ABOUT US

Shalom!

The Greater Austin Jewish Historical Society was founded on a simple but powerful belief: that our shared Jewish history belongs to everyone. By bringing that history into the light — through stories, artifacts, and community connection — we work to build understanding both within and beyond the Jewish community, in a spirit of learning and unity.

At the heart of our identity is the Hebrew phrase L'Dor V'dor — "from generation to generation" — inscribed in our logo. It's more than a popular tagline. It speaks to our deepest purpose: ensuring that the history we carry today is lovingly passed forward to those who come after us.

IRS Charitable Tax Exemption

Greater Austin Jewish Historical Society (GAJHS) was approved for its 501(c)(3) tax exemption as a charitable organization from Internal Revenue Service on April 1, 2025.

Board of Directors

• Jeff Cohen, President
• Rachel Union, Vice President
• Barry Silverberg, Secretary and Treasurer

Contact Us

Organizational Pre-History

GAJHS builds on the work done by our precursor organization, the unincorporated Austin Jewish Community Archive at Austin History Center, from 2018-2025. While the former organization's name conveyed both a group and an archive, the Austin Jewish Community Archive today is an archive available to Jewish history donors, at Austin History Center. The Greater Austin Jewish Historical Society values all Jewish archives, and can assist and refer interested family and community history donors to offer archival material to any repository where they have interest. We have a growing list of repositories here.

An October, 2019 Jewish Outlook article authored by Robert Cullick and published by Shalom Austin shares the early visions of our precursor organization.