Temple Beth Elohim (Georgetown, South Carolina)

Temple Beth Elohim is a Reform synagogue located at 230 Screven Street in Georgetown, South Carolina.

History

In the 1760s the brothers Moses and Solomon Cohen, the first Jewish settlers, arrived in Georgetown. They were sons of Rabbi Moses Cohen who had emigrated with him in 1750 from London to Charleston, South Carolina, where the senior Cohen led the Congregation Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim. After 1824, its congregation followed German trends to become the first Reform synagogue in the United States. Mordecai Myers arrived in Georgetown about the same time. As the number of Jews increased, they became prominent merchants and businessmen; for years they worshipped in people's homes or at the Winyah Indigo Society building.^[1] Most Jews traveled to nearby Charleston for services and High Holy Days.

In 1904, the congregation of Beth Elohim was officially organized and named after its counterpart in Charleston. It was not until 1949 that they built the current synagogue. For years the congregation had no full-time rabbi, but a part-time rabbi or student rabbis from the Hebrew Union College.

With demographic changes, by 2003 membership had dwindled to five people. The congregation agreed to sell the building and use the proceeds to maintain the nearby Jewish cemetery, which dated back to the 1760s. The congregation donated one of its two Torah scrolls to another congregation, as dissolution of the synagogue seemed inevitable. But, due to the efforts of a few local Jewish leaders, the congregation grew in membership (mostly from Jewish retirees who had migrated to the area from the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states).

Current status

Beth Elohim is an active Reform congregation with approximately 50 members and weekly Shabbat services.

References

External links

• "Georgetown, South Carolina", Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities, Institute of Southern Jewish Life