The stories of Hebrew Rest keep faith and history alive for Shreveport’s Jewish community

Click here for updates on this story

    SHREVEPORT, LA (KTBS) — Much of Shreveport’s history rests at Oakland Cemetery.

Inside the gates, you’ll find everything from proud stories of war heroes to tragic tales from a massive yellow fever outbreak.

There’s also a story of faith, tradition and the American dream, which helped shape Shreveport into what it is today.

Past the towering monuments, which honoring Shreveport’s bravest, richest and most powerful, and beyond the macabre Yellow Fever Mound, where hundreds of people were buried during some off the city’s darkest days, lies a short, rusty gate.

Unlike many of the pristine markers throughout Oakland, most of the grave stones behind the little, old gate are crumbling. That’s because there are no descendants around to care for them.

Still, visitors can still make out the Jewish symbolism and Hebrew script etched into the stone throughout the Hebrew Rest section of Oakland.

“The people that are there were the pioneers,” said Gary Joiner, the history department chair at LSU-Shreveport, who has written extensively about Oakland Cemetery and the people buried there. “The (graves) that you find in Oakland, they each tell a great story – remarkable stories.”

Hebrew Rest in Oakland is the first of four designated Jewish burial sites in Shreveport. Graves there date back to the middle of the 19th century.

“Hebrew Rest Number One is really a jewel,” Joiner said.

Jewish war heroes, local leaders and successful businessmen are all buried in Hebrew Rest. Their stories are of opportunity and prosperity.

“Shreveport was a port. It had a need for merchants. It had a need for goods,” Joiner said. “It had a need for people who were industrious, and the Jewish community fit every last bit of that.”

Arriving from Europe by way of the Mississippi River, Jewish settlers thrived in Shreveport and shared their success with the community.

The first Jewish settler to arrive was Jacob Bodenheimer. According to Images of America: The Jewish Community of Shreveport by Eric J. Brock, Bodenheimer arrived in what is now Bossier Parish around 1827. The German immigrant’s grave is one of several at Oakland vandalized during the early 20th century.

Captain Simon Levy was born in France in 1839. According to Brock, Levy married Bodenheimer’s daughter, Harriette, in 1866. Levy later went on to co-found Commercial National Bank and bring the Kansas City Southern Railroad to Shreveport. He served as president of both, as well as B’Nai Zion Temple, which still has a congregation in Shreveport today.

Another Jewish war hero was Col. Leon Marks. Before the Civil War, Marks was a lawyer, believed to be the first man of his faith to practice law in Shreveport, according to Brock. A Shreveport encampment of the Sons of Confederate Veterans is named in his honor.

Another French Jewish immigrant, Isaac Kahn, became one of Shreveport’s most prominent businessmen during the 19th century. According to historical records, Kahn’s son, Leon went on to serve on the Shreveport City Council. His other son, Arthur, was president of Shreveport National Bank.

Samuel Levy became the first of four Jewish mayors of Shreveport in the 1870’s, according to historians.

Edward and Benjamin Jacobs, from Prussia, established successful businesses in the cotton and banking industries. Their buildings contributed to much of Shreveport’s downtown landscape. According to Joiner, the only building still standing affiliated with the Jacobs brothers is now the Spring Street Museum.

Joiner said the Jacobs brothers are buried just outside the gates of Hebrew Rest because they married Baptist women from east Texas, though they continued to donate money to the temple.

Their story echoes many from Shreveport’s once-booming Jewish population.

“We’ve had some remarkable families, and many of them are still around. They’re not necessarily Jewish any more,” Joiner said.

According to Joiner, many of Shreveport’s Jews married out of the faith and converted, left Shreveport or died during the yellow fever epidemic, or followed career opportunities elsewhere.

Once perhaps in the thousands, Shreveport’s Jewish population has significantly declined.

Rabbi Sydni Rubinstein of Agudath Achim, Shreveport’s conservative synagogue, estimates Shreveport’s Jewish community is made up of roughly 400 people, but says it’s one of the most dedicated communities she’s seen.

“There’s really a much bigger proportion of people who are dedicated because … we are ‘the ones,’” Rubinstein said. “Our job as the Jewish people is to keep the values of our ancestors present today, in a way that not only we feel responsible, but those who come after us will feel responsible as well.”

While the times and demographics have changed in Shreveport, the values have not.

Rubinstein, a native of southern California, says Shreveport remains just as good a home to people of differing faiths.

“One of my goals being here is making sure that – not trying to push any larger agenda, but making sure people know that it’s their responsibility to share their voice and to stand up for what it is they believe in, how they can make the world a better place,” Rubinstein said.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.