The purpose of this research guide is to provide links to resources relating to the history of the Hebrew and Jewish community of the Rio Grande Valley. The guide provides information on community members who have made a lasting impact on the Valley and links to primary and secondary sources among our collections as well as external links of interest.
Jewish people, fleeing the Spanish Inquisition, first arrived in Mexico and Texas as early as the 1500s during the Spanish conquest of the New World. The Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life (ISJL) has documented the long connection of Jewish immigrants to the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, including contributions to the cities of Brownsville, Harlingen, McAllen, and Mercedes and the wave of colonization in the 1830s - 1850s. Moreover, many individuals of Jewish and Hebrew descent have been instrumental in the establishment and growth of commerce, philanthropy, and local government in deep South Texas.
Sam Feldman was born in Poland, where he emigrated from at age 12. Feldman lived in New York and other places in Texas before settling in the Valley in 1926. He was a WWI veteran and a member of the American Legion for 35 years. He was active in the business community having successfully established Feldman's liquor stores throughout South Texas. Feldman was also active in the Jewish community and served as president of Temple Beth Israel in Harlingen. Mr. Feldman and his wife Clara, raised two sons Charles and Henry.
During prohibition, Feldman was in the scrap metal business. He owned and operated Harlingen Iron and Metal Company. After prohibition, he distributed liquor wholesale but got into the retail business to sell off excess inventory after his business partner fell ill. In 1944, Feldman pled guilty to charges of violating price ceilings. Charles and Henry took over the operation of Feldman's Liquor Stores after their father died in 1953.
Sam Perl (1898–1980), otherwise known as "Mr. Brownsville" was born in Podhajce, Austria. The Perl family emigrated to the U.S. and settled in Galveston in 1900. Upon seeing an advertisement for a men's clothing store in Brownsville, Sam and his brother Leon, sought to acquire it in 1926. Perl Bros. clothing store called The Fashion was located between 12th & 13th Streets on Elizabeth. The store relocated within downtown Brownsville a few times and boasted the most modern storefront in Brownsville in 1937.
Sam married Stella Cohn in 1928 and the couple raised two children. Sam, Leon, and Stella helped to establish regular Jewish religious services for the relatively small community in Brownsville. In the early 1930s, Temple Bethel-El was established with the assistance of the Perl family, and in the absence of an ordained rabbi, Sam served as the temple's spiritual leader. He was active in other community organizations, serving as a founding member of Charro Days, Brownsville Chamber of Commerce President (1945), and Chairman of the Brownsville Housing Authority.
Learn more Joseph, Harriett, and Sondra Shands. 1993. Sam Perl: Mr. Friendship and Mr. Temple Beth-El of Brownsville, Texas. Locus 5 (2): 145–61.
Ben Levine was born in Poland in 1904, but his family emigrated to the U.S. in 1905. Sometime between 1924 and 1926, he moved to the Rio Grande Valley, settling in Harlingen where he opened The Man's Shop. He and his wife Fannie raised two sons, Lewis and Leonard, who eventually joined the family business.
Ben Levine was active in the business investment and Jewish communities. He served as a member of the local chamber of commerce, advocated for Jewish welfare, especially during WWII, and served as president of Temple Beth Israel in Harlingen.
Read more about the Levines and The Man's Shop in the Valley Morning Star, 19 Nov. 1968.
Ruben graduated from Brownsville H.S. (1935) and Brownsville Junior College (1937) and earned his BBA from UT-Austin (1939). After graduation, Ruben returned to Brownsville to help his father with the family business. He answered "the call" during WWII, joining the US Army and serving as an artillery captain in Europe. After the war, the three Edelstein brothers, Ruben, Ben, and Arthur, took over operations of the furniture stores and eventually grew the business to several locations throughout the Valley.
Ruben married Bernice (Kalmans) in 1956 and raised two children in Brownsville. The couple was prominent in community affairs and philanthropic organizations. Ruben was a Rotarian for nearly 80 years and served on the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce, Gladys Porter Zoo, and United Fund (now United Way). During his term as mayor of the City of Brownsville (1975–9), Ruben established the Brownsville Community Health Clinic, emergency medical services, and public transportation.
