Draft:Fort Worth Jewish Archvies
Jewish Historical Archive
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The Fort Worth Jewish community, comprising 5,000 residents as of 2015, is centered around the activities of two century-old congregations and a constellation of clubs, social service programs, branches of national organizations, and auxiliary groups for men, women, youths and seniors. [1]
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Comment: In accordance with the Wikimedia Foundation's Terms of Use, I disclose that I have been paid by my employer for my contributions to this article. Jessie0220 (talk) 17:07, 14 April 2026 (UTC)
The city’s first two Jewish pioneers were Simon Gabert, a Prussian immigrant, and Jacob Samuels, a Polish immigrant, who settled in Fort Worth in the mid-1850s. Both fought in the Civil War – Gabert for the Union and Samuels for the Confederacy.[2] Although Jews settled in Fort Worth in the 1850s, it was a frontier town with military roots and so was slow to form Jewish institutions.
The first of these was a cemetery, Emanuel Hebrew Rest, founded when a non-Jew deeded land in 1879 for separate burial grounds for Catholics, Protestants, African Americans, and Jews.[3]
Fort Worth Jewry’s communal history is a tale of two congregations, Ahavath Sholom and Beth-El. Congregation Ahavath Sholom, began in 1892 when eastern European refugees chartered a traditional synagogue where men and women sat separately, worshippers chanted Hebrew, and the minutes were written in Yiddish. Ahavath Sholom remained unaffiliated until 1991 when it joined the Conservative movement and became a member of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. Beth-El Congregation, began as a Reform congregation when it was chartered in 1902 by families that had been in the region since before the Civil War. Beth-El has been affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism since its beginning. [4]
The Hebrew Free Loan Association or Gemach or Gemilut Chasidim, was started in 1907, and it is still in operation extending interest-free loans local to Jews upon the written recommendation of two backers.
In 1910 Congregation Ahavath Sholom established its own cemetery, Ahavath Sholom Cemetery, and organized a Chevra Kadisha.
For three decades, from 1913 into the Depression years, the city published the Jewish Monitor [5] a regional weekly that circulated from Oklahoma to Arkansas and Louisiana. In 1948 the Texas Jewish Post, a weekly that still circulates in the Fort Worth/Dallas metropolitan area, was launched by Fort Worth residents Jimmy and Rene Wisch; their descendants continue publishing the newspaper.
The first Jewish community center was the Hebrew Institute, which operated in a three-story building in downtown from 1914 to 1950.
The second, the Dan Danciger Jewish Community Center, operated on a twenty-acre campus from 1965 until 1995.[6] [7]
The Fort Worth Jewish Federation began in 1936 and has expanded to encompass all of Tarrant County, which by the twenty-first century was home to three additional Jewish congregations, (Beth Shalom in Arlington, Congregation Kol Ami in Flower Mound, Beth Israel in Colleyville) and two Chabad Lubavitch centers.
The Lil Goldman Early Learning Center, named for pioneering local Jewish educator Lilaine Goldman, is the oldest preschool in the city. It began in 1952, has a Jewish-based curriculum, and is attended by children of all religions.[8]
The local Jewish community was instrumental in endowing and working with Texas Christian University in the late 1990s to establish a Jewish Studies program at its Brite Divinity School. Prominent speakers at the Jewish Studies program’s annual Gates of Chai Lecture in Contemporary Judaism have included author Chaim Potok, political commentator Susan Estrich, Rabbi Harold Kushner, and a founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Morris Dees, Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, and Rabbi Joseph Telushkin.
On October 9, 1892, 31 men led by Moses Shanblum founded Congregation Ahavath Sholom (Hebrew for 'Love of Peace'). Early members, mainly Russian and Polish refugees, included Jacob Samuels, who was one of the city’s first Jewish settlers in the 1850s.[9]
Jarvis & Hemphill St. (1895-1899) In 1894, Ahavath Sholom purchased lot on the corner of Jarvis and Hemphill streets, and in 1895 members raised $640 to construct Fort Worth’s first Jewish house of worship. 819 Taylor Street (1899-1951) In 1899 a lot was purchased at 819 Taylor Street and the original building was moved. In 1906, the original building was replaced with a two-story brick building.
Fort Worth Hebrew Institute, 821 Taylor Street (1914-1951) Constructed in 1914, Fort Worth’s Hebrew Institute, was a three-story community center that housed Ahavath Sholom's Hebrew school, a gymnasium, an auditorium with a stage, a catering kitchen, library, and offices, including the rabbi's study.
