Congregation Mickve Israel (Savannah, Ga.)

Congregation Mickve Israel in Savannah, Georgia, is one of the oldest synagogues in the United States, as it was organized in 1735 by mostly Sephardic Jewish immigrants of Spanish-Portuguese extraction from London who arrived in the new colony in 1733. They consecrated their current synagogue, located on Monterey Square in historic Savannah, in 1878.

Congregation Mickve Israel was established in July 1735 by the original Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews who settled in colonial Savannah two years earlier. The original name, Kahal Kadosh Mickva Israel, translated to 'Holy Congregation Hope of Israel.' In 1790, following the American Revolutionary War, the State of Georgia granted Mickve Israel a perpetual charter. In 1878, Mickve Israel completed their current Gothic Revival synagogue. Originally associated with Orthodox Judaism, Mickve Israel began a long transition toward Reform Judaism in 1868 with the introduction of a choir and by omitting the second day of Festivals. Today the congregation is recognized as the second oldest religious institution in the State of Georgia, the third oldest Jewish congregation in the United States, and worships in the oldest synagogue in Georgia.