Changes

The '''Temple Beth-El''' (ק.ק. בית אל), located at the intersection of [[Palafox Street|Palafox]] and [[Cervantes Street]]s in [[North Hill]], is the oldest Jewish house of worship in Florida. Beth-El is a member of the Union for Reform Judaism, and has led the congregation in Reform Judaism services since the temple's foundation.

The first Jews who migrated to northwest Florida originally stopped at [[Milton, Florida|Milton]], twenty miles to the east, because Milton was a national hub for lumber production and distribution in the South (the first Jews to the area were skilled in lumber production; they came from heavily wooded areas in what is now southern Germany). Other Jewish families lived in Pensacola, but fled during Union occupation in the [[Civil War]]. The population began to return in [[1865]], and in late [[1876]] ten Jewish families joined together to establish a [[Wikipedia:Reform Judaism|Reform]] congregation and build a temple, located at 37 East [[Chase Street]] (near [[Jefferson Street|Jefferson]]). [[Gerson Forscheimer]] was the Temple's first president, and board members included [[S. M. Goldbach]], [[Lewis Kahn]], [[Michael Levy]], [[Adolph Goldstucker]], [[Morris Dannheiser]] and [[Jacob Kahn]]. The congregation had no rabbi, so Goldstucker conducted services.

[[Image:BethEl2.jpg|thumb|right|Chase Street temple, looking southeast]]

The Temple was granted a charter by the State of Florida in [[1878]] under the Beth-El name, making it Florida's first formally recognized Jewish congregation. Many of the lumber workers in Milton did not follow the congregation, and eventually started a smaller Jewish community in [[Okaloosa County]] when lumber opportunities dried up. Temple Beth-El joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in [[1889]] and engaged its first rabbi, [[Adolph Rosenberg]], in [[1892]].