Prophet in a Time of Priests. Janice Rothschild Blumberg

city-wide recognition and achievements of lay leaders like David Mayer and Aaron Haas, ethnic brokers who preceded him, and later spokesmen such as Joseph Hirsch and Victor Kreigshaber. This was a role that the rabbi enjoyed, and one for which he was well prepared.22

      The Jewish South

      Unfortunately, Browne’s aptitude for diplomacy did not extend to relationships with the leaders of Reform Judaism. His affiliation with Wise began to split shortly after he arrived in Atlanta when the younger rabbi began weekly publication of the Jewish South, the first newspaper ever addressed specifically to Southern Jewry.

      Having observed how his mentor used the American Israelite and Die Deborah to propagate his ideas and influence, Browne perceived the possibility of doing likewise, focusing on Jewish interests throughout the South. The need arose, he believed, because most Jewish journals other than Wise’s were “chiefly local in circulation and tendency,” therefore little known beyond their respective areas. Wise’s American Israelite, the only paper serving Jews in the middle states, “endeavoured to cover too large a territory, which naturally placed affairs nearer home ahead of those from the far South....” Believing that “the interests of Southern Judaism and the dignity of the South call loudly for a mouth piece worthy to represent them,” on October 14, 1877, barely two months after arriving in Atlanta, Browne produced his first issue of the Jewish South.23

      Initial publishers of the paper were the brothers J. R. and W. B. Seals, Christians who said that they were alerted to the need, “by many of our Hebrew friends,” and would have undertaken the publication two years earlier had they found a competent editor. They assumed full responsibility for business matters, with Browne as editor-in-chief, leaving all else to him as as he wished. He wanted no part in financial affairs, even advising subscribers to send payments directly to the publishers rather than to him. His reporters were Henry Powers of Nashville and Elias Haimon of Atlanta, proprietor of the Southern Agricultural Works. He was able to recruit Charles Wessolowsky, a former state senator from Albany, Georgia, as assistant editor.24

      Browne envisioned the Jewish South as an instrument by which “to drain the swamp of ignorance in which breed the diseases of hatred and bigotry,” promoting education and brotherhood among Jews while providing information about them for non-Jews. Believing that Jews and Christians, especially in the South, would welcome the chance to learn more about each other at an affordable price, he proclaimed across the newspaper’s masthead, “The Largest and Cheapest Jewish Journal in the World,” set the subscription rate at $2.00 a year (rather than the $4 or $5 charged by Wise and publishers of other Jewish weeklies), and specifically invited Christians to subscribe, gearing much of his copy to their interests. He promised Jewish readers that the paper would remain independent, uninvolved in “the combative liturgical and theological arguments” of American Jewry.25

      Ads cost $1.50 an inch for a single entry and $30 for the year. Christians as well as Jews from as far away as New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis, bought them to tout area hotels, railroads, plantations in Florida (from $2,500 to $15,000,) Jewish books, tea, toupees, pianos, scuppernong wine, the study of French dentistry, and a brownstone in Manhattan. The Southern Educational Institute for Boys advertised Judaic studies as well as preparation for college at a bargain rate of $400 compared to the $1000 charged by northern schools. Notices of marriages, births, betrothals, deaths, welfare needs such as a job for a young Jewish girl with “a good Jewish family,” were published free of charge as were those of congregations seeking rabbis or rabbis seeking congregations. As other rabbi-publishers did, Browne promoted his own lectures, Sabbath services and books. Advertisements for his 420 page translation of The Book Jashar appeared regularly, with a gradual reduction in price from $5 per copy, to “buy four copies and get one free,” and finally to $2.50 each.26

      The Jewish South covered essentially the same subjects as other Jewish weeklies, but in a format that suggests a more popular appeal. Because, like others, Browne sought to educate both Jewishly and secularly, he also published literary offerings—serialized novels, familiar quotations by such authors as Jonathon Swift and Washington Irving, poetry (often contributed by readers) as well as an introduction to the Hebrew language with translations of Hebrew poetry, including some by Judah Halevy. He featured a chess column, a “Boys and Girls” department, and to attract those inclined toward material pursuits rather than intellectual ones, a section entitled “All About Diamonds.” Under the title “All Sorts” he published literary trivia, theatre commentary, occasional humor such as “A few words to the ladies from a rooster-pecked wife,” and fashion notes to keep readers in the rural South au courant with life in the more sophisticated world of big cities. When he and Sophie celebrated their seventh wedding anniversary, he joked about it in “All Sorts,” referring to their marriage as “the Seven Years’ War.”27

      As Wise did, Browne published outstanding sermons by other rabbis. The Jewish South differed, however, in that it occasionally carried sermons of Christian ministers. In later issues Browne published a series entitled “Our Christian Brethren—what they are saying and doing for their religion—Know thy neighbours as thyself,” informing readers about different Protestant denominations. However, not all Jewish readers appreciated this degree of attention to Christian beliefs and interests, as one indicated in a long, scathing criticism. With antisemitism on the rise, rabbis were challenged to maintain a delicate balance between ecumenical outreach and Jewish cohesion.28