Zionist Organization of America Records – Charleston Chapter

This organization consisted of Jewish residents of Charleston who supported the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The organization is known alternately in the minutes as Bnei Zion and the Charleston Zionist Society. The records cover the meetings held from 1917 through the 1940s, and document fundraising efforts on behalf of both international Zionist groups and local Jewish causes such as the Hebrew School. There are members present from all three local congregations, Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, Brith Sholom, and Beth Israel, with the latter two predominating. Prominent members and officers included Samuel Rittenberg, Rabbi Jacob S. Raisin, Joseph Hepler, Louis Shimel, Rabbi Menahem Mendel Horowitz, Harry Simonhoff, Joseph Goldman, and others.