The Jewish community of Houston, Texas has grown and thrived since the 1800s. As of 2008 Jews lived in many Houston neighborhoods and

Meyerland Meyerland is a community in southwest Houston, Texas, outside of the 610 Loop and inside Beltway 8. The neighborhood is named after the Meyer family, who bought and owned 6,000 acres (24 km²) of land in southwest Houston. Meyerland is th ...

is the center of the Jewish community in the area.

History

Until 1880 Houston had a smaller Jewish population than Galveston Island, then the cultural center of the state. In 1844, a plot of land in Houston had been purchased for a Jewish cemetery. In 1850, the Jewish community in Houston had 17 adults and in 1854, the Orthodox Beth Israel Congregation opened in a former house that had been converted to a synagogue. By 1860 the number of Jewish adults grew to 68, and that year there were 40 Jewish children.Bell, p
216
In the 19th Century the Jewish population moved into the First and Second wards and later settled in the Third Ward.Bell, p
217
Congregation Beth Israel was first established in a frame building on LaBranch Street near the Third Ward settlement. In the 19th Century the Franklin and Navigation area in the Fifth Ward and the area around Washington and Houston street in the Sixth Ward received Jewish settlers from Eastern Europe. As of around 1987 the areas in the historic Fifth and Sixth Wards no longer have significant Jewish populations. Roselyn Bell, author of the "Houston" entry in ''The Jewish Traveler: Hadassah Magazine's Guide to the World's Jewish Communities and Sights'', wrote that the Houston Jewish community was "much more '' shtetl''-like than it is today". Beginning in 1880 many Eastern European Jews moved to Houston; they moved into wards two and three.Kaplan, Barry J. ( University of Houston)
"Race, Income, and Ethnicity: Residential Change in a Houston Community, 1920-1970"
''

The Houston Review ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. Winter 1981. pp. 178-202. CITED: p. 186. They integrated with German Jews, differing from Eastern European Jews in the

East Coast East Coast may refer to: Entertainment * East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop * East Coast (ASAP Ferg song), "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017 * East Coast (Saves the Day song), "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004 * East Coast FM, a ra ...

. Around that time the Russian-Polish Adath Yeshurun synagogue and the majority Galician Dorshe Tov synagogue, both Orthodox Jewish synagogues, had been founded. Adath Yeshurun merged into Congregation Adath Yeshurun in 1891. The Galveston Plan, an early 20th Century plan that called for sending Eastern European Jewish immigrants from heavily populated East Coast areas to less densely populated areas between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, sent many Jews to Houston. In 1903 a Zionist organization in Houston opened. In 1908 ''The

Jewish Herald-Voice The ''Jewish Herald-Voice'' is a weekly community newspaper serving the Jewish community of Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast for more than 100 years. The newspaper is the longest-running Jewish paper in the Southwest. Commonly known as the ''JHV'' ...

'' began publication. In 1915 a Jewish Workmen's Circle opened. In the 1920s Jews began to settle in the Washington Terrace and later the

Riverside Terrace Riverside Terrace is a neighborhood in Houston, Texas, United States. It is along Texas State Highway 288 and north of the Texas Medical Center and located near Texas Southern University and University of Houston. There about 20 sections of Riversi ...

areas in the current Third Ward area. Many Jewish institutions such as synagogues remained there until the end of the 1950s. Temple Beth Israel moved to the Riverside Terrace area in 1925 and Temple Beth Yeshurun opened in the same area in 1945.Kaplan, Barry J. ( University of Houston)
"Race, Income, and Ethnicity: Residential Change in a Houston Community, 1920-1970"
''

