Jewish Activities In San Antonio Show Marked Progress; $300,000 Temple Dedicated (By Our San Antonio Correspondent)
Marked by the dedication of a $300,000 building by Temple Beth El, the past twelve months have been a period of progress for San Antonio Jewry. Formation of a new congregation and the launching of a $35,000 campaign for the Jewish Social Service Federation have taken place during the last month.
Dedicated on April 29, 1927, the new Temple Beth El stands as a monument to the local reform congregation’s existence since its establishment in 1874. The auditorium of the new temple has a seating capacity of 1,000, while the balcony provides for the seating of an additional 200.
Adjoining the temple is a community center, in which are located the religious school rooms, the rabbi’s study, a library, and an auditorium.
Dr. Ephraim Frisch is rabbi of Temple Beth El, and has been the congregation’s spiritual leader since December. 1923. Rabbi Samuel Marks is rabbi emeritus of the temple, having served actively from 1897 to 1920.
Morris Stern, Sr., is lay leader of the congregation. Mr. Stern has been president for several years, and was active director of the campaign necessary to “put over” the new temple idea.
Congregation Agudas B’nai Israel was formed last month by residents of the south side district, who found it an inconvenience to attend the city’s other Orthodox synagogues, Agudas Achim and Rodfei Sholom. Erection of a synagogue and the securing of a rabbi and cantor is on the plan of the congregation’s early activities. Worship is now being held in temporary quarters.
Local and national philanthropies will be taken care of by the $35,000 fund which the Jewish Social Service Federation is now soliciting. The campaign, under the general chairmanship of D. J. Straus, is almost completed.
The fourth anniversary of the Hebrew Free Loan Association was marked by a banquet held on Jan. 22 at which over 350 members were present. This organization, has made 30 loans, totalling $22,435, since its inception.
Death claimed Rabbi S. Solomon, spiritual leader of Synagogue Rodfei Sholom, on Dec. 26. Rabbi Solomon, who was 72 years old at the time he die## came to San Antonio thirty years ago to occupy the pulpit at Synagogue Agudas Achim, a position he held for eighteen years.
San Antonio’s 1928 United Palestine Appeal quota was announced at a meeting addressed by Mrs. Lindheim, as $10,000.
Rabbi Lewis Browne, author or “Stranger Than Fiction,” “This Believing World,” and “That Man Heine,” if one of the eight internationally-known speakers whom the San Antonio Open Forum, a non-sectarian cultural society is bringing to the city this season.
Reorganization of the Ladies Aid Society for European Orphans and the Pioneer Women Society, two organizations that had been inactive, has been effected during the last week.
Prof. Wesley Peacock, president of the Peacock Military Academy, located here, has recently announced the discovery of two Jewish geniuses among his students. Prof. Peacock has been giving psychology tests to pupils in all of the public schools of San Antonio and in his own academy, and finds Robert Blieden of Beaumont, Tex., and David Katz of New York City to have mental ages beyond their years. Blieden, a 14-year old boy, is said to have the mentality of a 20-year old man, while Katz, 9 years old, has the intelligence of a person 16 years old.
Absorption of the San Antonio Jewish Weekly by the Jewish Record, also published locally, took place on October 21. The Jewish Record is now in its fourth year.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
