Upcoming Events

FROM KALUSZYN TO CHARLESTON

Charleston, South Carolina
May 17 – 19, 2024

WHO ARE YOUR LANDSMEN?
Jewish emigrants from Eastern Europe tended to identify with their town of origin and often followed their landsmen, or fellow countrymen, to their new home city in the United States. Assistance might come from family, or in some cases, from a landsmanshaft, or benevolent society. Charleston, SC, was home to a group of emigrants from Kaluszyn, Poland, who organized the Kalushiner Society in the early 1900s. 

Please join us in Charleston for a weekend full of discussions, family stories, and the history of a local landsmanshaft.

Early bird pricing until March 15! 
REGISTER HERE

Friday, May 17 

TBD Services, followed by a Shabbat dinner at BSBI, 182 Rutledge Avenue
Join family and friends as we kick off the weekend with Friday Shabbat services, followed by a wonderful Shabbos dinner! Roast chicken, brisket, freshly baked challah – just like your grandmother and mother cooked!

Saturday, May 18

11:30 AM Registration and Lunch

12:15 PM Opening Remarks ~ Steve Savitz, President, Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM Keynote: Landsmanshaft and Jewish Immigrant Fraternalism in the U.S. South ~ Josh Parshall, Director of History, Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life  

1:30 PM – 1:45 PM Break

1:45 PM– 2:30 PM The Kalushiner Society: A Southern Landsmanshaft ~  Ashley Walters, Director, Pearlstine/Lipov Center for Southern Jewish Culture, College of Charleston

2:30 PM – 2:45 PM Break

2:45 PM – 4:15 PM St. Philip Street Memories ~ Panel Discussion, moderated by Dale Rosengarten

4:15 PM – 5:30 PM Remembering the Martyrs and Survivors ~ David Popowski and Chad Gibbs, Director, Zucker/Goldberg Center for Holocaust Studies, College of Charleston

5:30 PM Reception ~ Kalushiner Society exhibit, Jewish Heritage Collection, 3rd floor, Addlestone Library, College of Charleston

Dinner on your own.

Sunday, May 19

9:00 AM Board meeting

10:30 AM Kaluszyn Today ~ Joe Gellman and Ed Goldberg with Chad Gibbs

11: 30 AM Walking Tours

1:00 PM Conference ends

BOOK A ROOM

Francis Marion Hotel – BOOK HEREOnline code JHSSC24

Hampton Inn Charleston/Patriots Point – BOOK HERE


Back by Popular Demand! 
Conversations with Judge Richard Gergel and Robert Rosen returns to Zoom!

Please mark your calendars for these upcoming Zoom programs.

Sunday, February 18 5:00 PM “The World of Charleston Sephardic Jews” with Max Daniel, curator, Jewish Heritage Collection, Special Collections, Addlestone Library, College of Charleston
Join our hosts and Max Daniel for a discussion on the interconnected world of Charleston’s early Sephardic Jewish community.
REGISTER HERE

Sunday, March 24 5:00 PM “South Carolina’s Jewish Merchants” with Rebecca Woodruff, Historic Columbia
Join our hosts and researcher Rebecca Woodruff for updates on the Jewish Merchant Project.
REGISTER HERE

Sunday, April 14 5:00 PM “A Southern Passover” with Kugels & Collards authors, Rachel Barnett and Lyssa Harvey
“Pecans in charoset”? Join our hosts for a discussion about the Southern Jewish table with Kugels & Collards authors.
REGISTER HERE

Ongoing Projects

JHSSC’s Jewish Merchant Project

For more than 300 years, Jewish settlers – from across the Atlantic and around the country – have made their homes in South Carolina. The earliest Jews populated Charleston, Georgetown, and later Columbia, where they held a variety of occupations and became immersed in civic life. By the late 1800s, Jewish merchants had set up shop on downtown streets in towns big and small, and more than 100 years later their legacy remains alive through their descendants. The Jewish Merchant Project (JMP) goal is to preserve memories of the men and women who have played vital roles in communities across South Carolina. Their stories are our history.

Beginning in 2017, the JHSSC partnered with Historic Columbia and the College of Charleston to undertake a state-wide survey of Jewish merchants, past and present. The JMP website is the foundational product of that survey and will capture the impact of Jewish businessmen and women on communities, large and small, as well as the networks of family and friends that led Jewish men and women to call this state home.

Jewish Merchant Project | Explore the Merchant Map

Historic Columbia and Columbia Jewish Heritage Initiative

Purpose: Identify and fill gaps in the documentation of Columbia’s Jewish History; Document stories of Holocaust survivors who settled in Columbia; Encourage dialogue by collecting and sharing stories, images, and documents; Broadcast information to diverse audiences through print and web-based media and public programs; Create an ongoing coalition to sustain the effort in the future; Record stories of elders of Columbia’s Jewish community. To read the entire article about the Columbia Jewish Heritage Initiative go to Page 11 of the Fall 2015 Magazine.

Contact:
To learn more about or participate in the Columbia Jewish Heritage Initiate,  go to www.historiccolumbia.org/CJHI or Contact: Robin Waites, Executive Director Historic Columbia, rwaites@historiccolumbia.org.

Are you planning an event pertaining to South Carolina Jewish History?
Contact us to have it listed here on our site.

Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina

GET INVOLVED

CONTACT

JHSSC Office
96 Wentworth Street
Charleston, SC 29424
Phone: 843 953 3918


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