Jewish Population in South Carolina (Columbia, Charleston: 2015, houses, schools)

[drdreck]

My wife and I are thinking of relocating to South Carolina in the next 2 to 3 years. We are Jewish and would like to know what cities (coastal preferred) have the highest Jewish populations?

[PetGalley]

Charleston, SC had the largest Jewish population of any US city in 1800, so it has a long history of religious diversity. It is also the only "coastal" urban area that really has all aspects of a city. Beaufort, Myrtle Beach, & Hilton Head are more retiree & tourism driven, but they also have active Jewish populations.

[carolinajack]

Welcome to SC, the most tolerant and largest Jewish area-and the wealthiest part of state is the lowcountry. Mt Pleasant, my hometown, has the largest jewish population, along with Charleston.

My ex wife is from Spartanburg, and she can remember when she knew only of one jewish family in that town, though i am sure there many in the Greenville area too.

You will love the Mt pleasant, charleston, kiawah island, hilton head island, isle of palm, pawleys island area.

[SadieMae]

PetGalley mentioned that Beaufort was a good place to retire. Does that mean that it would not be a great place to relocate with kids? I'm moving from North Carolina and that was one place that my husband and I were considering looking at.

[sommertime]

Hi read your post and ane it seem that you know what i am lookin for.
as far as being with my people. we would require a single family home,
one story in the 300,000k range. can you help ? we now live in boca raton fl
and need a change of scene.

[Dawne]

Originally Posted by SadieMae

PetGalley mentioned that Beaufort was a good place to retire. Does that mean that it would not be a great place to relocate with kids? I'm moving from North Carolina and that was one place that my husband and I were considering looking at.

I think Beaufort would be a nice place to raise kids. I became enchanted with the area when my kids watched Gullah Gullah Island. I did some checking and found some nice developments there, especially Habersham - a planned community with a downtown, sidewalks and houses with large porches that encourage speaking to your neighbors. Unfortunately, being a new planned community the prices were totally out of our reach.

I'm not sure how the schools are so I won't comment on that. I think there's also some sort of military installation there (not sure which branch - Marines?)so there are probably many families in the area with children.

I think it's also a "quiet" community, without malls, chain restaurants, etc. If you want lots of activity and excitement you might be better off closer to Charleston.

[deibu]

I know this is an old post so it's not likely you'll get this...

I did find this 1993 survey (http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cacheHMIgv8osVkJ:www.ajcarchive.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1994_6_USDemographic.pdf+Jewish+population+south+c arolina&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=10&gl=us&client=firefox-a - broken link) online which shows these not necessarily accurate, round numbers as of 1993:

Charleston - 3,500
Columbia - 2,500
Greenville - 1,200
Myrtle Beach - 425
Spartanburg - 330
Florence area - 220
Sumter area - 160

I'm not Jewish myself, but I live in Columbia and there is a small but active Jewish population here. Beth Shalom is a conservative Reform congregation with roots dating back to the 1830's. Tree of Life is a more liberal Reform congregation dating back to 1896. Congregation Beit Midrash is the local Orthodox congregation. All of these congregations are located in the Forest Acres area of Columbia. Although some members still live in that area, they are mostly spread all over town.

There is a lot of Jewish history in South Carolina (particularly in Charleston, but also Beaufort, the small town of Kingstree, and here in Columbia). But, I doubt history is what you're looking for... For the most part, the Jewish population these days is spread all over the state, but in small numbers compared to nearly 200 years ago.

If you're looking at the coast, then Charleston is the place to go... Here in Columbia, I've been told by my friends and an ex-boyfriend that there is some elitism, but mostly only amongst some elderly Jews who are descendants of the "Old South". For the most part, however, "outsiders" are openly embraced - they make up a majority of the active membership, and have lots of community groups. I imagine it is the same in Charleston...

[waccamatt]

Originally Posted by deibu

I know this is an old post so it's not likely you'll get this...

I did find this 1993 survey (http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cacheHMIgv8osVkJ:www.ajcarchive.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1994_6_USDemographic.pdf+Jewish+population+south+c arolina&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=10&gl=us&client=firefox-a - broken link) online which shows these not necessarily accurate, round numbers as of 1993:

Charleston - 3,500
Columbia - 2,500
Greenville - 1,200
Myrtle Beach - 425
Spartanburg - 330
Florence area - 220
Sumter area - 160

I'm not Jewish myself, but I live in Columbia and there is a small but active Jewish population here. Beth Shalom is a conservative Reform congregation with roots dating back to the 1830's. Tree of Life is a more liberal Reform congregation dating back to 1896. Congregation Beit Midrash is the local Orthodox congregation. All of these congregations are located in the Forest Acres area of Columbia. Although some members still live in that area, they are mostly spread all over town.

There is a lot of Jewish history in South Carolina (particularly in Charleston, but also Beaufort, the small town of Kingstree, and here in Columbia). But, I doubt history is what you're looking for... For the most part, the Jewish population these days is spread all over the state, but in small numbers compared to nearly 200 years ago.

If you're looking at the coast, then Charleston is the place to go... Here in Columbia, I've been told by my friends and an ex-boyfriend that there is some elitism, but mostly only amongst some elderly Jews who are descendants of the "Old South". For the most part, however, "outsiders" are openly embraced - they make up a majority of the active membership, and have lots of community groups. I imagine it is the same in Charleston...

I am Jewish and I can say with quite a bit of certainty that those numbers are very low estimates, at least for Columbia and Charleston. Columbia has a large Jewish Community Center and 3 synagogues. The numbers listed might be the number of combined members of the 3 synagogues, but certainly not the total Jewish population of the area. As far as "elitism" I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary when I moved here from out of state.

I will add a link to Columbia's JCC website: http://columbia.ujcfedweb.org/page.aspx?ID=18305

[nuevaluz]

Charleston sounds similar to Columbia: a large JCC and 3 temples, incl/one of the oldest orthodox shuls in the US. Not much in the way of kosher food though. However, if you visit the city sometime, check out the Broad Street Guest House, Charleston's only kosher B&B.
Charleston's Kosher Bed and Breakfast - Home
Charleston Jewish Federation

[gsupstate]

Originally Posted by drdreck

My wife and I are thinking of relocating to South Carolina in the next 2 to 3 years. We are Jewish and would like to know what cities (coastal preferred) have the highest Jewish populations?

My partner is Jewish and having lived in cities with a high percentage of Jews, he wasn't quite sure what to expect when moving to South Carolina. Greenville has actually worked out great.

Several congregations in the area.
Greenville Jewish Federation: South Carolina (http://www.greenvillejewishfederation.org/ - broken link)

Several Kosher deli's, with Greenfield's being the best.
Greenfield's Bagels and Deli

Jewish Day Camp
Gan Israel of the Upstate

ShalomFest
http://www.greenvillejewishfederation.org/ShalomFest.html (broken link)