Hanukkah Has Been Celebrated In Wisconsin For Centuries

In the above image, Abraham Anton lights the first candle of Hanukkah at the Wisconsin Institute for Torah Study in Milwaukee. The school is one of only a handful of Orthodox Jewish high schools in the Midwest.

Jews have lived in Wisconsin for centuries. The first known Jewish person to settle in Wisconsin was Jacob Franks, who established a fur trading post at Green Bay around 1793. He was followed in the 1840s by German, Hungarian and Alsatian Jews who settled primarily in Milwaukee, Madison, La Crosse, Wausau and Appleton.

Hannukah services in those days were often held in people’s homes. In Milwaukee in 1847, the “synagogue” was the living room of Henry Newhouse. The next year, services moved to the home of Isaac Neustadel and then to a room above a grocery store.

Among these Milwaukee Jews was the family of Lizzie Black Kander, the creator of “The Settlement Cookbook,” the most successful community cookbook in history.

The number of Jewish residents in Wisconsin grew in the 1880s and 1890s with migration from Russia and Eastern Europe. Some set down roots in smaller towns. Many small town groceries or drygoods stores were operated by Jewish families.

The eight-day Jewish celebration of Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple of Jerusalem during the second century BCE. Entering the temple, Judah Maccabee found only enough oil to keep the menorah’s candles burning for a single day but miraculously, the flames kept flickering for eight nights, leaving time to find a fresh supply.