Adventure: 051, Site 066 - Jewish Synagogue Site

Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 051, Site 066 - Jewish Synagogue Site

California Landmark Number: 654

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  September 26, 2012

Location:

Address: 7th St between Capitol and L, Sacramento

Description:

Our walk continued down 7^th street, where we saw plaques, but no buildings, commemorating the First Jewish Synagogue on the West Coast. This is where we found No 654. The plaque is on 7^th, just north of Capitol, while there is a landmark sign on Capitol. From this location, you can see the Tower Bridge and the State Capitol.

The next day we were along J St, east of I-80 and looked for Chevra Kaddisha, the first Jewish cemetery in California. It is now a strip mall, with no commemoration of the the cemetery which once was here.

NO. 654 SITE OF THE FIRST JEWISH SYNAGOGUE OWNED BY A CONGREGATION ON THE PACIFIC COAST - The building that stood on this site was prefabricated in Baltimore and shipped around Cape Horn in 1849. It originally housed the Methodist Episcopal Church, whose trustees sold the edifice on June 4, 1852 to Alexander Myer, Joseph Levison, and Charles Friedman, Officers of the Association of the Children of Israel (B'nai Israel), to serve as the first synagogue on the Pacific Coast, dedicated on September 3, 1852. The congregation followed the orthodox tradition until 1880, when it became an adherent of reform Judaism.
Location: In sidewalk, 7th St between Capitol and L, Sacramento

NO. 654-1 CHEVRA KADDISHA (HOME OF PEACE CEMETERY) - This site was the first Jewish cemetery in California. On November 12, 1850, R. J. Watson gave a Deed of Trust to Louis Schaul: 'Lot number four in the square between thirty-second and thirty-third and J and K Streets . . . for the Sacramento City Hebrew Association for a burial ground.'
Location: 3230 J St, Sacramento



By the way, Chevra Kaddish is the Jewish ceremony relating to the preparation of the dead for burial.



Overall Landmark References:

• David Schmitt's California State Historical Landmark (Schmitt)
  
• Wikipedia: California's National Landmarks (WCNL)
  
• State of California's California Historical Landmarks (CHL)
  
• Wikipedia: California State Landmarks (WCSL)
  
• Noehill (NOE))