Temple Beth-El in Birmingham, which was once targeted by a Ku Klux Klan bomb that didn’t explode, has unveiled a new exhibit and tour called the “Civil Rights Experience” that focuses on the role of the Jewish community in civil rights history.

The Temple Beth-El Civil Rights Experience explores Birmingham’s civil rights history through the lens of the Jewish community with the screening of a short film, a panel discussion and a sampling of exhibits from Beth-El’s permanent on-site “In Solidarity” program.

“We’re not going to have open hours like a museum,” said Margaret Norman, who is engagement and collaboration Coordinator for Temple Beth-El. “It’s set up more for group tours by appointment.”

The temple is now booking group tours for November.

“It’s the intersection of Jewish and civil rights history,” she said. “They learn about Bham’s Jewish history as a whole, racism, anti-Semitism.”

The temple also plans to also open a library and study area with 2,000 books donated by the estate of Rabbi Abraham J. Mesch, who was Beth-El’s rabbi from 1935-1962.

“We’re still working on the library,” Norman said. “That’s the next phase for us.”

Temple Beth-El was established in Birmingham in 1907 and moved to its current location at 2179 Highland Ave. South in 1926.

Last year, a historic marker was installed outside the temple to memorialize the attempted bombing in 1958.

On April 28, 1958, 54 sticks of dynamite were set outside the temple, but did not explode. Although the case was never solved, it’s believed the planned bombing was an act of retaliation for Jewish involvement in the civil rights movement.

Jews in the South had also felt the sting of discrimination, persecution and attacks from the Ku Klux Klan. From 1957-58, synagogues were bombed in Atlanta, Nashville, Jacksonville and Miami, and others were targeted.

At Temple Beth-El, the burning fuses were put out by heavy rainfall and the dynamite did not explode. Swastikas were painted on nearby Temple Emanu-El, which formed a security watch team to patrol at night.

Because Jewish businesses were part of the Southern business establishment, there was enormous pressure from bankers, fellow businesses and customers to enforce and support segregation laws.

Outspoken Jewish leaders often felt a backlash in their own communities for supporting civil rights for Black people, which was evident as far back as 1933, when Rabbi Benjamin Goldstein resigned under pressure from the congregational leadership at Temple Beth-Or in Montgomery.

“My resignation resulted from my activities not only on behalf of the Scottsboro Negroes for whom I demanded a fair trial and a change of venue, but also on behalf of the Tallapoosa Negro share-croppers for whom last December I demanded fair treatment,” Goldstein told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. relied heavily on Jewish supporters, including one of his closest advisers, Stanley Levison, who took part in planning sessions for the Birmingham demonstrations in 1963.

In 1964, King gave a statement to a Jewish newspaper in Atlanta to denounce Black rioters in New York who looted Jewish stores.

“Our Jewish friends have demonstrated their commitment to the principle of tolerance and brotherhood in tangible ways, often at great personal sacrifices,” King said. “Can we ever express our appreciation to the rabbis who chose to give moral witness with us in St. Augustine during our recent protest against segregation in that unhappy city? And who will ever forget the sacrifice of two Jewish lives, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, in Mississippi this past June? It would be impossible to record the contribution that the Jewish people have made toward the Negro’s struggle for freedom — it has been so great.”