Since its founding, Jews have lived in Atlanta. The history of Jews in this city reflects a thriving diversity not typically recorded in southern history. Many of Atlanta's native jews were immigrants, having lived in other areas of the America before arriving to the city. The Jews in Atlanta epitomized the New South before Henry Grady proclaimed it (Bauman, 2004). In order to make it big in this city, Jews started off as peddlers or in partnerships with relatives and friends. By selling cheaply and often on credit, the Jewish community opened a novel consumer window, therefore filling a vital economic niche as merchants. It is presumed that the first Jews to arrive in Atlanta came from a settlement in which James Oglethorpe resided in Savannah, Georgia. In 1845, Jacob Haas and Henry Levi moved to Atlanta, where they opened a dry goods store (Shankman, 1934). Haas, Levi and a few other Jewish immigrants were heavily concentrated concentrated in retail trade, especially dry goods and clothing; by 1850, Jews owned 10% of Atlanta’s stores, many of which were located on Whitehall Street. Throughout these early years, there was a high degree of population turnover, as most of these Jewish settlers did not stay in Atlanta. Of the 16 Jews who moved to Atlanta before 1850, only one couple, David and Eliza Mayer, still lived in the Gate City in 1860. David Mayer had become a very successful dry goods merchant; by 1859, he was worth $59,000 and owned six slaves. Census reports show that after ten years there were 26 Jews among Atlanta's 2,572 residents and by 1870, when the first synagogue opened, barely 300 (Smothers, 1996).
Since the mid 1800's, Atlanta was proclaimed to be one of the best locations in the South for Jews. Almost all of the residents were immigrants from central Europe, mainly the Germanic states. By the Civil War, the Jewish population in Atlanta nearly doubles, and the numbers precluded the establishment of formal religious institutions. The Jews of Atlanta were not at all perfect, and often engaged in with prejudice that filled the zeitgeist of the time. For example, a few Jews owned slaves as servants, some employed slaves in their business endeavors and many supported the Confederacy. When creating the initial religious institutions, many questioned which type of Judaism should be practiced. Debates prevailed regarding traditional versus Reform Judaism, hiring and firing rabbis as first one faction and then the other gained power. The controversy ceased after the arrival of David Marx. The congregations, which we now call a Temple, adopted Reform practices and beliefs more acceptable to middle-class America and its acculturating Jews. Marx served as "ambassador to the Gentiles", otherwise known as the unofficial voice of the Jewish community (Bauman, 2004). Marx was rabbi of the Temple for 52 years. A leader in interfaith activities, Marx was extremely anti-Zionist, helping to found the American Council for Judaism. In 1945 his Yom Kippur sermon was a "tirade against the establishment of a Jewish state." He was challenged publicly by one of his own members, Albert Freedman, director of the Southeastern Region of the Zionist Organization of America. When Dr. Jacob Rothschild succeeded Marx in 1947, he brought a deep commitment to social justice and also became a Zionist advocate. Rothschild was so outspoken for the civil rights of blacks that in 1958 the Temple was bombed (jewishvirtuallibrary.org).
During this time, Atlanta's Jews were participatory in society and in public life. Beginning in 1881, Atlanta lured Jewish immigrants from Europe and after 1906, a small enclave of Jews arrived from the Ottoman Empire (Bauman, 2004). In 1904 the Reform and Orthodox Jews formed the YMHA. By 1908 it had become the Jewish Educational Alliance, and by 1911 a building was completed on Capitol Avenue. In 1954 the Alliance moved to Peachtree Street as the Jewish Community Center (jewishvirtuallibrary.org). Similar to their counterparts, few of these Jews entered factories, however, they uniquely made themselves a living through small-business enterprises. These Jews obtained goods on credit, became peddlers, worked as clerks and created partnerships. The creation of dry goods stores were a prominent feature of Jewish inhabitants of Atlanta during this time. The largest dry-goods store was created by Hyman Mendel, who became the city's biggest dry-goods wholesaler, abounded (Bauman, 2004). As the Jewish community began to grow beyond the perimeter highway, a satellite facility of the JCC was built in 1979 in the Dunwoody area.
