A Blood Libel in New York

Title: A Blood Libel in New York

Location: Massena, New York

Document: New York Daily News

Time: Fall 1928

The true hero was Rabbi Brennglass of sainted memory. Had Massena’s rabbi been of a different character, one shudders to think what might have happened. His magnetic, piercing eyes, neat Van Dyke beard, and steel-gray hair (partly hidden by an old-fashioned high yarmulke) made him an impressive figure. He knew what had to be said and was not afraid to say it.

He had dressed down the state trooper who had come to his house to summon him to the police station, and, later on at the police station, he spoke to the mayor and the troopers in no uncertain terms, He was a man of surpassing moral and physical courage, and his message came through in that volatile situation.

I recall that after his beautiful rendition of Kol Nidrei (he was a talented baal tefillah, too) he addressed the congregation. Though I was only a child, I remember his charge to the community to stand up as proud Jews and staunch Americans — against all anti-Semitism. He inspired all of us, old and young, and we emerged from the synagogue that night with our heads high and physically unafraid.

—Samuel J. Jacobs, The Blood Libel Case at Massena: A Reminiscence and a Review

Few believed that Jews could fall victim to the blood libel, a benighted medieval superstition, in the United States, an enlightened, 20th-century Western democracy where freedom of religion was enshrined in the Constitution. But that is unfortunately what happened.

Massena, New York, a small town on the Canadian border, was a growing industrial center toward the end of the 19th century. It drew French Canadian, Irish, and Italian immigrants — all Catholic — soon joined by Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. The native Protestant population feared being overwhelmed, and suspicion of all newcomers was palpable in the town. The Jewish population was relatively small, about 20 or so families, and had organized into an Orthodox shul, Adath Israel. By 1920 the shul had purchased and renovated its own building.

Two years prior, in 1918, the shul had hired a shochet, Hebrew teacher, chazzan, and spiritual leader — Rabbi Berel Brennglass. He led Massena’s Jews for 23 years until his wife passed away in 1941 and he retired to New York City. Rabbi Brennglass (1876–1966) was born in Trakai, Lithuania, which was then part of the Russian Empire, and studied at the famed yeshivah of Slabodka. Following a stint in Wales, he came to the United States in 1915.