The earliest record of the presence of Jews in Kowal dates back to 1531. They were obliged to pay a coronation tax to the king in the amount of 1 grzywna and 42 groszes. In 1566, Jews paid 29 zlotys of head tax. In 1568, they bought a plot of land near Pełczyce from Rafał Działyński and established a cemetery there. In 1578, King Stefan Bathory granted Jewish people permission to settle in Kowal and engage in trade and crafts. The privilege was confirmed and further expanded by King Władysław IV in 1635. However, local merchants managed to thwart Jewish and non-Christian competition with the use of the propitiation privileges of 1593 and 1616, granted by King Sigismund III Vasa to the literary brotherhood in Kowal in the peak of the Counter-Reformation. Despite these difficulties, the Jewish community in Kowal survived until the Polish–Swedish War (1655–1660).

In 1616, Jews owned 14 houses in Kowal. However, the wartime destruction of the town and losses brought by a series of epidemics resulted in the gradual exodus of Jewish people. In 1674, Kowal had only 20 Jewish residents. There was even a short period of time when not a single Jew lived in the town.

Jewish settlers returned to Kowal in 1717. The community soon started to dynamically grow. One of the factors conducive to its development was the confirmation of former privileges by King Stanisław August Poniatowski in 1765. At that time, Jews owned 16 houses in the town, and the local kehilla had 260 members. In 1820, the number of Jewish residents of Kowal amounted to 900, in 1850s – ca. 1,400, and at the end of the century – ca. 1,500. In 1827, a Jewish district was formed in the town. It encompassed the following streets: Górna (today: Zamkowa), Grodzka (part of Kołłątaja Street), and Sybirna (Kilińskiego). Moreover, many Jewish families lived in Mało-Warszawska Street (today’s Mickiewicza). Soon enough, it became clear that the demarcated area of the quarter was too small to accommodate the entire Jewish population. In 1833, as many as 40 out of all 182 Jewish families in Kowal still lived outside the Jewish district.

The kehilla was headed by one rabbi (e.g. in 1854, it was Lejb Auerbach). Only in the years 1823–1836 were there three rabbis in the town.

Jews remained an important part of the local economic life throughout the latter half of the 19^th century and in the interwar period. Among the 140 craftsmen registered in the town in 1928, 73 (62%) were Jewish. Other sources provide disparate figures for the same year – 56 Jews among 139 craftsmen (40%) or 95 out of 152 (62%). Preserved records also show that there were 101 commercial enterprises in the town (some of them were businesses run by craftsmen in addition to their main profession), among which 79 (78%) were owned by Jews. Disregarding the group of craftsmen doubling as merchants, this gives us a total of 87 businesses, 63 of them Jewish (72%). Jews were also the dominant force in the trade in textiles, grains and produce, shoes, and hides. They also ran 26 out of all 38 colonial grocery stores in the area.

The head of the community was Rabbi Szmul Jehuda Lejb Wajngott (son of Rubin and Glikcha Wejngott, born on 1 April 1856 in Kalisz). He first received home education and later completed a rabbinical course in Kalisz. He moved to Kowal in 1897, having earlier served as rabbi in Władysławów and Koło. In 1934, he became paraplegic and was thus forced to resign from his post. He was a widower and raised eight children. The secretaries of the kehilla were: Dasza Bieżyńska (early 1920s), Sender Chaim Zryl (1927–1934); shochetim: Wolf Bendzel (also a cantor) and Mendel Sztajnkrycer (1893–1934); teachers at the Talmud-Torah school: Hersz Jakubowski, Mordka Gąska, H. Olsztejn (1930s), and Rywen Bender. The headquarters of the kehilla was located at today’s Berka Joselewicza Street.

