Mezuzahs in New London: Jewish Culture

and Heritage in Central Virginia

Abigail Coker, Aleah Schrock, and Renee Thiele
Abstract Conclusions Continued
How does the experience of the Eichelbaum family reflect the Junk Dealing
experiences of Central Virginian Jews? • From 1902-1932, M. Eichelbaum listed as a junk dealer
• Transition from peddling to junk dealing not uncommon
• Presence and influence of Jewish culture in Central Virginia Economic Success
• Discovery of mezuzahs at the former Bedford Alum Springs • Early Jewish settlers successful in business
Hotel • Jews aided the economic redevelopment of the South after the
• Connection to Jewish heritage in Lynchburg, VA Civil War
• Research gap in study of Central Virginian Jews • Eichelbaum's success in Lynchburg
• Eichelbaum connection to the hotel and Lynchburg Jewish
community Religion
• Plausible explanation for presence of mezuzahs • Traditional Judaism's two categories of ritual objects
• Implications and impact of research for the Jewish community • Objects with a "quality of holiness"
• Objects for "ritual or commandment"
• Mezuzahs
• Early use of mezuzahs
Introduction • Debate on mezuzah position
• Precise guidelines for the manner of writing
Eichelbaums: • Primary purpose
• Russian-Polish Jews who immigrated in late 19th century • Deuteronomy 6:4-9
• Lived in Lynchburg area Renee Thiele, Former Bedford Alum Springs Hotel, March 2020, Lynchburg, VA, in author’s possession.

• Bought the hotel property in 1920s; associated with it until 1970s

Former Bedford Alum Springs Hotel Property:

Mezuzahs
Donna Donald, Mezuzahs at the Bedford Alum Spring Hotel, March 8, 2021, Lynchburg, VA, in author’s possession.
Former Bedford Alum Springs Hotel

• Built in 1910s
• Hotel in the 1920s
• Bought by Liberty University in 2018 Future Work
Discovery of Mezuzahs: Jewish Population in Lynchurg and the State of Virginia
• Possible connection of Eichelbaums with the Warner Brothers
• Jewish artifacts containing Jewish religious writings in
1.6
• Cyrus and Katherine H. Eichelbaum
accordance with Deuteronomy 6:4-9 1.4
• In-depth study of the mezuzahs at the hotel
• Discovered in February 2020 by students in Historic Preservation 1.2 • Eichelbaum connection to the synagogues in Lynchburg
class 1

• Nailed to most of the bedroom doors on the second floor 0.8

0.6

0.4
References
Primary Sources

Methods 0.2

0
1910 United States Census. Lynchburg City, Campbell County, Virginia. Digital image s.v. “Michael Eichelbaum.”
FamilySearch.com.
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970
Analysis: 1920 United States Census. Lynchburg City, Campbell County, Virginia. Digital image s.v. “Michael Eichelbaum.”
FamilySearch.com.
• Eichelbaums as a case study of Central Virginian Jews
Jewish Population in Lynchburg as % of Total Population Jewish Population in Virginia as % of Total Population

Campbell County deed book. Campbell County Courthouse, Rustburg, VA.

• Chronological organization
Jewish Population in Lynchburg and the State of Virginia. Data Compiled by author from the American Jewish Year Book “Letter from Lynchburg, VA: A Growing Southern City – Belgian Blocks and a Street Railway - Wealth Produced by Tobacco
Vol 20-68, Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1919-1969. and Other Industries, &c.” The Baltimore Sun. September 22, 1880, 6.
Sources: Michael Eichelbaum and Rachel Eichelbaum Tombstone. n.d. www.findagrave.com.
Letter from Lynchburg: Tobacco Receipts for the Year – Dedication of a Synagogue – A Will Case.” The Baltimore Sun.
“

• Primary—census records, Lynchburg City directories, October 1, 1883, 6.

newspapers, vital records, deed book

The Eichelbaum
Lynchburg City Directory. 12th ed. W. H. Walsh Directory Co., 1902 [?].

• Secondary—books and journal articles on Jewish population

and culture in Central Virginia Jews in Central Virginia “Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2016.” Digital image s.v. Cyrus S. Eichelbaum and Katherine Haas. FamilySearch.com.

“Pastoral Call Accepted.” The Baltimore Sun, February 1, 1898, p. 8

Family
Sholes’ Lynchburg Directory, 1894-5. n.p., 1894-1895. FamilySearch.com

Street and Avenue Department Walsh’s Lynchburg Directory for 1904. 1904. FamilySearch.com.

Conclusions A B
“Sunday Closing Test Case: Lynchburg Hebrew Who Violated Sunday Law Will Take an Appeal.” The Washington Post,
August 5, 1905, p. 11.

The Times-Dispatch: Richmond, VA. October 19, 1913.

Immigration: “Virginia, Death Certificates, 1912-1987,” digital image s.v. “Michael Eichelbaum” (1866-1932), FamilySearch.com.
• Michael Eichelbaum immigrated to Lynchburg in late 1880s, and Secondary Sources
Rachel Eichelbaum followed seven years later Adams, Peter. Politics, Faith, and the Making of American Judaism. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2014.

• Reformed, German-Jewish population growing slowly in VA Berman, Myron. Richmond’s Jewry, 1769-1976: Shabbat in Shockoe. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1979.
C Diner, Hasia R. “The Encounter Between Jews and America in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.” The Journal of the
since 1658 and in Lynchburg since 1790 Gilded Age and Progressive Era 11, no. 1 (January 2012), 3-25.
• Virginian Jews served in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Diner, Hasia R. Roads Taken: The Great Jewish Migrations to the New World and the Peddlers Who Forged the Way. Yale
University Press, 2015.
and Civil War, and contributed much to their communities
Dinnerstein, Leonard and Mary Dale Palsson (compilers). Jews in the South. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press,
• Influx in German immigration in mid 19th Century 1973.
• Influx Orthodox immigration from Eastern Europe in 1880s Ginsberg, Lous. Chapters on the Jews of Virginia, 1658-1900. Richmond: Cavalier Press, 1969.

• Immigrated due to famine, disease, persecution, and poverty Greene, Virginia. “Accessories of Holiness: Defining Jewish Sacred Objects.” Journal of the American Institute for
Conservation 31, no. 1 (Spring 1992): 31-39.
• Key religious and cultural differences between two groups Haumann, Heiko. A History of East European Jews. New York: Central European University Press, 2002.
Landsberger, Franz. “The Origin of the Decorated Mezuzah.” Hebrew Union College Annual 31, no. 1 (1960): 149-166.
Economics Pezzoni, Daniel J. “Bedford Alum Springs Hotel Preliminary Report.” September 2019. Published by Liberty University.
Peddling 1920 United States Census. Lynchburg City, Campbell County, Virginia. Digital image s.v. “Michael
Eichelbaum.” FamilySearch.com.
Samuel, Rebecca. "A Jewish Watchmaker in Old Virginia." Commentary 28 (1959): 57-58.

• M. Eichelbaum listed as a peddler in 1894-1895 Waxman, Chaim. America’s Jews. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1983.
Weissbach, Lee Shai. “Eastern European Immigrants and the Image of Jews in the Small-Town South.” American Jewish
• A form of entrepreneurship; could lead to owning a business Street and Avenue Department Walsh’s Lynchburg Directory for 1904. 1904. FamilySearch.com.
History. Vol. 85. No. 3 (September 1997): 231-262. ​
Weissbach, Lee Shai. Jewish Life in Small-Town America: A History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005.

Zola, Gary Phillip and Marc Dollinger. American Jewish History: A Primary Source Reader. Waltham, MA: Brandeis
University Press, 2014.