The Jackson Purchase Historical Society will meet at Temple Israel, 330 Joe Clifton Drive in Paducah at 10:30 am on Saturday, August 17. The program will focus on General U. S. Grant’s General Order expelling Jews from the territory under his command. The program is free and all who are interested are welcome to attend. Unfortunately, the program will not be available via ZOOM but will be recorded and posted on the JPHS website in the near future.
The program, entitled “Grant, Kaskel, and the Infamous General Order No. 11” will be presented by Roy Hensel who will explore the reasons why Grant issued the order, the strong response it elicited at the time that led to its quick revocation, and the questions it raised about Grant and antisemitism at the time, and which continue to captivate historians today.
Roy Hensel is a retired educator who taught in the Carlisle County and McCracken County school systems. He is a Paducah Ambassador and a well-known local historian in the Jackson Purchase who shares his research findings especially on Carlisle and McCracken counties on social media, through lectures, and walking tours frequently.
Temple Israel traces its origins to 1864 when the Paducah Chevra Yeshrum Burial Society was established. The congregation was chartered in 1871 as Kehillah Kodesh Bene Yeshurum (“Holy Community of the People of Righteousness”) when it established its first synagogue, on South Fifth Street. In 1873 it became a charter member of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. In 1893, the congregation changed its name from Bene Yeshurum to Temple Israel. The current synagogue building, dedicated in May 1963, is at the corner of Madison and Joe Clifton Drive, designed by Cincinnati-based architects, Pepinsky, Grau, Shroud, and Shorr.