''. Winter 1981. pp. 178-202. CITED: p. 187. Jewish families moved to Riverside Terrace in the 1930s since they were not allowed to settle in River Oaks.Feser, Katherine
"Much history flows through Riverside"
'' Houston Chronicle''. July 9, 2002. Retrieved on April 18, 2009. Allison Wollam of the '' Houston Business Journal'' stated that, at one point, Riverside Terrace "was once on the same affluent level as the swanky River Oaks area".Wollam, Allison
"Riverside Terrace bucks housing slowdown"
'' Houston Business Journal''. August 15, 2008. Retrieved on April 18, 2009. "It's becoming common practice for homes in the Riverside Terrace area — a historic Inner-Loop neighborhood bounded by Scott, North MacGregor, Almeda and Wheeler .. During that period the neighborhood hosted the houses of the prominent Weingarten, Finger, and McGregor families. Around the 1874 Beth Israel became a Reform Judaism synagogue. Congregation Beth El was founded in 1924. It was the first

Conservative Judaism Conservative Judaism, known as Masorti Judaism outside North America, is a Jewish religious movement which regards the authority of ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions as coming primarily from its people and community through the generatio ...

synagogue founded in Houston. In 1925 it occupied the former Beth Israel building. Adath Yeshurun later merged with Beth El and became

Congregation Beth Yeshurun Congregation Beth Yeshurun is a Conservative synagogue in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1891 as Adath Yeshurun, it merged in Congregation Beth El in 1946, taking its current name. In 2002 Beth Yeshurun absorbed the membership of Shearith Israel o ...

. In the 1930s many Jewish refugees from Germany moved to Houston. In 1943 Temple Beth Israel announced that people who espoused Zionist ideals were not allowed to be members, so Emanu-El was formed by people who disagreed with the decision. After World War II, more Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe moved to Houston. By the 1950s many Jewish families moved to Southwest Houston and Jewish institutions relocated there. The first subdivisions to receive Jews were neighborhoods along North Braeswood and South Braeswood. Subsequently,

began receiving Jews. From 1955 to around 1987 the Jewish population in Houston increased by 300%. By the 1970s Jews moved to

Fondren Southwest Brays Oaks, formerly known as Fondren Southwest, is an area in Southwest Houston, Texas, United States. The Brays Oaks Management District, also known as the Harris County Improvement District #5, governs the Brays Oaks area as well as other surro ...

in Southwest Houston and the

Memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...

and Spring Branch areas. By 1987 there were around 42,000 Jews in Greater Houston and Jews were located in many areas of Greater Houston. In 2017

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating Category 4 hurricane that made landfall on Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest t ...

damaged the Meyerland area, along with the three synaoguges with the largest congregations, the Jewish community center, various Jewish private schools, and the Jewish senior home.

Jewish population

As of 1987, there were about 42,000 Jews in Greater Houston and about 2.5% of the City of Houston was Jewish. In 2001 the figure was 47,000 Jews in the Houston area. The Jewish Federation of Greater Houston made another population count in 2016, indicating that 51,000 Jews live in Greater Houston. Houston Jews had origins from throughout the United States, Israel, Mexico, Russia, and other places. Because the population of Jews in Houston rapidly increased between 1955 and circa 1987, many of the Jews in the circa 1987 count were new to Houston. Roselyn Bell, author of the "Houston" entry in ''The Jewish Traveler: Hadassah Magazine's Guide to the World's Jewish Communities and Sights'', wrote that this would make it, among other Jewish populations in the U.S., "medium-sized" and comparable to that of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia had a Jewish population more than five times larger than that of Houston, which had surpassed Philadelphia as the fourth largest city in the U.S. Bell wrote that the smaller relative population results in a combination of "the close-knit feeling of a middle-sized town with big-city sophistication and large-scale institutions".

Jewish communities

As of 1987 Jews lived in many communities in Houston. In 2008 Irving N. Rothman, author of ''The Barber in Modern Jewish Culture: A Genre of People, Places, and Things, with Illustrations'', wrote that Houston "has a scattered Jewish populace and not a large enough population of Jews to dominate any single neighborhood" and that the city's "hub of Jewish life" is the

community.Rothman, p
358
Bell wrote that Southwest Houston is the "Jewish core of town, if not exactly an ethnic stronghold" and that synagogues had opened in Clear Lake City, Kingwood, and The Woodlands.

