Part of a series on |
Ethnicity in Dallas–Fort Worth |
---|
|
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and has one of the largest Jewish communities in the state. [1]
Many Jews, primarily from various German principalities, arrived in Dallas during a wave of mid-nineteenth century immigration to Texas following the Revolutions of 1848 in Europe. [2] Some of these Jews were "Forty-eighters" who had supported the revolutions.
The city's first Jewish cemetery was established in 1854. [3] At this point in time, the small but growing Jewish community wanted to establish permanent religious structure and engage a Rabbi in order to conduct services and offer religious education for children. In 1872, the "Hebrew Benevolent Association" was formed, a charity relief organization that also sponsored the city's first High Holiday services. [4]
In 1873, several families founded the first congregation in the Dallas area, Temple Emanu-El (originally "Jewish Congregation Emanu-El), a Reform congregation. [5] In 1875, Temple Emanu-El was chartered, and it engaged its first rabbi, Aaron Suhler. In 1876, the congregation built a small red brick temple in the Byzantine style at Commerce and Church (now Field) streets in downtown Dallas. In 1906, Temple Emanu-El joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations an association of Reform congregations.
Shearith Israel (originally "Shaareth Israel") was founded in Deep Ellum as an Orthodox synagogue in 1884. [6] Originally, the congregation was quite small and included only a dozen men. Accordingly, the congregation initially met on the second floor of a local grocery store. Shearith Israel was chartered in 1886. In 1892, Shearith Israel constructed a synagogue on Jackson Street, and its congregation grew to fifty-five members by 1900. The 1908 Texas Zionist Association Convention was held at Shearith Israel. [7]
In 1890, eleven Orthodox Jews founded Tiferet Israel. [6] The congregation purchased a house for use as a synagogue in 1893 and used it for two years before demolishing it and constructing a synagogue on the same lot. From 1900 to 1906, Tiferet Israel and Shearith Israel shared the same rabbi.
A group of Austrian and Romanian Jews from Austria-Hungary established Anshe Sphard (also called "Roumanishe Shul" A ), [6] a Sephardic synagogue, in 1906. [8] In 1913, the congregation purchased a house that was used as a synagogue until 1936, when the congregation acquired a former telephone exchange building.
Many Jewish merchants contributed to the growth of Dallas, often working together for the betterment of the city. [9] Because Jewish merchants were often the prime supporters of the community's cultural institutions and charities, their economic health often dictated the economic health of the city. Local newspapers received most of their income from advertising from Jewish merchants, enabling them to remain independent and impartial in their reporting unlike European newspapers which were often funded by a particular political party. Jewish merchants were often among the largest bank depositors and frequently sat on the boards of local banks. [10]
In 1947, a member of the Jewish community in Dallas began printing the Texas Jewish Post. [11] In 1957 the temple moved to its present location in North Dallas. Architects Howard R. Meyer and Max M. Sandfield, with noted California architect William W. Wurster as consultant, received an Award of Merit from the American Institute of Architects for the design of the present structure, which was enhanced by art coordinator György Kepes of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Handbook of Texas 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 Texas Centennial in 1936." [3]
In 1956, Anshe Sphard merged with Shearith Israel. [6]
Private Jewish K-12 schools in the Dallas area include: [12]
Levine Academy is a Conservative Judaism school, and Yavneh is a Modern Orthodox school. The schools following Orthodox Judaism are Akiba Academy and Mesorah High. [17]
Isaac Mayer Wise Academy, a Reform Judaism school, was previously in operation. [17] The school, founded in 1996, [18] opened in 1997, [19] and closed in 2006. [18]
For a period of time prior to the 1970s, Hillcrest High School was known as "Hebrew High" due to the number of Jewish students enrolled. [20] [21]
Texas Torah Institute, (TTI) is an Orthodox Jewish high school (grades 9-12) which also has a post-high-school program. The school opened in 2003 and was started by Rabbis Eliyahu Kaufman and Shlomo Pacht. Later Rabbi Daniel Ringelheim joined the school. All three Rabbis are the Roshei Hayeshiva who obtained their ordination from the Rabbinical Seminary of America. The school specializes in Talmudic education for all of its students.
This list of "famous" or "notable" people has no clear inclusion or exclusion criteria . Please help improve this article by defining clear inclusion criteria to contain only subjects that fit those criteria. (September 2012) |
Congregation Emanu-El of New York is the first Reform Jewish congregation in New York City. It has served as a flagship congregation in the Reform branch of Judaism since its founding in 1845. The congregation uses Temple Emanu-El of New York, one of the largest synagogues in the world.
Titche-Goettinger was a department store chain based in Dallas, Texas. It was established in 1902 and was a major player in the Dallas retail market until its merger with Joske's, which was later absorbed by Dillard's.
The Congregation Shearith Israel, often called The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue located at 2 West 70th Street, at Central Park West, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States.
