Visits to historic synagogues in Charleston and Savannah highlight of one-week cruise through the Intracoastal Waterway
March 24, 2025
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Gefilte fish with a side order of grits?
An unlikely – and unappetizing — combination, perhaps. But not so much when you learn about the surprisingly robust and enduring history of Jewish life in the deep South.
Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim in Charleston, South Carolina. Dedicated in 1841, it is the oldest synagogue in continuous use in the United States.
The two synagogues that perhaps best exemplify the survival and resilience of Judaism south of the Mason-Dixon Line can be found in Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia.
With the recent advent of “coastal-cruises” that traverse the Intracoastal Waterway in the Southeast — a tranquil blend of bays, rivers, tidal creeks and golden-brown marshes – it’s easier than ever to visit both renowned houses of worship on the same trip. I had the opportunity to visit the two synagogues on a recent one-week coastal cruise of the Southeast United States on the 100-passenger American Liberty, part of the fleet of Connecticut-based American Cruise Lines.
The 100-passenger American Liberty during a one-week cruise through the American Southeast.
With 94 passengers and 42 crew members, we started the cruise in Charleston, then slowly meandered 250 miles down the Atlantic coast. In addition to Charleston and Savannah, we also stopped in Beaufort, South Carolina, Hilton Head Island, Jekyll and St. Simons islands in Georgia, and Amelia Island in Florida, where the cruise ended.
Jewish immigrants first began immigrating to the American South from Europe in the late 1600s, fleeing religious persecution and seeking economic opportunities in the U.S. colonies. Many became peddlers and merchants. Their success – in part – was due to close relations with their Black neighbors and a willingness to assimilate into local culture more than their Jewish cousins living in the North.
The busy harbor in Charleston, South Carolina, the starting point for a one-week cruise through the Intracoastal Waterway in the Southeast U.S.
Today, it’s estimated that more than 2 million Jews — about 25 percent of Jewish-Americans — live in the South.
Up until the mid-1800s when it was supplanted by New York City, the largest Jewish community on the North American continent was in the port city of Charleston, South Carolina. Founded as an English settlement in 1670, Charleston is known for its cobblestone streets, horse-drawn carriages and pastel antebellum houses.
Sunset over the Intracoastal Waterway in South Carolina as seen from the American Liberty during a one-week cruise in the Southeast U.S.
Jews first began arriving in Charleston in the late 1600s. By 1749, there were enough Jewish pioneers in the city to organize a congregation – Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim (KKBE) – which translates to “Holy Congregation House of God.”
For KKBE’s first several-dozen years of existence, congregants worshipped in private homes until a new synagogue was built in 1794, described then as the largest in the United States, “spacious and elegant.”
The synagogue was destroyed by an 1838 fire that ravaged Charleston’s business district. The building was replaced at the same site two years later, where it still stands on Hasell Street in the heart of downtown Charleston. A surviving cornerstone of the original synagogue is on display near the entrance to the current sanctuary.
The surviving cornerstone from 1792 synagogue in Charleston. It was destroyed by fire in 1838.
Dedicated in 1841, KKBE is the oldest synagogue in continuous use in the United States. (The Touro synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, dates back to 1763, but was shuttered for about 60 years after the Revolutionary War). KKBE has also been designated a National Historic Landmark.
It took me about 20 minutes to walk to KKBE from the Hyatt House, our pre-cruise hotel. In a pleasant stroll down busy King Street, I passed 10-acre Marion Square – named after American Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion.
Built in the Greek Revival style with six columns, KKBE is more evocative of a Greek temple than an American synagogue. Go inside the two-story sanctuary, though, and it’s clear you’ve entered one of the most impressive Jewish houses of worship in the country.
A bar mitzvah boy and his family pose for pictures inside the KKBE sanctuary, which features 19th-century pews and stained-glass windows.
An Ark made of Santo Domingo mahogany is surrounded by stained-glass windows dating from 1888. The pews were installed in 1879 when the Bimah was moved from the center of the sanctuary to its current place in the front of the Ark.
I arrived prior to Shabbat services on a Saturday morning, just in time to see a Bar Mitzvah boy posing for photos with his family. One-hour, docent-led tours of the synagogue are offered every day except Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Executive Director Mark Swick told me that the congregation — one of four synagogues plus a Chabad chapter in Charleston — has a membership of about 500 families. The Charleston Jewish Federation estimates the city’s current Jewish is about 12,000.
KKBE is a Reform congregation; in fact, it’s acknowledged to be the birthplace of Reform Judaism in the United States. It’s also believed to be the first synagogue in the country which introduced instrumental music – an organ – into its worship services.
It was especially meaningful to see a plaque outside the synagogue apologizing for the use of slave-labor during the building’s pre-Civil War construction. Erected in 2021, the bronze marker says that “Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim rededicates itself to recognizing the errors of the past and reconciling the beliefs of our faith with our actions as we commit to spiritual growth and social justice for all.”
