In what might seem to many as highly unusual, and a strange allegiance, Richmond, Va., is home to the Soldiers' Section at Hebrew Cemetery, believed to be the only Jewish military cemetery in the world outside the state of Israel.

Jewish presence in Richmond predates its designation as a city and state capital, and, for that matter, Virginia's designation as a state.

Jews were among the colonists who established Jamestown in 1607, and may well have been in the group of 120 men who left that enclave days later to sail up what is now known as the James River, in the first effort to settle an area that today is part of downtown Richmond.

At the time of Richmond's founding in 1737, Jews were engaged in trade throughout the Virginia Territory.

By 1790, approximately 100 of the 3,700 colonists calling Richmond home were Jews. On Shabbat, they gathered at the Orthodox Kahal Kadosh Beth Shalome, a synagogue that followed Sephardic ritual worship.

With the arrival of more Ashkenazi Jews, a second synagogue, Beth Ahabah, was established in 1841. Khal Kadosh Beth Shalome eventually merged with Beth Ahabah, which continues to this day as a Reform house of worship and is the sixth-oldest synagogue in the United States.

Richmond Jewry prospers

Cindy Krumbein, retired archivist at Beth Ahabah's Museum and Archives, says the city's Jewish residents were primarily merchants.

"They came in as peddlers and then they opened shops. Some were clothiers, some had grocery stores. It was difficult [for Jews] to get into medical school, so a lot became pharmacists," Krumbein says.

Location played a role in the merchants' success. "Richmond was where traders needed to be," Krumbein explains. "You were here because of the confluence of the north and south land routes and because of the east/west water route. Richmond is a deep-water port and the site of an Indian trail."

Richmond's Jews embraced the southern lifestyle. When Civil War broke out in 1861 and the city became the capital of the Confederate States of America, 102 Jewish Richmonders joined the ranks of the South (see Jewish Confederate Monument at right).

Some were fighting to maintain the right to own slaves, but the majority – mostly recent arrivals from Europe who did not have the income to be slaveholders – enlisted out of a sense of loyalty to their new home, Krumbein says.

"These were immigrants and they fought for their country, which, for them, was Virginia," she says. "They had just gotten off the boat. They had no money. They left their wives to run the stores and they went off to war."

Richmond's Jews immersed themselves in the war effort, both on and off the battlefield.

Throughout the war, Beth Ahabah Rabbi Maximilian J. Michelbacher waged a campaign for religious observance on behalf of Jewish Confederates. He wrote repeatedly to General Robert E. Lee, requesting furloughs for the soldiers to attend High Holiday and Passover services. Lee (copies of the correspondence are in Beth Ahabah's archives) respectfully declined each time.

"It [would] give me pleasure to comply… but … the army will be engaged in active operations, when, of course, no one would wish to be absent … nor could they in that event be spared," Lee wrote on one such occasion, April 2, 1863.

For weekly Shabbat observance, Lee suggested soldiers petition their commanding officers. A captain receiving one such request forwarded it to Lee with the following note: "Disapproved. If such applications were granted, the whole army would turn Jews or shaking Quakers." Lee agreed, but chided the officer about his flippancy:

"… [Advise] that [you] should always respect the religious views and feelings of others," he admonished.

Today, nearly a century-and-a-half after Lee's surrender, Richmond's prominence during the Civil War remains apparent. The Richmond National Battlefield Park, encompassing more than 7,000 acres, educates visitors about the more than 30 battles fought in and around the city between 1861 to 1865. Downtown, adjacent to the grey-stucco neoclassical mansion that served as the White House of the Confederacy – it was the official residence of President Jefferson Davis and contains many of the original furnishings – is the Museum of the Confederacy, which holds the largest collection of Civil War memorabilia in the world.

Statues of Confederate superstars – Generals Lee, J.E.B. Stuart, and Stonewall Jackson (left); Navy Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury; and President Davis – adorn intersections of Monument Avenue, which was laid out for that very purpose in 1887. (In 1996, amid controversy, the nature of the street changed a tad with the addition of a new statue: the late, great African American tennis player and Richmond native, Arthur Ashe.)

And, surrounded by Beth Ahabah's Hebrew Cemetery, where Jewish Confederates with Richmond ties are interred in family plots, is the separate Soldiers' Section at Hebrew Cemetery, the resting place of 30 B'nai Yisrael – harking from cities and towns in Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.

"By Jewish custom, they had to get them into the ground pretty quick. If he fell in Richmond and he was from Arkansas, there was no way to get him home," Krumbein explains.

Established by the Hebrew Ladies Memorial Association in 1866 and maintained by Beth Ahabah today, the Soldiers' Section at Hebrew Cemetery is enclosed by an unusual wrought-iron railing with a design of crossed cavalry swords, wreaths, and stacked muskets topped with soldiers' caps, designed by Jewish Confederate and Richmond resident William Barksdale Myers.

"Congress (had) appropriated funds for the graves of Union soldiers, but there was nothing for the Confederates. The Richmond (newspaper) put out a call for local people to help preserve these graves and the (Hebrew) Ladies decided they needed to support this," Krumbein says.

Of course, there is much more to Richmond than its Civil War connection. Today, the city boasts a population of just under 1 million, of which approximately 15,000 is Jewish, and has a thriving, business-fueled economy.

There are at least seven synagogues, a Jewish day school that has been in existence for more than 40 years, a Holocaust museum, and an enlarged and recently renovated Jewish community center.

"Richmond has a vibrant Jewish community, It is active in all of the city's endeavors, government as well as civic organizations," says Tommy Baer, honorary international president of B'nai B'rith, Chairman of the Board of the Council for America's First Freedom, an organization dedicated to religious freedom, and a resident of Richmond since 1945. "The quality of life is excellent. It is a wonderful place to raise children and to retire, which is what I plan to do."

The Soldiers' Section at Hebrew Cemetery is located at 4th and Hospital streets on Richmond's northside, and is open to the public Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and by arrangement with Beth Ahabah. A security guard is also present on the first and third Sundays of each month, from noon to 3:00 p.m. For historical tours and additional information, call the Beth Ahabah office at 804-358-6757.

Additional information about Richmond and the Soldiers' Section at Hebrew Cemetery can be found at the following websites:

• www.bethahabah.org
• www.jewishrichmond.org
• www.richmond.com