Albert J. 'Roley' Marks

     
          The Jewish community of New Orleans established its first synagogue, Shanaria-Chasset, in 1828. By 1838, the young congregation had fallen to precarious depths. A German Jewish periodical reported that Shanaria-Chasset’s rabbi, [English-born] Albert "Roley" Marks, was disgracing the community.

     This stigma in the ranks of the Jewish ministry eats whatever comes before his maw, never keeps the feast of Passover, indeed, has none of his boys circumcised … At Purim, the book of Esther could not be read since … the rabbi-reader was preoccupied with his duties as [part-time] fire chief. When challenged by a pious member of the congregation, the rabbi, beside himself with wrath, pounded the pulpit and shouted, ‘By Jesus Christ, I have a right to pray!’ After his death the rabbi’s widow, a Catholic, was restrained only with difficulty from putting a crucifix on his grave.