Rachel Binder’s family had no idea they were Jewish.
Her great-grandmother made sure of that. But when someone in the family discovered a menorah and Torah books hidden away in a closet in their great-grandmother’s home, they had questions. Rachel and her uncle did some digging and confirmed that her great-grandmother hid her Jewish identity.
“I’m trying to teach my children the rituals, customs and culture of Judaism,” Binder told Lubavitch.com. “It’s important to me because it was kept from my family. We’re trying to do our best to raise our children and teach them.”
Rachel’s determination to bring Judaism into her children’s lives was challenging in Leander, Texas, a fast-growing suburb north of Austin. The location near Austin was great for her husband, who works in tech, and the suburban setting was great for her kids, who enjoy living in a home with a backyard. But when they first got to Leander in 2021, there was very little available in the way of Jewish resources, Rachel described.
“There was nothing here. Walmart and Target didn’t even have Hanukkah candles. When I asked for them, they’d confusedly send me to the birthday candles.” Rachel missed the public menorah lightings she had experienced in California, before moving to Leander. “It was heartbreaking not to see that for a while.”
Then, two years after moving to town, she heard that the city would be having its first-ever public menorah lighting, held by Rabbi Shmuly and Nechomele Levertov, who’d just moved to town to found Chabad of Leander.
Rabbi Shmuly grew up in nearby Austin, where his parents, Rabbi Yosef and Rochel Levertov direct Chabad of Austin. Growing up, Shmuly says, Leander had a much more rural feel than it does today. “We used to come to Leander to ride horses at a family friend’s ranch,” Levertov described. “But now, it’s being built up very quickly.” Indeed, Leander was the fastest-growing city in the US for a time, with many West Coast imports—like the Binders—moving in to work in tech in Austin.
More than 100 people, including the city’s mayor, attended that first menorah lighting at Robin Bledsoe Park. For Rachel Binder, it was a milestone not just for the city, but for her family. “To have the Levertovs come here, to host menorah lightings, to be able to expose my children and to give them an opportunity to be a part of it—it was wonderful,” she said. “They are so welcoming. They reach out to us weekly; they’re very accepting of my family, there’s so much warmth and kindness.”
The Levertovs have hosted holiday events and lots of family-friendly experiences, including a shofar factory, a sukkah-mobile, and next week, a menorah workshop.
“They treat everyone like family,” Binder said. “It’s so wonderful for our children, and we feel grateful and blessed that they came.”
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