Beth Israel
(Garton Road Shul), Route 56, Rosenhayn, NJ.

Following the assassination of Tsar Alexander II, the first group of 43 Jews arrived in South Jersey in 1882 determined to make their living off the land. In time others followed including Hungarian and Romanian Jews. In the 1930's Jews fleeing Hitler's oppression settled in the area around Vineland and started building synagogues for worship. The Jewish community built this temple, known in Hebrew as shul, in 1890. Commonly known today as "Garton Road Synagogue," this frame building stands on a rural road in the midst of fields between Bridgeton and Vineland, NJ. The smallest of the existing synagogues, it is most notably recognized by the large Mogen David on its exterior. Garton Road synagogue opens for worship once a year on Shabbat Shuvah, the Friday between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.