Manis (Morris) Jacobs (1782 in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
,
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
– September 28, 1839 in
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
,
Louisiana
Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
) was the founder, first president and although unordained, the first
rabbi
A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...
of
Congregation Shangarai Chasset of New Orleans.
Though Jacobs was never ordained, he assumed the duties of rabbi of the congregation until his death in 1839. Though Jacobs took a French Catholic wife, Angelique Charlotte Jacinthe Verneuille (1781/82-1851), he nonetheless played an active role in the congregation, contributing significant resources to establish organized Jewish life in New Orleans.
In March 1828, Jacobs purchased land in his own name to be used for burial purposes by the congregation, calling the benevolent society by the same name as the synagogue. Aside from Jacobs, the wardens of the society included other early Jewish community leaders Asher Phillips, Abraham Green and Abraham Plotz. This property was located on Jackson Street (now Jackson Avenue) at Saratoga Street, within what is now the Central City neighborhood of New Orleans (but was outside the city limits before 1830). In April of that year Jacobs turned the property over to the congregation, after its charter was approved.
There are surviving records in the Orleans County Probate Court archives referring to Jacobs' estate.
References
* Hill, Samuel S. ''On Jordan's Stormy Banks: Religion in the South: a Southern Exposure'' (Mercer University Press 1983).
* Rader Marcus, Jacob. ''United States Jewry, 1776-1985'' (Wayne State University Press 1989).
* Wiernik, Peter. ''History of the Jews in America: From the Period of the Discovery of the New World to the Present'' (The Jewish Press Publishing Company 1912).
International Jewish Cemetery Project - Louisianadetail.
1782 births
1839 deaths
Clergy from New Orleans
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