TRAVEL SPRING CRUISE SALE! NOW WAS DATE SHIP NORWAY 4114 to 4121, Fr.$1475 00 Fr .$1180°° SEAWARD 4115 to 4122 F,. $1370 00 F. $11500° CELEBRATION 4/14 to 4121 F. $1325 00 F. $1259°° HOLIDAY 4114 to 4121 Fr. $132500 ,r.$1259°° All Inside/Outside Lowers. Limited Availability Reserve Early For Best Rates. Rates Per Person Based On Double Occupancy. - alt zt. plit asi um al 111 11015, HAMILTON MILLER HUDSON 0 FAYNE Travel Corporation 29566 Northwestern Hwy. Southfield, Mich. 48086-5056 313° 827 °4070 NEWBERRY SQUARE CRUISES & TRAVEL * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TRAVEL MAX 1990 SHAPE UP Join Us At The NEW 39530 14 Mlle Rd. Corner of Haggerty (313) 669.6760 AV CANYON RANCH SPA! * * In The Berkshires Lennox, Massachusetts May 19-25, 1990 * * * * E 4088 Haggerty Rd. Corner of Richardson (313) 360.4100 50% MA DE • Air roundtrip Detroit / Hartford, Connecticut L OFF SA VE' NOW OPEN IMDON MADISON HE I G HT S E "RE I C I 5 U R8 8 l3 • 6 nights deluxe room also • All meals ORCHARD PLACE 855-0122 vnLE- IE TAYLOR — • All sports facilities (Tennis Racquetball, Hiking, etc.) FASHION RESALE Exclusively Women's Clothing and Accessories Current Fashions Sizes 2-14 • Special programs and lectures 1844 S. Woodward Birmingham • 3 Personal Services (Massage, Facial, etc.) 1 block North of 14 Mile Rd. 540-9548 • This group is open to couples and/or singles "We Pay Cash for Fine Clothing and Accessories" • Escorted Group Mon-Fri 12 noon-6 pm Sat 11 am-6 pm Closed Sunday • Unlimited Fitness and Aerobics Classes "Where You Come First" P.P. DBL. OCCUPANCY Kosins Plus 17% tax I gratuities. No additional tipping allowed. For Additional Information and Reservations Coll , v 111. vie r Our speciol six night group rote includes: $1158 BAY POINTE TRAVEL travel/ * * 851-7760 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * `-* * * * * Uptown Southfield Rd. at 11 1/2 Mile • 559-3900 Big & Tall Southfield at 101/2 Mile • 569-6930 Surprising Savannah A Jewish Stronghold JUDITH BRODER SELLNER Special to The Jewish News E yen General William Tecumseh Sherman saw Savannah as a jewel: it was the only city he spared in his devastating march through Georgia. Knownin its heyday as the belle of the South, Savannah was one of America's first planned cities, set out by its founder, James Oglethorpe, in squares interspersed with parks. Rich in American history, the capital of colonial Georgia was home to one of the earliest Jewish set- tlements in America, more than 250 years ago. The second boatload of col- onists from England, the William and Sarah, landed in Georgia on July 11, 1733, just five months after Oglethorpe had founded the colony. On boad were forty-two Jews, the largest group of Jewish set- tlers to reach North America to that time. Most were Spanish and Portuguese flee- ing the Inquisition, the excep- tions being Benjamin and Perla Sheftall, a single man, who died within three years, and the family of Abraham and Abigail Minis, whose son Philip has the distinction of being the first Caucasian male child born — or conceiv- ed and born depending on the historic source — in the colony. The pioneers, having brought a Torah Scroll, a cir- cumcision box, and other religious articles, began holding services in members' homes within a month after their arrival. They establish- ed Kahal Kadosh Mickva [sic] Israel, the third Jewish con- gregation in the American colonies — after New York and Newport, R.I. — and the first Jewish community in the South. Oglethorpe had granted them a burial ground at what is now the median strip on Oglethorpe Avenue west of Bull Street, where a commemorative marker stands. Two years after their ar- rival, in July 1735, they rented a house on what is now Ellis Square and altered it to accommodate religious ser- Judith Broder Sellner, a free- lance writer living in New York, specializes in the arts, travel, and Jewish lifestyle subjects. Her articles have appeared in national and regional publications throughout North America. vices. On July 12, 1737, they received a second Torah, a chanukkiah, a number of prayerbooks, the gift of Ben- jamin Menassah Mendes da Costa of London. The follow- ing April they opened the first mikva (ritual bath) in Georgia. From the beginning, the Jews of Savannah enjoyed complete equality, unlike Jews in other American col- onies. Oglethorpe protected the Jewish settlers although the colony's trustees in Lon- don demanded their expul- sion. Dr. Samuel Nunes Ribeiro, a former court physi- cian in Lisbon, subdued an epidemic that had taken The capital of colonial Georgia was home to one of the earliest Jewish settlements in America. twenty lives (ten percent of the population) before he ar- rived. His heroism is credited with gaining Oglethorpe's support for the Jews. The congregation proceed- ed, with various disruptions deterring the construction of a synagogue: a schism created by newly arrived Ashkenazic Jews unwilling to identify with the Sephardim; the approach of a Spanish fleet in 1742 causing the Sephardim to flee to cities in the North; and British oc- cupation of the city in 1778. Nevertheless, informal and ir- regular services took place. In 1786 the congregation elected officers and rented a house on Broughton Lane from a Miss Ann Morgan. On November 20, 1790, Governor Edward Telfair granted a state charter to the first Jewish congregation in Georgia. To- day, almost 200 years later, B.H. Levy, Jr., a ninth- generation direct descendant of Benjamin Sheftall, has been president of the con- gregation for the past two years, and descendants of the Minis family also remain ac- tive members. Dr. Moses Sheftall, Ben- jamin's grandson, and Dr. Jacob de la Motta led the movement that resulted in the consecration of the firth synagogue in the State of Georgia on July 21, 1820. The wave of German Jews that started around 1840 reached c