Philip Hoffman
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY/COORDINATOR: Philip D. Hoffman, who serves as the Executive Secretary/Coordinator of the Travel Journalists Guild, is also a freelance travel writer.
PUBLISHED IN: Chicago Tribune; Travel Today; Pioneer Press; Southwest Messenger Press; Vital Times; Lifetimes; Buffalo Jewish Review; Sajac News (Canada).
SPECIALTIES: Senior Travel, Jewish Interest destinations.
AWARDS: Silver Anvil; two Gold Trumpets, and two Silver Trumpets, Publicity Club of Chicago; one Gold, and two Bronze Medals, Environmental Protection Agency.
» pdhoffman32@msn.com
A BUFFALO CONNECTION IN JEWISH CHARLESTON, S.C.
by Philip D. Hoffman, Special to Buffalo Jewish Review
What a surprise it was to find a historic Buffalo connection on a recent trip to Charleston, South Carolina.
I have always been interested in visiting this historic southern city to find out more about its Jewish history, which dates back to the 1690's, when the earliest members of the community were Sephardic Jews, who fled from Spain and arrived by way of Western Europe and the Caribbean.
My guide for Jewish Charleston was Janice Kahn who brings 30 years of experience as an expert in this area.. Janice is a Reform Jew and her husband is Orthodox which has provided her with a wide range of knowledge in both branches and their members in the community.
She and her husband are members of both the Reform and Orthodox congregations which, according to Janice, is not very unusual in Charleston.
The most well known Jewish institution in Charleston is Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim (KK BE) which was organized in 1749 and is the fourth oldest Jewish congregation in the continental United States after New York, Newport and Savannah.
It is acknowledged as the birthplace of Reform Judaism in the United States when in 1824, 47 members petitioned the trustees of the congregation to change the Sephardic Orthodox liturgy. The petition was refused and the liberal group broke away. However, in 1840 when the present temple, now a National Historic Landmark, was built, they rejoined the congregation and in 1840 it became the first reform congregation in the United States.
After visiting this impressive building our next stop was the congregation’s historic Coming Street cemetery, the oldest surviving Jewish burial ground in the South, established in 1762. Here is where I found the Buffalo connection.
Among the many old grave stones are Jewish soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. Janice pointed out that the cemetery is now completely full and there are more Jews who fought in the Revolutionary War buried here than anywhere else in the United States.
Knowing that I have been published in the Buffalo Jewish Review, she was quick to point out the grave of Zipporah Noah the mother of Mordecai Manual
Noah who died in 1792. Mordecai’s family were members of KKBE during the Revolutionary War.
After the war the family moved to the east, where Noah was born. Noah eventually moved back to the family home in Charleston in
1811 and became active in politics and Masonic activities.
After the War of 1812 Noah was in the New York area and through his political activities and his Masonic connections, he petitioned the State Legislature in 1820 to sell him its freshly acquired ownership of Grand Island in the Niagara River near Buffalo.
His plan was to establish a gathering place for faithful Jews and native “Israelites” to be known as “New Jerusalem.”
He had hoped this Jewish state would gain world-wide acceptance as a new Jewish Government. European Jewish leaders were quick to discount him as a pious fraud and “a pseudo restorer.” The best the grand rabbi of Cologne, Germany could grant Noah was the “title of a visionary of good intentions.” Mordecai eventually disposed of the Grand Island property and gave up the idea of an American Zion altogether.
He then turned his attention toward establishing a
Jewish gathering place in Newport, Rhode Island but that too failed.
Charleston had the distinction of being the largest Jewish community in the United States in 1800 because in the early 18th century, the proposed state constitution, drafted by John Locke, offered tolerance to Jews who could own land, practice their religion and vote.
The Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Center at the College of Charleston has been in existence since before 1776. The Jewish Benevolent Society was established in 1784 and the Hebrew Orphan Society in 1801. More than 20 Jews served in the Revolutionary War including Francis Salvador, a delegate to the South Carolina Provincial Congresses of 1775 and 1776.
Salvador was the first Jew known to die in the war.
Also prominent in Charleston was Dr. Simon Baruch, who was born in Prussia and emigrated to the United States, where he studied at the medical colleges of South Carolina and Virginia.. He obtained his medical degree in
1862 and entered the Confederate army. In 1874 he was elected president of the State Medical Association of South Carolina. In 1870, his son , Bernard M. Baruch was born and in 1881, the family moved to New York.
While Dr. Baruch’s contributions to medicine were in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, his son made his fortune on Wall Street, served as an economic advisor during World Wars I & II and was a confidante to six presidents.
The family never forgot their South Carolina roots and seventy years after Bernard went to New York, he still had not relinquished a trace of his Southern accent. In 1905 he bought Hobcaw Barony, a 17,000 acre plantation near Georgetown, South Carolina and during World War II, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt visited the plantation. In 1940 the Simon Baruch Auditorium was added to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.
Today, Charleston still has a vibrant Jewish life. In addition to KKBE, the Reform congregation, there is the Orthodox congregation, Brith Shalom Beth Israel and the Conservative synagogue Emanu-El. The approximately 5,500 members of the Jewish community support an active Jewish Federation ,a JCC , founded in 1922 ,and a community day school, the Addlestone Hebrew Academy. There is also a Jewish telephone directory, a former black Jewish
chief of police and a kosher B&B. Businesses with Jewish names can be seen throughout the main shopping streets.
According to Dale Rosengarten, a historian, who is curator of the Jewish Heritage Collection of the College of Charleston library, the dividing lines in the Jewish community are less about denominations and more about how long someone’s family has been there. When you meet anyone in Charleston whose ancestors go back to the Revolutionary and Civil Wars they will tell you about it with great pride.
Need A Guide? While there is much that you can see and do on your own in Charleston, I can attribute the success of my trip to my guide, Janice Kahn, who has spent 30 years creating tours for each client’s special needs. Her attention and knowledge is lavished with old fashioned charm and wit whether the tour is on foot or by car, whether it is plantations, architecture, history or food. Janice is certified by the Arts & History Commission and is a registered Historic Guide. She can be reached at 843-556-0664 or KAHNTOURS@aol.com.
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