Gershom Kursheedt

The seventh of nine children and youngest son of IsraelBaer Kursheedt and Sarah Abigail Seixas,Gershom Kursheedt was imbued from both sides of his family with aprofound connection to Judaism. His father, a respected elder at thetime of Gershom’s birth, was the most Talmudically learned personin the United States of his day, and widely consulted on questions ofJewish law. His maternal grandfather, GershomMendes Seixas, for whom he wasnamed, had been the first widely recognized public representative ofAmerican Judaism. With such an inheritance, Gershom Kursheedt wasbiologically disposed to love learning and Jewish causes.

Kursheedt moved to New Orleans at age twenty-one to work in anuncle’s retail business. By 1845, he was serving as the publisherof the New Orleans Commercial Times, a post he would hold foranother four years. He became involved in charitable work inthe city, helping to raise funds for those suffering from the yellowfever and cholera epidemics. He also joined the freemasons. Aroundthis time, his concern with the Jewish condition grew. “I have butone ambition in life,” he would write to IsaacLeeser in 1848,”and that is to elevate the character of ourpeople in the eyes of God and man.”

Dissatisfied with the state of Jewish communal life in New Orleans —the rabbi, he believed, was a charlatan whose personal beliefs wereChristian, and the community lacked such basics as a torah and ashofar — Kursheedt sought to establish a new synagogue. Inorder to raise funds for thisendeavor, he befriended one of thewealthiest men in New Orleans, Judah Touro.Touro was then little identified with the Jewish community,making most of his philanthropic efforts among other kinds ofinstitutions with which he was affiliated. However, Kursheedtpersuaded him of the importance of Jewish institutions to thecommunal welfare of the Jewish people, in part by reminding Touro ofthe traditions to which Touro’s own father, the founding hazanof the synagogue at Newport, Rhode Island, had devoted his life. AtKursheedt’s behest, Touro purchased and renovated an abandonedchurch in the downtown section of the city, and then funded thesalary of a rabbi. Kursheedt then arranged a consecration ceremonyfor the new synagogue, to be named Nefutzoth Yehudah (“thedispersed of Judah”) in Touro’s honor, with Kursheedt as itsfirst parnas. Touro was so moved by the dedication ceremonythat it was said to have sparked his return to Judaism. He regularlyjoined the new congregation for worship, and funded the constructionof a congregational school.

Kursheedt’s commitment to the Jewish community in New Orleansspread beyond the borders of Congregation Nefutsoth Yehudah. Hefounded the Hebrew Benevolent Society to attend to Jewish socialwelfare and, after the 1853 yellow fever epidemic left the Societywith a number of widows and orphans in its charge, he persuaded Touroto build a home for Jewish widows and orphans. Kursheedt workedclosely with Touro for the benefit of Jewish communal institutionsuntil the end of Touro’s life in 1854. He was named co-executorwith Sir Moses Montefiore of Touro’s will, and the two collaboratedin executing Touro’s bequest to build an almshouse for the Jewishpoor in Palestine.

In 1861, Kursheedt married Grace Guedalla, but the marriage did notproduce any children. Sadly, Kursheedt died in London at ageforty-six just two years later. Grace would go on to marryKursheedt’s older brother Alexander, also recently widowed, in1867.

Gershom Kursheedt

c. 1858