Synagogues

As of 1987 there were over 20 synagogues in Greater Houston. there were over 40 synagogues in Greater Houston. As of 1987,

, a

temple, and the Reform Judaism congregations Beth Israel and Emanu-El are the largest synagogues in Houston. The Orthodox Judaism community includes several congregations: Chabad Lubavitch Center of Houston, the

Sephardic Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

Beth Rambam Congregation, Young Israel of Houston, Meyerland Minyan, and the Sephardic synagogue Torah Vachesed. The United Orthodox Synagogues congregation formed in 1961 as a consolidation of three synagogues. It occupied the same building near Meyerland since its groundbreaking that year. The building flooded during Memorial Day in 2015 and Tax Day in 2016. After

damaged the buildings in 2017, in December of that year the congregation's board decided to have the sanctuary and school building demolished; it would use the Freedman Hall building as the center of worship for the time being. the congregation has 300 people. Congregation Emanu El Temple, using a Mid-Century Modern architectural style, was built in 1949. By 2011 the

Shul A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

of Bellaire, a

Chabad-Lubavitch Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic group ...

, was established by Yossi Zaklikofsky in January 2011. It was the first Chabad-Lubavitch center in the city of Bellaire. Congregation Or Ami is located in Westchase, in west Houston, in proximity to Greater Katy. the

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...

is Gideon Estes. There are two Jewish places of worship in The Woodlands, Congregation Beth Shalom, established circa 1984. it had about 130 families, and it belongs to Reform Judaism. Its affiliated organizations are the Association of Reformed Congregations and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Chabad of The Woodlands was established in 2011 by Rabbi Mendel and Leah Blecher. It is a branch of the worldwide Chabad Lubavitch movement, offering traditional-style services to contemporary Jewish families. Chabad of The Woodlands inaugurated and sponsors the annual Chanukah on Market Street celebration, and established the first Jewish preschool in the area. Chabad Pearland Jewish Center is the first Jewish center of worship in Pearland, established by Yossi and Esty Zaklikofsky in 2009. In addition to Pearland, it also serves Alvin and

Friendswood Friendswood is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of the metropolitan area. The city lies in Galveston and Harris Counties. As of the 2010 census, the population of Friendswood was 35,805. In 2007, CNN/''Money'' magazine listed Fr ...

. Temple Beth Tikvah, the Jewish Center of Clear Lake, is in the Clear Lake area. There are also synagogues in Humble and Victoria. List of Synagogues:
Congregation Emanu El
* Congregation Beth Israel of Houston
Congregation Beth El

Congregation Shma Koleinu

Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism

Temple Beth Tikvah

Temple Sinai
*

Congregation Beth Yeshurun (Houston) Congregation Beth Yeshurun is a Conservative synagogue in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1891 as Adath Yeshurun, it merged in Congregation Beth El in 1946, taking its current name. In 2002 Beth Yeshurun absorbed the membership of Shearith Israel o ...

Congregation Brith Shalom

Congregation Or Ami

Congregation Shaar Hashalom

Congregation Beth Rambam
(

)
Torah Vachesed
(

)
Chabad Lubavitch Center

Chabad at Rice

Chabad at the Medical Center

Chabad Lubavitch of West Houston - CHAI Learning Center

Chabad of Uptown

The Shul of Bellaire

Bellaire Jewish Center

Meyerland Minyan

United Orthodox Synagogues "UOS"

Young Israel of Houston

Keshet Houston
(LGBT+)

Education

Houston has several Jewish elementary schools. The

elementary school in Houston is the William S. Malev School at Beth Yushurun. The Reform Judaism elementary school is the Irvin M. Shlenker School at Beth Israel. Chabad Lubavitch sponsors the Torah Day School of Houston.Bell, p
218

