Only edition. vii., 62 pp., octavo, 233:165 mm., light age staining. A very good copy bound in the original boards.

The Hebrew Benevolent Society, of Charleston, S. C, is the oldest institution of its kind in America. The history of Jews in Charleston, South Carolina, was related to the 1669 charter of the Carolina Colony (the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina), drawn up by the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury and his secretary John Locke, which granted liberty of conscience to all settlers, and expressly noted "Jews, heathens, and dissenters". Sephardic Jews from London were among the early settlers in the city and colony, and comprised most of its Jewish community into the early 1800s. Charleston attracted other Jews from New York, Virginia, and elsewhere, owing to its commercial opportunities and the welcome of the large Jewish community already established there. Until about 1830 or so, Charleston had the largest Jewish population of any city in the United States.

Its purpose is to aid its members in good standing, in cases of distress, sickness and death.

Hebrew Description