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.
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.
Temple Sinai, also known as Congregation Sinai, whose official name is the Sumter Society of Israelites, is an historic Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 11-13 Church Street, on the corner of West Hampton Avenue, in Sumter, South Carolina, in the United States.
Temple Adas Israel is an historic Reform Jewish synagogue located at the intersection of Washington and College streets in Brownsville, West Tennessee. Built in 1882 by German Jewish immigrants and descendants, it is the oldest synagogue building in Tennessee and one of fewer than one hundred surviving 19th-century synagogues in the country. On January 19, 1979, Temple Adas Israel was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Congregation Ohabai Sholom, known as The Temple, is a Reform Jewish synagogue located at 5015 Harding Pike, in Nashville, Tennessee, in the United States. Founded in the 1840s, the congregation is notable for the elaborate, Moorish Revival Vine Street Temple that was its home from 1874 until its demolition in 1954; replaced by its current synagogue the following year.
Congregation Sha'arai Shomayim, is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 1769 Springhill Avenue, in Mobile, Alabama, in the United States. Organized in 1844, it is the oldest Jewish congregation in Alabama, and one of the oldest in the United States. The current synagogue for the congregation is the Springhill Avenue Temple.
Temple Adath Israel is an historical Reform Jewish synagogue located at 201 South Bolivar Avenue, in Cleveland, Mississippi, in the United States.
Congregation B’nai Israel is an historic Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue at 401 West Grand Street in Jackson, Tennessee, in the United States.
Temple B'nai Jeshurun is a former Jewish congregation and synagogue located in Demopolis, Alabama, in the United States. Established in 1858, making it the fourth oldest Jewish congregation in Alabama, it was active throughout the latter half of the 19th century and most of the 20th century.
Temple Beth Or, founded as Kahl Montgomery, is an historic Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 2246 Narrow Lane Road, in the Cloverdale neighborhood of Montgomery, Alabama, in the United States.
Congregation Gemiluth Chassodim known locally as "The Jewish Temple" is an historic Jewish synagogue located in Alexandria, Louisiana, in the United States. Founded in 1859 by Jews from the Alsace region of France, it is one of the oldest congregations in Louisiana and one of the original founding members of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, now known as the Union for Reform Judaism.
B'Nai Zion Temple is a historic Jewish temple located in downtown Shreveport, Louisiana. It was constructed in 1914 and dedicated in 1915.
Temple Beth-El is a historic Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 301 East Thirteenth Street, in Anniston, Alabama, United States, in the United States. The synagogue was built in 1891 in the Romanesque Revival style.
Temple Emanu-El, is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 2100 Highland Avenue South, in Birmingham, Alabama, in the United States.
Temple Meir Chayim is a historic former Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 4th and Holly Streets in McGehee, Arkansas, in the United States. The building operated as a synagogue between 1947 and 2016; and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
Sigmund Hecht (1849–1925) was a Hungarian-born American Reform rabbi. An immigrant to the United States, he served congregations in Alabama and Wisconsin before serving as the fifth rabbi of Congregation B'nai B'rith, the oldest synagogue in Los Angeles, California, from 1899 to 1919.
Temple B'nai Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 1301 Marshall Street, in Tupelo, Lee County, Mississippi, in the United States. The congregation was established in 1939.
Temple B'nai Israel is a synagogue built in 1905 and located at 213 South Commerce Street in the Natchez On-Top-of-the-Hill Historic District in Natchez, Mississippi. The congregation is the oldest in the state, established in 1840. The building is listed as a Mississippi Landmark since 2002.
