Jewish Diversity Guide

By the 1760s, Jewish immigrants began settling in the Richmond Region. Thirty years later, there were 100 Jewish residents for every 3,700 citizens in Richmond. In 1789, the first Jewish congregation was established in Richmond, and less than 35 years later, the first synagogue was built in Virginia. During that same time, a growing number of German and Eastern European Jews began immigrating to Richmond and joined this congregation. However, this new group of Jewish residents soon longed for their more familiar form of service and organized their own congregation, Beth Ahabah, which founded the area's first Jewish school in 1846 and first house of worship in 1848. Fifty years later, the area's first and second congregations formally reunited.

The Region's Jewish community continued to grow throughout the 1900s, when local Jews worked to find sponsors for Jews who were able to escape Nazi Germany during World War II. In the late 1900s, the population expanded again when Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union settled in the Richmond Region.

The Region's Jewish community is diligent in its remembrance of its ancestors. Visitors to the Region can explore the area's Hebrew Cemetery, which was recently renovated to restore the Confederate soldiers section and create additional burial plots, or step back in time at the Virginia Holocaust Museum, offering an interactive tour of nearly 30 exhibits and a place for mediation and reflection in the Survivors' Room and cattle car. The Weinstein Jewish Community Center offers a variety of social and athletic programs in the community, including the popular JCC Forum, which brings nationally-known speakers to the Region four times a year. The JCC also previously hosted 1,500 Jewish teens from across the country and the world to participate in the JCC Maccabi Games, an event that integrates sports, community service and social activities with Jewish identity and values. Check out our cultural festivals sampler.