Temple Emanu-El of Longview, Texas is rooted in the history of the Jewish people of Gregg, Rusk and Harrison Counties. Although the earliest settlers played an important role, the turning point of our history began in the early 1930's with the "oil boom". We have no direct knowledge of why the earliest Jewish immigrants came to this part of East Texas as early as 1840, but we can assume that they moved here for the same reasons that brought most Jews to Texas. They came with only the clothes on their backs and the desire to do well. Being dislocated, hoping for economic opportunity and fearful of political unrest, these people chose Texas as a place to escape religious persecution. In 1930, Longview was a town of five thousand residents. But, as oil production lured large companies, Longview began to multiply and within six years, it had a population of twenty-five thousand. Judaism has always had the genius of adapting itself to the new conditions and crises, and the depression was certainly that. With the oil boom came many Jewish families, and their extended families, as they heard about the boom. Most came penniless, and many made small fortunes here. There were a few lean years after 1935, until the war began in December, 1941 and some left for greener pastures. Several of the stores that these early Jewish "boomers" began are still in existence today in downtown Longview. Just as Longview was growing, so was Kilgore. Late in 1930, Kilgore was only a village of a few hundred people when oil was discovered. In less than two months, Kilgore's population swelled to ten-thousand. Although there was no formal congregation, informal holiday services were held by laymen. In the fall of 1932, High Holy Day services were conducted at the Labor Temple in Kilgore. At that time a meeting was held in the "old" Kilgore Heights School. The purpose of this was to discuss building a synagogue. The synagogue building was finished in 1936 and named Congregation Beth Shalom, House of Peace. Although there were more Jewish people living in Longview than Kilgore, the majority of Beth Shalom's membership lived in Kilgore. many of the Jewish people residing in Longview were attending services in Marshall. The Marshall congregation was officially reform, where Beth Shalom was nominally orthodox. The surrounding towns of Gladewater, Henderson and Overton made up the rest of Beth Shalom's membership. In 1954, Rabbi Simon Cohen was the first reform Rabbi. Until Cohen was replaced with Rabbi Daniel E. Kernan in 1954, Rabbi Harvey Wessel of Temple Beth-El in Tyler made himself available to the Kilgore community. Rabbi Kernan was one of our most beloved Rabbis. Beth Shalom's membership grew to 96 Jewish families by 1957. At this time, there were 28 families from Kilgore, 51 families from Longview and 17 families from surrounding small towns. In 1957, it was felt that larger and more modern facilities were needed. Under the leadership of Beth Shalom's president, Ben Balter, an expansion committee was formed. It was decided that "since the overwhelming majority of the Jewish population resided in Longview, the new Temple Beth Shalom would be built in Longview". While some of the families supported both Beth Shalom in Kilgore and the new Beth Shalom in Longview, many refused to affiliate with the newer congregation. Naturally, confusion arose because both synagogues had the same name. On March 28th, 1957, the congregation signed a note for 5.96 acres of land on Eden Drive in Longview for $4500.00 at 5% interest. In April 1958, construction was completed. The massive brick structure was constructed and furnished at a cost of nearly $175,000.00 and served an approximate membership of sixty-five families. Because of the confusion of both Kilgore and Longview synagogues having the same name, the congregation in Longview voted on October 20, 1958 to change its name to "Temple Emanu-El". On Sunday afternoon, November 16, 1958, Ben Balter, as former president of the congregation, told the assembled crowd " We dedicate this temple and ourselves to the service of G-d and to this community. We will always remember how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." Edited by Jeff Rogovin