Congregation Beth Israel

In 1843, Jewish residents of Hartford and New Haven successfully petitioned the Connecticut General Assembly to allow Jews to form congregations, build synagogues, and worship openly. Soon after, a small group of German-speaking Jews in Hartford began to meet in homes, and in 1876, the young Congregation Beth Israel built a synagogue on Charter Oak Avenue in Hartford (now home to the Charter Oak Cultural Center). We moved to our present home in West Hartford in 1936.