Texas Jewish Historical Society holds quarterly meeting in McAllen, honoring Jewish life in RGV, Mexico

The RGV’s Jewish community held events in January, February, marking Holocaust Remembrance.

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People gather, discuss at Temple Emanuel 26 January 2024, welcoming the ReportTexas Jewish Historical Society to McAllen.

The Jewish people have immensely contributed to the economic and cultural life of virtually every modern society. The Rio Grande Valley is one of them.

The founder of the storied and RGV household name, Lacks Furniture or Lacks Tire & Supply, for example, was a refugee from the old Russian empire, coming to America as a young man in 1914, just as the first imperialist world war was getting underway. He’d find his final refuge in the Valley in 1934, as Sam Lack and his lifelong spouse, Bea Haas, made their way to McAllen from Tulsa. With a $2,000 loan from his mother, he launched the company a year later.

The pioneer spirit didn’t end with business, as they were among the founding families of the Valley’s second Synagogue in Mercedes, in the mid 1930s. He became the first Vice President for Temple Emanuel McAllen, which was constit…