Nadene Goldfoot
Martin Van Buren was the 8th President of the USA from 1837 to 1841, a New York Democrat. Earlier, Napoleon (1769-1821) of France was making advances across the face of Europe when James Monroe, 5th president from Virginia was a Democrat-Republican. The city of Rawicz in Poland came under Prussian rule in 1793 and had 4 Jews. In 1815 Rawicz became a part of The Grand Duchy of Greater Poland that belonged to Prussia. The Duchy of Greater Poland was a district principality in Greater Poland that was a fiefdom of the Kingdom of Poland. It was formed in 1138 from the territories of the Kingdom of Poland, following its fragmentation started by the testament of Bolesław III Wrymouth.
Because of the Prussians’ activity, Rawicz was a garrison town for long decades. There were about one thousand soldiers and officers stationed in the town. By 1840 there were 1574 Jews living there. There was no anti-Semitism. It was a center of Jewish scholarship, becoming especially famous as the home of
Rabbi Akiba Eger (1761-1837), one of the great luminaries of the rabbinic world in the 18th century who led the opposition to religious reform and secular education. Most Jews were small manufacturers or merchants. Also, owing to Prussians, Rawicz gained a prison, which is even nowadays known nationwide. After Rawicz was taken over by the Second Reich in 1871, it encountered a rapid industrial development. The prison in Rawicz became the place of mass extermination of the Poles involved in the resistance movement. On 22nd January 1945 the troops of the Red Army liberated Rawicz from the Nazi occupation. The Nazis demolished the monuments of the Polish Soldier, of Tadeusz Kościuszko, of St Stanisław Kostka (all of them were rebuilt after the war), liquidated the Jewish cemetery and pulled down the synagogue.
Rabbi Julius Eckman was born into this early 19th century Jewish community. His parents were Wolf and Esther Eckman, prominent and active members of the Jewish community. Julius Eckman born in 1805 Rawicz, then in Prussia now in Poland. On 5 July 1874 immigrated and wound up in Portland, Oregon via San Francisco, California). He was a journalist and rabbi.Eckman studied at Berlin, and, after teaching for a few years, emigrated to Mobile, Alabama in 1846. Subsequently, he officiated in New Orleans, Charleston, San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon. Eckman established the "Gleaner" (in 1900 it was called the "Hebrew Observer") in San Francisco, and worked zealously to arouse the religious sentiment of the community. He belonged to the strict conservative school, and was noted for his scholarship.
Wolf, his father, was a forwarder who dealt in lumber and grain transactions,, generally prospering in his undertakings that took him to major European cities to buy sell, and deliver lumber. Esther Cerke was the daughter of Rabbi Michael Mendelson who officiated in Premzlaw and was recognized for his piety and his learning.
Eckman came to San Francisco in 1854 when Millard Fillmore of New York, a Whig, was the 13th president. There Eckman was Spiritual Leader of Congregation Emanu-El for a year. His term was characterized by an uncompromising stand on ritual matters. It was this stringent outlook that resulted in his contract not being extended beyond one year. Since its founding in Germany in the 1800s, Reform Judaism has undergone profound modifications of the Torah and prayer liturgy over the past two centuries, resulting in a contemporary understanding of Judaism that diverges substantially from the original teachings. These Jews were of German heritage and that's what they expected Eckman to lead, and he was a more Orthodox Jew of Poland. The two forms were not compatible.
Eckman founded a religious school at Congregation Emanu-El. Even after he left the school functioned and was known as the Hephtsi-Bah School. He also ran a day school at Congregation Emanu-El, known as the Harmonica School.
In 1857 Rabbi Eckman established an Anglo-Jewish weekly newspaper, The Weekly Gleaner. The paper remains one of the oldest and most reliable documents of Jewish history of the early West. The paper was also where the brothers Charles and Michael DeYoung, who went on to found the San Francisco Chronicle, first began work. They worked as typesetters for Rabbi Eckman's paper. The Weekly Gleaner underwent several name changes and mergers. It now operates as the San Francisco Bulletin.
Portland, like San Francisco, had been affected by the gold rush fever. The West Coast was desperate for food products. Oregon apples sold for $2 apiece in California.
The 1st Jewish congregation was Beth Israel, Portland's oldest congregation, conceived on May 2, 1858.when James Buchanan was 15th president, a Pennsylvania Democrat. Rev. Bories was their first religious leader but wasn't a rabbi. In July of 1863, Rabbi Eckman of San Francisco arrived. Abraham Lincoln was now 16th president of Illinois, a Republican. The Civil War started April 12, 1861. It would end April 9, 1865.
Being rabbi for the Temple didn't work out so well. The rabbi would not delete as much as the pioneers wanted, and it became a true Reformed Temple. He returned to Frisco but then arrived back in Portland in time to conduct the 1st High holy Day services for the new congregation, Ahavai Shalom. When he retired, he returned to San Francisco and his friends there. Hazzan/Chazan Slifman (1908-1986) born in Ekaterinoslav, Wiladnik, Russia/Poland was the Cantor here in the 30s and 40s.
Rabbi Eckman died in San Francisco on July 5, 1874. at the young age of 69 after suffering from a stroke earlier that same day. Ulysses Simpson Grant was the 18th president-also from Illinois and a Republican. The San Francisco Alta wrote: Dr. Eckman was highly educated in Hebrew "lore", a good linguist, an able writer on theological subjects, mild in his manners, charitable and unassuming. His great delight was to instruct the young, and for years he maintained, chiefly at his own expense, a school for the religious instruction of the young.
The Conservatist rabbi in Portland with Neveh Shalom, Rabbi Joshua Stampfer, wrote the book about him, Pioneer Rabbi of the West,, the life and times of Julius Eckman. Eckman never wanted to marry. Eckman pursued his historic interests of Chinese Jews which Stampfer continued on, bringing a few of them to Portland. Stampfer identified with Eckman's work as a rabbi.
Resource;
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Pioneer Rabbi of the West, the life and times of Julius Eckman by Rabbi Joshua Stampfer
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/congregation_beth_israel/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Eckman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussian_Partition
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