The Hebrew Cemetery of Brownsville (2nd and East Madison Streets) was recognized by the Texas Historical Commission with a marker in 1996. The marker reads:
"Jewish settlers came to the Brownsville/Matamoros area in the mid-1840's. In 1868 one half acre of land next to the city cemetery was purchased by the Hebrew Benevolent society from Charles Stillman for $1. Victims of an 1858 yellow fever epidemic, who were originally buried in the city cemetery, were later reinterred here. This was the only Jewish burial ground to serve the lower Texas Valley and Matamoros until 1950. Among the many civic and business leaders buried here are immigrants from Europe and Veterans from every American War since 1845."
Learn more about History of The Hebrew Cemetery, by Larry Holtzman from the International Jewish Cemetery Project website.
By 1931, the Temple Beth Israel Sisterhood was organizing fundraisers to establish a permanent place of worship for the Jewish community of Harlingen. The building was designed by Stanley W. Bliss and constructed by Blythe & Duerson. By 1949, Temple Beth Israel opened bids for the construction of a new building in its present location at 17th and E. Jackson Streets. Dedications services for the new Temple were held on June 24, 1951.
Learn more about the Jewish communities of Harlingen and Mercedes from the Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities.
The congregation of Beth Israel was organized in the 1920s, but it had no permanent place to worship in Mercedes until 1935. In the early 1930s, members of the Temple Beth Israel Sisterhood organized several fundraisers to establish Temple Beth Isreal at 402 W. Tenth Street in Mercedes. By 1948 the congregation began shrinking as Jewish communities continued to expand and new temples were built in Harlingen (1951) and McAllen (1949).
In 2011, Temple Beth Israel was recognized as the first synagogue of Hidalgo County by the Texas Historical Commission.
Following WWII, the number of Jewish families in the McAllen area required a new Temple to be established in the upper Valley. In 1948, 28 Jewish families met in Pharr to begin organizing and the construction of Temple Emanuel began later that year. The building was designed by architect Zeb Rike and constructed by William E. Crawford. It was dedicated on March 20, 1949, and subsequently remodeled and enlarged in 1973.
The Temple Emanuel Cemetery located on South Ware Road at McAllen city limits was surveyed by the Hidalgo County Historical Commission in 1997. Learn more from the Cemeteries of Texas website.
Read more about the history of the Jewish community in McAllen from the Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities -
Documentary film "Remember My Soul," by Jillian Glantz. From the cover: "Jews have been in the New World since Columbus landed in 1492, yet their presence in many regions has been largely overshadowed because of the common practice of being Jewish in secret, known as Crypto-Judaism. Remember My Soul unearths the history of Sephardic Jews in South Texas and explores how their contributions to regional customs & culture have shaped the identity of people in the borderlands."
The research guides compiled by UTRGV staff and students are intended to assist patrons who are embarking upon new research endeavors. Our goal is to expand their knowledge of the types of resources available on a given topic, including books, archival materials, and websites. In so doing, our compilers have taken care to include collections, digital items, and resources that may be accessed not only through UTRGV but also via other institutions, repositories, and websites.
We wholeheartedly respect the research interests of others. Therefore, please contact us if you wish to submit a resource for consideration, or if you have a question about or an issue with a specific cited resource.
A blast from the past! : windows to yesteryear from the archives of the Brownsville Historical Association, 50th anniversary, 1947-1997. by
See Vol. 2, "The History of the Brownsville Hebrew Cemetery," by Chula Griffin
The Carvajal Family by
This is a modern translation of Alfonso Toro's classic story about the Spanish Inquisition in Mexico, which captures the tragedy and courage of Jews who chose to die rather than renounce their faith. Frances Hernandez has simplified the diction and syntax of this treasured Mexican classic, while maintaining the integrity of the original work.
