News

Jewish shop owners were pioneers of downtown retail

Members of the Agudas Israel Congregation toast the temple's 100th anniversary at a dinner in August. [PHOTO BY SIDNEY WILLIAMS]

By Bill Moss, Published: September 30, 2022

The Jewish community’s contributions to Hendersonville are closely linked to the early development of retail shops on Main Street.

Like Sherman’s Sporting Goods, the city’s temple, Agudas Israel, is celebrating its 100^th anniversary this year. But Jewish shopkeepers predate the birth of the temple by 22 years.

A permanent Jewish community that has been sustained to this day began when Edward and Ida Lewis settled in Hendersonville, opening an apparel store, according to a history compiled by Agudas Israel families.

 Six years later, the Harry Patterson family — new arrivals — opened a general mercantile business.

Emigrating to the U.S. from Russia in the 1890s, Harry Patterson married Minnie Fred in 1904. They eventually made their way from Kentucky to Hendersonville, where Dr. William Kirk treated Minnie’s tuberculosis. Patterson opened a mercantile business, later ran a cleaning and pressing business then opened a retail shop again. The couple’s son, Edward, joined the family business in 1926, after graduating from UNC. Ed Patterson expanded, adding a jewelry store and men’s store.

Brought from Lithuania to Columbus, Ohio, by his widower father, Kasper Sherman, Louis Sherman was raised by a sister and in an orphan home. He married Rosena Gold in 1915. In 1920, they had a son, Kalman, and four years later, a daughter, Frances. Kalman served as a Marine in World War II, in the Pacific and in California. Both he and his sister are graduates of Hendersonville High School.

Among the other early Jewish settlers in addition to Harry Patterson and Louis Sherman were Louis Williams, George Lazarus, Abe Horowitz, Rose Lipsitz, Max Markowitz, Sam Cooley, Jake Rosenberg, Alex Patterson, Ben Kaminsky, Morris Weisberg, Nathan Patla, Sam Kalin, Harry Mottsman and Dan Michalove.

On Sept. 24, 1922, 27 men and women gathered at the home of Mrs. Abe Kantrowitz to organize a congregation, deciding on the name Agudas Israel. The congregants continued to meet in private homes and later used the local Masonic Temple. In 1925, the temple and its 34 members bought the Home Electric Co. at 328 North King Street and renovated it as a synagogue. The first rabbi was Beryl Cohen, a “humble and learned man” who graduated from Yeshiva Seminary in Jerusalem. After his arrival in 1920, Cohen “immediately set about leading religious services, teaching Hebrew school and ritually slaughtering chickens.” He served until his death at age 63 in 1964.

Other milestones in the history of the congregation and the Jewish community’s contributions to the city’s business and civic life included:

• 1926 — Hendersonville continues to grow as a summer resort destination. “To the Jewish community, it was the Southern version of the Catskills, catering to Jewish tourists from Florida, Georgia and South Carolina with five Jewish boarding houses,” according to a timeline the temple created for its 100^th anniversary celebration. High Holiday meals at Abe Horowitz’s boarding house were a beloved tradition for local Jews and tourists alike.
• 1930s — Agudas Israel purchases land from the city of Hendersonville for Jewish burials in the Oakdale Cemetery.
• 1950 — Camp Blue Star opens. Catering to Jewish kids, the camp brought tourists to the town and caused Jewish families to discover Hendersonville.
• 1977 — Don Michalove, president of Agudas Israel in 2001-2002, became the first Jewish member of the Hendersonville City Council. Elected mayor in 1981, he led the city for 12 years.
• 2002 —After a building campaign to construct a new synagogue, Agudas Israel opens its new house of worship at 505 Glasgow Lane in Laurel Park. Several of the congregation’s patriarchs walk the torahs from the King Street synagogue to the new temple.

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Contributing to the story are histories by the Patterson, Sherman, Williams, Kalin, Morris, Michaelove, Mottsman and Rosenberg families and a timeline created by the congregation for its centennial celebration. Centennial chair is Zsa Lobel.