen and Lazarus were merchants and traders. They were accustomed to moving around the countryside to trade and sell their wares. Like many others of their profession, these pioneering Jews searched for crossroad towns and outlying developments that were situated on navigable rivers. From these remote locations, they could buy grains and furs from farmers and trappers and then forward them, through the commercial network, to markets in the cities of Philadelphia and New York.
Levi Cohen was an active and valuable member of the community in Frederick. Today he can be traced through land purchases and records of his philanthropic endeavors. In 1759 he leased a lot in Frederick for five years. In 1760, he was one of eleven managers of a local lottery to raise money for a new fire engine for the fire company to which he belonged.
In 1768, Cohen shifted some of his interest in real estate to Sharpsburg near Elizabethtown. Although in the next year, he purchased more land at this same location, he was still actively a citizen of Frederick where he managed again another lottery fund raiser.
After the 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence, each new state established a legislature, a constitution, and a standard of citizenship. In Maryland, voting rights were allowed for all free men over 21 who owned fifty acres of property worth forty pounds. The Maryland oath of allegiance included a reference to Almighty G-d, thus it was an oath that Levi Cohen was able to take. With his interests now shifted to his property near Sharpsburg, Levi Cohen was the first man in Washington County to take and sign the oath of allegiance, thereby becoming Washington County's first citizen.
Levi Cohen left Washington County before the end of his life. The last official record of his time here shows that he sold his property in Sharpsburg in 1782. He then moved with his family to New York where he died in 1794.
Throughout the remainder of the 19th Century, Jews continued as peddlers and merchants in Washington County. As in many other locations, Jewish peddlers came offering their wares until they could save enough money to open a store. Then they switched from being peddlers to being merchants. Although information about these years is now sketchy, records show a Rabbi named Levi officiated at marriages performed between 1851 and 1856. The community also searched for "a person suitable to act as a chazzan, shochet, and Hebrew teacher."
Rental receipts in the Presbyterian Church's archive indicate that the Jewish community held worship services off and on from 1840 to 1875 in Hagerstown at the church on South Potomac Street. This is a very early example of the interfaith cooperation that has long been a hallmark of this community.
Jews from Washington County served Maryland during the Civil War. Included among the casualties of the Battle of Antietam, were seven Jewish Confederate and seven Jewish Northern soldiers. The Washington Confederate Cemetery serves as the final resting place for Jewish Confederate soldiers.
We have also been told that there was one local Spanish-American War veteran in our community, but this has not been substantiated by outside references. The important issue is that Washington County Jews have served the military whenever our country was in need.
By the 1890s the Jewish community had grown in size and stature to incorporate under the laws of the state of Maryland. In 1892, they formed the Synagogue of the Sons of Abraham at Hagerstown, MD. They mortgaged the property on East Baltimore Street where the synagogue still stands. In 1895 the congregation incorporated under the laws of the state of Maryland. The original charter defined the goals of the synagogue community. These goals included maintaining a place of Jewish worship and a place for burying Jewish dead.
When the founders of the Congregation purchased the property on Baltimore Street, they moved the house that was standing there to the rear of the property. They used it as the schoolhouse for daily cheder and Sunday school classes. At the front of the property they constructed a traditional red brick synagogue building with a central bimah and two aisles on the main floor. They placed the Ark on the south wall and built a curtained, horseshoe-shaped balcony so that women could attend. They put the mikvah in a small room in the rear of the building.
In 1915 the women of B'nai Abraham formed the Hebrew Ladies Auxiliary. This service organization dedicated itself to fund raising efforts on behalf of the congregation and the religious school. It sponsored raffles, card parties, and sold commercial advertisements for printed programs. The club was open to all congregants, men and children included. With the arrival of World War I, B'nai Abraham sent fourteen young men into the armed services
By 1921 the fledgling Hebrew Ladies Auxiliary had raised enough money to build the Talmud Torah building that stands next to the synagogue. The new building housed the daily cheder and Sunday school classes, but it also included space for meetings and social events and a small kitchen.
Just as the school building was no longer adequate for the community, neither was the synagogue itself. The last services held in the old building were the Yom Kippur services of 1923. Immediately after they ended, the building was razed and construction of the current day synagogue began. For the next eighteen months, the community held Sabbath and holiday services in the Talmud Torah building. For the High Holy Day services, they met in the sanctuary of the partially completed synagogue.
