Growing Visibility: Jewish Life in the Upper Miami Valley During the Early 20th Century
Around 1900 it was estimated that Piqua’s Jewish families numbered approximately 12. While Piqua’s Jewish community did not exceed more than 1 percent of the city’s overall population, it was nonetheless the largest Jewish community in the Upper Miami Valley and it held a visible presence in the overall community. Local newspapers, including The Piqua Daily Call, regularly ran articles on the various Jewish holidays and carried news about Jewish communities in other parts of the United States and abroad. The reporting found within local newspapers, however, was not always accurate. For example, on September 12, 1901, The Piqua Daily Call carried an article highlighting the observance of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. In it the author remarked, “...the ram’s horn or ‘shofar’ is sounded as significant of the throwing off of Pharaoh’s power from over Israel and the Lord’s ‘deliverance of his chosen people’ from their bondage and slavery.” This explanation of the shofar was not correct. The shofar in ancient times was used to announce the arrival of various religious holidays and the beginning of a new king’s reign. Its use has been preserved in Jewish communities during the month leading up to Rosh Hashanah and on the holiday itself to alert attendees at religious services of the importance of the time and of sincere repentance. The Piqua Daily Call’s error was remarked on by the editors of The Hebrew Standard in New York City, who included it along with erroneous quotes about Rosh Hashanah from other national papers.
This story illustrates that while Judaism was regarded as an important piece of the faith community in the Upper Miami Valley, the more detailed aspects of the faith and its rituals were not always understood by non-Jews. In addition to marking the annual observance of Rosh Hashanah, another holiday tradition maintained by the members of Anshe Emeth was conducting confirmation exercises on Shavuot for the graduates of the congregation’s Sunday School. Unlike blowing the shofar, however, the practice of confirming young Jews had modern origins stemming from the Reform movement. The adoption of a confirmation ritual represents how some Jewish communities took certain Christian customs and rituals and incorporated them into Judaic religious life. Shavuot is itself an ancient biblical holiday that developed originally to mark the harvest time in Israel. In later centuries after the exile of Jews from Israel, the holiday also came to celebrate the anniversary of the Torah being received by the Israelites at Mt. Sinai. It is for this reason that many Reform communities selected Shavuot as the day to confirm young Jews. Confirmation classes at Anshe Emeth were of modest size. For example, in 1911 five young people were confirmed by the congregation.
Adult religious education was not neglected by members of Anshe Emeth. By 1902 some Jewish women in Piqua were meeting for weekly Bible study. Around this same time, the members of the Council of Jewish Women reorganized themselves as the Jewish Ladies’ Aid Society. This women’s group sponsored social activities to raise funds for charity and organized a weekly “Thimble Social” in member’s homes where needed items were created for local charities. Over the years, these charities included the Jewish Infant’s Home in Cleveland, Piqua Memorial Hospital, and the Red Cross. Caroline Flesh hosted the first recorded Thimble Social at her home in February 1903 and these socials continued into the 1930s. The Ladies’ Aid Society also supported the Anshe Emeth Sunday School and sponsored public lectures on Jewish history and theology. The Society’s educational work included raising funds to purchase books on Jewish subjects for Piqua’s public library. By 1913 the Society had 15 or 16 members and it formally joined the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods in this same year.
Between the years 1895 and 1917 several new Jewish families arrived in the Upper Miami Valley. It is also likely that these years represented the peak time for Jewish immigration to the region. New Jewish families in Piqua included the surnames Dagan, Kastner, Katz, Marks Mickler, Ostertag, Shuchat, and Yassenoff. Fannie and Solomon Dagan arrived in Piqua by 1910. Both were immigrants from Europe, and like many Jewish immigrants to the United States at the time their family was supported through Solomon’s work in the scrap metal industry. Solomon’s business, Ohio Scrap Iron and Metal Company, was located at 651 West Water Street. By 1914, Solomon’s business had earned the family enough money that Solomon was able to own a piece of real estate on Main Street. This property was rented to Fannie’s brother, Harry Mickler, who co-founded the Mickler Department Store around 1914 with his brother, John. Harry had moved to Piqua by 1907 with his parents, Abram and Celia, and two younger brothers, Edward and Moses. At the time, Abram and his children operated Mickler & Sons, a clothing store located at 326 North Main. In 1917, John moved to Springfield, Ohio, with his new wife, Sarah, who was a previous resident of Lexington, Kentucky. Eventually, the other Mickler brothers would also depart from Piqua.
Joseph and Sara Kastner lived in Piqua by 1917, and Joseph supported his growing family through his work selling scrap metal. Joseph’s business was named the St. Louis Iron and Metal Company and it was originally located along Covington Avenue. By 1920, Joseph was joined by his brother, Samuel, and the business informally became known as Kastner Brothers. Joseph and Samuel were immigrants from Ukraine while Sara was born in London, England. Joseph and Sara were wed in 1914. By this time, Sara lived in Xenia, Ohio. Joseph, Sara, and Samuel were all active members of the Piqua community, and Joseph was posthumously inducted into the Piqua Civic Hall of Fame. Joseph and Sara supported the Red Cross and Y.M.C.A., and Samuel, together with his wife Dina, was active with the Red Cross and Inter-Church Council. Like the Kastner brothers, Samuel and Milton Katz were siblings who moved to Piqua with their wives, Alma and Florence, to grow a business. This business was the Katz Brothers Clothing Store, and it was opened in April 1910. Both brothers, however, left Piqua with their wives by 1920. Louis Marks, Bert Ostertag, and Louis Ostertag were also contemporary clothing merchants in Piqua. The Ostertag Brothers firm, founded in 1895, would remain a fixture on Main Street for 47 years.
