Growing List of Newspaper and Media Coverage of Austin's Jewish People and Jewish Community

December 9, 2025 · The Jewish Outlook / Shalom Austin

Announces Dr. Dean P. Bell's second annual Living the American Jewish Experience lecture (Jan. 8, 2026); Marcia and Barry Silverberg, the series' sponsors, explain their vision for it.

November 25, 2025 · Austin Business Journal · Sean Hemmersmeier

Source spreadsheet describes this as covering Rabbi Daniel Septimus's departure and the resulting Shalom Austin leadership transition.

Subscription required to Austin Business Journal to see the transcript.

September 2025 · The Jewish Outlook / Shalom Austin · Jewish Outlook / Shalom Austin

Source spreadsheet describes a retrospective institutional timeline covering the 1954 Austin Jewish Federation, 1956 JCCA, the 1989 renaming to Jewish Federation of Austin, and 1990s community growth.

📖 This link opens to page 1 of the flipbook — go to page 14-15 for this item.

September 2025 · The Jewish Outlook / Shalom Austin · Shalom Austin / Jewish Outlook

Duplicate/near-duplicate source-spreadsheet entry for the same retrospective piece as the Jewish_Outlook_FallSeptember_2025 URL above (governance restructuring, integrated model, Dell campus development), listed separately because it carries a distinct source URL.

📖 This link opens to page 1 of the flipbook — go to page 14 for this item.

July 3, 2025 · The Jewish Outlook / Shalom Austin · Rabbi Daniel A. Septimus

CEO column marking the 25th anniversary of the Dell Jewish Community Campus and Shalom Austin, crediting the recently completed Generations Campaign and the campus's four partner institutions (Agudas Achim, Temple Beth Shalom, Congregation Tiferet Israel, Austin Jewish Academy). Notably credits Barry Silverberg, Jewish Federation of Austin CEO in the 1990s, as the person who "first conceived of and proposed" Shalom Austin's integrated-organization model, which the column says other Jewish communities now look to as an example.

December 3, 2024 · The Jewish Outlook / Shalom Austin · Rachel Stern

Rachel Stern interviews Marcia and Barry Silverberg about why they created and funded the Living the American Jewish Experience lecture series, including Barry's own graduate-school connection to inaugural speaker Dr. Jonathan Sarna at Brandeis.

May 15, 2024 · Austin Chronicle · Lina Fisher

Covers a Texas Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education hearing on campus antisemitism, prompted by pro-Palestinian protests at UT Austin that led to over 130 arrests. UT sophomore Levi Fox testified he had felt unsafe since October 7 and described an alleged threatening remark from a professor. Government professor David Albert, identifying as a Zionist, testified that criticism of the Netanyahu government is not inherently antisemitic. Muslim student Hikmah Jamal also testified about rising anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian incidents.

March 7, 2024 · Austin Chronicle · Sophia Schlesinger and Joshua Sklar

Source spreadsheet describes this as a Chronicle opinion column by two Jewish UT students discussing Gaza and arguing against conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism.

Item is not viewable because the original link no longer works; transcript not available.

January 12, 2024 · Austin Chronicle · Jackie Nirenberg

Source spreadsheet describes this as covering Jewish community concerns about antisemitism in response to Chronicle Israel/Gaza-related imagery.

Item is not viewable because the original link no longer works; transcript not available.

November 13, 2023 · Austin Chronicle · Lina Fisher

Roughly 10,000 people rallied at the Texas Capitol on November 12, 2023 calling for a Gaza cease-fire. Coverage included Austin Jewish attendees Ronnie Gelman and Katie Goldstein, who spoke to distinguish their opposition to Israeli government policy from broader Jewish identity.

October 27, 2023 · Austin Monitor · Elizabeth Pagano

Congregation Beth Israel planned a November 1, 2023 commemorative ceremony marking the two-year anniversary of the arson attack that damaged the synagogue, thanking first responders, as part of the WE ALL BELONG anti-hate initiative championed by City Council Member Alison Alter, who said "Austin is no place for hate."

