Congregation Ahavath Chesed, also called The Temple Jacksonville, or simply, The Temple, is a ReformJewish congregation and synagogue located at 8727 San Jose Boulevard, in Jacksonville, Florida, in the United States. It is one of the oldest Jewish congregation in Florida and one of the first formally incorporated.
In 1867 the “Israelites of Jacksonville” formed a congregation. The congregation was primarily composed of Jews from Prussia and Germany.[3] For a number of years an organization called the Hebrew Benevolent Society also existed.[4] Congregation Ahavath Chesed was organized in 1880.[1] This congregation, led by Jacksonville's Jewish Mayor, Morris A. Dzialynski, received a legal charter in 1882.[4]
1975 reproduced sketch of the 1910 synagogue at 723 Laura Street.
The congregation hired Rabbi Marx Moses, and dedicated its first synagogue on September 8, 1882.[3] This building was destroyed by the Great Fire of 1901 and replaced by a Neoclassical building, completed in 1910.[5][6] This building has subsequently been demolished and the site is occupied as part of the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville and associated school, the First Baptist Academy.[7]
In 1927, the congregation purchased a residential building[8] designed by Henry Klutho in Riverside, at the corner of St. Johns Avenue and Mallory Street. After remodelling as a synagogue, that building was destroyed by a fire in 1940, with the subsequent loss of all of the congregation's records. The congregation rebuilt and eventually moved to its current location on San Jose Boulevard.[9]
^"Florida". Cemetery Project. International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies. n.d. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved March 26, 2009.
^ ab"History". Temple Beth Israel. Retrieved March 26, 2009.
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