1300 West Myrtle Street (1951-1980) On February 18, 1951, Ahavath Sholom broke ground for a new synagogue at Eighth and Myrtle St. The building was dedicated the weekend of Sept. 11-14, 1952.
4050 South Hulen Street (1980-present) In July of 1972, Ahavath Sholom purchased twelve acres at the corner of Hulen and Briarhaven, the groundbreaking ceremony took place September 30, 1979, and the dedication was held December 5, 1980
Rabbi Korn Jan 2 - Feb. 28, 1904
Rabbi George Halpern Mar 2 1904 - 1908
Rabbi Charles Blumenthal 1908 - 1913; 1916-1919; 1945-1956 http://findingaids.cjh.org/?pID=364727
Rabbi N. Gerstein Jan 1914 - Jan. 31, 1915
Rabbi E. Horowitz Apr 13 1915 – 1916
Rabbi Abraham E. Abramowitz Sep 1919 - 1922
Rabbi Abraham Bengis Sep 1922 - Jan.1923, Nov. 1926 - May 1929 https://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Abraham_Bengis
Rabbi Benjamin Wade Feb 1923 - 1926
Rabbi Philip Graubart Dec 1929 - Dec 1944
Rabbi Isadore Garsek 1946 - 1979 (Rabbi emeritus until his death in 1985)
Rabbi Alexander Graubart 1979 - 1981
Rabbi Jacob “Jake” Izakson 1981 - 1990
Rabbi Arnold Stiebel 1990 - 1991
Rabbi Sidney Zimelman 1991 - 1998 http://www.fwtx.com/articles/fwtxmag/features/nine-lives-amazing-stories-survival/Sidney-Zimelman
Interim Rabbi Moshe Tutnauer 1998 - 1999 http://blog.rabbijason.com/2010/02/king-tut-of-blessed-memory.html
Rabbi Alberto Zeilicovich Dec 1999 – July 2009 http://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/a-conversation-with-rabbi-zeilicovich/
Interim Rabbi Gary Perras 2009 - 2011 http://cmfmedia.org/web/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/PerrasG_bio.pdf
Rabbi Andrew Bloom 2011 - present http://startwiththeshoes.com/administration/professional-staff/rabbi/
On October 11, 1902, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram announced in a one-column article, “Reformed Jews Are Organized.” Most of Beth El’s 43 founders had lived for a decade or more in Fort Worth. These included Simon Gabert who had arrived in the 1850s from Prussia. In 1904 [[Joseph Jasin[[ became the first full time rabbi of Beth El.
601 Taylor Street (1908-1920) In 1908 Beth-El purchased a $7,700 lot on the southeast corner of Fifth and Taylor streets, two blocks north of Congregation Ahavath Sholom. In 1920, when the congregation relocated, the building was sold for $20,000 to Tribune Publishing Company.
207 West Broadway Avenue (1920–2000) In September of 1920 congregation Beth-El moved into its second home at Broadway and Galveston. On August 29, 1946, fire gutted the building. It was completely rebuilt and re-dedicated in the fall of 1948 where the congreagation remained until 2000.
Danciger Memorial Education Wing (1962-2000) The two-story Danciger Memorial Education Wing with nine classrooms, a library, an activity room for teen-agers, and administrative offices, was dedicated the weekend of January 12-14, 1962
4900 Briarhaven Drive at Hulen Street (2000–present) Groundbreaking for the current building took place October 18, 1998, and the congregation held its first services in August 2000.
Solomon Philo, Sep.–Dec. 1902
Joseph Jasin, 1904–1908
George Zepin, 1908–1910
G. George Fox, 1910–1922
Harry A. Merfeld, 1922–1936
Samuel D. Soskin, 1936–1943 and 1946–1949 < http://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/29/archives/samuel-soskin-brooklyn-rabbi-active-in-civil-rights-is-dead.html>
Eugene Lipman, interim-rabbi, Sept. 1943–June 1944 <http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1994-01-16/news/9401160220_1_american-rabbis-leader-of-reform-judaism-rabbi-emeritus>
Ernest Szrulyovics Grey, interim-rabbi, Sept., 1944–Dec., 1945
Milton Rosenbaum, 1949–1956
Abraham J. Brachman, adjunct rabbi, 1949–1956
Robert J. Schur, 1956–1986, emeritus 1986–1994
Ralph D. Mecklenburger, 1984–2016, emeritus 2016-present < http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article58924848.html>
Rabbi Brian Zimmerman, 2016 – present. < http://tjpnews.com/zimmerman-new-senior-rabbi-at-fort-worths-beth-el/>