Jews from around Southwest Mississippi gathered Sunday afternoon for the final service in the city's only Jewish house of worship, softly speaking the ancient Hebrew prayers in concert with Rabbi Marshal Klaven from the Goldring-Woldernberg Instutite of Southern Jewish Life to deconsecrate the temple. After more than one hour of ceremony, Klaven grasped the temple's Torah scrolls and led the congregation out for the final time, officially retiring the roughly 110-year-old building as a synagogue and paving the way for its use as a museum by the Lincoln County Historical and Genealogical Society.

"This service will highlight a moment of transition as this Jewish house of worship becomes what Isaiah had envisioned - a house for all people," Klaven said during the ceremony.

With the temple deconsecrated, the historical society is poised to lease the building from its facilitating families for 99 years for its perpetual use as a museum for Lincoln County artifacts. Society officials have said the temple will not be a Jewish museum, but the city's Jewish history will be preserved in a permanent display alongside other artifacts.

The Friedman, Liverman and Samuels families of Wesson and Brookhaven, and the former members of B'nai Shalom's congregation nationwide, consented to the temple's donation to the society unanimously as a way to see the historic site preserved. The temple has been mostly dormant in recent years, used only occasionally for special services.

"This building has a spirit, and that spirit has been renewed," said Rita Rich, historical society chairwoman. "Soon this building will have a new beginning as a place of remembrance."

The temple was built in the late 1800s after local Jews met and worshipped privately for almost 50 years.

Temple facilitator Hal Samuels said the first Jews began arriving in Brookhaven in 1852, and although small in number, went on to have a great impact on the city, becoming merchants and founding many successful businesses that helped grow the community. He said the first Jewish men's organization was founded in 1856, two years before Brookhaven was incorporated.

"The Jewish community never exceeded more than 100 people in Brookhaven, but we always felt welcomed here," Samuels said Sunday. "There are rather mixed emotions in this ceremony (Sunday) as we leave one era and begin another. I am proud we can give back something to Brookhaven."

Wesson's Dr. Steve Liverman, another of the temple's longtime caretakers, said the deconsecration ceremony was like attending a funeral.

"But the redeeming factor is there is going to be a remembrance of the Jewish people," he said.

Former Brookhaven mayor Harold Samuels, however, showed no signs of sadness or regret Sunday.

"You gotta go on," he said. "(The society) is going to put it to a good use again."