Emery/Weiner School The Emery/Weiner School (EWS) is a co-educational, independent Jewish day school in Houston, Texas, United States,Stanton, Robert.'Death Valley' coming back to life" ''Houston Chronicle''. Thursday July 19, 2001. Retrieved on January 7, 2012. se ...

is a Jewish secondary school in Houston. Around 1987 Bell wrote that the school, at the time I. Weiner Jewish Secondary School, had a "centrist" viewpoint. The Robert M. Beren Academy is a

Modern Orthodox Modern may refer to: History *Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Philosoph ...

primary and secondary school. The school, previously named Hebrew Academy, is an independent Jewish school. Roselyn Bell, author of the "Houston" entry in ''The Jewish Traveler: Hadassah Magazine's Guide to the World's Jewish Communities and Sights'', wrote that the Hebrew Academy had "

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

leanings". Because of the large number of Jewish students, Bellaire High School historically had the nickname "Hebrew High".Swartz, Mimi
"The Gangstas of Godwin Park"
'' Texas Monthly''. June 1, 2006. Jun2006, Vol. 34 Issue 6, p132. Retrieved on November 2, 2011
See profile
at EBSCOHost

Economics

Around 1987 Roselyn Bell wrote that most Houston Jews work in professional industries, and that there was "a strong concentration in business, including direct retail and businesses supporting retail". Around 1987 Bell wrote that economic

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

and hiring discrimination against Jews existed in Greater Houston due to the fact that many businesses in the oil industry city do business with Arab countries. Mickey Leland founded the Youth Kibbutz Internship, which sends ten minority children to Israel during Summer periods. This was established to deepen relations between African-American and Jewish communities and to decrease anti-Israeli sentiment.

Media

The ''

'' is a Jewish community newspaper headquartered in Houston.

Institutions

The Jewish Federation of Greater Houston is headquartered in Houston. The Jewish Community Center (JCC) has a main location on South Braeswood Boulevard and a

-area west Houston branch. Within the Fondren area it operates the Bertha Alyce Early Childhood Center. The Jewish Federation of Greater Houston has its offices adjacent to the main JCC building. The Seven Acres Jewish Geriatric Center serves elderly populations. The Houston Holocaust Museum opened in 1993. Other institutions and organizations include Jewish Family Service, Hebrew Free Loan Association, Chabad Lubavitch Center, Hillel Foundation of Greater Houston, Seven Acres Jewish Geriatric Center, and multiple Jewish day schools. Roselyn Bell wrote that synagogues and other major Jewish institutions in Houston "are built Texas-style; big, spread out, commodious, and pleasant to look at". Rice University established the Houston Jewish History Archive circa 2017 to preserve Jewish history. Several items were archived and rescued after

hit Houston in 2017. Joshua Furman, the Stanford and Joan Alexander Postdoctoral Fellow in Jewish Studies of Rice U., and Rice centennial historian Melissa Kean were collecting items for the center.

Notable persons

* Max Apple (author of '' Free Agents'', taught at Rice University)Bell, p
220
* David Biespiel (author of ''A Place of Exodus'', ''Republic Cafe'', ''The Education of a Young Poet'', ''The Book of Men and Women'', and other books, grew up in Meyerland). *

Rosellen Brown Rosellen Brown (born May 12, 1939) is an American author, and has been an instructor of English and creative writing at several universities, including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Houston. She has won several ...

(author of '' Civil Wars'' and '' Tender Mercies'', taught at the University of Houston) * Aaron Farfel ( University of Houston System Board of Regents chairperson, 1971–1979)Bell, p
219
* Andrew Fastow *

Lea Fastow Lea Weingarten Fastow is a former Enron assistant treasurer who pleaded guilty to tax evasion and filing fraudulent Income Tax returns. The wife of former Enron executive and convicted felon Andrew Fastow, she was the second former Enron executiv ...

Billy Goldberg Billy Goldberg (born April 10, 1966) is a New York City emergency medicine physician at the NYU School of Medicine ( Bellevue Hospital and New York University (NYU) Medical Center), where he is also an Assistant Professor and an Assistant Directo ...

