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of Seamen's Bethel, member of the
Executive Council of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, founder and president of the Galveston Open Forum, deputy member of the Council of the Jewish Agency, twenty-year director of the Galveston Community Chest, and one of seven charter members of the Galveston Equal Suffrage Association."
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The rabbi was instrumental in organizing and leading community institutions: he was a member of the "advisory board of Hebrew Union
College and the Jewish Publication Society, president of the Texas Historical Society of Galveston, advisory chairman of the Lasker Home for Homeless Children, president
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The early twentieth century was a period of rapid growth in
Galveston, as the port city was developed for shipping and entertainment. It had waves of immigration of Jews and Catholics from eastern and southern Europe. Cohen worked to ease relations between German Jews in Texas, who had joined the
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cities, such as New York City, Philadelphia, and Boston, which were better known as destinations. Cohen and other Texas Jewish leaders wanted not only to strengthen Jewish communities in Texas and the center of the country, but to lessen potential conflicts arising from heavy immigration to the
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Cohen served all the people, working to have the age of sexual consent raised from ten to eighteen for girls. He served on the state prison board for three decades, and achieved reforms: introducing vocational training, parole reforms, and separation of first offenders from seasoned criminals.
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during the same period. Members of Cohen's congregation would meet Jewish immigrants arriving at the port, and help them find places to stay and work, as well as introduce them to their new society and help them adjust to the United States. The movement was often internally divided, and many
60:, which worked from 1907 to 1914 to attract eastern European Jewish immigrants to Galveston and the Gulf Coast as a destination, as an alternative to the better known Northeastern cities. Ten thousand such immigrants entered at Galveston.
56:, from 1888 to 1949. He came to the United States in 1885, during a period of rapid and massive growth related to early 20th-century immigration from eastern and southern Europe. In Texas, he organized the
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When his congregation built a community house in 1928, they named it in his honor. He helped organize and lead many educational and community institutions. Able to read ten languages, he was known as a
100:, where he worked as an interpreter for the British government. In 1883 he returned to England, completing his studies and being ordained a rabbi in 1884.
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of Dallas, who set out to interview as many early settlers and their families as possible. They produced a historical account for the
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and immigrated to the United States. He also taught at a female seminary in the town. In 1888 he moved to the larger city of
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He and others worked to resettle Jews in the middle of the country, from the
Mississippi River west to the Rocky Mountains.
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Cohen retired in
September 1949 but served his congregation as rabbi emeritus until his death. He died on June 12, 1952.
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In 1889 he married Mollie Levy, and they had two children. One of their grandsons, Henry Cohen II, also became a rabbi.
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Cohen and his congregation helped
Galveston to rebuild after the devastating damage and thousands of deaths from the
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Reform movement and become quite established, and the new Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe, who were generally
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in
Galveston, Texas in 1888, when he was 25. He served with that congregation until 1949, for most of his life.
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of Dallas, Cohen interviewed many Jewish Texans to collect their histories for the Texas
Centennial in 1936.
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The formal preservation of the history of Texas Jewry goes back to Rabbi Henry Cohen of
Galveston and
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His papers and library are housed at the Barker Texas
History Center, University of Texas at Austin.
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on behalf of one immigrant to enable him to stay in the country. Cohen is known for having saved a
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from being deported from Texas. He also worked to persuade the Galveston School Board to ban
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passed through Galveston during this era, approximately one-third the number who migrated to
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Hollace Ava Weiner, "Galveston’s Rabbi Henry Cohen: the quintessential Texas rabbi"
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A state historical marker in Galveston commemorates the synagogue and Henry Cohen.
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scholar, and published books about Texas history and Judaism. Together with rabbi
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Henry Cohen was born in 1863 to David and Josephine C. Cohen, a Jewish family in
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Northeast and to prevent restrictions on immigration being passed by Congress.
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to Galveston and the Gulf Coast; many had been entering the already crowded
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Henry Cohen Community House on Left. First B'nai Israel Temple on Right
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Historical Marker Medallion commemorates Henry Cohen and the synagogue
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series, Jewish-American History Foundation. Retrieved 2011-08-22
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from the Galveston public schools, as he felt the character of
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European Jews were intent on reaching known industrial cities.
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Archie P. McDonald, "All things historical: Rabbi Henry Cohen"
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In 1928 Congregation B'nai Israel named its new center as the
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British-American rabbi, scholar, community activist and writer
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40:(April 7, 1863 – June 12, 1952) was a British-American
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597:(New York: Whittlesey, 1941). *"Obituary: Henry Cohen",
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Deep in the Heart: The Lives and Legends of Texas Jews
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In 1885 Cohen was called by the Jewish community of
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for his first assignment, where there was a sizable
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283:In the 1890s Cohen contributed articles for the
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111:community. It dated from the colonial period.
315:The Galveston Immigration Movement, 1907–1910
635:Kindler of Souls: Rabbi Henry Cohen of Texas
537:Jews in the Wild West: Jewish Stars in Texas
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590:(Austin: University of Texas Press, 1986).
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323:One Hundred Years of Jewry in Texas
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574:Henry Cohen: Messenger of the Lord
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491:"Temple B'Nai Israel, Galveston".
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291:Books included the following:
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701:People from Galveston, Texas
608:(Austin: Eakin Press, 1990).
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595:The Man Who Stayed in Texas
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337:Henry Cohen Community House
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285:Texas Journal of Education
579:"Obituary, Henry Cohen,"
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155:with different cultures.
132:Congregation B'nai Israel
50:Congregation B'nai Israel
656:Handbook of Texas Online
576:(New York: Bloch, 1963).
548:Rabbi James L. Kessler.
471:Handbook of Texas Online
450:Handbook of Texas Online
413:Handbook of Texas Online
248:Historian of Texas Jewry
465:Manaster, Jane (2010).
686:American Reform rabbis
376:"MR. MAURICE A. COHEN"
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222:The Merchant of Venice
116:Woodville, Mississippi
88:. He was a brother of
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691:British Reform rabbis
559:Retrieved 2011-08-22.
380:Sydney Morning Herald
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90:Maurice Abraham Cohen
44:, scholar, community
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588:Galveston: A History
572:A. Stanley Dreyfus,
467:"Galveston Movement"
301:Monographs included:
229:was portrayed in an
192:Ten thousand Jewish
173:emigrating from the
126:History in Galveston
652:"Rabbi Henry Cohen"
642:Galveston Synagogue
619:Temple B'nai Israel
217:William Shakespeare
209:William Howard Taft
706:Rabbis from London
167:Galveston Movement
58:Galveston Movement
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711:Rabbis from Texas
586:David G. McComb,
555:Handbook of Texas
494:Handbook of Texas
330:Legacy and honors
255:Handbook of Texas
160:Hurricane of 1900
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313:(1896), -
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38:Henry Cohen
665:Categories
633:Review of
386:19 October
362:References
271:Centennial
194:immigrants
183:East Coast
552:from the
513:ignored (
503:cite book
206:President
198:Palestine
350:See also
273:in 1936.
143:Orthodox
46:activist
644:at the
325:(1936?)
317:(1910)
227:Shylock
152:shtetls
147:Yiddish
86:England
557:Online
298:(1894)
82:London
66:Talmud
476:8 May
268:Texas
233:way.
42:rabbi
550:Jews
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478:2014
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