Jewish Texans have been a part of the history of Texas since the first

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

explorers arrived in the region in the 16th century.Texas Almanac: Jewish-Texans
/ref> In 1990, there were around 108,000 adherents to

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. More recent estimates place the number at around 120,000.

History of Jewish Texans

Spanish Texas Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1690 until 1821. The term "interior provinces" first appeared in 1712, as an expression meaning "far away" provinces. It was only in 1776 that a lega ...

did not welcome easily identifiable Jews, but they came in any case.

Jao de la Porta João da Porta (also José da Porta), along with his older brother Morin, was a Portuguese Jewish merchant important in the early settlement of the Texan coast. João was born in Portugal but attended school in Paris, before moving to Brazil, the B ...

was with

Jean Laffite Jean Lafitte ( – ) was a French pirate and privateer who operated in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his older brother Pierre spelled their last name Laffite, but English language documents of the time used "Lafitte". Thi ...

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

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. The first families were conversos and Sephardic Jews. Later settlers such as the

Simon family The history of the Jews in Brenham, Texas; covers a period of over 140 years. As one of the first areas in Texas, outside of major population centers, to develop a sizable Jewish population, the community boasts many things of historical note. The ...

, 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. Today the vast majority of Jewish Texans are descendants of

Ashkenazi Jews Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

, those from central and eastern Europe whose families arrived in Texas after the Civil War or later. Organized Judaism in Texas began in Galveston with the establishment of Texas' first

Jewish cemetery A Jewish cemetery ( he, בית עלמין ''beit almin'' or ''beit kvarot'') is a cemetery where Jews are buried in keeping with Jewish tradition. Cemeteries are referred to in several different ways in Hebrew, including ''beit kevarot'' ...

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 Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous searc ...

congregation, Temple B'nai Israel, in 1868. The first synagogue in Texas, Congregation Beth Israel of Houston, was founded in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

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 (San Antonio, Texas) was founded in San Antonio in 1874, followed by Temple Emanu-El of Dallas in 1875 and

Brenham Brenham ( ) is a city in east-central Texas in Washington County, United States, with a population of 17,369 according to the 2020 U.S. census. It is the county seat of Washington County. Washington County is known as the "Birthplace of Texas, ...

'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

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

community while B'nai Abraham, currently led by Rabbi Leon Toubin, is the state's oldest existing

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 ...

synagogue. Between 1907 and 1914, a resettlement program, known as the

Galveston Movement The Galveston Movement, also known as the Galveston Plan, was a U.S. immigration assistance program operated by several Jewish organizations between 1907 and 1914. The program diverted Jewish immigrants, fleeing Russia and eastern Europe, away fr ...

, was in operation to divert Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe away from the crowded-immigrant cities in the

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

. Ten thousand Jewish immigrants passed through the

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

city of Galveston during this era, approximately one-third the number who migrated to the area of the Ottoman Empire that would become the state of Israel during the same period. Henry Cohen, the rabbi of B'nai Israel at the time, is credited with helping to found the Movement. Texas, however, suffered from

antisemitism 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 ...

nearly as soon as it became a state in the 19th century. Judge

Roy Bean Phantly Roy Bean Jr. (c. 1825 – March 16, 1903) was an American saloon-keeper and Justice of the Peace in Val Verde County, Texas, who called himself "The Only Law West of the Pecos". According to legend, he held court in his saloon along th ...

's first act as Justice of the Peace was to "shoot ..up the saloon shack of a Jewish competitor". Judge Roy Bean then turned the tent saloon into a part-time courtroom, pronounced his own innocence, and began calling himself the "Law West of the Pecos". During the early 1920s the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

