Film explores rich history of state's Jews

On Monday night, Jews across the world will usher in Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, a time of introspection and self-evaluation.

Jews in North Carolina have an added resource for reflection this year: A new film about the history of Jews in the Tar Heel state.

"Down Home: Jewish Life in North Carolina," premieres Oct. 12 at the N.C. Museum of History. The 75-minute film begins in 1585 with the arrival of Joachim Gans, a Prague-born Jew who boarded one of Sir Walter Raleigh's ships that landed at Cape Hatteras. It ends in the present day.

Directed by Steven Channing, who made "Durham: A Self-Portrait," the documentary has been in various states of production for nearly eight years. It is a part of a larger $1.5 million project that includes a museum exhibit and a fourth- and eighth-grade public school history curriculum on the state's Jews slated for completion in 2010.

"Newcomers to North Carolina will learn a great deal about the Jews who blazed a path before them," said Will Grossman, director of operations for the Jewish Heritage Foundation of North Carolina, based in Durham.

Virginia, South Carolina and other states have produced documentaries on their much more veteran Jewish communities. North Carolina Jews were never assumed to have as rich or long a history, said Leonard Rogoff, historian for the Jewish Heritage Foundation.

But after the Civil War, with the arrival of the railroad and the beginnings of industry, Jews began to settle permanently in North Carolina. The state's first synagogue, Temple of Israel, was established in Wilmington in 1876. Its pioneers were Eastern European immigrants who worked as peddlers, industrialists and shopkeepers.

North Carolina successes

Among its most successful members were Moses Cone, who established one of the nation's largest textile mills in Greensboro; the Meyers brothers of Goldsboro, who started the Heilig-Meyers furniture chain; and the Levine family of Charlotte, the owners of the Family Dollar chain.

But in the words of Eli Evans -- whose father, E.J., was Durham mayor in the 1950s -- North Carolina became a place where Jewish "fathers built stores for sons who didn't want them."

After a period of decline, a new migration of Jews began descending on North Carolina beginning in the 1960s -- Northern professionals who included doctors, biomedical researchers, bankers and academics.

They make up the new face of the state's Jewish community today, with more than 30 synagogues and a population of nearly 50,000, by some estimates.

The film, narrated by former state Rep. Stanley Fox of Oxford, features interviews and suggested re-enactments.

Producers plan to screen the film in Greensboro and Charlotte later in October and at Jewish film festivals across the state next year. They also want to pare it down to 55 minutes for public TV viewers.

But first, they must raise about $200,000 to pay for the project.

Tickets for the Oct. 12 premiere cost $125, which includes a reception and champagne dessert. A ticket to see the film is $35, if purchased in advance ($50 at the door).

For more information go to: www.jhfnc.org/index.html