History of Jewish
Texans
1870 Congregation B'nai Israel Temple & Henry Cohen Community
House in Galveston, Texas
Hebrew Benevolent Cemetery (Established 1852)Spanish Texas did not
welcome easily identifiable Jews, but they came in any case. Jao
de la Porta was with Jean Laffite at Galveston, Texas in 1816, and
Maurice Henry was in Velasco in the late 1820s. Jews fought in the
armies of the Texas Revolution of 1836, some with James Fannin at
Goliad, others at the Battle of San Jacinto. Dr. Albert Levy became
a surgeon to revolutionary Texan forces in 1835, participated in
the capture of Bexar, and joined the Texas Navy the next year. [5]
The first families were conversos and Sephardic Jews. Later settlers
such as the Simon family, led by Alex Simon, came in the 1860s and
contributed to the construction of synagogues and monuments such
as the Simon Theatre. B. Levinson, a Jewish Texan civic leader,
arrived in 1861. [6] Today the vast majority of Jewish Texans are
descendants of Ashkenazi Jews, those from central and eastern Europe
whose families arrived in Texas after the Civil War or later. [7]
Organized Judaism
in Texas began in Galveston with the establishment of Texas' first
Jewish cemetery in 1852. By 1856 the first organized Jewish services
were being held in the home of Galveston resident Isadore Dyer.
These services would eventually lead to the founding of Texas' first
and oldest Reform Jewish congregation, Temple B'nai Israel, in 1868.
[8]
The first synagogue
in Texas, Congregation Beth Israel of Houston, was founded in Houston
in 1859 as an Orthodox congregation. However, by 1874 the congregation
voted to change their affiliation to the fledgling Reform movement.
The ensuing years were accompanied by the spread of Judaism throughout
Texas. Temple Beth-El was founded in San Antonio in 1874, followed
by Temple Emanu-El of Dallas in 1875 and Brenham's B'nai Abraham
in 1885. Temple Beth-El is known as one of the state's more contemporary
Reform Jewish congregations due to their very open support of the
Jewish GLBT community while B'nai Abraham, currently led by Rabbi
Leon Toubin, is the state's oldest existing Orthodox synagogue.
[9] [10]
Between 1907
and 1914 a resettlement program, known as the Galveston Movement,
was in operation to divert Jews fleeing Russia and eastern Europe
away from the crowded East Coast cities. Ten thousand Jewish immigrants
passed through the port city of Galveston during this era, approximately
one-third the number who migrated to Palestine during the same period.
Rabbi Henry Cohen, the rabbi of B'nai Israel at the time, is credited
with helping to found the Movement. [11]
List of Jewish
Texans
-
Henri Castro
- Rabbi Henry Cohen
- Danciger family
- Jacob De Cordova
-
Kinky Friedman
- Martin Frost
- Anna Hertzberg
- Isaac Herbert Kempner
- Mayer Halff
- Jean Laffite
- Dr. Albert Levy
- David Spangler Kaufman
- Jimmy Kessler
- Olga Bernstein Kohlberg
- Haymon Krupp
- Abraham Cohen Labatt
- Rabbi Shimon Lazaroff
- Stanley Marcus
- Levi Olan
- Rosanna Osterman
- Jao de la Porta
- Lois Roisman
- Hyman Judah Schachtel
- Simon family
- Samuel M. Stahl
- David E. Stern
- Adolphus Sterne
- Babe Schwartz
- Peter Tarlow
- Leon Toubin
- Anthony Wolf
- Marvin Zindler
Jewish
Communities in Texas
Temple Beth-El (San Antonio, Texas)
Congregation Beth Jacob (Galveston)
B'Nai Abraham Synagogue, Brenham
Temple B'nai Israel (Galveston)
Temple Emanu-El of Dallas
Temple Freda (Bryan-College Station)
Congregation Shearith Israel (Texas)
Congregation Beth Israel of Houston
Temple Beth-El, Corsicana