Anshe Emeth's Creation

A Place to Gather: The Establishment of Congregation Anshe Emeth

The first published reference to an organized Jewish community in Piqua. Dated from February 05, 1858. Taken from <i>The Israelite</i> By the late 1850s, Piqua’s approximately eight Jewish families were sufficiently organized to establish a formal society for religious study and worship. This organization, Anshe Emeth, was created on March 7, 1858, and its name translates to People of Truth. From its earliest years, Anshe Emeth also drew Jews from surrounding areas such as Greenville and Troy to its services, which were initially conducted once a month and on certain religious holidays at the home of Moses Friedlich. Within a year the members of Anshe Emeth relocated to a rented hall found at 200 North Main where the congregation remained until 1875. The first officers of the congregation were, Moses Friedlich, President, Aaron Friedlich, Treasurer, and Moritz Friedman, Secretary. Moritz, who does not appear to have lived in Piqua for long, operated a clothing business out of the Masonic Building alongside a man named August Frickman. While modest in size, Anshe Emeth did not escape notice from larger Jewish communities in Ohio. Rather, even in its infancy Anshe Emeth was cited by The Israelite as setting an example of dedication and piety for Jews in other small towns to emulate. In 1859 Abraham Wendel replaced Aaron Friedlich as treasurer. Abraham, who was a skilled scholar of Hebrew, also served as a lay leader for the congregation until his death in 1894.

Image of Cedar Hill Cemetery gate. Photo courtesy of Congregation Anshe Emeth. Ordained rabbis occasionally visited Anshe Emeth to speak or lead major holiday services. On July 4, 1860, Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise of Cincinnati, who was the foremost American rabbi of the time, visited the congregation to deliver a lecture. Reflecting on his visit to Piqua a few days later Rabbi Wise wrote:

Our brethren [in Piqua] are few in number, about seven families, still they united themselves two years ago into a congregation, bought land for a burial ground, furnished a room for a temporary synagogue, where they meet once a month for divine worship… People in those county places live much happier and more content in their quiet places then we do in our noisy cities with all our opulence, luxury, refinements, and studied gratification of our passions.

The burial ground referenced by Rabbi Wise is Cedar Hill Cemetery, which is now located along Scott Drive in Piqua. At the time of the cemetery’s establishment in 1858, however, the area was not built up. Cedar Hill is the final resting place, not only of many Jewish families from Piqua, but also individuals from nearby towns including Lima, which did not have its own Jewish cemetery until 1917. In September 1859, Abraham Levi became one of the first people to be buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery. It is possible that Abraham Levi was a clothing merchant from Greenville since a businessman by this name was advertising in the local Darke County Democrat by 1857. No advertisements for Abraham are found, however, after 1858.

In addition to maintaining a rented hall and burial ground, the early members of Anshe Emeth also organized to support various charitable causes both locally and internationally. In 1860 the congregation raised $50 to benefit Jews in Morocco who were suffering from persecution. At the time, $50 would have the same purchasing power as approximately $1,600 in 2021. In 1866, Congregation Anshe Emeth sent $25 to benefit impoverished Jews living in Palestine. These two collections demonstrate that, while Piqua was still a modest-sized town of approximately 5,000 people, its Jewish residents saw themselves as connected with the wider Jewish world and were familiar with events far beyond the Upper Miami Valley. This same outlook was shared by non-Jews living in the area who were also connecting with far-flung communities through new technologies such as the telegraph, which first came to Piqua in 1850. Piqua’s first railroad line, which came through town in 1858, also spurred news and additional population growth.

The April 12, 1861, attack on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, profoundly affected life in the Upper Miami Valley. Within a short time, many local men joined the Union Army and other residents found additional ways to support the war effort. In October 1862, the 110th Regiment was organized at Camp Piqua. While it is not known if any Jews served in the local regiment, two Jews who moved to Piqua in the years following the Civil War, Moses Flesh and David Urbansky, are known to have served in the Union Army. Moses Flesh, who was the brother of Henry Flesh, served in the 23rd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. This regiment saw action at Port Gibson, Champion Hill, the Siege of Vicksburg, and other places. Moses was wounded during the war, and, after relocating to Piqua, he became active in the local Elks lodge and Grand Army of the Republic post. He was also a member of Anshe Emeth and was one of five people to sign the congregation’s revised articles of incorporation in 1924. Moses, who was known by many as “Uncle Mose”, also played Santa Claus for many years at the Kaoop Children's Home during the Christmas season.

David Urbansky lived in Columbus, Ohio, at the time of the war’s outbreak, and, like Moses, he was a recent immigrant from Central Europe. Six months after the attack on Fort Sumter, David enlisted with the 48th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which saw action at the Battle of Shiloh, Siege of Corinth, Vicksburg, and several other locations. In recognition of his bravery at the Battle of Shiloh, David was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Thirteen months later in Vicksburg David was again commended for his actions after he braved enemy fire to rescue an officer who had been wounded. Only 17 other Ohioans received the Medal of Honor during the war and only five other Jews in the Union Army were recognized in this way. Following the war, David obtained his American citizenship and moved to Piqua with his new wife, Rachel. The couple had 12 children and David ran a successful clothing store. At the time of David’s death in 1897, he was buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery and his widow soon moved to Cincinnati. Several of the Urbansky children also relocated to Cincinnati, and when Rachel died in 1914 her husband’s body was removed from Cedar Hill for reburial at Walnut Hills Cemetery.