The new synagogue was completed in 1925 and still serves the community of B'nai Abraham. When it was new, the bimah and the ark were placed on the south wall as they are today, and the balcony was in place on the north wall. The main floor, however, was divided by two aisles, with a curtained section at the back for the women. Today's kitchen housed the community mikvah. The single aisle design of today's sanctuary was developed in 1938 when more seats were added, and the bimah was widened.
The years between the construction of the new synagogue and the Second World War saw a constant and inevitable change in the Jewish community of Hagerstown. The older members of the congregation clung to the Orthodox ways they had known always. The younger members and those coming to Hagerstown, were becoming more liberal in their Jewish practices and observations. The old ways began to die out, and demand for the new ways grew continually. One of the liberal Jews was elected President of the Congregation during the 1920's, giving evidence to the impending liberalization of the congregation.
As with any major change, dissension and discontent marked the day. Inevitably, the ways of the future prevailed. Unlike many other congregations undergoing this change, however, B'nai Abraham switched from Orthodox observance, not to Conservative, but directly to Reform.
According to Rabbi Abraham Ruderman, who served the community from 1940 to 1942, by the time he arrived, the community considered itself Reform. He reported no tension or friction remaining concerning the switch. By 1940 Jews all over America saw a need for unity. With the fear and horror conjured by the Nazi regime, Jewish disagreement in Hagerstown, and probably in many other small communities, lost its importance.
When America entered World War II, B'nai Abraham sent forty congregants into the fighting, including our Rabbi Ruderman, who left us to serve as a chaplain. This represents a considerable proportion of families sending loved ones into the fighting when compared against the total membership of B'nai Abraham, which, until then, never had included more than 125 families.
Members of the congregation served on the home front during the war. The Rabbi and members of our congregation held weekly services for Jewish soldiers at Fort Ritchie. The ladies served sandwiches and refreshments. Congregants also worked at the USO functions held at the Hagerstown YMCA, and local families opened their homes to Jewish G.I.s for all holiday observances.
With the end of the war, tension flared again concerning the community's switch from an Orthodox to a Reform one. The Congregation joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in 1947. In the early 1950s, Reform members of the congregation proposed adding an organ to the sanctuary. The prayer service had included singing and music before, but never an organ and never in the sanctuary. In 1952, when Rabbi David Schwartz arrived in Hagerstown, the battle had reached a climax. He reported that shortly after he arrived, the organ was installed. He credits Rabbi Ernst Conrad, who served just before him, with overseeing the disagreement.
Rabbi Schwartz reported that he developed a plan for the High Holy Days that called for Orthodox members of the community to meet for services prior to Reform services in the main sanctuary. This meeting of the Orthodox members for services occurred usually without the company of the community Rabbi. The practice continued into the late 1960s.
With the peace and prosperity of the 1950s, congregants at B'nai Abraham were able to devote themselves once again to working for community projects and synagogue pursuits. Rabbis who served our community through the 1950s and 1960s reported working to develop interfaith programs to foster better understanding between the Jewish and Christian communities in Hagerstown. These endeavors included lectures and seminars held by Rabbis serving our community to educate our neighbors about our ways and practices. Rabbis were also frequent guest speakers to other congregations.
B'nai Abraham congregants joined the members of the First Christian Church and the Church of the Brethren for an annual Thanksgiving celebration as long ago as 1939. Records of the service show that the first Rabbi Rabinowitz, who served our community from 1938 to 1940, attended the service officially as a representative of our community. He sat with the other ministers who did not have a speaking part of the service.
Members of B'nai Abraham have contributed their efforts toward making Washington County a better place to live. Two of our members have served as County Commissioners, and two more have held terms with the Maryland State Legislature. One of our congregants has served as President of the Board of Education. Several of our families have worked tirelessly to help fund and develop the Hagerstown Community College (HCC). The member of our congregation who was President of the Board of Education, was also a member of the Board of HCC and was influential in developing the college as an independent entity from the Board of Education.
In the 1950s, one of our members developed the Big Brothers of Hagerstown, Inc. This group is still active today, placing fatherless boys with volunteer men who will serve them as positive role models. Other congregants have worked for the Mason Dixon Council of the Boy Scours of America.
Congregants of B'nai Abraham have worked to develop service programs for prisoners at the Western Maryland Correctional Facility. They have also been tireless supporters and fund-raisers for the Hagerstown YMCA. The Washington County Hospital also has received the congregation's attention. B'nai Abraham members have worked to raise money on behalf of the hospital. A volunteer program that was in place for many years, saw them take over the jobs of the hospital workers on Christmas Day so these workers could have the time off to celebrate their holiday with their families.
