Christian Ecumenism and Judeo-Baptist Relations in Savannah, Georgia‪.‬

On February 12, 1733, the earliest settlers in Georgia pitched four tents on the Yamacraw Bluff, and the birthing of the colony and the town of Savannah occurred. At least two Baptists were among those some 120 English settlers led by James Edward Oglethorpe. One Anglican minister, Henry Herbert, slept restlessly in one of those tents that cold February night. Virtually five months later to the day (July 11), the William and Sarah dropped anchor in the Savannah River with forty-two Jews on board. Thus began "the largest Jewish settlement in the New World." (1) Two years later, July 12, 1735, these Jews opened a synagogue and named it "Mickva" Israel (the Hope of Israel), the "third founded Jewish congregation in America." (2) First in the South, it was third only to ones in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. The present Temple Mickve Israel (Reform Judaism) is indeed "third to none."