When Israel Charles Shuchat moved to Piqua with his wife Dora in 1914 to open a dry cleaning business, it represented one of the first enterprises of its kind in the city. Shuchat’s remained in business for over 60 years, and it would become one of the largest dry cleaning operations in the county. Charles and Dora had three children, Joseph, Samuel and Trina. Joseph went on to become a podiatrist, or foot doctor, in Piqua for over 55 years, while Samuel carried on the family tradition of dry cleaning. At first, Samuel worked in Piqua and later he oversaw the relocation of the family business to Sidney, where it was known as One Hour Cleaners. Shortly after graduating from Piqua High School, Trina moved to Chicago. It is of note that descendants of Charles and Dora continue to work in Sidney and their business, Clean All Services, employs around 280 people.
The last Jewish couple in Piqua which will be discussed in this section is Carrie and Isaac Yassenoff. While the Yassenoffs did not remain in Piqua for very long, one of their sons, Leo, went on to become a notable philanthropist within the Columbus Jewish community, and this connection to Columbus merits mention. Carrie and Isaac settled in Piqua by 1895, and Isaac found work selling hides, pelts, and scrap metals. While Carrie was an immigrant from southwest Germany, Isaac was born in Ukraine. It is likely that Isaac was among the first Eastern European Jews to live in Piqua. The Yassenoffs had at least three children, Leo, Rebecca, and Solomon, and all were born in Piqua. Around 1912 the family relocated to Columbus. Leo would become quite wealthy through his role as co-founder of the F & Y Construction Company, which began business in 1919.
Sidney and Troy were also home to recent Jewish immigrant families during this same time period. In Sidney lived David and Louis Halverstein. These men, who were likely brothers, worked in the clothing business. Some sources also spell their surname Halberstein. By the mid-1930s, David moved to St Marys with his wife, Molly, while Louis remained in Sidney with Rosa, his wife. One son of David and Molly, Joseph, went on to write for the Lima News as a sports journalist. Another son, Marvin, also went into journalism. Twenty miles south of Sidney in Tory there lived Jacob Stayman. Jacob arrived from Dayton in 1913, and prior to Dayton, he lived in Russia, where a wife and children still resided. Jacob found work in Troy as a scrap metal trader, and, following World War I, he was joined in town by his sons, Philip and Samuel, and a daughter, Helen. His first wife, however, died in Europe during the war.
On March 25, 1913, the Miami Valley was visited by one of the worst floods on record. Piqua was hit particularly hard, and at least 38 residents died. The deluge was part of a larger series of flooding disasters that struck Ohio that same year. Among the organizations that mobilized to provide relief for flood victims was the Ladies’ Aid Society. Four years later, the lives of many residents of the Upper Miami Valley were again uprooted due to the onset of World War I, which the United States entered on April 6, 1917. Among the locals who entered the service were at least three Jews. Their names were David Halverstein, Samuel Louis, and Moses Mickler. It is also of note that two sons of Leo Flesh, Alfred and George, served during the war, but they did not practice Judaism. Leo’s wife, Gertrude, was a Christian and the Flesh children were raised in that faith. Leo, however, maintained a connection to the Jewish community throughout his life. When Leo was buried in 1944 both Christian and Jewish funeral rites were used. Efforts were also made on the home front to support the war effort, and Jews contributed to both local and national activities. Fannie Louis and Leo Louis were active with the local Red Cross, while Leo Flesh lent his efforts to the textile division of the Council for National Defense. Members of the Jewish community also came together in 1916 to raise funds to support refugees in Europe and Palestine.
During or immediately after World War I a few new Jewish families arrived in Piqua. These families included the Funderburgs and Polaskys. In 1917, Kline and Stella Funderburg relocated to Piqua after Kline took a position as the manager of the Peoples Credit Clothing Company. This clothing store was part of a chain headquartered in Dayton, and the Funderburg family remained in Piqua until 1935 when Kline took a position with headquarters. Harry and Rebecca Polasky arrived in Piqua by 1919. At first, Harry found work as a tailor, and later he opened a clothing store on North Wayne Street. Both new and old families helped to ensure the continuation of Jewish communal life in the Upper Miami Valley during the 1910s. Throughout this period, Emanuel Kahn served as rabbi of Anshe Emeth. It was not a rabbinic post, however, that brought Emanuel to Piqua. Emanuel, who was also known as Manuel, was born in Cincinnati and graduated from Hebrew Union College. Prior to relocating to Piqua in 1910, he lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan where he served at Temple Emanu-El. Manuel was married to Freda, an immigrant from Germany whose father, Jacob Wolf, and brother, Simon Wolf, both lived in Miami County during the 1900s. Jacob and Samuel moved to Piqua around 1903 and they operated a clothing store formerly owned by Meyer Newhoff. When Jacob retired and Samuel moved away, the business passed to Manuel. Now named E. Kahn & Company, the business would remain a fixture on North Main Street for several decades.