
Congregation Beth Israel Cemeteries
Austin, Texas

Congregation Beth Israel
Reproduced in part from the Congregation Beth Israel website
The year was 1876. The United States was 100 years old, the State of Texas had been a member of the Union for 30 years, the American Civil War ended 11 years prior. In Europe, many of the governments were abolishing the civil liberties that had been guaranteed to their Jewish communities only a short time before, leading to Jews emigrating from countries all over the world to America.
Austin was a dusty capital city, almost 40 years old. The city's population was made up of people with European, Hispanic, and African-American backgrounds. Out of 11,000 residents, 188 claimed to be Jewish. Along with the influx of new citizens came more commerce and more hope Austin would prosper. The first elevated bridge across the Colorado River was opened for use, a second rail line was built connecting Austin to new points in Texas and beyond. Gas lighting was added to the city streets and a trolley car service began to run on Congress Avenue. There was even talk about the construction of a new state capitol building and a state university would be built.
The Austin Jewish community grouped itself generally into three ethnic traditions: the German & Western Europeans, the Russian & Eastern Europeans, and the Spanish Jews, known as the Sephardim.
The German and Western European Jews came to Texas in the mid 1800's. Their names, Sanger, Strauss, Neiman, and Marcus, became associated with an era of Jewish entrepreneurialism in small and large towns across the state. Anti-Semitism had long been a way of life in the orthodoxy of Eastern Europe but by the 1800's, life was getting progressively harder for the Jews in Eastern Europe. By 1876, Austin was one of the places in the New World where Eastern European Jews made their way to live.

Phineas de Cordova
The smallest group, the Sephardim, preceded both the western and the eastern European Jews. The Sephardim and their families left Spain and Portugal in the late 1400's with the beginning of the Spanish Inquisition. Many settled in Spain’s lands in the Americas. Some made their way to Texas and a few fought in its war for independence. The most prominent members of the Sephardic Jews to immigrate to Texas, after it gained independence from Mexico in 1836, were a pair of half-brothers, Phineas and Jacob de Cordova. Their interest in land development and journalism prompted Texas Governor Peter Bell to invite them to come to Austin. The de Cordova's are credited with being the first Jews to settle in Austin upon their arrival in 1849.
On the morning of September 24, 1876, the Sunday between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Austinites woke up to read a notice on the front page of their daily newspaper, the Daily Democratic Statesman (the forerunner of the current Austin American Statesman). The notice, signed by a group identifying themselves as “Many Israelites,” said:
The Israelites of Austin will hold a called meeting this evening at 2 o’clock at the Odd Fellows Hall for the purpose of forming a congregation. All are cordially invited to attend. All Israelites of this city are respectfully requested to meet at the Odd Fellows Hall, above Wheeler’s Store at 2 p.m.
The meeting site was well-known to most Austin residents and, by no accident, one of the owners of the building and a member of the Odd Fellows was a prominent member of the Austin Jewish community, Henry Hirshfeld.
Mr. Hirschfeld, PICB 04014, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library
Hirshfeld was known and respected as a former Alabamian who had moved to Texas to serve in the Confederate Army. He made Austin his home after the Civil War and quickly established himself as a successful businessman and banker. As Governor E.J. Davis’ recent appointee to the newly formed State Board of Trade, Hirshfeld was known throughout the city. So, it was no surprise to Austinites when the newspaper later reported the Jewish community’s meeting on September 24 had been a success:
The Israelites of this city met in the Odd Fellows’ Hall, in Sampson’s building, on Sunday the twenty-fourth instant, and organized under the name of the “House of Israel,” for the purpose of building a Jewish synagogue… Officers and trustees were elected, and two committees were appointed, one to report on suitable lots and another to draft suitable by-laws. These officers were elected for one year. Nearly $1700 was subscribed at the meeting, twenty-five percent of which is to be paid in cash and the balance in monthly installments beginning November 1, 1876.
Thirty members of the Jewish community had attended the meeting, not bad for a Jewish community with only 35 families. And, it was certainly no surprise the President of the new Congregation was Hirshfeld or that the Congregation’s Vice-President was Phineas de Cordova.
T exas Historical Commission - Hirschfeld Cottage, photograph, Date Unknown; University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, crediting Texas Historical Commission.
Hirshfeld, his officers, and board members did not disappoint the community. Within a few weeks, they selected a site for a synagogue to be built near the intersection of 11th and San Jacinto Streets, just north of downtown, near Hirshfeld’s home at 9th and Lavaca, not far from the site of what would become the University of Texas in 1881 and the Texas Capitol building in 1883. On May 26, 1877, the Congregation’s Board of Trustees acquired the deed to the San Jacinto Street property for $2,500 and, shortly after, completed a site survey so construction could begin.
But, the economics of the mid and late 1870's slowed the Trustees progress. The end of the Civil War had taken its toll on trade, and despite the State’s adoption of a new pro-local business constitution in 1876, the city’s growth was faltering. With the end of Reconstruction, federal money stopped flowing. The economic downturn postponed the Congregation’s building project.
On October 20, 1879, Congregation Beth Israel applied to the State Legislature for a charter as a non-profit organization. The application emphasized the Jewish Community’s desire to erect, own, and maintain a private cemetery (despite the existence of a Jewish section in the Austin Municipal City Cemetery since 1866), school houses, and a building in the city “for the purpose of religious worship according to the Jewish faith.”
