Purim: Ohev Shalom's Mysterious Swedish Past...

I was recently sitting with some of our "minyannaires," our congregants who come to our daily morning service, during our post-service breakfast, and we were having a very interesting discussion. We were talking about the history of Ohev Shalom, and they were telling me stories from Chester, Mispallelim, and "the good ol' days" in general. After our conversation, I found the synagogue's Dedication Book from 1965, and I decided to read a little more on my own. I was intrigued to read about the different families who helped form the first congregation, B'nai Israel-Beth Phillies (the second part was later dropped), in 1891; the Wolsons, the Sapovitses, the Levys, and the Blumbergs, among others. But one family name in particular caught my eye.

It seems that one of the oldest families in Chester at the time was a family named Gerberson. I was surprised to see that name, since it sounds so much like my own, but the book didn't say much more about them. They were mentioned as one of the first families in the area, among the "tydable" (taxable) Jewish families who had come over from Upland, Pennsylvania, along with the Jacobs and Herman families. Well, now I was really intrigued, because Upland is also the name of a province near Stockholm, Sweden, where I grew up.

Many of you are probably aware that my family resided in Sweden for generations. We originally came over from the Ukraine, where the family name had been "Garbati," but in Sweden it was changed to "Gerberson" to fit in with the Ericssons and Svenssons who lived around them. In those days, you weren't allowed to work in Sweden unless your last name ended in "son," and my family was eager to set up the family business of Swedish Chefs. Now here's where it gets really interesting. One branch of the family actually came over to the US in the 1600s. There was a meatball and herring shortage in Sweden, and they couldn't take it anymore. They came over with the very first settlers of the New Sweden Company in the 1640s. I never heard any more about them, but I decided to go to the American Swedish Historical Museum near Citizens Bank Park to do a little research. It turns out that when the first Swedes founded Fort Christina, in present-day Wilmington, they didn't want the Jews living in the same town, so they sent them up north to build a settlement of their own.

The small Jewish group, including my relatives, the Gerbersons, helped found a town called Tjänster (pronounced "Shen-ster"), which means "services," as in religious services. Later they changed the spelling to make it more American, and it became Chester. And lo and behold, it turns out that my family helped establish the first congregation in Chester! In other words, even though Rebecca and I are new residents in the area, it would seem that my family is one of the oldest in the community!!

So why am I telling you this now? Well, the holiday of Purim is upon us. And on Purim we eat Hamentashen, which have hidden fillings inside them, much like the hidden story of my long-lost relatives (though back home our Hamentashen were usually filled with lox). It is also a holiday of merriment, fun, silliness, and imaginative stories. We read the Megillah and we learn about how our ancestors were able to defeat Haman and save the day. But what most people don't know is that Mordechai and Esther had ALSO originally emigrated from Sweden, and had ALSO helped establish their Jewish community, much like my ancestors here in Tjänster... I mean, Chester.

And finally, I would like to remind you not to always take what your rabbi says too seriously. Purim can make a rabbi write some pretty peculiar things... ;-)

Happy Purim, everyone!