Pensacola is home to only about 1,800 Jewish adults, according to the American Jewish Population Project \u2014 a number that has remained constant for a century. Yet locals in this laid-back resort in Florida\u2019s Panhandle, more than 600 miles northwest of the bustling Jewish communities of South Florida, say it is ripe for a Jewish renaissance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to make the case that this is also Florida, even though we\u2019re only 10 miles from Alabama,\u201d said Rabbi Joel Fleekop, 47, spiritual leader of Beth El since 2012. \u201cThe cost of living here is very low, we have no traffic or congestion, and there are plenty of good jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pensacola also has three synagogues: a Chabad House, an Orthodox-style congregation, and Beth El, which this month marks the 150th anniversary of its founding, with a weekend of prayers, local art, Israeli music, and dancing.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static-cdn.toi-media.com\/www\/uploads\/2026\/04\/FL-925-640x400.jpg\")
<\/a><\/h6>\nBeth El\u2019s celebration began on Friday with a Shabbat service led jointly by Fleekop and Cantor Richard Cohen, former director of the Hebrew Union College\u2019s School of Sacred Music and a Pensacola native.<\/p>\n
In a sermon, Fleekop told the story of the children\u2019s book \u201cBone Button Borscht,\u201d in which a wandering man helps the people of an impoverished town to create soup from their own meager ingredients that somehow taste far better together than separately.<\/p>\n
\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u201cFor 150 years, this temple \u2014 our temple, Temple Beth El \u2014 has thrived because similar to the people making soup in the story, its members have contributed and done what they could to nourish and enhance and better our community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur founding families, like the man who set up the pot, provided the vision that this little corner of the world could have a thriving Jewish community. Others provided the resources to build the sacred spaces our congregation has called home and to keep on the lights and, this being Florida, the air conditioning also on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Summarizing the wide range of contributions that members have made over the decades, Fleekop also noted changes that Temple Beth El experienced over the last 150 years: the number of stars on the American flag grew, the Israeli flag was created, the amount of Hebrew in the service increased; and congregants are wearing \u201cfewer neckties and fewer fancy hats\u201d but more kippahs and tallits than they once did.<\/p>\n
\u201cInevitably, each generation had its own taste and so added their own ingredients, the spiritual equivalent of maybe some okra, or zaatar, or even some sriracha,\u201d he said to laughs.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt 150 years, our congregation is no doubt very different from what was imagined at its inception. \u2026 The soup that is our temple has gone from a Bavarian borscht to a Gulf seafood gumbo to a gluten-free, Asian fusion matzah ball soup. But in many ways, in the most essential ways, we are still the same congregation.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static-cdn.toi-media.com\/www\/uploads\/2026\/04\/FL-923-640x400.jpg\")
<\/a>Rabbi Joel Fleekop inspects a 19th-century tombstone at a Jewish cemetery in Pensacola belonging to Temple Beth El, Florida\u2019s oldest synagogue. (Larry Luxner\/ JTA)<\/h6>\nThe following evening, a gala dinner featured dancing and a live band. And on Sunday morning, congregants toured Pensacola\u2019s Jewish cemetery, where the oldest tombstone dates from 1874 and many inscriptions are in Hebrew and German, as well as English.<\/p>\n
Among those buried in the cemetery is Florida\u2019s first Jewish mayor, Adolph Greenhut, who served from 1913 to 1916 \u2014\u00a0two decades after his stint as Beth El\u2019s president. Beth El also takes great pride in having been home to the nation\u2019s first de facto female rabbi, Paula Ackerman, in the 1960s.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were really very few Jews in South Florida until the 1940s. People can\u2019t believe there was a thriving Jewish community here at the turn of the century,\u201d said Bill Zimmern, 74, a native Pensacolan like his mother and grandmother, whose wife, Beverly, was once mayor of suburban Gulf Breeze.<\/p>\n
\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThat community was born after the Civil War, when Jews settled in Milton \u2014 a northwest Florida lumber hub \u2014 bringing their skills from heavily wooded areas of Bavaria and southern Germany. They began relocating to Pensacola in the 1870s as the city developed.<\/p>\n
Zimmern added that nearby Naval Air Station Pensacola, home to the Blue Angels, has long welcomed Jews to the area, and that many Jewish men and women in uniform who were once stationed there eventually settled in Pensacola and joined the congregation.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static-cdn.toi-media.com\/www\/uploads\/2026\/04\/FL-921-640x400.jpg\")
<\/a>Interior of Pensacola\u2019s Temple Beth El, Florida\u2019s oldest Jewish congregation, founded in 1876. (Larry Luxner\/ JTA)<\/h6>\nBeth El\u2019s first home was a wooden structure on Chase Street in downtown Pensacola, but it burned down in 1901 and all records of the shul\u2019s first 25 years of existence disappeared in that fire. It was later rebuilt near what is today the on-ramp for Interstate 110, but closed in 1931 when its members inaugurated the current synagogue on nearby Palafox Street, and the previous structure became a roller-skating rink.<\/p>\n
