Temple Israel (Stockton, California)
Temple Israel is a synagogue in Stockton, California. It is one of the oldest Jewish congregations in California.
History
The congregation was founded during the California Gold Rush as a Jewish society called Rhyim Ahovim (Heb. "Loving Friends") by tradition in 1849 but documentably no later than 1850. Other sources say that the congregation was founded in 1851.[1]
The first building, on Miner Ave. between El Dorado and Hunter, was completed on August 28, 1855. It was a simple, frame structure built on brick foundations of wood that had been shipped around the Horn, since no sawmill yet existed in Stockton.[2] During the flood of 1861-2 the building flooded with two feet of water, causing the congregation to move it to higher ground on Hunter Street.[3]
See also
- Temple Israel Cemetery (Stockton, California) California Historical Landmark No. 765
References
- Mrs. David "Bea" Schwartz (1969). "The Oldest Jewish Cemetery in the West, Stockton, California". Archived from the original on July 26, 2011. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
- Occident and American Jewish Advocate, Philadelphia, Feb. 1856
- Ava Fran Kahn, Jewish voices of the California gold rush: a documentary history, 1849-1880, Wayne State University Press, 2002, p. 361.