May 15, 2023 · Community Impact · Darcy Sprague

Mayor Kirk Watson joined Michael and Susan Dell for a May 15, 2023 ribbon-cutting marking completion of a $25M+ capital campaign (including a $6.25M Dell Foundation match) that expanded the Dell JCC to 37,805 square feet across two stories, with a new fitness center, living room, cafe, education center and all-gender restrooms. CEO Rabbi Daniel Septimus called the JCC "one of the best kept secrets in North Austin"; the reopening coincided with Shalom Austin's 30th anniversary.

December 2, 2022 · Austin Business Journal · Paul Thompson

Source spreadsheet describes this as a profile of Shalom Austin CEO Rabbi Daniel A. Septimus and his role in the future of Jewish Austin.

Subscription required to Austin Business Journal to see the transcript.

November 4, 2021 · Austin Monitor · Seth Smalley

Travis County Commissioners Court passed a resolution condemning antisemitism, prompted by a Florida-based neo-Nazi group displaying hateful banners in Austin and the then still-under-investigation arson fire at Congregation Beth Israel. County Judge Andy Brown called antisemitism "centuries-old bigotry"; Commissioner Jeffrey Travillion urged communities to "stand together." The resolution cited FBI data showing a 14% rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2019 (953 incidents), over 60% of all religious-bias hate crimes that year.

November 24, 2020 · The Jewish Outlook / Shalom Austin · Wendy Goodman

Announced that The Jewish Outlook, published by Shalom Austin since 1989, would shift from monthly to four print issues per year (March, July, September, December) starting 2021, citing the changing print-media landscape and COVID-19, while continuing home delivery and launching a monthly community blog. Retrospective on the paper's history: founding editor Gaylon Finklea Hecker began it as a newsletter in 1989; Jay Rubin (CEO 2006-2016) brought production in-house; Federation executive directors Wayne Silverman and Barry Silverberg also helped shape it over the years.

April 15, 2019 · Austin Business Journal · Will Anderson

Confirms the article covers the Dell JCC's roughly $25M fundraising campaign, the same Generations Campaign covered more fully in the 2015 and 2023 Community Impact articles in this list.

Subscription required to Austin Business Journal to see the transcript.

March 2019 · The Jewish Outlook · The Jewish Outlook staff / retrospective

Source spreadsheet describes this as a retrospective on Jewish Outlook publishing history, corroborating Barry Silverberg's role in the paper.

February 7, 2018 · Austin Monthly · Sophia Velasquez

Congregation Agudas Achim commissioned soferet (female scribe) Jen Taylor Friedman -- one of fewer than ten trained women scribes worldwide, also known for creating "Tefillin Barbie" -- to write a Torah scroll, the first in Texas written by a woman. Community members contributed individual letters as part of fulfilling the 613th commandment. A February 2018 dedication weekend featured performances by Lisa Loeb and the Maccabeats plus a panel on Jewish women leaders.

October 28, 2017 · Community Impact

Chronicles a growing South Austin Jewish population drawn by more affordable housing and progressive congregations. Congregation Kol Halev (nondenominational, founded 1997) opened a Hebrew school on William Cannon Drive; board president Sherry Blum cited strong south-of-river interest. Selah (founded 2008) offers an informal, cultural "Judaism, South Austin style" alternative. The Institute of Southern Jewish Life estimated Austin's Jewish population had grown twentyfold since 1968, to 15,000-18,000.

September 19, 2017 · Austin Business Journal · Jan Buchholz

Source spreadsheet headline: "High hopes for High Holy Days: Dells donate millions for Jewish center renovations" -- covers Dell philanthropy toward the Dell JCC capital campaign, the same project covered more fully in the 2015 and 2023 Community Impact articles in this list.

Subscription required to Austin Business Journal to see the transcript.