became influential in Texas. Billie Mayfield edited a weekly Klan newspaper in Houston that regularly used antisemitic stereotypes to attack Jews as parasites only interested in extracting wealth from the community. In one article, Mayfield even wrote that “there are lots of good Jews in Houston and all over Texas; you find them with tombstones over their heads.” In many ways, the KKK threat helped unify the Houston Jewish community, which fought against the racist, antisemitic organization with newspaper articles, business boycotts, and legal action. By 1924, the Klan had lost much of its local support and influence, and Mayfield's newspaper went out of business. Even during the height of the KKK's influence, Houston Jews held powerful roles in the local economy. By the 1920s, big department stores in Houston, such as Foley's and Battlestein's, were owned by Jews. Brothers Simon and Tobias Sakowitz, who left Russia as young children, opened a clothing store in Houston in 1915 that eventually became Sakowitz's, one of the finest department stores in the city until it declared bankruptcy during the economic downtown of the 1980s and sold most of the business to an Australian company. The Sakowitz stores closed for good in 1990. Many Jewish immigrants thrived in Houston such as Joe Weingarten. Weingarten who was born in Poland became a very successful grocery store owner. He pioneered the innovations of cash and carry and self-service grocery stores in Houston, building a local chain that reached 70 locations by the time of his death in 1967. He was very active in Jewish social causes as well. Among the leading philanthropists in Texas were several Jews such as Ben Taub. Taub who was born and raised in Houston, became a leading real estate developer. He donated the land for the University of Houston when it was founded in 1936. He also helped

Baylor College of Medicine Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is a medical school and research center in Houston, Texas, within the Texas Medical Center, the world's largest medical center. BCM is composed of four academic components: the School of Medicine, the Graduate Sc ...

to move to

from

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

in 1943. Taub founded a new public charity hospital which is known as Ben Taub hospital today. The Jewish community in 1958, decided to build a $450,000 Jewish Institute for Medical Research, which they donated to the

when it was completed in 1964. Leopold Meyer was a major donor and fundraiser for the

Texas Children's Hospital Texas Children's Hospital is a nationally ranked, freestanding 973-bed, acute care women's and children's hospital located in Houston, Texas. It is the primary pediatric teaching hospital affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine and is located wit ...

. He was also the longtime director of two of Houston's most iconic annual events: the Livestock Show and Rodeo, and the Pin Oak Horse Show. The ''

Handbook of Texas The ''Handbook of Texas'' is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). History The original ''Handbook'' was the brainchild of TSHA President Wal ...

'' states that "The formal preservation of the history of Texas Jewry goes back to Rabbi Henry Cohen of Galveston and Rabbi David Lefkowitz of Dallas, who set out to interview as many early settlers and their families as possible. They produced a historical account for the

Centennial {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at a ...

in 1936.". More recently, prominent Jewish Texans include the late retailer

Stanley Marcus Harold Stanley Marcus"Personal" (column), ''The Dallas Morning News'', November 9, 1905, page 5. (April 20, 1905 – January 22, 2002) was president (1950–1972) and later chairman of the board (1972–1976) of the luxury retailer Neiman ...

, longtime

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Neiman-Marcus Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. is an American integrated luxury retailer headquartered in Dallas, Texas, which owns Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Horchow, and Last Call. Since September 2021, NMG has been owned by a group of investment compani ...

based in

, and Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Computer. Dell is also active in charity and civic affairs, including helping to fund the Dell Children's Hospital in

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

and the Dell Diamond supporting the

Round Rock Express The Round Rock Express are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. They are located in Round Rock, Texas, and play their home games at the Dell Diamond. The team is named ...

AAA professional baseball team owned by Nolan Ryan and run by the Ryan family. Joe Straus (born September 1, 1959), elected

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

of the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abou ...

on January 13, 2009, was the first Jewish Speaker in Texas history.

Notable Jewish Texans

* Steve Adler *

Ray Benson Ray Benson (born Ray Benson Seifert, March 16, 1951 - October 31st 2022) i Western swing Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the Western United States, West and Southern United St ...

Henri Castro Henri Castro (born Moïse Henriques de Castro, July 17, 1786 – November 3, 1865), a Jewish Texan, was one of the most important empresarios of the Republic of Texas. Early life Castro, who was born in Bayonne, France, was a French diplomat o ...