Soon after Beth El\u2019s founding, Yiddish-speaking Jews from Eastern Europe \u2014 mainly traders and merchants \u2014 settled in the area, and they were not especially happy with its Reform services. So in 1899, they parted ways and established B\u2019nai Israel as an Orthodox synagogue.<\/p>\n
In 1923, congregants bought a house and converted it into a house of worship; by 1953, they had finally raised enough money to construct the building it currently occupies, according to Yehoshua Mizrachi, B\u2019nai Israel\u2019s rabbi.<\/p>\n
At the time, it also chose to affiliate with the Conservative movement, then the largest denomination in the United States. It remained part of the movement until about a decade ago, separating after the Conservative movement opted to ordain gay rabbis and sanction same-sex marriages.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static-cdn.toi-media.com\/www\/uploads\/2026\/04\/FL-926-640x400.jpg\")
<\/a>Rabbi Yehoshua Mizrach of B\u2019nai Israel Synagogue in Pensacola, Florida, hold up a copy of his book, \u2018Holistic Judaism.\u2019 (Larry Luxner\/ JTA)<\/h6>\n\u201cI am the 19th rabbi to hold this pulpit, and all but three or four of them were Orthodox,\u201d said Mizrachi, 62. Originally from Lakewood, New Jersey, he said B\u2019nai Israel\u2019s membership consists of 60 to 70 families, compared to 185 families at Beth El.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis congregation is independent, so they dropped their affiliation 10 years ago. When they hired me, I told them not to expect me to do anything to compromise my personal integrity as a Jew,\u201d Mizrachi said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor 150 years, this temple \u2014 our temple, Temple Beth El \u2014 has thrived because similar to the people making soup in the story, its members have contributed and done what they could to nourish and enhance and better our community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur founding families, like the man who set up the pot, provided the vision that this little corner of the world could have a thriving Jewish community. Others provided the resources to build the sacred spaces our congregation has called home and to keep on the lights and, this being Florida, the air conditioning also on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Summarizing the wide range of contributions that members have made over the decades, Fleekop also noted changes that Temple Beth El experienced over the last 150 years: the number of stars on the American flag grew, the Israeli flag was created, the amount of Hebrew in the service increased; and congregants are wearing \u201cfewer neckties and fewer fancy hats\u201d but more kippahs and tallits than they once did.<\/p>\n
\u201cInevitably, each generation had its own taste and so added their own ingredients, the spiritual equivalent of maybe some okra, or zaatar, or even some sriracha,\u201d he said to laughs.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt 150 years, our congregation is no doubt very different from what was imagined at its inception. \u2026 The soup that is our temple has gone from a Bavarian borscht to a Gulf seafood gumbo to a gluten-free, Asian fusion matzah ball soup. But in many ways, in the most essential ways, we are still the same congregation.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/a>Rabbi Joel Fleekop inspects a 19th-century tombstone at a Jewish cemetery in Pensacola belonging to Temple Beth El, Florida\u2019s oldest synagogue. (Larry Luxner\/ JTA)<\/h6>\nThe following evening, a gala dinner featured dancing and a live band. And on Sunday morning, congregants toured Pensacola\u2019s Jewish cemetery, where the oldest tombstone dates from 1874 and many inscriptions are in Hebrew and German, as well as English.<\/p>\n
Among those buried in the cemetery is Florida\u2019s first Jewish mayor, Adolph Greenhut, who served from 1913 to 1916 \u2014\u00a0two decades after his stint as Beth El\u2019s president. Beth El also takes great pride in having been home to the nation\u2019s first de facto female rabbi, Paula Ackerman, in the 1960s.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were really very few Jews in South Florida until the 1940s. People can\u2019t believe there was a thriving Jewish community here at the turn of the century,\u201d said Bill Zimmern, 74, a native Pensacolan like his mother and grandmother, whose wife, Beverly, was once mayor of suburban Gulf Breeze.<\/p>\n
\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThat community was born after the Civil War, when Jews settled in Milton \u2014 a northwest Florida lumber hub \u2014 bringing their skills from heavily wooded areas of Bavaria and southern Germany. They began relocating to Pensacola in the 1870s as the city developed.<\/p>\n
Zimmern added that nearby Naval Air Station Pensacola, home to the Blue Angels, has long welcomed Jews to the area, and that many Jewish men and women in uniform who were once stationed there eventually settled in Pensacola and joined the congregation.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Interior of Pensacola\u2019s Temple Beth El, Florida\u2019s oldest Jewish congregation, founded in 1876. (Larry Luxner\/ JTA)<\/h6>\nBeth El\u2019s first home was a wooden structure on Chase Street in downtown Pensacola, but it burned down in 1901 and all records of the shul\u2019s first 25 years of existence disappeared in that fire. It was later rebuilt near what is today the on-ramp for Interstate 110, but closed in 1931 when its members inaugurated the current synagogue on nearby Palafox Street, and the previous structure became a roller-skating rink.<\/p>\n
