Jewish Heritage Collection: Oral history interview with Mordenai Lazarus Raisin Hirsch and Rachel Raisin

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Jewish Heritage Collection: Oral history interview with Mordenai Lazarus Raisin Hirsch and Rachel Raisin

1996

https://lcdl.library.cofc.edu/lcdl/catalog/lcdl:36576

Rachel Raisin and Mordenai Hirsch, daughters of Jane Lazarus (1887–1965) and Rabbi Jacob Salmon Raisin (1878–1946), describe their experiences growing up in Charleston, South Carolina, in the years between the First and Second World Wars. Jacob Raisin emigrated with his family from Russia to New York City when he was twelve years old. The son of Orthodox Jews, he attended Hebrew Union College and served a number of congregations in the United States before he was hired in 1915 by Charleston’s Reform synagogue, Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim (KKBE). Jane Lazarus, who could trace her Sephardic ancestry in America to the 1700s, was a member and Sunday school teacher at KKBE. The couple married in 1917 and raised Mordenai, Rachel, and their brother, Aaron, in a home that was one of seven rental properties on Wragg Square known as Aiken’s Row. The sisters describe the house and property where they grew up, and where members of Jane’s family had lived for generations. Jane’s father, Marks Hubert Lazarus, ran a hardware and cutlery store, the M. H. Lazarus Company, on King Street. Topics addressed in the interview include merchants, private kindergartens, and Jane Lazarus’s involvement in organizations such as the Daughters of the American Revolution and Hadassah (she founded the local chapter). The sisters also discuss issues of assimilation and identity, particularly as they relate to the early members of KKBE. Rachel attended Radcliffe College where she majored in government, and earned her degree in library science from Emory University. She worked in several cities in the East and Midwest. Mordenai studied early childhood education at the College of Charleston and Smith College. She received her master’s degree from Teachers College, Columbia University. She married sculptor Willard Hirsch, who co-founded Charleston Art School with fellow artists and teachers Corrie McCallum and William Halsey. Mordenai provides some background on her husband and his family and gives examples of his commissioned works. See Lazarus and Hirsch family papers (Mss 1018), Rabbi Jacob S. Raisin papers (Mss 1075), and Willard N. Hirsch papers (Mss 1074), for related materials in Special Collections, Addlestone Library, College of Charleston.

Sound recording : 1 sound cassette : analog.Sound recording : 1 sound cassette : digital.Transcript : 43 p. ; 28 cm.

eng, Latn

College of Charleston, Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 7613162

College of Charleston, Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library

Related Entities

There are 17 Entities related to this resource.

Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim (Charleston, S.C.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6912wrb (corporateBody)

Congregation Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim was organized in 1749 in Charleston, SC, following the Sephardic ritual. The current 1841 synagogue was built by enslaved African descendants owned by David Lopez Jr, a prominent slaveowner and proponent of the Confederate States of America, after the original synagogue was destroyed in a fire in 1838. ...

Halsey, William, 1915-1999

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6x63vz9 (person)

William Halsey, b. 1915; d. 1999 Feb. 14, Corrie McCallum, Painters, art educators of Charleston, S.C. From the description of Oral history interview with William Halsey and Corrie McCallum, 1986 Oct. 27 [sound recording]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 646395772 William M. Halsey is an American artist (1915-1999) and former member of the Faculty of the College of Charleston (namesake of the Halsey Gallery in the Simons Center for the Arts). Halsey's work is represented in t...

Elzas, Barnett A. (Barnett Abraham), 1867-1936

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gx6jt4 (person)

Rabbi and author of works on the history of the Jewish residents of South Carolina. From the description of Barnett A. Elzas collection, 1903-1933. (New York University, Group Batchload). WorldCat record id: 58782596 Reform rabbi, historian from United States. From the description of Papers, [ca. 1890-1936]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 86160686 ...

Rosengarten, Dale, 1948-...

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m04dd8 (person)

Raisin, Jane Lazarus, 1887-1965.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63n4hm3 (person)

Raisin, Jacob S. (Jacob Salmon), 1878-1946

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64t6sdh (person)

Raisin, Rachel M.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60z9hbk (person)

Hirsch, Willard Newman, 1905-1982

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63r36zh (person)

A native of Charleston, S.C., Willard Hirsch studied art at the College of Charleston, the Beaux Arts Institute of Design, and the National Academy of Design in New York City. Hirsch exhibited at the National Academy routinely from 1935 to 1942 but remained a lifelong resident of Charleston. He taught art for many years at the College of Charleston and the Gibbes Museum of Art school. His bronze sculptures are found in many public places in Charleston and lowcountry South Carolina, notably in Wa...

Hirsch family.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6hf6z8d (family)

Lazar family.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6g253bg (family)

Raisin family.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dc74fg (family)

McCallum, Corrie, 1914-2009

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6w383nq (person)

Corrie McCallum is an American artist (1914- ) and she taught art at the Gibbes Museum of Art, the Telfair Academy of Art and the College of Charleston. McCallum's work is represented in the permanent collections of museums throughout the United States; she has had numerous exhibitions and her work has been widely published. She was married to William Halsey and a collection of their travel sketches was published as A Travel Sketchbook (1971). Her work was the subject of a retrospective exhibiti...

Hirsch, Aaron, d. 1989.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m92p10 (person)

Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America. Charleston Chapter.

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Hart family.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64r6xht (family)

Hirsch, Mordenai Raisin

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63j5s2k (person)

Levy family.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66x8dkm (family)