Description:The seeds of the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina (JHSSC) were sown in 1993 at a panel discussion sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program at the College of Charleston. The topic under consideration was Jewish life in small towns across South Carolina, and panelists spoke with a sense of urgency about the decline of the communities where they grew up and, more generally, about the disappearance of the small-town Jew. With that critical mission in mind, the JHSSC was formed within the Jewish Studies Program as a statewide organization and has operated out of our offices ever since.

The Society has done incredible work over the past quarter century, from documenting our state’s Jewish history in A Portion of the People, a comprehensive web page, cataloging the state’s Jewish cemetery records, erecting historic markers, biannual meetings accompanied by professionally produced magazines, and a wealth of oral histories, to our newest and perhaps most ambitious initiative, the Jewish Merchant Project.

Please join the Society’s leaders, members, and friends at our Spring meeting, May 18–19, 2019 in Charleston, to celebrate a quarter-century of studying, preserving, and promoting the history and culture of the Jews of South Carolina. On Saturday, the meeting will focus on the Jewish Merchant Project, with a keynote lecture delivered by historian Steve Whitfield and will culminate in a 25th Anniversary reception and the public launch of the Jewish Merchant Project exhibit at the College of Charleston’s Addlestone Library and Special Collections, with a presentation by exhibit curator Lynn Robertson. On Sunday, we will look towards the next 25 years as speakers and panelists offer their vision for the Jewish future. Rabbi Judy Schindler will be Sunday’s featured speaker.

To learn more and to register, visit JHSSC.org.