Brenham Synagogue Moving to Austin, and a New Life

[TexasTowelie]

photo by: Anneke Paterson

BRENHAM — In Leon Toubin’s dreams, Jewish life would again be vibrant in this city where he and his wife, Mimi, care for the B’nai Abraham synagogue where generations of his family worshipped.

But Jews are not moving to Brenham, so Toubin has decided to cut B’nai Abraham’s roots so that it may bloom anew. He has arranged to move Texas' oldest orthodox synagogue 90 miles west to Austin, which does have a thriving Jewish community. The 121-year-old white wooden building could be trucked to the Dell Jewish Community Campus in Austin as soon as Hanukkah, which begins Tuesday evening.

Across the country, as Jews have left small towns for bigger cities, synagogues have deteriorated or been converted to churches, theaters and even a hardware store. Toubin, a cowboy-hat-wearing 86-year-old, did not want that for B’nai Abraham, which has not regularly been used for religious services in more than half a century.

“This one here, God willing, it’ll have a future,” he said.

Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2014/12/14/brenham-synagogue-moving-austin-and-new-life/

[tanyev]

1. Wow. I grew up 30 miles from Brenham and I did not know there was a Jewish synagogue there.

[TexasTowelie]

2. I lived in Brenham for nearly two years

and I didn't know either.

[tanyev]

3. OK, that makes me feel better. Guess it wasn't a big topic locally.