December 7, 2015 · Community Impact · Kara Nuzback

Shalom Austin announced the Generations Campaign, its first capital campaign since the campus opened in 2000, aiming to raise $25M (with $10M+ already secured and a Michael & Susan Dell Foundation matching pledge up to $6.25M) for a water-park-style pool, tennis courts, a new entrance/welcome-center building with theater and cafe, an expanded fitness center, and renovated Community Hall and early-childhood facilities. CEO Jay Rubin noted Austin's Jewish population had doubled since the campus opened.

February 18, 2015 · Community Impact · Amy Denney

Shalom Austin completed relocating the 1893 B'nai Abraham Brenham synagogue building -- the oldest Orthodox synagogue structure still standing in Texas -- 90 miles to the Dell Jewish Community Campus, a 2.5-year, three-section move championed by former caretakers Leon and Mimi Toubin. Orthodox Congregation Tiferet Israel would hold regular services there. CEO Jay Rubin called it a building "a place my grandfather or great grandfather would have worshiped." The move forfeited the building's historic designation; restoration (wiring, ADA access, HVAC) targeted summer 2015 completion.

April 29, 2014 · Daily Texan · Alex Wilts

The Daily Texan reported on a 24-hour, student-run Yom HaShoah observance at UT Austin in which volunteers organized through Texas Hillel took turns reading the names of Holocaust victims from 5 p.m. Sunday to 5 p.m. Monday. Event organizer Aaron Liener, a Hebrew language and literature senior, said reading all six million victims' names individually would take 277 consecutive days, and that the marathon reading was meant to help make that scale graspable. Journalism/nutrition junior Meital Boim, who had three grandparents affected by the Holocaust, said hearing a concentration camp name alongside a victim's name helped passersby register the day's significance. Israel fellow Tomer Maron, who read about 50 names himself, said the goal was simply that no name go forgotten.

April 8, 2011 · Austin Chronicle · Advertisement / event notice

Source spreadsheet describes this as an event ad presented by the Jewish Community Association of Austin, Jewish Federation of Austin, and Jewish Community Relations Council of Austin.

Item is not viewable because the original link no longer works; transcript not available.

April 24, 2010 · Austin American-Statesman

full op-ed transcribed from the downloaded scan (Opinion page A12).

January 31, 2008 · Austin American-Statesman

full article transcribed, combining the front-page teaser (B1) and jump page (B6). Continued on page: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10TzJqWdO8YjMSr_lsI8cHcOmC32ldajt/view?usp=drive_web

December 4, 2007 · Austin American-Statesman

full article transcribed, combining the front-page lead (A1) and jump page (A6). Continued on page: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ExWngQ-oQNZlae4wcV_48XTdVq_oiW68/view?usp=drive_web

September 22, 2006 · Austin American-Statesman

full article transcribed, combining the front-page lead (B1) and jump page (B2). Continued on page: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q8TnM9QicWCA8YZv48Sp74E_mNsRRKCu/view?usp=drive_web

October 18, 2002 · Austin Chronicle · Maya Churi

Covers the inaugural Austin Jewish Film Festival, organized by the Jewish Community Association of Austin, Congregation Agudas Achim's AgudasArts, and Jewish Cinema South, in partnership with the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life's regional festival circuit. Festival co-chair David Goldblatt described the shared-cost, city-picks-its-own-films model. Highlighted films: Joel Katz's "Strange Fruit" (on Abel Meeropol's anti-lynching song and Black-Jewish relations) and Brian Bain's "Shalom Y'all" (a road-trip documentary on small-town Southern Jewish life).

October 10, 2000 · Austin Monitor archive

The Board of Adjustment voted 3-2 to deny two variance requests from Congregation Beth Israel -- the vote itself falling on Yom Kippur -- that would have allowed an expanded education building and increased impervious cover for a new administrative/school/parking-garage complex at the Shoal Creek Boulevard synagogue. This followed the congregation's earlier failed bids to relocate to the Dell Jewish Community Campus and a St. Stephen's Episcopal School site. Attorney Richard Suttle indicated an appeal was likely.

