When 79-year-old Jake Luskey stepped up to me and offered his assistance in a faint Yiddish accent, I knew at once that I wasn’t face to face with on everyday average Texas cowboy.
On a recent visit to Texas, I had walked into Luskey’s Western Store in Fort Worth to buy a hat for my son. I needed help in selecting the correct cowboy hat, so I had hoped that the salesman would be an authentic cowboy. Instead, I met an authentic Jewish native of Pinsk, Russia, who had emigrated to Texas in 1913.
If Jake’s father, Abraham Luskey, hadn’t given America a second chance, Jake probably never would have left Pinsk. A bootmaker for the Russian cavalry, Abraham didn’t have any great love for his employer. In addition, he was worried about the treatment of the Jewish population of Pinsk, which didn’t improve as the city kept changing hands between Poland and Russia.
In 1980, Abraham set off alone for New York City, expecting to work as a bootmaker for a few years and then send for his family. When he discovered that he had to work on Shabbat in order to earn a living, he turned around and went back to Pinsk in despair.
Three years later, Abraham heard a rumor in Pinsk that people in Texas were bringing Jewish immigrants through the port of Galveston to settle in their state. After investigating the situation further, he booked passage for himself and left for-Galveston. From there, he was sent to Fort Worth. in 1913, he sent for his wife, Molly, his three daughters, and his 13-year-old-son, Jake.
ARRIVES AFTER HIS BAR MITZVAH
“I came right after my Bar Mitzvah,” Jake told me. “In Pinsk I had already gone to a special yeshiva, and I was studying to be a rabbi or a shochet. Then I had to go to the ‘goldena’ land. In America, Abraham had started a business making and repairing shoes and boots. When the family arrived, Jake continued his schooling and polished boots for his father. He later worked in a store that sold western apparel.
In 1919, Jake and his father opened a general store in Fort Worth. A. Luskey and Sons, as it was first called, was located about 17 blocks from downtown Fort Worth, across from a wagon yard where farmers and ranchers parked their wagons when they came to town. The store sold Abraham’s handmade boots, piece goods, and big brimmed straw and felt hats. The next year Jake married a Dallas native named Rose, and the store began specializing in western wear. When Abraham was killed in an accident in 1933, Jake became head of the family business.
Meanwhile, Jake and Rose were busy raising a family of their own, five sons and two daughters. Today all five sons are in the business, and there are six Luskey’s Western Stores throughout Texas. The main store and a thriving mail order business are still in Fort Worth, at Houston and Weatherford Streets. Although Jake officially retired in 1960 and turned the business over to his sons, he still comes to the store every day to work.
ACTIVE IN THE JEWISH COMMUNITY
During the years that Jake was building a successful business, he never forgot his Jewish training in Pinsk. Today he and his family are all active members of the Texas Jewish community.
When he arrived in Fort Worth in 1913, there we already a few Jewish families and a small synagogue By 1936, when Jake became president of Congregation Ahavath Shalom, the Jewish community had grown considerably. “At the time, I was the youngest president in this whole country of a synagogue with over 400 members,” he said. Including that firs term in office, Jake has been president of his congregation four times. He has also served as chairman of the synagogue’s Hebrew school since 1920.
Today, the Fort Worth Jewish community numbers 3000. There are two synagogues, a Jewish Federation, a Jewish Community Center and a Jewish Social Service Agency. There are chapters of most major Jewish organizations, and a Jewish day school is in its second year of operation.
Jake’s oldest son, Louis, is a past president of the B’nai B’rith lodge, and his wife, daughters and daughters-in-law are all active life members of Hadassah, Even the Luskey men are all Hadassah Associates. In addition to his communal dedication to Judaism, Jake has visited Israel four times.
This year the Luskey family opened their sixth Luskey’s Western Store, located in Odessa, Texas. The original Odessa and Pinsk, now port of the Soviet Union, are approximately 450 miles apart. Jake set out from Pinsk in 1913. It has taken him 66 years to arrive in Odessa.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
