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 by tradition in 1849 but documentably no later than 1850. Other sources say that the congregation was founded in 1851.
The first building, on Miner Ave. between El Dorado and Hunter, was completed on Aug. 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. 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.