Passages Through the Fire: Jews and the Civil War

Passages Through the Fire: Jews and the Civil War,  is on display at the Jewish Museum of Maryland in downtown Baltimore spotlighting little‐known events that have shaped our history.

Passages through the Fire, developed by the American Jewish Historical Society and Teshiva University Museum, includes an unvarnished look at the debate on slavery within the Jewish community. Just like their neighbors, Jews were divided on the question of slavery, gravitating towards the opinions popular in their own Northern and Southern neighborhoods. As new immigrants (of 150,000 Jews in America on the eve of the Civil War, 100,000 had been in this country for a decade or less) struggling to make a living and unsure of their place in American society, many Jews preferred neutrality. 

There were those, however, who expressed strong opinions, among them the rabbis of Baltimore – including Rabbi Bernard Illoway, who defended slavery from the pulpit saying, “Why did [Moses] not, when he made a law that no Israelite can become a slave, also prohibit the buying and selling of slaves from and to other nations? Was there ever a greater philanthropist than Abraham, and why did he not set free the slaves which the king of Egypt made him a present of?”

Rabbi David Einhorn of Har Sinai Congregation (1855-1861) was incensed by this biblical justification of slavery by Rabbi Illoway and other rabbis.  A staunch defender of human rights, he also used the Torah to support his position: “The ten commandments, the first of which is: “I am the Lord, thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt,—out of the house of bondage” can by no means want to place slavery of any human-being under divine sanction.” The Museum has actually created a special 1860s themed tour of its historic Lloyd Street Synagogue to bring this debate to life for visitors.

The Civil War era was not without anti-Semitism. There were commonly-repeated canards about the Jews: they didn’t fight in the military; they were profiteers; they were cunning cheats. At its worst during the war years, these doubts about the Jews translated into General Ulysses S. Grant’s infamous Orders No. 11, whereby “The Jews, as a class violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department and also department orders, are hereby expelled from the Department [including Kentucky and parts of Tennessee and Mississippi] within twenty-four hours from the receipt of this order.”

Grant issued his order on December 17, 1862. Fighting in his area delayed dissemination of the order throughout the whole of the territory he governed, but enforcement began immediately in Paducah, Kentucky. (Kentucky was a border state: slave-holding but part of the Union.) Jews throughout the country raised an outcry. One man ousted from his home, Cesar Kaskel, immediately traveled to Washington, DC, seeking an audience with President Lincoln. He was seen and supported by the president, who directed Grant to revoke his order.

All of this happened quickly; the order was officially rescinded by Grant on January 17, 1863. American Jews had learned something very important about their home. As historian Eli Evans observes, “the Northern Jewish community had stood beside the Jews in the South, demonstrating a sense of community that transcended sectional bitterness.  Jews [in the Union] had publicly petitioned their government to revoke an order by its most popular general in the midst of a war, and the head of the nation had agreed.” Jews had come together to protest an injustice, had been heard, and been protected.

These are just a few of the stories explored in Passages Through the Fire: Jews and the Civil War. There’s also tales of the first Jewish military chaplains, high-ranking Confederate Jews, spies, soldiers and everyday men and women living and working through this tumultuous period of American History.

Find out more about Passages Through the Fire and the Jewish Museum of Maryland by visiting our website at www.jewishmuseummd.org.

*All photos by Will Kirk