(president of the

Texas Democratic Party The Texas Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Texas and one of the two major political parties in the state. The party's headquarters are in Austin, Texas. President Lyndon B. Johnson was a Texas Democ ...

) * Mark Goldberg (politician) first District City Councilmember of Houston *

Norman Hackerman Norman Hackerman (March 2, 1912 – June 16, 2007) was an American chemist, professor, and academic administrator who served as the 18th President of the University of Texas at Austin (1967–1970) and later as the 4th President of Rice Universit ...

(president of the University of Texas at Austin and president of Rice University) * Charles Hoffman (reporter for the ''

Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...

'') *

Jeffrey Hoffman Jeffrey Alan Hoffman (born November 2, 1944) is an American former NASA astronaut and currently a professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT. Hoffman made five flights as a Space Shuttle astronaut, including the first mission to repair t ...

(first Jewish astronaut) *

Fredell Lack Fredell Lack (February 19, 1922 – August 20, 2017) was an American violinist. Noted as a concert soloist, recording artist, chamber musician, and teacher, she was the C. W. Moores Distinguished Professor of Violin at the Moores School of ...

(violinist) * Rabbi Shimon Lazaroff (Director of Chabad Lubavitch of Texas with 13 branches in Houston and 37 throughout Texas) *

David Leebron David W. Leebron (born February 12, 1955) is an American attorney and legal scholar who served as the 7th President of Rice University from 2004 to 2022. He was a professor and dean of Columbia Law School, until he was named president of Rice Uni ...

(President of Rice University) *

Julia Wolf Mazow Julia is usually a feminine given name. It is a Latinate feminine form of the name Julio (given name), Julio and Julius (name), Julius. (For further details on etymology, see the wikt:Iulius#Latin, Wiktionary entry "Julius".) The given name ''Ju ...

(published anthology '' The Woman Who Lost Her Names'') *

Joseph Melnick Joseph Louis Melnick (October 9, 1914 – January 7, 2001) was an American epidemiologist who performed breakthrough research on the spread of polio. '' The New York Times'' called him "a founder of modern virology". Early life and education ...

( Baylor College of Medicine dean of graduate research and virologist) * Alfred R. Neumann ( University of Houston–Clear Lake founding chancellor) *

Judith Resnik Judith Arlene Resnik (April 5, 1949 – January 28, 1986) was an American electrical engineer, software engineer, biomedical engineer, pilot and NASA astronaut who died in the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster. She was the fourth woman, ...

(astronaut, died during the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster) * Marvin Zindler (journalist) * David Berg, Attorney and Author (attorney; partner at Berg and Androphy, and author of "Run, Brother, Run: A Memoir of a Murder in My Family")

Notes

References

* Bell, Roselyn. "Houston". In: Tigay, Alan M. (editor) ''The Jewish Traveler: Hadassah Magazine's Guide to the World's Jewish Communities and Sights''.

Rowman & Littlefield Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing compa ...

, January 1, 1994. p. 215-220. , 9781568210780. ** Content also in: Tigay, Alan M. ''Jewish Travel-Prem''. Broadway Books, January 18, 1987. , 9780385241984. * Rothman, Irving N. ''The Barber in Modern Jewish Culture: A Genre of People, Places, and Things, with Illustrations''.

Edwin Mellen Press The Edwin Mellen Press or Mellen Press is an international Independent business, independent company and Academic publisher, academic publishing house with editorial offices in Lewiston (town), New York, Lewiston, New York, and Lampeter, Lampete ...

, August 14, 2008. * Snyder, Jill Donnie and Eric K. Goodman. ''Friend of the Court, 1947-1982: The Anti-defamation League of B'nai B'rith : to Secure Justice and Fair Treatment for All''. The League, 1983

External links

Jewish Federation of Greater Houston
; Houses of worship
The Shul of Bellaire
{{History of the Jews in the United States Demographics of Houston Houston History of Houston Houston