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Congregation Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim

Charleston, United States · built 1840

Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim (lit. 'Holy Congregation House of God', also known as K. K. Beth Elohim, or more simply Congregation Beth Elohim) is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located in Charleston, South Carolina, 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 style, was built in 1793–1794 and destroyed in an 1838 fire that ravished Charleston's central business district, impacting 500 properties over approximately 150 acres (61 ha). The current architecturally significant Greek Revival 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 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.

Synagogue data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).

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