July 16, 1999 · Austin Chronicle · Kate X Messer

A Public Notice column item ('The Kosovars Are Coming') announced an interfaith relief fund for roughly 80 Kosovar refugees resettling in Austin, organized jointly by Austin Metropolitan Ministries, Caritas, Catholic Charities, the Islamic Center of Greater Austin, the Muslim Student Center, Jewish Family Service, and United Way/Capital Area, with donations accepted via Liberty Bank or a dedicated website.

October 9, 1998 · Austin Chronicle · Andy Langer

Temple Beth Israel withdrew from negotiations to relocate to the Dell Jewish Community Campus, citing a mismatch between its urgent need for classroom space (the congregation had grown to 800 families) and the campus's multi-phase construction timeline, which would have delayed its educational building roughly three years. Temple president David Keeper announced the withdrawal during Yom Kippur services. DJCC Development Corporation president Michael Deitch said the door remained open. Rabbi Daniel Folberg noted the negotiations had at least improved communication among Austin Jewish organizations.

March 6, 1998 · Austin Chronicle · Mike Clark-Madison

A deep dive into the Dell Jewish Community Campus dispute: the plan grew from its 1996 conception into 300,000+ square feet including a JCC, two synagogues (Agudas Achim and Beth Israel), schools, and parking for 800 cars after both congregations voted in 1997 to relocate there. JFA director Barry Silverberg maintained the congregations had "always, at least potentially" been part of the plan; neighbors disputed that. The Northwest Austin Civic Association projected 4,200-6,000 daily vehicle trips against a 2,500-3,000 baseline and submitted 40+ recommended modifications, with lighted ballfields especially contested. Notably, some NACA members were themselves Beth Israel congregants. The Federation pursued conditional-use permits rather than rezoning, triggering NACA appeals bound for City Council on March 12, 1998.

January 9, 1998 · Austin Chronicle · Chronicle staff / Naked City

The Planning Commission approved a modified version of the Jewish Federation of Austin's Dell Jewish Community Campus proposal after a five-and-a-half-hour hearing attended by roughly 300 people, about half hoping to speak. The approved plan required the Federation to fund added traffic signals and tree-conservation measures. JFA president Sandy Dochen argued that officials seeing affected residents in person "makes a difference," while Northwest Austin Civic Association leader Alan Tannenbaum said the group's position was to "uphold standards." The case proceeded to City Council for final consideration.

January 4, 1998 · Austin American-Statesman

full article transcribed, combining the front-page lead (A1) and jump page (A20). Continued on page: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YQb2TUmAALjGwXRi457nuA3Niq1c9P2D/view?usp=drive_web

December 19, 1997 · Austin Chronicle · Andy Langer

Austin Chronicle reporter Andy Langer covered the news that Austin's two largest congregations — Reform Congregation Beth Israel and Conservative Congregation Agudas Achim — had each voted during 1997 to relocate to the planned Dell Jewish Community Campus in Northwest Hills, on 40 acres donated by Michael and Susan Dell in 1996. The piece described the expanded, three-part campus plan (the two synagogues plus a shared Jewish Federation of Austin community hall, senior center, gym, pool and sports fields) and quoted Federation president Sandy Dochen on the shift from “friendly” to “working” relationships between the congregations. Beth Israel president David Goldstein cited the congregation nearly doubling in size over seven years as the driver for the move; Agudas Achim president Alan Sager likened the two synagogues sharing a campus to neighboring retailers. The article also noted objections from the Northwest Hills Neighborhood Association over traffic and noise, which had already delayed a Planning Commission vote.

October 16, 1997 · Austin American-Statesman

letter transcribed in full from the Letters page (A14). A neighboring letter on the same page, "Criticism is unfair" by Adrienne Hogan, also defends the Westlake Marching Festival against the insensitivity charge but is not transcribed here.

