In recognition of this month’s Georgia History Festival theme, “James Oglethorpe and the Vision for Georgia,” this week’s Super Museum Sunday Spotlight highlights Congregation Mickve Israel. The oldest Congregation now practicing Reform Judaism in the United States, Mickve Israel was founded by a group of 42 Jewish settlers, which landed at Savannah on July 11, 1733, five months after the establishment of the Colony of Georgia. The Congregation was incorporated in perpetuity by a special Act of the Georgia Legislature on November 20, 1790. After having worshipped in various temporary quarters for almost a century, in 1820 the Congregation built its own Synagogue — the first in Georgia — at the Northeast corner of Liberty and Whitaker Streets. The present Synagogue was consecrated on April 11, 1878.
During Super Museum Sunday, visitors can tour Congregation Mickve Israel’s sanctuary and museum. The museum displays medicinal instruments, a centuries old Torah, and multiple presidential letters including one from President George Washington! Learn more about Congregation Mickve Israel by visiting their website, and by visiting the sanctuary and museum when you visit for Free on Sunday, February 5 as part of the Georgia History Festival’s Super Museum Sunday.