Kahal Kaddosh Beth Elohim Synagogue in Charleston South Carolina which began as an orthodox Sephardic synagogue is the oldest synagogue in continuous use in the U.S. and the First Reform Congregation. The Congregation was founded in 1749 , when Charleston was a British Colony. Sephardic Jews who had been expelled from Portugal and went to Britain. They were attracted to the Charleston since there was economic opportunity in the new British Colony and freedom of religious freedom.
The original synagogue building was built by a Jewish contractor who unfortunately used slave labour. I do not understand how Jews who are familiar with our own exodus in Egypt when Jews were slaves as recalled in the Passover Seder, could build a synagogue using slave labour but this was not the case. Some 40% of African Slaves landed in Sullivan’s Island, just outside Charleston and the Charleston was a centre for the slave trade. About 80% of people in the area had slaves, and roughly 80% of Jewish households by 1830 had slave labour. The other 20% didn’t have slaves because they could not afford them. Jewish households generally operated smaller-scale plantations or held fewer enslaved people compared to the largest non-Jewish plantation owners. But many Jewish Charlestonians were, however, deeply involved in the urban slave trade, acting as brokers and auctioneers, while a select few owned plantations cultivating indigo and rice. For example, Mordecai Cohen , a Polish immigrant who became one of Charleston's wealthiest citizens, owning extensive city property and plantations on the Ashley River.Francis Salvador was a prominent Jewish aristocrat from London who purchased land and established an indigo plantation, later becoming a leading patriot in the American Revolution.
the average home in Sullivan’s Island is worth 10 million U.S., a price which African African can not afford.Although slavery has
abolished, only .04% of people living on the island are black. There is still intergenerational wealth which descendants of people who benefited from the stave trade have. after World War II, with the invention of the automobile, and postwar prosperity, Jewish families in Charleston bought summer houses on Sullivan’s Island, so many that the beach community was even given a nickname, Solomon’s Island. Charleston’s first Conservative congregation Emanu-El was in fact launched at meetings in the Sullivan’s Island beach houses of various members, and . Emanu-El held its Night services in a church at Fort Moultrie on the west end of Sullivans Island in the summer of 1947.
Going back to Kahal Kaddish Beit Elohim Congregation, The synagogue is built with Greek Revival architecture and right near it there is a church with similar style. In 1824, there were congregants who wanted to change the Sephardic Orthodox Liturgy seeking a briefer Hebrew ritual, English translation of prayers, and a sermon in English. This was denied and the disappointed liberal members left the congregation. They later rejoined the congregation and convinced a majority of the congregation to install an organ when the synagogue was rebuilt in 1840 after a fire in 1838. This became the first time that a synagogue introduced instrumental music into its worship. The congregation became the birthplace of the reform movement. In 1873, the congregation joined the Union of American Reform Congregations, now named the Union for Reform Judaism. there are some 500 membership units, with guided tours given.
almost two dozen men from the congregation served in the American War of Independence , one of who was Francis Salvador, the first Jew to serve in an U.S. legislature . He was killed shortly after the Declaration of Independence and was the first Jew to die in the US Revolutionary War.
When the synagogue , there was a plaque placed outside acknowledging the building was built using slave labour and acknowledging that it’s present commitment to social Justice, but that plaque is not easy to see, even if one is looking for it.
Churches and synagogues in Charleston were frequently built in the Greek Revival style during the early-to-mid-19th century (roughly 1820s–1860s) because the style symbolized democracy, civic virtue and authority and powe
. This architectural choice allowed religious institutions to project a sense of permanence, stability, and cultural sophistication,. Kahal Kason’s Beit Elohim’s synagogue Beit festures grand columns, pediments, and white facades meant to evoke ancient Greek temples.There are about 10,000 Jews living in the Charleston area .