May 27, 1997 · Austin American-Statesman

full article transcribed, combining the front-page lead (A1) and jump page (A6). Continued on page: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10CTd33Bq3SFmSowCFDJqo-xF2OXzXHh3/view?usp=drive_web (duplicate scan: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qeHodRZk93SwBeplVUzZzVFIxZ9IlJPZ/view?usp=drive_web)

July 21, 1996 · Austin American-Statesman

full article transcribed, combining the front-page lead (A1) and jump page (A13). Continued on page: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TChlc1j0gYs2SH-KPguma8E_SR-j5Hyd/view?usp=drive_web

November 20, 1995 · Austin American-Statesman

full article transcribed, combining the front-page lead (A1) and jump page (A4). Continued on page: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FUj1gjbystGRTuZVztOgpyi6_msjgfZX/view?usp=drive_web

August 17, 1995 · Austin American-Statesman

full front-page centerpiece transcribed, combining the A1 lead with all three jump-page stories on A10 (main continuation, the Pasternak profile, and the Silverberg profile). Continued on page: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-84Asf30rBmNTr0bDS8sHN8PC_KJ6Em-/view?usp=drive_web

January 20, 1995 · Austin American-Statesman

full "Jewish unity weekend" article transcribed (fits entirely on this one page, no jump needed). The adjoining "Austinite is named chairman of group promoting vouchers" story shares the page but is about the CEO America school-voucher program, not Jewish community life, so it isn't transcribed here. Related/duplicate coverage page: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IPCrITlHdPrHFvn3niutPa-D-dbdt4uM/view?usp=drive_web

January 13, 1994 · Austin American-Statesman

full article transcribed (fits entirely on this one Religion-page scan, no jump needed).

November 26, 1987 · Texas Jewish Post · Display advertisement

Source spreadsheet describes this as a recruitment advertisement using the full organization name "JCCA (Jewish Community Council of Austin)" -- published outside Austin but directly documenting the Austin organization.

Transcript not available — the source site blocks automated access with a bot-detection check. Click the title above to view it in a browser.

December 1, 1984 · Austin American-Statesman · John Herndon

This article is cited (not reproduced) in a 2021 City of Austin Historic Landmark Commission packet for 3004 Belmont Circle, as footnote 40 in the biographical section on original homeowner Shirley Rubinett: "John Herndon, 'Israeli show shares strains of culture,' Austin American-Statesman, December 1, 1984, 114." The surrounding biographical narrative confirms Shirley Rubinett chaired the cultural committee of the Jewish Community Council of Austin and brought the Israeli Hassidic Festival to Austin in 1984, documenting JCCA-sponsored cultural programming; her husband Jarrell "Tank" Rubinett twice served as president of Congregation Agudas Achim.

Item is not viewable online — the original clipping was not digitized. It can only be accessed via microfilm or ProQuest at the Austin History Center.

May 24, 1967 · Austin Statesman

This article is cited (not reproduced) in a 2021 City of Austin Historic Landmark Commission packet for 3004 Belmont Circle, as footnote 38 in the biographical section on original homeowner Jarrell "Tank" Rubinett: "'JCCA School At Election,' Austin Statesman, May 24, 1967, 8." The surrounding biographical narrative confirms Rubinett served as a member of the board of the Jewish Community Council of Austin Pre-School beginning in 1967, alongside two terms as president of Congregation Agudas Achim.

Item is not viewable online — the original clipping was not digitized. It can only be accessed via microfilm or ProQuest at the Austin History Center.

April 1960 · Texas State Journal of Medicine

Source spreadsheet describes this as a people/medical-news brief reporting Dr. Maurice Jacobs as JCCA vice-president and Dr. Otto Lippmann as a JCCA board member -- a contemporaneous non-Austin Texas publication referencing the Austin organization.