* Henry Cohen * Jacob De Cordova *

* Michael Dell * Kinky Friedman * Martin Frost *

Peter Hotez Peter Jay Hotez (born May 5, 1958) is an American scientist, pediatrician, and advocate in the fields of global health, vaccinology, and neglected tropical disease control. He serves as founding dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine, P ...

Isaac Herbert Kempner Isaac Herbert Kempner (January 14, 1873 – August 1, 1967) was the founder of the Imperial Sugar Corporation and mayor of Galveston, Texas. Early years Kempner was born in 1873 in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father was a Polish Jewish immigrant and h ...

* Jimmy Kessler * Olga Bernstein Kohlberg *

Haymon Krupp Haymon Krupp, a Jewish Texan merchant and member of the Texas wildcatters, was born in Lithuania on March 14, 1874. In 1890 he immigrated to El Paso, Texas, where he worked in a dry-goods store and soon opened his own men's clothing store. He pionee ...

Abraham Cohen Labatt Abraham Cohen Labatt (1802, Charleston, South Carolina - August 16, 1899, Galveston, Texas) was an American Sephardic Jew who was a prominent pioneer of Reform Judaism in the United States in the 19th century, founding several early congregations in ...

* Shimon Lazaroff *

David Lefkowitz David Lefkowitz (April 11, 1875 – June 5, 1955), a rabbi, led Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, Texas from 1920 to 1949, after having worked at Temple Israel in Dayton, Ohio.

* Albert Levy *

Lewis MacAdams Lewis MacAdams (October 12, 1944 – April 21, 2020) was an American poet, journalist, political activist, and filmmaker.Herbert Marcus Herbert Marcus (September 6, 1878 – December 11, 1950) was one of the co-founders of Neiman Marcus, and later became its chief executive officer. Biography Born to a Jewish family in Kentucky, Marcus moved to Hillsboro, Texas after dropping ou ...

Lawrence Marcus Lawrence Marcus (July 5, 1917 – November 1, 2013) was the fourth and youngest child in a prominent Jewish family that includes his father Neiman Marcus Department Store cofounder Herbert Marcus, his mother Minnie Lichtenstein Marcus and also his ...

* Minnie Lichtenstein Marcus *

Laura Miller Laura Miller (born November 18, 1958) is an American journalist and politician who served as the 58th mayor of Dallas, Texas from 2002 through 2007. She decided not to run for re-election in 2007. She was the third woman to serve as mayor of Da ...

* Abraham Lincoln Neiman *

Carrie Marcus Neiman Carrie Marcus Neiman (May 3, 1883 – March 6, 1953) was an American businesswoman and one of the co-founders of Neiman Marcus, a luxury department store. Early life Carrie Marcus was born in Louisville, Kentucky to German-Jewish immigrants De ...

Levi Olan Levi Arthur Olan (March 22, 1903 – October 17, 1984) was an American Reform Jewish rabbi, liberal social activist, author, and professor. Born in Ukraine in 1903, he grew up in Rochester, New York and was ordained at Hebrew Union College in 1 ...

Lois Roisman Lois Roisman (March 29, 1938 – June 2, 2008) was an American philanthropist, playwright and poet. Background Lois Levin was a native of Fayetteville, Texas, and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. Following her marriage to Arnold Fagin, ...

* Samuel Irving Rosenman *

Jack Ruby Jack Leon Ruby (born Jacob Leon Rubenstein; April 25, 1911January 3, 1967) was an American nightclub owner and alleged associate of the Chicago Outfit who murdered Lee Harvey Oswald on November 24, 1963, two days after Oswald was accused of th ...

* Hyman Judah Schachtel * A. R. Schwartz *

Florence Shapiro Florence Donald Shapiro (born May 2, 1948) is an American politician from Texas, a Republican former member of the Texas Senate. From 1993 to 1995, she represented the 2nd District and from 1995 to 2013, the 8th District, which includes several ...

