Florida's interesting Jewish history

On May 27, Heritage Florida Jewish News employee Gil Dombrosky, along with his wife, Risa, and daughter, Karyn, attended a lecture on the Jewish History of Florida at the DeLand Regional Library. Sam Friedman, former director of Stetson University Hillel and now chief development officer of Shalom Orlando, presented the program.

Some interesting facts presented were:

• The first Jewish congregations in the state were Ahavath Chesed in Jacksonville and Temple Bethel in Pensacola, both claiming to be the oldest synagogue founded in 1898.

• The first Jewish settler, Isidore Cohen, arrived in Miam...