Early Integration of Beth Elohim

Congregation Beth Elohim- Founded in 1749 in Charleston, South Carolina. The name translates to Holy Congregation House of God. During the Colonial Era of Charleston it was used for Sephardic worship. Charleston has been acknowledged as the birthplace of Reform Judaism in the U.S. largely because the adjunta (congregates) of Beth Elohim were a large part of this reform.

Ashkenazic Jewry- Medival Hebrew for “Germany”; Jews from Eastern France, Germany, and Eastern Europe, and their descendants. Most Jews in America are Ashkenazic. The Ashkenzic Jews of Charleston wanted to raise their status within the community and thus adopted many practices of Charleston’s prestigious Sephardic Jewish families. However, in many places cultural differences between the Ashkenazic and Sephardic threatened Jewry in the South; Factors such as intermarriage played a role in lessening these differences and building understanding. After the war, growing numbers of Ashkenazic immigrants helped build dwindling congregations. They brought their own traditions from their Old World roots, and helped form the identity of Jews in the South.

Congregation Mickve Israel- Founded in 1733 in Savannah, Georgia. A second building was dedicated in 1841. It is the oldest Jewish Congregation in the American South, and the oldest Congregation now practicing Reform Judaism in the United States. The name translates to “the Holy Congregation, the Hope of Israel”. The Temple was founded by a group of Sephardic Jews who arrived in Savannah just a few months after General Oglethorpe. The temple is the only purely Gothic revival synagogue in the U.S. and the present synagogue is known for looking more like a church than a synagogue.

Rachel Mordecai- (1788-1838) Rachel was the second child and first daughter of six children. At 19 she enlisted as a teacher at her father’s school in Warrenton, NC. She married the widower, Aaron Lazarus of Wilmington, NC and moved there. Rachel became attached to Wilmington’s...