The property of the kehilla was partially destroyed during the fire which broke out in the town in 1921. The blaze consumed the mikveh (a new bathhouse compliant with ritual rules was only erected in 1932) and the slaughterhouse. Some of the poorest local residents who had lost their homes to the fire moved to a wooden barrack purchased by the kehilla. The real estate owned by the community included: a masonry synagogue (the so-called “Big” Synagogue, thoroughly renovated in 1910–1912) with ca. 1 morgen of land, the “Small” Synagogue (beth midrash), a masonry mikveh, a masonry poultry slaughterhouse, a shelter for the poor and the elderly, a vegetable garden with an area of 1 ha, a cemetery with an area of ¾ ha (according to other sources – 1.12 ha). Located ca. 1 km outside the town by the road to Gostynin and the village of Dębniaczek, the cemetery was partially fenced (75% of its perimeter) and had a wooden watchman’s lodge with a tile roof on its premises. The total value of the immovable property in 1939 was estimated at 29,000 zlotys (according to other sources – 12,000 zlotys), and the value of movable property – 2,000 zlotys. The Jewish community in Kowal was dominated by Hasidim – followers of the tzaddik of Ger (Góra Kalwaria).

Until 1924, the kehilla board was chaired by J. Kowalski. Only one candidate list was submitted in the election of 1 June 1924 and thus no ballot was held. The new board comprised: Jakub Ickowicz (non-partisan), Icek Jakub Bieżyński (non-partisan), Mojsze Abram Śliwecki (Mizrachi), Hersz Szpiro (non-partisan). The deputies were: Abram Zryl (Mizrachi), Hersz Manes (non-partisan), Perec Buks (Mizrachi), Mojsze Rachmiłowicz (non-partisan). Jakub Ickowicz was appointed chairman. He resigned on 9 April 1926 and was replaced by Rabbi Szmul Weingott. Preparations to the subsequent elections began in the early spring of 1931. The newly elected board included Henoch Kenig, Lejb Wolfisz, Wolf Fawel Lewkowicz, Szlama Opertowicz, Jakub Ickowicz, Abram Chajmowicz, Henoch Czwik (Ćwik), Icek Jakub Bieżuński (deputies: Dawid Senator, Jakub Sadokierski, Icek Zakrzewski, Joel Aron Alter, Icek Mendel Szymsze, Anszel Dawid Tchórz, Majlech Kowalski, and Pinkus Chodecki). Jakub Ickowicz was appointed chairman. The composition of the board changed over the following years. In 1935, Henoch Kenig resigned from the post and was replaced by Dawid Senator. Jakub Ickowicz resigned in 1935. He was replaced by Lejb Wolfisz on 8 February 1935. After the 1936 election, the board was dominated by non-partisan Orthodox Jews. They obtained four seats (four deputies), while the Agudath gained one seat (one deputy), Zionists – two seats (two deputies), the Bund – one 1 seat (one deputy). The board comprised Jakub Ickowicz, Lajbuś Herc, Mordka Czarny, Majer Zylberman, Sucher Weingart, Perec Buks, Abram Jakubowicz, and Chil Chaskiel Kozienicki (deputies: Bencjon Szymsio, Lejb Walfisz, Szmul Hersz Nejman, Michał Szperka, Wolf Faweł Lewkowicz, Szyja Lisak, Josek Kowalski, and Henoch Czwik vel Ćwik).

Representatives of the Jewish community were actively involved in the work of local authorities. The following candidate lists were submitted in the elections to the Municipal Council of 9 March 1919: List no. 1 (Polish Socialist Party) – won 12 seats; List no. 2 (the Bund; candidates: Jakub Piechotka, Uszer Szulzygier, Henoch Kenig) – one seat won by Jakub Piechotka; List no. 3 (National and People’s Union) – four seats; List no. 4 (National Jewish Party; candidates: Icek Kowalski, Dawid Offenbach, Abram Moszkowicz, Lejb Ber Piechotka, Jakub Ickowicz, Dawid Aleksander, Lejzor Łęczycki, Henoch Czwik vel Ćwik, Joel Aron Alter, Ber Kirszenbaum, Luzer Ejbeszyc, Anszel Tchórz, Kopel Hajmowicz, Hersz Manes, Mordka Czarny, and Henoch Sztajnke) – seven seats won (Icek Kowalski, Dawid Offenbach, Abram Moszkowicz, Lejb Ber Piechotka, Jakub Ickowicz, Dawid Aleksander, and Lejzor Łęczycki). Jakub Ickowicz and Abram Moszkowicz sat in the Town Hall.

