Changes

==History==

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). Sensing more business opportunities to the west, a congregation settled in Pensacola and built a Reform temple in [[1876]], which 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. The male members of Beth-El's first congregation consisted largely of businessmen and tavern owners.