Jewish Stars in Texas by
A fraction of Texans are Jewish, yet Texas rabbis are among the most influential, colorful, and celebrated figures in the state's history and culture. In Jewish Stars in Texas, Hollace Ava Weiner examines eleven rabbis whose wisdom and leadership were felt not only by their congregations but also by their communities. Texas proved to be a blank slate for many rabbis -- a chance to escape traditional practices, make a fresh start, or, simply, a chance to make a living. Of Weiner's eleven rabbis, ten grew to lead Reform congregations, stressing social justice and community service, and one was affiliated with Conservative Judaism, which seeks to balance tradition with modernity. Jewish Stars in Texas begins with the first large wave of Jewish immigrants to arrive in Texas in the 1870s. Weiner addresses the rabbis' roles as mixers, who bridged Jewish traditions with the cultural demands of Texas, and as motivators, who stirred up involvement in social causes. The influence of these Texas rabbis -- whether it involved fighting the Ku Klux Klan or founding a symphony -- can be appreciated by everyone who benefitted from the causes they championed. Jews and Texans who wish to learn more about their heritage will find this book essential reading and an engaging source of informative and colorful stories.
A life & history by 
Los Judios en la Nueva Espana (Jews in New Spain) by
Cuando este libro apareci hace ya medio siglo, arroj luz sobre uno de los temas m s apasionantes de la historia social del M xico colonial y allan el camino a las investigaciones sobre la heterodoxia religiosa en el seno de la comunidad hispana. Esta obra abri una puerta que ahora permite captar los alcances de la di spora del juda smo hisp nico entre principios del siglo XVI y mediados del XVII, es decir entre la llegada de los primeros jud os a la Nueva Espa a y el gran auto de fe de 1649.
Some tales of early Rio Grande Valley history with memories of my father, a valley pioneer by
A picture of early 20th century life in Brownsville, Texas is portrayed through a brief biography and collection of anecdotes concerning the life of Morris Edelstein and his family during his career as an early 20th century Brownsville merchant.
Studies in Brownsville history by
See "Temple Beth-El, 1931-1981," by Harriet Denise Joseph
The Virgin of Guadalupe and the Conversos by
Hidden lives, hidden history, and hidden manuscripts. In The Virgin of Guadalupe and the Conversos, Marie-Theresa Hernández unmasks the secret lives of conversos and judaizantes and their likely influence onthe Catholic Churchin the New World. The terms converso and judaizante are often used for descendants of Spanish Jews (the Sephardi, or Sefarditas as they are sometimes called), who converted under duress to Christianity in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. There are few, if any, archival documents that prove the existence of judaizantes after the Spanish expulsion of the Jews in 1492 and the Portuguese expulsion in 1497, as it is unlikely that a secret Jew in sixteenth-century Spain would have documented his allegiance to the Law of Moses, thereby providing evidence for the Inquisition. On a Da Vinci Code - style quest, Hernández persisted in hunting for a trove of forgotten manuscripts at the New York Public Library. These documents, once unearthed, describe the Jewish/Christian religious beliefs of an early nineteenth-century Catholic priest in Mexico City, focusing on the relationship between the Virgin of Guadalupe and Judaism. With this discovery in hand, the author traces the cult of Guadalupe backwards to its fourteenth-century Spanish origins. The trail from that point forward can then be followed to its interface with early modern conversos and their descendants at the highest levels of the Church and the monarchy in Spain and Colonial Mexico. She describes key players who were somehow immune to the dangers of the Inquisition and who were allowed the freedom to display, albeit in a camouflaged manner, vestiges of their family's Jewish identity. By exploring the narratives produced by these individuals, Hernández reveals the existence of those conversos and judaizantes who did not return to the "covenantal bond of rabbinic law," who did not publicly identify themselves as Jews, and who continued to exhibit in their influential writings a covert allegiance and longing for a Jewish past. This is a spellbinding and controversial story that offers a fresh perspective on the origins and history of conversos.
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