Breman Museum

the cuba archives and genealogical center

jewish life in georgia

• The State of Georgia Project
• A Brief History of Jews in Georgia

The State of Georgia Project
The Ida Pearle and Joseph Cuba Jewish Community Archives and Genealogy Center is involved in a continuing effort to document the once-dynamic Jewish communal life that existed in scores of small cities and towns throughout the State of Georgia.

Gold's Department Store,
Cornelia, c.1925.

Through photographs of Jewish families and businesses, business ledgers and give-aways, synagogue records such as minutes from meetings and bulletins, and personal memorabilia, such as scrapbooks, memory books and correspondence, and oral histories, the experience of Jewish families from small-town Georgia is being preserved for future generations.

The holdings of the Cuba Archives include the first minute book of Columbus Lodge No. 77 Independent Order B'nai Brith, 1866—1890; the Papers of Rabbi Edmund A. Landau of Albany, Georgia, 1878—1972; and the records of B'nai Israel Synagogue of Thomasville, Georgia, 1930—1974.

Confirmation class, Temple B'nai Israel, Albany

For more information, please contact Ruth Einstein, project coordinator, at 678-222-3732 or by e-mail at reinstein@thebreman.org; or Sandy Berman, Archivist, at
404-870-1862 or by e-mail at sberman@thebreman.org.

This project is supported in part by the Georgia Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities and through appropriations from the Georgia General Assembly.

A History of Jews in Georgia

"We came here because we wanted to believe there was a place for us here. I remember worrying on the boat comin' over, that in this 'new Cannan' called Georgia, the milk would not be sour and the honey wouldn't be rancid."
—Sam Kalin, undated

Sam Kalin need not have worried, for Georgia proved to be a fertile landscape in which Jews could successfully take root. He was part of an ongoing story of Jewish life in Georgia that began on July 11, 1733, five months after the new British colony of Georgia was founded, when the small schooner William and Sarah sailed into Savannah harbor. On board were 42 Jews who hoped to create a new future for themselves and for their descendants. In the ensuing years, thousands of Jews settled in cities, towns and villages across the state.

From their arrival in the colony, their impact has always been inversely proportional to their numbers. Dr. Samuel Nunes Ribeiro, a physician among that first contingent of Jews, was given credit for having saved the infant colony from extinction by a ravaging epidemic and became Georgia's first public hero. While that claim may be exaggerated, General Oglethorpe believed that the doctor had "entirely put a stop to it, so that no one died afterward," and granted the Jews unconditional permission to settle in Savannah.

The Jews in Georgia, however, did more than merely become a part of the existing Georgia tradition. In many instances, they created, shaped, and influenced both the character and course of many of those traditions and institutions. In fact, few phases in Georgia history and few aspects of the Georgia experience were exempt from the benefits stemming from the contribution of Georgia's Jewish citizens.

Some Jews emerged as colonial, revolutionary, and Confederate leaders. Some entered politics to become state legislators, congressmen, mayors, alderman, councilmen and sheriffs. Others assumed positions of communal leadership as civic club presidents, fire chiefs, newspaper editors, lodge masters and police chiefs. Most of the Jews, however, became merely good, law-abiding citizens who continue to add to the quality of life in the state that welcomed them over 250 years ago.