_-_002.jpg)
Rachel Stern
Author:
Carli Price
History matters — especially in the face of the disinformation and propaganda campaigns that many of us did not think we would see in our lifetimes. We are Jews, an ancient people from Judea (part of modern-day Israel). Knowing our history, and reflecting on it, empowers us to understand the truth of who we are and to speak that truth with confidence, particularly in the post-October 7th world in which we find ourselves.
In that spirit, Shalom Austin incoming CEO, Rachel Stern, has generously opened a window into her family's Jewish story in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month.
Rachel grew up in a close-knit family in San Antonio, where her parents — of blessed memory — instilled in her a deep love of Jewish community. She remarked that since being named the next CEO of Shalom Austin, her parents have rarely left her thoughts. When Rachel was a young child, her family made the move from New York to San Antonio, joining what was then a much smaller, yet remarkably strong and tightly woven Jewish community. That community, she reflects, produced many Jewish leaders — rabbis who supported one another across synagogues, families who held dual synagogue memberships, and neighbors who understood that investing in Jewish life was not optional, but essential.
Community leadership is woven into the very fabric of Rachel's family. Her grandfather helped launch a senior program at the JCC. Her mother served as president of both their synagogue and the JCC. Her son later worked in that very same senior program — and today, her daughter serves as an assistant director at Greene Family Camp. Shalom Austin's new CEO is bringing the deep history of her family with her to lead our community at this pivotal moment in time.
A Family Story Rooted in Survival
Rachel is a third-generation Holocaust survivor, and the story of her grandparents' survival is one part of the broader tapestry of our collective Jewish history.
Her paternal grandfather, Heinrich Stern, was an Austrian Olympic soccer player. Her paternal grandmother, Mathilde Stern, was from Poland. In 1939, as the Nazi regime tightened its grip on Europe, Heinrich and Mathilde made a deliberate and courageous decision: they married specifically to improve their chances of escaping. They came to the United States that same year, eventually making their way to New York (by way of Italy), where they would continue with their lives in the face of the horrors they had survived.
Incredible artifacts belonging to Heinrich and Mathilde Stern are on display today at the San Antonio Holocaust Museum. Their passports, issued by German authorities, bear the state-imposed middle names "Israel" for men and "Sara" for women — a bureaucratic branding designed to identify Jews by name alone. The red "J" stamped on their passports also marked them as Jews.
Heinrich and Mathilde had one child, Rachel's father George. He spoke German in his family home, not learning English until he started Kindergarten. He went on to become an OB-GYN, and in 1974, the family moved from New York to San Antonio, drawn by family already rooted in Texas, where Rachel and her brother grew up with a tight knit group of extended family that would get together every week!
Rachel herself continued a life of movement and meaning. She holds three degrees: a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Missouri (1994), dual Master's degrees in Jewish education and Jewish Communal Service from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles and Jerusalem (1997), and an honorary Doctor of Jewish Religious Education from HUC-JIR in 2022. Over nearly three decades, she has built an impressive record of leadership across Dayton, Cincinnati, and Jackson, most notably expanding a regional education program from 22 to 76 communities across 13 states as Director of Education at the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, before returning home to Texas. Rachel, Shalom Austin's incoming CEO, currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy & Impact Officer at Shalom Austin. Her academic foundation and hands-on experience, from founding community schools to teaching rabbinical students, make her a distinguished leader in Jewish education and communal life.
Why This Story Matters
One of the reasons October 7th was so significant to the Jewish community is that it was our deadliest day since the Holocaust. The echoes of history are not distant — they live in our families, in our museums, in the names stamped on the passports of people like Heinrich "Israel" Stern and Mathilde "Sara" Stern.
The name Israel is not incidental in this story. It runs through it like a thread. Going back thousands of years — and throughout the Torah — the terms "Jew" and "Israelite" are one and the same. We are bound to our ancient homeland. That is sealed in history, which can never be changed.
Our Jewish heritage is shared. Each of our families carries a piece of this enduring story.