During the late 19th century, Eastern European Jews began to arrive in the Atlanta. By the early 20th century, these Yiddish immigrants and their children were a majority of the Atlanta Jewish community, outnumbering the German Jews of Rabbi Marx’s Temple. Most of these recent immigrants had little interest in the Reform worship of the Temple and as early as 1886 they were gathering together to pray on the High Holidays (ISJL.org). Atlanta received its third wave of Jewish immigrants during the early twentieth century. Sephardic Jews, from Turkey and the Isle of Rhodes in particular, began to arrive in Atlanta after the turn of the century. Atlanta’s Jewish community in the early 20th century was concentrated in business. There were 214 male members of The Temple in 1917, and 80% of them were either business owners, managers or professionals. Among business owners and managers, 43% were in commercial trade, while 39% worked in the manufacturing business (ISJL.org).
Throughout the 1920s, Jewish lawyers and physicians were not allowed to join most law firms and could only practice at certain hospitals. Prior to World War II those barriers were broken down, and the number of Jewish professionals increased dramatically (jewishvirtuallibrary.org). The 1930's represented a watershed for Jewry in Atlanta. New Deal agencies and anti-semitism from Hitler resulted in a switch in priorities to overseas relief. The Jewish community organized to raise funds to combat discrimination more sufficiently and effectively than any other point during its history. The time during and after World War Two represented the beginning of Atlanta's coming of age as a center of southern Jewry (Bauman, 2004). Atlanta was booming in organized Jewish establishments, activities and organizations. The 1940's and 1950's gave rise to Jewish Educational Alliances, Hebrew Academies, and the Anti-Defamation League. Most notably, the Zionist Organization of America made Atlanta their home. In addition to making a living for themselves and participating in Jewish culture, Jews in Atlanta focused heavily on civic engagement and helping others. In the late nineteenth century, many Jews served on the city council, including Jacob Haas and Joseph Hirsch. From 1869 until his death in 1890, David Meyer helped to create Atlanta's public school system and served on the board of education (ISJL.org). Lastly, the idea to build a public hospital was proposed in 1888 by Jacob Elsas and this helped establish the city's Henry Grady Memorial Hospital.
After World War II, most Atlanta Jews were active in the Jewish community. According to the 1947 population study, only 6% of Jewish adults in Atlanta did not belong to any Jewish organization. 56% belonged to a synagogue, while 40% belonged to a Zionist organization (ISJL.org). In addition, during this time period, the only synagogue facility available on the north side of Atlanta was the educational building of Ahavath Achim. A group of Orthodox Jews established in 1947 a small congregation, Beth Jacob, on Boulevard in that area. There was no way of predicting how this synagogue would change the Jewish character of Atlanta. At the end of 1984 the Metropolitan Atlanta Jewish Population Study pointed to the growth of the Jewish population from 9,630 at the end of World War II to 59,084. The key to the future of Atlanta Jewry lay in the fact that a quarter of the population were 18 and below; 22% were in the 30–39 age bracket and only 12.6% were above 60. The Jews had moved, according to the study, to suburban areas north of Atlanta in Gwinett and Cobb counties (jewishvirtuallibrary.org). Due to the new demographic and the novel needs of youth and younger parents, 5 synagogues were founded in these counties.
For almost 150 years, Atlanta has symbolized what it means to be apart of the "New South", a city where commerce, industry and economic progress prevailed, despite poverty and agricultural economy of much of the rest of the region. From the start, Jews played an enormous role in Atlanta's rise and development, with fitting into Atlanta's culture being that these Jews had little to no interest in the farming industry. In recent decades, Atlanta has become a national center of American Jewish life as Jews have flocked to the city from smaller cities across the South and larger cities in the North (ISJL.org).
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/30/us/new-museum-traces-2-paths-into-jewish-history-in-atlanta.html Bauman, Mark K. "Jewish Community of Atlanta." New Georgia Encyclopedia. 11 October 2016. Web. 11 April 2017. http://www.isjl.org/georgia-atlanta-encyclopedia.html