Ashley Jewish Homesteaders Cemetery

Ashley Jewish Homesteaders Cemetery. . Unlike most of their Jewish brethren who remained on or near the East Coast in big cities, these first-time farmers boarded trains to "The Great Northwest," staking their claims 20 years after McInstosh County was opened for homesteading. They settled in the stony, hilly area called "Judenberg"(Jewish hills) by their welcoming German-Russian neighbors. In addition to their inexperience, the Jewish farmers faced drought, prairie fires, early frosts, blizzards, the Spanish flue Pandemic, and the Great Depression. Nevertheless, with hard work, and God's blessings, this stony ground bore fruit., - The Ashley Wishek Jewish community retained its religious identity far from any major Jewish population center, as evidenced by this traditional cemetery. They were a nationally registered Jewish congregation in 1907, before they owned a central building for worship or had a formally trained rabbi. The traveled on horseback to each other's sod houses and barns for a "minyan" (the 10-man quorum for certain prayers), and celebrated Jewish weddings outside on the prairie under the "chuppah" (wedding canopy) with sponge cake, homemade wine, and dancing to washtub drums and spirited violins., - The homesteader family names of the proud American interred here include Auerbach, Becker, Bender, Berman, Bloom, Dorfman, Ewart, Filler, Friedman, Goldstone, Grossman, Jampolsky, Ourach, Parkansky, Raich, Reuben, Schlasinger, Silverlieb, Smilowitz, and Weil., - May God bless and protect you, , May God deal kindly and graciously with you , May God bestow favor upon you and grant you peace. . -