Customer Reviews

Jewish Stars in Texas : Rabbis and Their Work

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Hollace Weiner's writing kept me enthralled. This book is the rare combination of careful and accurate research while the presentation is that of an enticing historical novel. It's loaded with all the goods - mystery, politics, romance and more, but all the accounts are true. I couldn't put this book down as every chapter had a fresh and intriguing draw. The facts themselves are fascinating. Written in Ms. Weiner's engaging style, this book is a big winner.

It is a very well written book which documents the great impact these Jewish Rabbis had on the people of Texas in general.

Ms. Weiner's book about the impact of Rabbi's on Texas Culture and Goverment is an invaluable tool for the historian and genealogist. It also happens to be a wonderful read! I finished it in one setting and was immediately able to place some of my own historical research into Ms. Weiner's Texas-sized swath of Jewish influence. I highly recommend the book.

This is an excellent book for anyone who wants to know more about Texas than football & beer!

This book delves into a part of Texas history that has been ignored. Hollace wrote with a very interesting style that kept me totaly involved until I finished. It is one of those books that you feel you become one with and never want it to end.

Hollace Weiner's writing kept me enthralled. This book is the rare combination of careful and accurate research while the presentation is that of an enticing historical novel. It's loaded with all the goods - mystery, politics, romance and more, but all the accounts are true. I couldn't put this book down as every chapter had a fresh and intriguing draw. The facts themselves are fascinating. Written in Ms. Weiner's engaging style, this book is a big winner. I give lectures on small-town synagogues and Jewish communities and I have already used some of the great new research covered in her book.

Hollace Weiner's writing kept me enthralled. This book is the rare combination of careful and accurate research while the presentation is that of an enticing historical novel. It's loaded with all the goods - mystery, politics, romance and more, but all the accounts are true. I couldn't put this book down as every chapter had a fresh and intriguing draw. The facts themselves are fascinating. Written in Ms. Weiner's engaging style, this book is a big winner.

I never realized how fortunate the Jews who did not stick to the big city ghetto when they came to this country were. As a result of the intestinal fortitude of dedicated Rabbis, these early Jewish settlers were able to maintain their ties to the Jewish community. Hollace Ava Weiner did a fascinating research project revealing the dedication of these early Jewish pioneers and the Rabbis who sought them and ministered to them. Apparantly, her background of becoming an assimilated Texan enabled her to appreciate the accomplishments of these forward thinking Rabbis who, with the Texas heirarchy and the clergymen of other faiths, made their mark in the community. She forms a basis of the pride of American Jewry deep in the heart of Texas.

We read this book for our book club; Texas history from the perspective of Texas' Jewish communities was sure to be informative and fascinating!

This wonderful book highlights eleven prominent Texas rabbis. "Jewish Stars in Texas" is both enjoyable to read and informative.

Author Hollace Ava Weiner does not sugar coat Texas' history or the controversial splintering of these Jewish communities. She has done an excellent job of portraying these renegade rabbis of those times.

The book delves into the political climate of their times, as well as the contributions of these Jewish communities to their locale. It discusses the lives of Texas rabbis from Hempstead, Beaumont, Tyler, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Lubbock, Brownsville, El Paso, and Galveston.

Chapter 10 focuses on Houston Rabbi Hyman Judah Schachtel of Congregation Beth Israel and is titled, "The Celebrity Rabbi, or Splintering over Zionism." What was outstanding about this chapter was the amount of information I learned about Houston in general, and about that Jewish community in particular. Who knew that Westheimer Avenue was a country lane that belonged to hay merchant, Michael Westheimer? Or that Ben Taub was the son of a Hungarian immigrant who sold tobacco from a pushcart? Or that William Marsh Rice was counseled by banker Emmanuel Raphael to establish Rice University?

To find our book club page for Jewish Stars in Texas, go to: [..]

This is an excellent book. As a 74 year old Jewish native Houstonian I could not put it down. I strongly recommend it to anyone interested in Texas history, even if they are not Jewish.