Soon after Beth El\u2019s founding, Yiddish-speaking Jews from Eastern Europe \u2014 mainly traders and merchants \u2014 settled in the area, and they were not especially happy with its Reform services. So in 1899, they parted ways and established B\u2019nai Israel as an Orthodox synagogue.<\/p>\n
In 1923, congregants bought a house and converted it into a house of worship; by 1953, they had finally raised enough money to construct the building it currently occupies, according to Yehoshua Mizrachi, B\u2019nai Israel\u2019s rabbi.<\/p>\n
At the time, it also chose to affiliate with the Conservative movement, then the largest denomination in the United States. It remained part of the movement until about a decade ago, separating after the Conservative movement opted to ordain gay rabbis and sanction same-sex marriages.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Rabbi Yehoshua Mizrach of B\u2019nai Israel Synagogue in Pensacola, Florida, hold up a copy of his book, \u2018Holistic Judaism.\u2019 (Larry Luxner\/ JTA)<\/h6>\n\u201cI am the 19th rabbi to hold this pulpit, and all but three or four of them were Orthodox,\u201d said Mizrachi, 62. Originally from Lakewood, New Jersey, he said B\u2019nai Israel\u2019s membership consists of 60 to 70 families, compared to 185 families at Beth El.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis congregation is independent, so they dropped their affiliation 10 years ago. When they hired me, I told them not to expect me to do anything to compromise my personal integrity as a Jew,\u201d Mizrachi said.<\/p>\n
That community was born after the Civil War, when Jews settled in Milton \u2014 a northwest Florida lumber hub \u2014 bringing their skills from heavily wooded areas of Bavaria and southern Germany. They began relocating to Pensacola in the 1870s as the city developed.<\/p>\n
Zimmern added that nearby Naval Air Station Pensacola, home to the Blue Angels, has long welcomed Jews to the area, and that many Jewish men and women in uniform who were once stationed there eventually settled in Pensacola and joined the congregation.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Interior of Pensacola\u2019s Temple Beth El, Florida\u2019s oldest Jewish congregation, founded in 1876. (Larry Luxner\/ JTA)<\/h6>\nBeth El\u2019s first home was a wooden structure on Chase Street in downtown Pensacola, but it burned down in 1901 and all records of the shul\u2019s first 25 years of existence disappeared in that fire. It was later rebuilt near what is today the on-ramp for Interstate 110, but closed in 1931 when its members inaugurated the current synagogue on nearby Palafox Street, and the previous structure became a roller-skating rink.<\/p>\n
Soon after Beth El\u2019s founding, Yiddish-speaking Jews from Eastern Europe \u2014 mainly traders and merchants \u2014 settled in the area, and they were not especially happy with its Reform services. So in 1899, they parted ways and established B\u2019nai Israel as an Orthodox synagogue.<\/p>\n
In 1923, congregants bought a house and converted it into a house of worship; by 1953, they had finally raised enough money to construct the building it currently occupies, according to Yehoshua Mizrachi, B\u2019nai Israel\u2019s rabbi.<\/p>\n
At the time, it also chose to affiliate with the Conservative movement, then the largest denomination in the United States. It remained part of the movement until about a decade ago, separating after the Conservative movement opted to ordain gay rabbis and sanction same-sex marriages.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Rabbi Yehoshua Mizrach of B\u2019nai Israel Synagogue in Pensacola, Florida, hold up a copy of his book, \u2018Holistic Judaism.\u2019 (Larry Luxner\/ JTA)<\/h6>\n\u201cI am the 19th rabbi to hold this pulpit, and all but three or four of them were Orthodox,\u201d said Mizrachi, 62. Originally from Lakewood, New Jersey, he said B\u2019nai Israel\u2019s membership consists of 60 to 70 families, compared to 185 families at Beth El.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis congregation is independent, so they dropped their affiliation 10 years ago. When they hired me, I told them not to expect me to do anything to compromise my personal integrity as a Jew,\u201d Mizrachi said.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static-cdn.toi-media.com\/www\/uploads\/2026\/04\/FL-925.jpg\")
<\/a>Rabbi Yehoshua Mizrach of B\u2019nai Israel Synagogue in Pensacola, Florida, hold up a copy of his book, \u2018Holistic Judaism.\u2019 (Larry Luxner\/ JTA)<\/h6>\n\u201cI am the 19th rabbi to hold this pulpit, and all but three or four of them were Orthodox,\u201d said Mizrachi, 62. Originally from Lakewood, New Jersey, he said B\u2019nai Israel\u2019s membership consists of 60 to 70 families, compared to 185 families at Beth El.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis congregation is independent, so they dropped their affiliation 10 years ago. When they hired me, I told them not to expect me to do anything to compromise my personal integrity as a Jew,\u201d Mizrachi said.<\/p>\n