HOPFERMAN (HOFFMAN), SIMSON (1777-?), one of the first Jewish settlers in Cleveland (see JEWS AND JUDAISM), hosted the city's first Jewish religious services in 1839 at his home at 33 Seneca Street. Hopferman, his wife, Sara, son Seckel (see ISAAC HOFFMAN) and daughters Voegele and Zerle left the village of Unsleben, Bavaria, in 1839 with the Moses Alsbacher party. Carrying a scroll of the Torah, the family left Germany on board the Howard and arrived in New York on 12 July 1839. They arrived in Cleveland in late summer. Twenty Jewish families met at the Hopferman home later that year and formed the Israelitische Society (later ANSHE CHESED), under the religious leadership of Hopferman's son Isaac. Simson Hopferman served as the society's first chazan (cantor) and religious slaughterers.
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