In the 1940s, our Ladies Auxiliary created a tapestry bearing the Seal of the City of Hagerstown. They donated the tapestry to the city, and it hangs in the Council Chamber of City Hall to this day. A small handsewn label identifies it as a gift from the women of B'nai Abraham.
In the 1960s, Rabbi Donald Gluckman worked to develop open housing in Hagerstown on a community-wide basis. This effort provided black residents with more choices in public and multiple family housing. He also worked to keep our public schools free from religious observances.
B'nai Abraham members also have supported the arts in Washington County. The Museum of Fine Arts and the Maryland Theater have received support and fund-raising efforts from this community. One of our congregants has served as the President of the Maryland Theater. Another of our congregants was the founding President of the Maryland Symphony Orchestra Guild and the First Vice-President of the Maryland Symphony Orchestra. It was largely through her efforts that Hagerstown is now home to the Symphony. Other members have been officers and served on the Board of all three of these organizations with much distinction.
B'nai Abraham congregants have not only contributed to the quality of life for residents of Washington County, they also have been devoted contributors to the cause of world Jewry. At the dawn of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, B'nai Abraham congregants met at the close of their own Yom Kippur Services to raise money for Israel. In one evening alone, they pledged $34,000 of support to the Israeli cause. In 1975 the congregation organized and published a condemnation of the United Nation's resolution equating Zionism with Racism. Through the efforts of the congregation, they gained the support of the Senator, Delegate, Mayor, Board of County Commissioners, and a long list of local clergypersons.
In 1978, the community launched an effort to help bring Soviet Jews to America. B'nai Abraham sponsored two Soviet Jewish families. One arrived in March 1978 and one in September 1979. When they arrived, they had jobs at local factories, homes furnished with donated materials from the community, and friends who wished to help them with their adjustments to American life. Although both families have now left Hagerstown for larger cities, today they are successful U.S. citizens. They both own their own businesses and one family is sending a son through college.
Our community worked with the National Conference on Soviet Jewry and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations to help raise awareness of the plight of Soviet Jews. We participated in the "Prisoner of Conscience Program," adopting a Soviet Jew imprisoned for four years for political reasons. We wrote letters and sent Jewish holiday cards to him. Although he never received a single one, his wife did receive several. He was released subsequently, and he emigrated with his family to this country. During a rally for Soviet Jewry Solidarity at the Lincoln Memorial, he thanked the people of Hagerstown specifically for their help and support.
The community of B'nai Abraham also sponsored two groups of Israeli youths touring the United States on a cultural exchange. In 1979 and 1980 each, four teenagers came to Hagerstown to spend a few days with Jewish families here. They gave presentations about life in Israel and learned something about Jewish life in America. This commitment to the cause of world Jewry has been highlighted by the career choices of two of our congregants. Both raised in the B'nai Abraham family, one of our members became a Cantor. She is following proudly in the footsteps of her grandfather who served our community as a volunteer Cantor for nearly 40 years. Another of our daughters is the Director of Public Affairs for the American Association for Ethiopian Jews. She was working for the association during the airlift that flew 14,193 impoverished Ethiopian Jews to Israel overnight.
Today, congregants still work tirelessly on behalf of the organizations and causes they cherish. One of our congregants founded Y-Me, a support group for survivors of breast cancer. Another is serving as the first Jewish Councilman in the history of Hagerstown. The Potters Bowl, a fund raiser for The Hagerstown Free Clinic, is an event with soups prepared, donated and served by members of our congregation to benefit the less fortunate with health care.
The interfaith work begun even in the last century continues through Rabbi Fred Raskind with an ecumenical Thanksgiving service. In 2002 Congregation B'nai Abraham was privileged to host the Washington County interfaith community. Immediate-past Rabbi Janice Garfunkle also reached out to our members of interfaith marriages with social gatherings, giving our friends a feeling of inclusiveness. This welcoming attitude persists.
We are a small portion of the population of our community. But in spirit we are enormous. We are tireless in our efforts to promote tolerance among all people, to enhance life in our community with art and music, and to carry into the future the pride in our way of life and the love of freedom instilled in us by our ancestors.
<For more history, check out our 80th Anniversary booklet by clicking here>