A 2021 marker outside KKBE apologizes for the use of slave-labor during the synagogue’s pre-Civil War construction.
Fittingly, the plaque also includes a quote from the Mishnah, known as Judaism’s “Oral Torah”: “There is no atonement for transgressions of one human being against another until that person has reconciled with the other.”
Four days after we began the cruise in Charleston, the American Liberty reached Savannah, Georgia, 110 miles farther south and home to another historic Reform synagogue – Congregation Mickve Israel. It took me about 30 minutes to walk from where the ship was docked on the Savannah River to Monterey Square, site of the synagogue.
The historic district in Savannah, Georgia, one of the stops during a one-week cruise on the American Liberty through the Intracoastal Waterway in the Southeast U.S.
The story of this congregation dates to 1733, when 41 Jews arrived in the Georgia colony after crossing the Atlantic from London on the ship William and Sarah, just a few months after the founding of Savannah. Most of the group were Sephardic Jews who had fled to England to escape the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal.
They named their congregation Kahal Kadosh Mickve Isrrael (Holy Congregation, the Hope of Israel), making it the third oldest Jewish congregation in America and the oldest in the South.
The congregation in Savannah dates to 1733 when 41 Jewish colonists arrived by ship from London.
In 1778, Mordecai Sheftall, a son of one of the original settlers, was appointed Deputy Commissioner General of Issues for the state of Georgia, making him the highest-ranking Jewish officer to service in the Colonial Army during the American Revolution.
The congregation’s first synagogue was destroyed by fire in 1829 but was able to save its Torah scrolls. A new building opened on the site in 1838 but the growing congregation – buoyed by the arrival of hundreds of German-Jewish immigrants – eventually needed more space.
The neo-Gothic synagogue in Savannah was consecrated in 1878.
In 1878 the current synagogue was consecrated on Bull Street in the Historic District’s Monterey Square. Designed by nationally known architect Henry Harrison, it was built in the neo-Gothic style, reflecting the architecture of the Victorian era. It features a spacious sanctuary, complete with three original stained-glass windows above the Ark.
Mickve Isreal has been named one of the “15 Most Beautiful Synagogues in the World” by Condé Nast Traveler. It officially became a Reform congregation in 1904 and continues to flourish, with a membership of about 450 families. The Jewish population of Savannah is estimated to be about 4,000 — the city’s total population is 150,000.
The historic sanctuary inside Congregation Mickve Israel in Savannah.
The floor above the sanctuary features a museum with a treasure-trove of artifacts, including what is believed to be the oldest Torah scroll in the Americas. It’s a 15th-century deerskin scroll (heavier than customary parchment) that was brought to America by one of the original settlers. The congregation reads from it every July 11, the anniversary date of the settlers’ arrival.
The oldest Torah scroll in the Americas on display at the museum inside Congregation Mickve Israel in Savannah. Written on deerskin, it dates to the 15th century.
The museum also includes a circumcision kit brought to Savannah by one of the settlers. Deanna Sorrells, the museum’s docent coordinator, recounted a quip conceived by one of the synagogue’s docents, calling it likely “the very first Southern bris-kit.”
In the hallway outside the museum, the synagogue proudly displays a letter it received from President George Washington in 1790, written in response to a letter from the leaders of the congregation. Washington’s letter actually predates a more famous letter he penned to the synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, a few months later.
A 1790 letter written by President George Washington to the leaders of Congregation Mickve Israel in Savannah.
In part, Washington’s letter to Mickve Israel expressing religious tolerance read: “May the same wonder-working Deity, who long since delivering the Hebrews from their Egyptian Oppressors planted them in the promised land — whose providential agency has lately been conspicuous in establishing these United States as an independent nation — still continue to water them with the dews of Heaven and to make the inhabitants of every denomination participate in the temporal and spiritual blessings of that people whose God is Jehovah.”
Tours of the synagogue and museum are offered Monday through Friday. As I exited the synagogue for the long walk back to the cruise ship, I took a quick peek inside the giftshop. Hanging on a rack was a pale green T-shirt that caught my eye.
The historic circumcision kit on display at the museum inside Congregation Mickve Israel in Savannah. It’s jokingly referred to as the “first Southern bris-kit.”
It was emblazoned with a slogan that somehow seemed emblematic of my trip through the Deep South and the warm hospitality I encountered while visiting the region’s two most magnificent synagogues:
“Shalom Y’all.”
A T-shirt for sale at the giftshop inside the Mickve Israel Synagogue in Savannah, Georgia.
Websites for more info:
Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue in Charleston
Mickve Israel Synagogue in Savannah
© 2025 Dan Fellner
