Savannah Jewish News Collection

Savannah has a long-established and active Jewish community, founded in 1733. This includes three synagogues – Congregation Mickve Israel (Reform, founded 1733), Congregation B’nai B’rith Jacob (Orthodox, founded 1861), and Congregation Agudath Achim (Conservative, founded 1903). In 1912, in response to the large number of Jewish immigrants arriving from Eastern Europe and the growing Young Men’s Hebrew Association movement, the Jewish Educational Alliance was founded in Downtown Savannah. This became the central location where all members of the Jewish community could congregate. The Savannah Jewish Council (since 1985, the Savannah Jewish Federation) was founded in 1943 by twenty-two local Jewish organizations and twelve original members, and in 1945 it began publishing the Jewish Alliance, a newspaper with stories of interest to the local Jewish community, as well as national and international Jewish news. For the October 28, 1949 issue, the paper’s name changed to the Savannah Jewish News, the name it keeps to this day.