They Came to Stay; The Story of the Jews of Dallas 1870-1997

Austin, TX: Eakin Press. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. viii, 316 pages. Illustrations. Appendices. Glossary. Endnotes. Bibliography. Index. Inscribed by author on fep. Minor binding roughness inside front cover. Minor soiling noted. DJ has some spine sunning, slight wear and soiling. Dallas has one of the largest Jewish communities in the state. German Jews arrived in Dallas as part of the mid-nineteenth century immigration to Texas from the German principalities following their revolutions. They established the city's first Jewish cemetery in 1854. The small but growing Jewish community wanted a permanent religious structure as well as a rabbi to conduct services and to offer religious education for children. In 1873, several families founded the first congregation in the Dallas area, Jewish Congregation Emanu-El (now Temple Emanu-El), a Reform congregation. The Temple was chartered in 1875. The next year they built a small red brick temple in the Byzantine style at Commerce and Church (now Field) streets in downtown Dallas. The congregation engaged its first rabbi, Aaron Suhler, in 1875 and joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in 1906, an association of Reform congregations. The author, who has a degree in History, has been an archivist and curator of the Dallas Jewish Historical Society. They Came to Stay not only chronicles the story of the Jews who settled in Dallas, their lives and contributions, but also explores the rationale for the early Jewish neighborhoods and ethnic closeness, and the locations and growth of religious institutions and societies.