Life Across the River
Beth El Hebrew Congregation
In the principal business street, I could easily identify half the firms as belonging to the well-known Jewish nomenclature; two kosher boarding-houses are already established there.
- A Jewish Soldier, “Alexandria, Virginia, and its Jewish Population,” The Jewish Messenger
Formed in 1859, Beth El Hebrew Congregation followed reform practices, conducted services in German and Hebrew, and used Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise’s prayer book Minhag America.
From the early 1860s until 1871, members held services in a rented room at the corner of King and Pitt Streets. In 1864, the congregation hired its first spiritual leader, Dr. L. Schlessinger.
An 1865 business license issued to Caroline Dreifus as a “retail dealer” at 11 Commerce Street. Caroline Dreifus was the widow of Simpson Dreifus, a founding member of the congregation.
The Alexandria Gazette reported activities of Beth El Hebrew Congregation during Yom Kippur in 1863.
The most sacred of the Hebrew feasts began yesterday evening . . . the stores of all the Jews in the city have been closed since yesterday evening at 6:00 p.m.
The Marshall House in Alexandria. This photograph shows a business owned by Solomon and Wolf Meyenberg, Jewish brothers who operated in Alexandria and later in Washington during the Civil War.