Is there a synagogue in Sioux Falls, South Dakota?

Yes, Mount Zion Congregation is Sioux Falls' Reform synagogue, holding regular Shabbat services and a weekly religious school. The Chabad Jewish Center of South Dakota, led by Rabbi Mendel Alperowitz since 2017, also serves the city and is building a dedicated Jewish Community Center.

Is there a synagogue in Rapid City or the Black Hills?

Yes, Synagogue of the Hills in Rapid City is the only Jewish congregation in western South Dakota. It traces its roots to the 1870s Black Hills Gold Rush and today is Reform-affiliated, served by lay leaders and visiting student rabbis from Hebrew Union College.

How large is the Jewish community in South Dakota?

South Dakota's Jewish population is small, numbering in the low hundreds statewide. Despite the small size, the community is organized around active congregations in Sioux Falls and Rapid City rather than being scattered without structure.

Jewish Communities in South Dakota: Sioux Falls & Rapid City

Q: Does South Dakota have a full-time rabbi?

Sioux Falls has had a resident rabbi since 2017 through the Chabad Jewish Center of South Dakota, the state's first permanent rabbi in nearly thirty years. Rapid City's Synagogue of the Hills does not have a full-time rabbi and is served by lay leaders and visiting student rabbis.

Quick answer: South Dakota’s Jewish community is one of the smallest in the country — well under a thousand people statewide — but it is real and organized around two hubs. Sioux Falls has Mount Zion Congregation (Reform) and the Chabad Jewish Center of South Dakota, which brought the state its first permanent rabbi in nearly thirty years. Rapid City has Synagogue of the Hills, the only Jewish congregation in the Black Hills region, served by lay leaders and visiting student rabbis.

Honest scale: a small community, not a hidden one

It would be misleading to describe South Dakota’s Jewish community as thriving in the way a big-city community is thriving — it’s a genuinely small population spread across a large, sparsely populated state. But small isn’t the same as absent. Sioux Falls and Rapid City each have an active congregation with real history, and Sioux Falls now has a resident rabbi for the first time in decades. If you’re moving to South Dakota, the honest picture is: you’ll know most of the other Jewish families in your city by name, and that’s part of what people who stay there come to value.

Sioux Falls: Mount Zion Congregation and Chabad

Mount Zion Congregation is Sioux Falls’ Reform synagogue, a small congregation that observes the Jewish holidays, runs a weekly religious school, and holds Shabbat services most Friday evenings. It welcomes any Jewish person in the community who wants to affiliate, regardless of background or level of observance — in a community this size, Mount Zion functions as a home base for Reform, unaffiliated, and interfaith families alike.

The Chabad Jewish Center of South Dakota changed the landscape significantly when Rabbi Mendel Alperowitz and his wife Mussie moved from Crown Heights, Brooklyn to Sioux Falls in 2017 as Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries — the first permanent rabbi in South Dakota in nearly thirty years. Chabad has since broken ground on a Jewish Community Center in Sioux Falls, a roughly 15,000-square-foot facility planned to include a synagogue, a commercial kosher kitchen, a mikvah, classrooms, and both children’s and Judaic libraries — the first facility of its kind anywhere in the state or the wider region. Together, Mount Zion and Chabad give Sioux Falls both a Reform congregational home and a resident rabbi for traditional observance, kosher questions, and one-on-one learning.

Families relocating to Sioux Falls for work in health care, finance, or the growing local economy can start with job listings and real estate listings to get oriented, then reach out to either Mount Zion or Chabad directly — in a community this size, a personal introduction goes a long way.

Rapid City and the Black Hills: Synagogue of the Hills

Synagogue of the Hills is the only organized Jewish community in western South Dakota, serving Rapid City and the wider Black Hills region. Its roots go back to the Black Hills Gold Rush of the 1870s, when Jewish merchants and businessmen arrived alongside other pioneers; a Torah scroll from the older Deadwood congregation eventually made its way to Rapid City in the 1950s as that community consolidated. Today, Synagogue of the Hills is affiliated with the Reform movement and is sustained largely by lay leadership, supplemented by student rabbis who travel from Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati to lead services and teach throughout the year.

That structure — a congregation without a full-time rabbi on-site — is common for isolated Jewish communities across the Mountain West and Great Plains, and it doesn’t make Rapid City’s community any less genuine. Families who value Jewish life but also want proximity to the Black Hills, Mount Rushmore, and the outdoors have made a real go of it here for generations.

The region’s Jewish roots actually predate Rapid City itself. German and Russian Jewish merchants arrived in nearby Deadwood during the same 1870s gold rush that drew prospectors, and while few Jews worked the claims directly, they became central to Black Hills commerce as shopkeepers and traders — a history documented in local histories of Deadwood’s Jewish pioneers. As Deadwood’s own Jewish population thinned out over the 20th century, its Torah and its people gravitated to Rapid City, which is why Synagogue of the Hills, not Deadwood, carries that legacy forward today.

What connects South Dakota’s Jewish community

With only two congregations across the entire state, Sioux Falls and Rapid City families lean on each other more than distance might suggest — shared holiday programming, visiting clergy, and a statewide sense of “we’re all we’ve got, so let’s show up for each other.” If you’re settling anywhere in South Dakota, both congregations are used to welcoming people who arrive knowing no one. Use Community Explorer to find nearby Jewish neighbors, check Jewish Events for what Mount Zion, Chabad, or Synagogue of the Hills have planned, and turn to Chessed if your family could use community support. If you have a rental, a service, or a job opening, add a listing — and browse rentals if you’re weighing Sioux Falls against Rapid City.

By the HeimishMart Community Desk — HeimishMart is the community marketplace for Jewish homes, jobs, and local life across North America.