CHARLESTON is home of one of the oldest Jewish communities in America. Its Jewish population was about 2,800 in 1929, slightly less than one percent of the population of the metropolitan area. Jews began to settle in Charleston not long after it was founded in 1670. In 1695 Governor Archdale mentions an unnamed Spanish-speaking Jew as an interpreter in his dealings with captive Florida Indians. Other Jews were attracted by economic opportunity, religious freedom, and rights, which were available to Jews after the city's founding. They helped build the city's colonial prosperity largely as shopkeepers, traders, and merchants.

The early Charleston Jews worshiped in each other's homes until 1749, when they became sufficiently numerous to organize a formal congregation called Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, which followed Sephardi ritual custom. Beth Elohim's Coming Street cemetery, dating from 1764, is the South's oldest Jewish burial ground. During the American Revolution, more than a score of Charleston Jews served in the armed forces, several as officers. Francis Salvador, a delegate to the Provincial Congresses which established independence from England in South Carolina (1775–76) was the first Jew to hold important elective office in the New World. Killed and scalped by Tory-led Indians on August 1, 1776, Salvador was the first Jew to die for American independence. In 1790 Beth Elohim wrote congratulations to George Washington on becoming the first president. Washington replied: "May the same temporal and eternal blessings which you implore for me, rest upon your Congregation..." An impressive synagogue, the second oldest synagogue building in the United States, built and dedicated by Beth Elohim in 1794, was destroyed by fire in 1838. It was replaced by the present handsome Greek Revival temple built in 1840.

Charleston is considered the cradle of Reform Judaism in America. A group of Beth Elohim members resigned from the congregation when changes they desired were not made in the Orthodox ritual. In 1824 they organized the Reformed Society of Israelites, which existed only a few years, but pioneered many later Reform practices. During the first decade of the 1800s, Charleston, with some 500 Jews, was "the largest, the most cultured, and the wealthiest Jewish community in America," but it began a long decline in importance soon thereafter. The Civil War left the city and its Jews decimated and impoverished. Successive waves of Jewish immigration did not reach Charleston. After World War II, industrial growth and port development, along with expansion of military facilities, brought a new prosperity to Charleston in which its Jewish citizens shared. Jews are prominent in the city's business and professional life, especially in retail trade and as doctors and lawyers. They are also active in civic clubs and in business and professional organizations. Many take a leading part in cultural affairs and are supporters of the arts. Charleston Jews are active in politics and are often elected to office.

There are three congregations with a combined membership of about 800 members. B'rith Shalom-Beth Israel, Orthodox, is the largest and conducts a Hebrew Day School. Emanu-El Synagogue, Conservative, and K. K. Beth Elohim, Reform, are about equal in membership. Many Jews belong to more than one congregation. Organizations conducting charitable and welfare activities include: the Charleston Jewish Welfare Fund, established 1949, which raises money for local, national, and overseas causes; the Hebrew Benevolent Society founded in 1784; and the Hebrew Orphan Society founded in 1801. There is a Jewish Community Center, and the city has active local chapters of most national Jewish organizations.