History

"Jewish settlers arrived in Northampton one hundred and fifty years ago. Their small numbers throughout the nineteenth century slowly expanded as some twenty families arrived at the turn of the twentieth century.

 

This brave band of early settlers soon established a synagogue of their own. Congregation B’nai Israel became a symbol of the growth of the Jewish community and their commitment to Northampton."

Read more about our congregation and the surrounding Jewish community in Jews of Paradise, written by CBI member Penina Glazer.

A number of CBI community members have participated in a series of interviews gathered by The Jewish Historical Society of Western Massachusetts.