* Samuel M. Stahl * David E. Stern *

Adolphus Sterne Nicholas Adolphus Sterne (April 5, 1801 – March 27, 1852) served three terms in the Texas House of Representatives and one term in the Texas State Senate. He immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1817, living in Louisiana for ten yea ...

* Matt Stone * Joe Straus *

Robert S. Strauss Robert Schwarz Strauss (October 19, 1918 – March 19, 2014) was an influential figure in American politics, diplomacy, and law whose service dated back to future President Lyndon Johnson's first congressional campaign in 1937. By the 1950s, he ...

Peter Tarlow Peter E. Tarlow (born May 4, 1946) is a rabbi and was the executive director of Texas A&M Hillel from 1983 to 2013. He is a scholar in the area of tourism safety, a consultant for the tourism industry, and the founder of Tourism & More Inc. He wo ...

* Ben Taub * Jacob Joseph Taubenhaus * Stephen Tobolowsky *

Leon Toubin Leon Toubin, known locally as "The Last Jew of Brenham", a Jewish Texan civic leader, philanthropist, and historian, is the caretaker of B'nai Abraham Synagogue (Brenham, Texas), which he began attending in the late 1930s as part of the daily miny ...

* Marianne Williamson *

Harris Wittels Harris Lee Wittels (April 20, 1984 – February 19, 2015) was an American comedian. He was a writer for ''The Sarah Silverman Program'', a writer and executive producer for '' Parks and Recreation'', and a recurring guest on ''Comedy Bang! Bang!' ...

Marvin Zindler Marvin Harold Zindler (August 10, 1921 – July 29, 2007) was a news reporter for television station KTRK-TV in Houston, Texas, United States. His investigative journalism, through which he mostly represented the city's elderly and working class, ...

Jewish communities in Texas

* Temple Beth-El (San Antonio, Texas) *

Alamo The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna reclaimed the Alamo Mission near San Ant ...

Temple Emanuel * Congregation Beth Jacob (Galveston) * B'nai Abraham Synagogue, Brenham * Congregation B'nai Israel (Galveston) * Temple Emanu-El of Dallas *

Temple Freda Temple Freda, built in 1912, is a synagogue in Bryan, Texas. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 22, 1983. History Temple Freda, a part of Brazos County, Texas history, is one of the three oldest religious building ...

(Bryan-College Station) * Chabad at Texas A&M University *

Congregation Shearith Israel (Texas) Congregation Shearith Israel was a Jewish Texan community in Wharton, Texas. This rural Texan community held Jewish services for over 100 years (1899-2002). Community history Jewish immigrants, arriving as early as the 1850s, established additiona ...

Congregation Beth Israel of Houston Congregation Beth Israel of Houston, the Oldest synagogues in the United States, oldest Jewish congregation in Texas, was founded in Houston in 1854. It operates the Shlenker School. History The congregation was founded in 1854 as an Orthodox Je ...

Temple Beth-El, Corsicana Temple Beth-El is an historic Moorish Revival synagogue located at 208 South 15th Street in Corsicana, Navarro County, Texas. Landmark status Temple Beth-El became a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1981. On February 3, 1987, Temple Beth-El ...

Chabad Lubavitch Center
(Houston)
Young Israel of Houston
(Houston)
Congregation Beth Rambam
(Houston)
Meyerland Minyan
(Houston) * Congregation Beth Yeshurun (Houston)
United Orthodox Synagogues "UOS"
(Houston)
Torah Vachesed
(Houston)
Congregation Brith Shalom
(Houston) * Congregation Emanu El of Houston * Temple Mount Sinai (El Paso) * Congregatiion B'nai Zion (El Paso) * The Inner Circle (Denton, Texas) * The Thunderdome Yeshiva (San Antonio, Texas)

References

External links

Bryan Edward Stone, ''The Chosen Folks: Jews on the Frontiers of Texas''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jewish History In Texas

History of Texas

History of Jewish Texans

Notable Jewish Texans

Jewish communities in Texas

See also

References

External links