Aksenfeld Alabarch
THE JEWISH E^•CYCLOPEDIA
"Rus" (No. 21) an article on the " Yevrciskaya In" tornatzionalka i Borba s Ycvrcist vom v Ycvropye (Till- Jfwisli Intoinatinnal. ami llic Stnitrjrle with Judaism in EuiopiO. in which he accused the Alliance Israelite of liein;; a secret or^iani/.atinn of the whole Jewish world to obtain control of nil jrovThis naturally aroused a considerable crnnients. amount of protest and the Alliance published a detailed refutation, which Aksakov reprinted in " Rus,"
No.
24.
BiBLioORAPnT: S. I. Aksakov, Pobiof Riiliranic ffncMnaii, Yevreinki Vnnm>. vol. Hi., Moscow, Itvii: Vhk. Feb., 1SK7; SMematichcKki Vkmatil Statei, eti. St. Petorsburp, IHie. Nos. ami. Oiua, Sli'rar, vol.
1.,
twiw;
VcnKcrov. KritiHo-liUiunitichcKhi
St. Pett-rsburtr, 1«(<9.
IT.
AKSENFELD, ISRAEL
A
R.
Judivo German
writer: born in Russia in the la.st quarterof the eiiihteenth century; died about 18(i8. He passed the lirst period of his life among the Hasidini. liciuj; himself a disciple of R. Nahinau Bratzlaver (of Bratzlav) and the companion of Nathan Bratzlaver. the editor and publisher of Nahman's works. Later he abandoned B}' his early associations, and removed to Odes.sa. self -education he acquired a wide knowledge of law. literature, and science. He practised as a notary public, and wasalso a prolilic writer of fiction. Like nearly all Russo-Jewish novelists, Aksenfeld was a realist. He derived the themes of his works from contemporary Jewish life, describing with the pen of an artist the conditions, manners, and customs of the Russian ghetto at the lieginuing of the eventful reign of Czar Nicholas I. lie was the author of about twenty works, of which only five one novel and were printed; the others are still in four dramas manuscript, in the pos.session of a Polish family in St.
—
—
hoped they may soon be pubof his dramatic works is "Der Erste Jiidische Rekrut," 1862. a tragedy which presents a remarkably vivid picture of the terrible conmiotion in the Russian glietto when, in 1827. the ukase compelliMg the Jews to do military service was enforced for the first time. His novel, Das Sternti'ichel," describes the seamy side of H^sidism. its intolerance, bigotry, and hypoeri.sy, and contrasts it with the fair-miudeduess and honesty of Petersburg; and
it is
The most important
lished.
progressive Judaism.
Bibliography
Gottlobcr, in
JMUche
Volkshiblinthelt, Kiev,
1S.SS, p. a>s; I,emiT, Kritiche.'<kiJ Raztmr Sochineni I (cnf././, Odessa, IStW; L. Rosenthal, Tolnlnt Hcl)rat Haehalah, 1. «. U- ~1, St. Petersburg, 1»S5-189U.
AkMarbc
H. R.
AKTLAS.
See Aqitl.a.
ALABAMA:
One of the southern states of the United States; admitted Dec. 14. 1819; seceded Jan. 11. 1801 and was readmitte<I July. 1868. No definite date can be assigned to the first settlement of Jews in the state of Alabama. It is known, however, that Jews were settled in the district of Mobile, in the southwestern part of the state, as early as 1724. Mobile was then one of the nine districts of the Freneli colony of Louisiana, over which Bienville had been placed as governor. In JIarch. 172-1. lie. in the naiue of the king, issued his celebrated " Black Code," one of the provisions of which was that all
Jews must leave the colony, and that the Roman Catholic religion would be the only religion tolerated there.
A
searching investigation has been made with a view to discovering records referring to the Jews of the Mobile district, but no such records have been found. Not until about a balf-century later is the name of a Jew found, and then in connection with
314
incriminating charges preferred against Governor Farmer. By the treaty of Paris in 1768. the Mobile district became a part of the British jxissessions of Nnrth America: and tlii" British auEarly Set- thorities appointed Majnr Farmer tlements. governor of the district. He held the otiice initil 1776. whcii he was charged with being guilty of ".sending Hour for the king to New Orleans or attempting to sell it there by means of Pallachio, a Jew." Nothing has been found in these accounts which would incriminate Pallachio. In 178.1 Abnim Mordecai left i'ennsylvania tosettle in Alabama, in Montgomery county, where he was the pioneer Jewish settler. Albert James Pickett, in his History of Alabama," refers to Jlordecai as an " intelligent Jew, who lived fifty years in the Creek nition." Hecstablished a trading-post two mihs we-^t of Lino creek, carrying on extensive trade with the Indians, and "exchanging his goods for pinkroot. hickory-nut oil. and peltriesof all kinds," Mordecai believed thatthe Indianswereoriginally Jews. Pickett is authority for Jlordecai's assertion that in their green-corn dances ho had often heard the Indians utter, in grateful tones, "Yavoyahal Yavoyaha!" He was always informed by the Indians that this lueant Jehovah, or the Great Spirit, and that they were then returning thanks for the abundant harvest with which they had been blessed. In October, 1S02. Abram Mordecai established a cotton-gin, which was the first built in the state and which seems to have been constructed by two Jews. Lyons and Barnett of Georgia, "who brought their tools, gin-Siiws, and other material from that,state on packhorses." Jews settled in the townsof Claiborncnnd L^niontown as early as 1840, and in Selma, lluntsville. and Demopolis about 1850. There does not seem to have been a concerted movement toward the formation of a congregation in Alabama until 1841, In that year a uuiuber of Jewsof .Mobile united for the purpose of purchasing a plot of ground for a cemetery. The court records show that the congregation Sha'arai Shomayim purchased from thecity authorities four lots for burial purjioses at thirty dollars each. Thedeed was.signed by themayorof the city, Edward Hall, and attested by "the clerk" 1 1. P. Ensign, Junc22, 1841. Religious services were The First held by the members of this congregaContion during the years 1842 and 184'! gregation. at the residence of B. L. Tim; but not until Jan. 2'}, 1844, was the congregation duly incorporated. Its constitution and bylaws, with the name of the organizatiim printed in Hebrew letters, were then recorded in the probate court at Jlobile. Montgomery was the next city to foi-m a permanent congregation, which was organized and incorporated under the name Kahal Montgomery, April 12, 18.52. It dedicated its first synagogue March 8, 1862. According to G. Jacobson, of Moliile, a congregation with an otliciating rabbi was organized in t'laiborne in 1855. 3Iost of the Jews left Claiborne, however, and the congregation passed out of existence. Jewish congregations have since been formed in Selma, Birmingham, lluntsville, Demopolis, Aimiston.andUniontown. AUof them have well-equipped Sabbath-schools and organized benevolent societies, which distribute annuall v among the poor more than 810,000, During the yearlOOOthecitiesof lluntsville and Selma dedicated new synagogues and in Montgomery one was in course of construction. Educational and literary societies are connected with the congregations in Bimiingham, Slontgomery, and ^Mobile, each of which cities has a local .section of the Council of Jewish Women. The aim of
