CHARLOTTE, N.C. (JTA) — Over seventy years ago, Temple Beth El and Temple Israel in Charlotte were approached by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to support the placement of a monument dedicated to Judah P. Benjamin, a Southerner and a Jew, who played an important role in the Confederacy.

While our respective Boards voted to participate, there were almost immediate misgivings. At the time of the monument’s installation in 1948, the Daughters of the Confederacy were in an open dispute with the national and state-wide chapters advocating for the monument, while the local chapter leveled a...