Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim (, also known as K. K. Beth Elohim, or more simply Congregation Beth Elohim) is a

Reform Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

congregation and

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

located in Charleston,

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

, in the United States. Having founded the congregation in 1749, it was later claimed to be the first Reform synagogue located in the United States. The congregation's first synagogue, in the

Georgian Revival Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover, George I, George II, Ge ...

style, was built in 1793–1794 and destroyed in an 1838 fire that ravished Charleston's central business district, impacting 500 properties over approximately . The current architecturally significant

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

synagogue located at 90 Hasell Street, completed in 1840, was designed by Cyrus L. Warner and built by enslaved African descendants owned by David Lopez Jr, a prominent slaveowner and proponent of the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United State ...

. The congregation is one of the oldest Jewish congregations in the United States. The congregation is nationally significant as the place where ideas resembling Reform Judaism were first evinced.

History

Before 1830, Kahal Kodesh Beth Elohim (KKBE) was a place of worship in Charleston, South Carolina for

Spanish and Portuguese Jews Spanish and Portuguese Jews, also called Western Sephardim, Iberian Jews, or Peninsular Jews, are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardic Jews who are largely descended from Jews who lived as New Christians in the Iberian Peninsula during the fe ...

using Portuguese rituals as done in Portugal before the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions. Commenced as an Orthodox

Sephardic Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

congregation, it later adopted a reformed religious ritual after reabsorbing a splinter group originally led by

Isaac Harby Isaac Harby (1788–1828), from Charleston, South Carolina, was an early 19th-century teacher, playwright, literary critic, journalist, newspaper editor, and advocate of reforms in Judaism. His ideas were some of the precedents behind the develo ...

. In 1824 the Reformed Society of the Israelites was founded by Portuguese Jews. It adopted ideas from the European Reform movement, and itself contributed ideas to the later, widespread American Reform movement, but was also quite different form either of them, with its own unique Reform prayer-book, the first in America. The founding members of the KKBE were Sephardi Jews of Spanish and Portuguese origin, who arrived into Charleston from London, England to work in mercantile freight and the slave trade. While the congregation is sometimes considered to be the originator of Reform Judaism in the United States, that movement was established by European immigrants mostly from

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

later on. Rabbi

Jacob S. Raisin Jacob Salmon Raisin (October 19, 1878 – January 11, 1946) was a Belarusian-born Jewish-American who served as rabbi in Charleston, South Carolina for nearly 30 years. Life Raisin was born on October 19, 1878, in Nesvizh, Russia, the son of Rab ...

served as rabbi from 1915 to 1944. Rabbi Burton Padoll, who served as the synagogue's rabbi during the 1960s, was an outspoken activist for the

rights Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...

African-Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

. Rabbi Padoll was forced to resign as rabbi after prominent members of the congregation objected to his support for the civil rights movement.

Synagogue building

The present Greek Revival building is the second oldest synagogue building in the United States, and the oldest in continuous use, in the United States; in addition, it has the oldest continually operating Jewish cemetery in the United States. It is a single-story brick building, set on a raised granite foundation. The brick is stuccoed and painted white, and is marked in manner to resemble stone blocks. The

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

comprises six fluted, equally spaced Doric columns, stucco over molded brick, approximating a Theseion order, supporting a gabled

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

. The building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on April 4, 1978, as Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue and was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

on June 19, 1980. and The Coming Street Cemetery, owned by the Congregation, is listed separately on the National Register of Historic Places. Congregation Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Historical Commission of Charleston Plaque

Congregation Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Historical Commission of Charleston Plaque

In 2021, a monument was installed with an inscription at the site of the synagogue, to commemorate the forced human labor extracted from Black Africans owned by industrialist and slaveowner David Lopez Jr in the construction of the site; In acknowledging the past injustice, Rabbi Stephanie Alexander says "We're being honest and transparent about what has enabled us to come together and has enabled us to come to this space." Inside the synagogue, there is a mural which includes a Jewish Confederate soldier sitting with a broken sword, an artistic depiction of the

Lost Cause of the Confederacy The Lost Cause of the Confederacy, known simply as the Lost Cause, is an American pseudohistory, pseudohistorical and historical negationist myth that argues the cause of the Confederate States of America, Confederate States during the America ...

Notable members

* Joseph Levy, a soldier * Moses Lindo, a trader * David Lopez Jr, a builder, industrialist, slave owner * Francis Salvador, a plantation owner and the first Jew elected to U.S. public office * Billy Simmons, an African-American Jew in the

Antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern US ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum architectu ...

period

References

External links

*
Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina website
at South Carolina Department of Archives and History
Historic Charleston's Religious and Community Buildings, a National Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beth Elohim 1749 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies 19th-century synagogues in the United States Buildings and structures in Charleston, South Carolina Founding members of the Union for Reform Judaism German-American culture in South Carolina German-Jewish culture in the United States Greek Revival architecture in South Carolina Greek Revival synagogues History of slavery in South Carolina Jewish-American history Jews and Judaism in Charleston, South Carolina Jewish organizations established in 1749 National Historic Landmarks in South Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Charleston, South Carolina Portuguese-Jewish culture in the United States Reform synagogues in South Carolina Synagogues on the National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina Sephardi Jewish culture in South Carolina Sephardi Reform Judaism Spanish-Jewish culture in the United States Synagogues completed in 1794 Synagogues completed in 1840

History

Synagogue building

Notable members

See also

References

External links