By Moshe Kinderlehrer/Co-Publisher, The Jewish Link | February 18, 2021
I am dedicating my publisher’s space to my friend, our writer, published author, longtime Teaneck resident and proud Jewish Link contributor, Joe Rotenberg, z”l, who passed away suddenly early last week.
It’s hard to describe Joe Rotenberg in one relatively short column. I laughed along with the hundreds of viewers at Joe’s virtual levaya when Joe’s rabbi, Rabbi Shalom Baum of Congregation Keter Torah, began his hesped last week by apologizing to Joe that his levaya would not be as long as Joe might have preferred. For those who knew Joe, Rabbi Baum was so right.
Everything’s bigger in Texas, including the opportunities. A group of Houston businessmen make the case for why Houston is the new place to be for frum families
Photos: Elisheva Golani Photography
HOUSTON THEN AND NOW
Ten years ago, Mishpacha sent Binyamin Rose to Houston to check out its fledgling Young Israel community. The kehillah was (and still is) headed by Rabbi Yehoshua Wender, who had been there 25 years, and it numbered 100 families. The elementary school had 125 students and there were four kosher restaurants.
The community was already seeing growth then. Rabbi Wender told Mr. Rose that the kehillah had begun with 30 families, and the remaining 70 had arrived within the last four years. But now, a decade later, frum Houston has seen really dramatic growth, boasting about 500 families. There are high schools for both girls and boys in addition to three elementary schools, the kollel is thriving, and the number of kosher restaurants has doubled. Last year, the Young Is