Lone Star Jews: The Jews of Texas
by: Nathan Weissler

In 1492, the King and Queen of Spain--Ferdinand and Isabella-- ordered the expulsion of the Spanish Jewish Community. Thus, the vibrant Jewish Community which had flourished in Spain for centuries was evicted. Many Jews who fled the country immigrated to the New World. The Eighteenth Century witnessed a mass of Jewish settlement in present-day Texas.

Authors Ruth Weinegarten and Cathy Schechter estimate in their study Deep in the Heart: The Lives and Legends of Texas Jews that the first permanent Jewish settler in Texas was Jao de la Porta. La Porta was a Portuguese Jew who settled in Galveston, Texas in approximately 1814. The Jewish Community also participated actively in the Texas Revolution of the 1830s. For instance, Adolphus Sterne, a German-American Jew (who ultimately married a Catholic who converted him to Catholicism) was close friends with Sam Houston. Houston referred to Sterne as "the rosy little Jew." After the 1845 annexation of Texas by the United States, Sterne served in the Texas State Senate from November 1851 until his death in 1852. Sterne’s diary Hurrah for Texas was published in 1986.

Another important participant in early Texas Jewish life was Maj. Leon Dyer, a German-American Jew who originally immigrated to Baltimore, Maryland. In Baltimore, Dyer served as President of the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation and was an organizer of the United Hebrew Society. After Texas won independence from Mexico in 1836, Dyer received a commission as a major in the Texas Army. Major Dyer even guarded the captured Mexican General-President Santa Anna on a visit to then-President Andrew Jackson in Washington, D.C.

In the years after the Texas Revolution, the Texas Jewish Community rapidly grew. In 1852, the first Jewish cemetery was established in Texas which was in Galveston. Shortly thereafter, Jewish cemeteries were established in Houston, San Antonio, Victoria and Jefferson, Texas. Congregation Beth Israel in Houston which was the first Texas synagogue to have an official charter was founded in 1859. Beth Israel was originally Orthodox but switched to Reform Judaism fifteen years later. Over the course of the next half-century, various other synagogues were established in Texas: Temple Emanu-El was established in Dallas in 1873. Temple Beth El of San Antonio was founded in 1873. Hebrew Sinai Congregation was established in Jefferson, Texas, in 1873. In 1924, Agudas Achim Congregation of Austin, TX received a charter as an Orthodox synagogue. However, the synagogue is affiliated with Conservative Judaism today.

Many prominent rabbis since have served Texas Jewry. A German-American rabbi, Zachariah Emmich of Temple Beth Israel in Houston was the first ordained rabbi in Texas. Other rabbis who served Texas Jewry included London-born Rabbi Henry Cohen. During his long tenure at Temple B’nai Israel of Galveston from 1888 until his death in 1952, Rabbi Cohen was known as a man of benevolence and charity.” Without my grandfather," Rabbi Cohen's grandson--Rabbi Henry Cohen II told me, "Texas would not have such a charismatic religious leader to look up to and to serve as a model and mentor for not only other rabbis but for people of every faith." Indeed, during the First World War, Rabbi Cohen was instrumental in persuading Congress to provide Jewish members of the U.S. Navy with a chaplain of their own faith. In the 1920s, he established a reputation as an avowed foe of the Ku Klux Klan.

Rabbi Henry Cohen II also recounted how his grandfather"…combined the role of the prophet...and that of counselor....” In response to the question of whether his grandfather ever wrote an ethical will, Rabbi Henry Cohen II responded, "My grandfather did not write an ethical will. He did not need to. His life was his will."

Other prominent Texas rabbis have included Rabbi Alexander L. Gurwitz also of Galveston who published a Yiddish verse translation of the Pentateuch. Another rabbi, David Lefkowitz of Temple Emanu-El in Dallas was like Rabbi Cohen before him a staunch opponent of the Ku Klux Klan. Rabbi Lefkowitz also served as Vice-President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism and served on the Executive Board of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.

More recently, Rabbi Jimmy Kessler of Temple B'nai Israel in Galveston was an original founder of the Texas Jewish Historical Society (TJHS) in 1980. Most recently, prominent Jewish Texans have included Rabbi David Jacobson of San Antonio who in 1976 became the first rabbi to serve as President of the National Conference of Social Welfare. Another prominent Jewish Texan is Richard S. "Kinky" Friedman who is a well-known singer and politician who unsuccessfully ran for Governor of Texas as an Independent in 2006.

In the spirit of a Jewish biblical saying, "One generation passes away and another generation comes...." may the next generation of Texas and world Jewry inherit, nurture, and pass on an active and vibrant Jewish community!

For more information, see a link to the Texas Jewish Historical Society website:

http://www.txjhs.com/