Temple Emanu-El is a Reform Jewish synagogue located at 8500 Hillcrest Road, in Dallas, Texas, in the United States. Chartered as the Jewish Congregation Emanu-El in 1875, it was the first Reform congregation in North Texas, and is the largest synagogue in the South.
Jewish Texans have been a part of the history of Texas since the first European explorers arrived in the region in the 16th century. In 1990, there were around 108,000 adherents to Judaism in Texas. More recent estimates place the number at around 120,000.
Rabbi David Eli Stern is the senior rabbi at Temple Emanu-El of Dallas, the largest synagogue in the South/Southwest United States and the third-largest in the Union for Reform Judaism. He was selected as the 26th most influential rabbi in America by Newsweek magazine in 2008 and the 30th most influential in 2009. Rabbi Stern graduated with high honors from Dartmouth College, earned his M. A. in Jewish education from the Rhea Hirsch School of Education at HUC-JIR Los Angeles, California in 1988, and was ordained from HUC in 1989.
Jews have inhabited the city of Galveston, Texas, for almost two centuries. The first known Jewish immigrant to the Galveston area was Jao de la Porta, who, along with his brother Morin, financed the first settlement by Europeans on Galveston Island in 1816. de la Porta was born in Portugal of Jewish parentage and later became a Jewish Texan trader. In 1818, Jean Laffite appointed de la Porta supercargo for the Karankawa Indian trade. When Laffite left Galveston Island in 1820, de la Porta became a full-time trader.
Levi Arthur Olan 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 1929. He served as rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Worcester, Massachusetts from 1929 to 1948, and Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, Texas from 1948 to his retirement in 1970. Olan was one of the most prominent liberal voices in Dallas, which was a predominantly conservative city. His views on poverty, war, civil rights, civil liberties and other topics were disseminated largely through his popular program on WFAA radio, and earned him the moniker, “the conscience of Dallas.” He also had a longstanding visiting professorship at Southern Methodist University and published numerous works on Judaism, process theology, and contemporary social issues.
Temple Beth El is a Reform synagogue located at in Bloomfield Township, Oakland County, Michigan, in the United States. Beth El was founded in 1850 in the city of Detroit, and is the oldest Jewish congregation in Michigan. Temple Beth El was a founding member of the Union for Reform Judaism in 1873, and hosted the meeting in 1889 during which the Central Conference of American Rabbis was established.
The 19th century saw Jews, like many other people, moving to the American West.
Congregation Am Tikvah is a combined Conservative and Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 625 Brotherhood Way in San Francisco, California, in the United States. The congregation was formed in 2021 as the result of the merger of the Conservative B'nai Emunah and the Reform Beth Israel Judea congregations, with the latter formed in 1969 through a merger of the Conservative Congregation Beth Israel and the Reform Temple Judea. The congregation is affiliated with both the Union for Reform Judaism and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
David Lefkowitz was a rabbi who led Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, Texas from 1920 to 1949, after having worked at Temple Israel in Dayton, Ohio. He opposed the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, which had been revived in 1915; it was strongly opposed to immigrants from eastern and southern Europe who were Jews and Catholics. He was a Founding Executive Committee Member of the Dayton Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Congregation Beth Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 5600 North Braeswood Boulevard, in Houston, Texas, in the United States. The congregation, founded in 1854, is the oldest Jewish congregation in Texas; and it operates the Shlenker School.
Congregation Beth Yeshurun is a Conservative synagogue at 4525 Beechnut Street, Houston, Texas, in the United States.
The Jewish community of Houston, Texas has grown and thrived since the 1800s. As of 2008, Jews lived in many Houston neighborhoods and Meyerland is the center of the Jewish community in the area.
The history of the Jews in Atlanta began in the early years of the city's settlement, and the Jewish community continues to grow today. In its early decades, the Jewish community was largely made up of German Jewish immigrants who quickly assimilated and were active in broader Atlanta society. As with the rest of Atlanta, the Jewish community was affected greatly by the American Civil War. In the late 19th century, a wave of Jewish migration from Eastern Europe brought less wealthy, Yiddish speaking Jews to the area, in stark contrast to the established Jewish community. The community was deeply impacted by the Leo Frank case in 1913–1915, which caused many to re-evaluate what it meant to be Jewish in Atlanta and the South, and largely scarred the generation of Jews in the city who lived through it. In 1958, one of the centers of Jewish life in the city, the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation, known as "The Temple" was bombed over its rabbi's support for the Civil Rights Movement. Unlike decades prior when Leo Frank was lynched, the bombing spurred an outpouring of support from the broader Atlanta community. In the last few decades, the community has steadily become one of the ten largest in the United States. As its population has risen, it has also become the Southern location of many national Jewish organizations, and today there are a multitude of Jewish institutions. The greater Atlanta area is considered to be home to the country's ninth largest Jewish population.
The history of the Jews in San Francisco began with the California Gold Rush in the second half of the 19th-century.