Guide to Jewish Funeral and Mourning Practice
by Phil Baum of Congregation Beth Israel
Summarized from the "Guide to Jewish Funeral Practice" by the Rabbinical Assembly
The Jewish way of dealing with death is one part of a larger philosophy of life in which all persons are viewed with dignity and respect. Our people believe that, even after death, the body, which once held a holy human life, retains its sanctity. Our sages have compared the sacredness of the deceased to that of an impaired Torah (Hebrew Bible) scroll which, although no longer useable, retains its holiness. In Jewish tradition, therefore, the greatest consideration and respect are accorded the dead.
Jewish law and tradition have endowed funeral and mourning practices with profound religious significance. To this end, Jewish funerals avoid ostentation; family and visitors reflect in dress and deportment the solemnity of the occasion; flowers and music are inappropriate; embalming and viewing are avoided; and interment takes place as soon as possible after death.
Time Between Death and Burial
A Hevra Kadisha (Holy Society) traditionally supervises funerals in Jewish communities, consisting of volunteers who aid the bereaved and ensure that appropriate practices are followed. In some communities this is carried out by local cemetery societies or by funeral homes that observe Jewish customs and traditions.
The preparation and burial of the body are highly valued duties, since they are acts of kindness performed without ulterior motive, for the dead cannot repay this service. When a member of a community dies, it is the community's responsibility to lovingly assist the deceased's family in this final act.
Jewish law requires that burial take place as soon as possible, preferably within 24 hours of death. Exceptions may be made for legal reasons; to transport the deceased; if close relatives must travel long distances to be present at the funeral/burial; or to avoid burial on the Sabbath or another holy day. Jewish tradition requires that the deceased not be left alone prior to burial. Family and friends will sit with the deceased, often in shifts, until burial.
According to Jewish tradition, embalming and the use of cosmetics on the deceased are not permitted. Embalming is not permitted unless required by civil law. Cremation is also against Jewish tradition.
Jewish law prescribes that the deceased be cleansed according to prescribed ritual as an expression of respect; that the deceased is buried in a plain white shroud so as to demonstrate the equality of all; and that a casket be made entirely of wood to avoid interference with the natural process of "returning to the earth." Where permitted, burial directly into the ground, without a casket, is preferable.
Instead of flowers, friends and associates of the deceased who wish to express condolences are encouraged to contribute to a Tzedakah (charity) fund important to the deceased or the family.
The Funeral
Just prior to the funeral service, mourners for parents, a spouse, children, or siblings traditionally tear a visible portion of clothing (lapel, pocket, or collar, for example) The torn garment is worn throughout a 7-day mourning period (shivah). In many communities the mourner wears a black ribbon. The ribbon is cut in the manner outlined above instead of cutting the garment. The tearing for parents is on the left side over the heart and for all other relatives on the right side.
Funeral services may be held in the synagogue, in a funeral home, or at the gravesite. Viewing the body either publicly or privately is contrary to Jewish tradition. The funeral service is usually brief and simple. In traditional practice, the casket is lowered into the earth, and the grave filled, using a reversed shovel until a mound is formed over the casket. The Kaddish (a special prayer) is then recited at the grave.
It is customary for the mourners to pass between two rows of people in attendance to receive traditional expressions of consolation. After burial, washing one’s hands when leaving the cemetery or before entering the house of mourning is also traditional.
The Mourning Period
Shivah is the seven-day period of intensive mourning observed by the immediate family of the deceased beginning on the day of the burial. During the entire shivah period mourners are encouraged to stay away from work or school, and to remain at home. It is, also, a time to contemplate the meaning of life and the manner in which adjustment will be made to the death of the beloved. Public mourning observances are suspended on Shabbat (Sabbath) in view of the belief that the sanctity and serenity of this day supersedes personal grief. Mourners are permitted, and encouraged, to attend Shabbat services.
Since Judaism teaches that the feeling of loss of a human life is not limited to the deceased’s family alone, but is shared by the entire community, it is customary for the name of the deceased to be recalled at the Shabbat service after the funeral.
It is customary for family and friends to arrange for a seudat havra’a, condolence meal, which traditionally includes round foods such as eggs, which are symbolic of the cycle of life, to be served to the mourners at the house of mourning upon their return from the cemetery.
It is customary, as expressions of mourning, for mirrors in the shivah home to be covered, for a seven-day memorial candle to be kindled, for the mourners to refrain from wearing leather shoes and for males to refrain from shaving. In ancient times, mourners sat on the floor to experience discomfort. Today, we reflect that experience by sitting on lower or harder chairs without cushions. The house of mourning should reflect solemnity. Mourners are not considered hosts who are obligated to serve their visitors during the mourning period.
Mourners for deceased parents recite Kaddish for eleven Hebrew months. The Kaddish is recited each year on the Hebrew calendar anniversary of death. It is customary to light a yahrzeit (24 hour burning) candle, to study a portion of Torah, or make a charitable donation on the anniversary.
At least a month after burial, up to 11 months, a permanent grave marker may be placed in a ceremony called “Unveiling.” There is no required formal rite. Often it is conducted close to the first yahrzeit.
When visiting a Jewish gravesite, a stone is traditionally placed on the marker in an act of remembrance or respect for the deceased.
"Austin’s three largest congregations — Congregation Beth Israel, Congregation Agudas Achim and Beth Shalom — each offer cemetery plots located within larger cemeteries." --Tonyia Cone, "To live and die in Austin," The Jewish Outlook, August 2010
Oakwood Cemetery Map including Congregation Beth Israel Lots
Oakwood Cemetery