Our History

The first history we know of the Temple of Israel was 1913 when the six Jewish families of Greenville began regularly meeting for discussion and observance in their homes. There are early papers from a formal organization in 1917 when the group had become somewhat larger and held services in public halls until 1928, when the original Temple was built in 1928. The Temple of Israel on Buist Avenue, in the photo on the left, was dedicated in April 1929.

During the early years, there were services by lay leaders with occasional students or faculty members from Hebrew Union College conducting High Holiday Services. Rabbi Maurice M. Mazure was the Temple’s first full time spiritual  leader, serving until his passing in 1951.

In 1952, the congregation of then 36 families, added a social hall to the  building. They acquired land from adjacent properties, behind the Temple building and to its east, adding a larger social hall and religious school building in 1968 and 1978.

The congregation envisioned growth and success as its future: 1985 and 1986 saw the congregation of 100 families planning a new building at a site in the rapidly growing  East side of Greenville. Plans came to fruition, bricks and mortar became a building, and we dedicated our present home on Spring Forest Road in time for Rosh Hashanah 1989.

Presently we are approximately 175 families, drawing our membership from the Upstate SC, and growing daily. We built the new Jane and Edwin Long Family Life Center which includes an expanded religious school facility, youth and adult lounges, a music room, and a large multi purpose room for celebrating life cycle events, concerts, and sports activities like our basketball league. Click here for a history of the Greenville South Carolina Jewish Community.