Transcript not available — the source site blocks automated access with a bot-detection check. Click the title above to view it in a browser.

December 11, 1958 · Austin American-Statesman

full article transcribed from the downloaded scan (Society page, shares the page with unrelated club-news items and ads). Fits entirely on this one page, no jump needed.

May 24, 1956 · The Austin Statesman

Sourced from a 2021 City of Austin Historic Preservation Office research packet (PR-2021-121876, Old West Austin National Register Historic District, 2400 Pemberton Place) that reproduces this Austin Statesman clipping as biographical documentation for Dr. Ralph Hanna, a JCCA founding board member. Full clipping transcribed below -- pre-1964 Statesman content, given the same full-transcript treatment as the existing Statesman archive rather than the summary-only treatment used for modern copyrighted articles in this batch. FLAG: this clipping states the Jewish Community Council of Austin was newly formed in 1956, which appears to conflict with the existing Topics Index entry for "Jewish Community Council of Austin" (currently dated 1939) -- surfacing for review rather than silently overwriting the existing entry.

May 14, 1948 · Austin American-Statesman

front-page lead article transcribed from the downloaded scan. Story continues "on Page 2, Col. 5" per the jump line, but only the front page is on file for this item — no continuation scan recorded/linked. Rest of front page (Minnesota meatpacking-plant strike, farm aid program, Senator Overton's death, etc.) is unrelated wire/local news and not transcribed here.

December 24, 1911 · Wichita Daily Times · United Press

Source spreadsheet describes this as an Austin-datelined announcement of the Texas Zionist Association state convention in the Texas Senate chamber, with Governor O. B. Colquitt scheduled to address delegates on advancing Jewish return to Palestine.

Transcript not available — the scanned PDF is too large for this tool to process automatically. Click the title above to view or download the original scan directly.

November 23, 1908 · The Austin Statesman · Not credited; lecture by Sam Burstyn

Source spreadsheet describes this as coverage of a lecture before Austin Zionists on Jewish history and the contemporary Zionist movement.

Transcript not available — the source site blocks automated access with a bot-detection check. Click the title above to view it in a browser.

May 10, 1908 · The Austin Statesman · Not credited

Source spreadsheet describes this as a notice that members of Austin's Zionist movement would leave for a picnic -- a direct local Zionist-reference hit.

Transcript not available — the source site blocks automated access with a bot-detection check. Click the title above to view it in a browser.

February 11, 1908 · Austin American-Statesman

full speech transcribed from the downloaded scan (fits entirely on this one page, no jump needed). Heavily worn 1908 typeface with archaic phrasing — transcribed by hand and cross-checked, but a few names/words (e.g. "Boris Kazmann") are best-effort reads of a degraded print and could not be independently verified.

July 21, 1905 · Austin American-Statesman

title corrected to match the scan's actual printed headline, "Two Centuries and a Half of Jewish Americans." Full-page feature with portraits of the national committee planning the 250th-anniversary commemoration of Jewish settlement in America — Jacob H. Schiff, chairman, with Cyrus Adler, Louis Marshall, Oscar Straus, Isaac N. Seligman, Edward Lauterbach, Adolph Lewisohn, Louis Stern, and others pictured.

September 12, 1878 · Austin American-Statesman

This scan is still being reviewed — check back soon for the full article.

December 24, 1876 · Austin American-Statesman

re-extracted text confirms this is a Sam Friedberger "Temple of Fashion" (Austin) advertisement — 25% off the store's entire stock of dry goods, carpets, oil cloths, mattings, window shades, and rugs. Page is otherwise ad-heavy; no further re-scan needed.

December 26, 1872 · Austin American-Statesman

re-extracted text confirms the Hebrew Benevolent Society notice — a meeting is announced for the first Sunday in January at the Mayor's office. Rest of page (wire reports, local ads, holiday news) is poor OCR as expected for a full page; earliest item in this set.