From the founding of Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim in Charleston in 1749 by early Sephardic settlers, to 19th-century congregations in Columbia, Camden, Florence, and Sumter established by mostly German Jewish immigrants, to 20th-century congregations from Greenville to Beaufort, Aiken to Kingstree, and places in between founded by Eastern European and Russian Jews, South Carolina has enjoyed a vibrant and diverse Jewish life. As the children of small-town Jewish merchants have moved to more urban areas and into the professions, Jewish populations have dwindled in rural parts of the state.
Richard Gergel and Robert Rosen welcome their guests to discuss the evolution of synagogues in South Carolina.
Gary Zola, executive director of the American Jewish Archives, Samuel Gruber, an expert on the preservation of Jewish historical sites, and Rachel Barnett, the executive director of the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina, who grew up in Sumter's Temple Sinai.
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