In the elections of 3 October 1926, Jews submitted two national Jewish lists. One represented the Merchants’ Association, the other – craftsmen. The two lists were combined before the election day. The new Municipal Council included Jakub Ickowicz, Icek Kowalski, Jakub Sadokierski, Henoch Ćwik (Czwik), while Lejzor Łęczycki and Joel Aron Alter were appointed deputies. In the late 1920s, four Jewish councillors, all of them Zionists, worked in the local government. The Electoral Committee of the Bund ran in the subsequent election, apparently unsuccessfully. In the last election before the war, held on 21 May 1939, Polish parties won 11 seats, and the Jewish parties – one seat. Jews also sat on the management board of the Fire Brigade: Chaim Malinowski, Lejb Pozner, Ajzyk Dancyngier. Chaim Pozner was a lay judge in the municipal court.

The 1930s saw the country-wide wave of anti-Semitism reach Kowal. On the night of 2/3 December 1932, anti-Jewish posters were put up around the town, urging on Catholics to boycott Jewish traders. Over the subsequent days, flyers encouraging workers and the unemployed to organise anti-Jewish rallies were attached to telegraph poles in Kazimierza Wielkiego Street and Kościelna Street. On 9 March 1938, National Democratic activists from Lubień organised pickets in front of Jewish shops in Kowal. As a result, their number of clients fell by 30%. Wishing to counteract the campaign, Jews hired a Polish paramilitary unit and sent them to the town on 11 March 1938.

Following the outbreak of WWII and the occupation of western Poland by German forces, the number of Jews residing in Kowal was systematically decreasing. At the beginning of 1940, there were 1,230 Jewish people in the town; in December 1940 – 657 (including 84 refugees), in 1941 – 720 people (394 refugees). The Wehrmacht took control of the town in September 1939. After three days of relative calm, the Germans ordered three Jewish store owners to open their establishments and encouraged Poles to plunder them, taking photos of the incident. An SS unit soon entered the town. Its members vandalised 30 houses owned by Jews. Jewish men were sent to forced labour and a tribute was imposed on the community. Shops and warehouses were regularly looted. The Nazis formed a Jewish work commando headed by Stolzman. The Judenrat was established.

On the holiday of Yom Kippur in 1939, the Germans organised a roundup of Jews. The captured people were forced to work on paving roads for hours on end. First displacement campaigns were organised at the end of 1939, followed by another two operations in 1940 and 1941. On 7 November 1939, a group of Jews was transported to Buk, Grodzisk County. Records from 1940 mentions the presence of deportees from Kowal in Błonie near Warsaw, Wistkitki, Żyrardów, and Warsaw. On 10 December 1940, people residing in Rynek Street and Kazimierza Wielkiego Street were loaded on train cars. After  five days’ journey, they arrived to the Warsaw Ghetto. On 23 June 1941, the Germans carried out a selection of men aged 14 to 65. A day later, a group of ca. 350 people was transported to Włocławek, to the barracks at Toruńska Street. After several days they were deported to camps in Poznań Province (Szteinek, Eichenwald, Gutenbrun, Stadion, Fort Radziwiłł). On 28 September and 9 October 1941, 668 people (including 183 men) were transported to the Łódź Ghetto. The few Jews still remaining in Kowal were eventually locked up in one of the local churches. Having been kept inside for 10 days, they too were deported to the Łódź Ghetto. Only three old men were left behind in the town. They were murdered a week later.

Very few Jews settled in Kowal after the war. In the years 1946–1949, the town had 19–21 Jewish residents. After 1950, they established the local branch of the Social and Cultural Association of Jews in Poland. Most of them left Poland in the 1950s and 1960s.

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