g Welcome g
Intermountain Jewish News
®
Welcome to the General Assembly Special Supplement
November 4, 2011 Cheshvan 7,5772
ALLIED JEWISH FEDERATION
of Colorado WELCOMES THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY of the Jewish Federations of North America HISTORY You mean there are Jews in Colorado? Photograph © by John Fielder
to Denver
WELCOME g g to the GA
Intermountain Jewish News
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Miriam H. Goldberg EXECUTIVE EDITOR Rabbi Hillel Goldberg, PhD ASSOCIATE EDITOR Larry Hankin ASSISTANT EDITOR Chris Leppek SENIOR WRITER Andrea Jacobs WEB EDITOR Shana R. Goldberg FEATURES Elaine Goldberg Tehilla R. Goldberg Dennis Prager Amy Lederman Martin Westerman Rabbis Yisroel & Shloime Engel ADVERTISING Lori Aron Bernie Papper PRODUCTION Seiji Nagata Michael Anuszewski BUSINESS STAFF Dave Fetscher Carol Coen
Welcome to the
About the ‘Welcome to the GA’ cover
Special Supplement
The cover of the INTERMOUNTAIN JEWISH NEWS® ‘Welcome to the GA’ features a photograph by John Fielder, America’s best-selling nature photographer of wall calendars and of breathtaking albums of Colorado. The scene on the cover is “Aspen Canopy Near Vail, Colorado.”
General Assembly
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SPORTS EDITOR Gerald Mellman CIRCULATION Jeff Cannon PHOTOGRAPHER Arlen Flax ■ MAX GOLDBERG Editor and Publisher (1943-1972) ROBERT S. GAMZEY Editor, Israel Correspondent (1943-1975) DORIS SKY Managing Editor (1962-1990) JOSEPH POLAKOFF Washington Bureau (1972-1996) JUDY WALDREN Office Manager (1984-2011)
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Once in a Generation Greetings — IJN • Governor • Mayor • AJF Maps & Guides to Denver
21st Century What is Jewry’s Biggest Challenge? RUTH MESSINGER • DAVID SIEGEL One-on-One with Doug Seserman
Colorado Unique Spirit of Independence ALPINE JUDAISM • DYNAMOS • AIR The Lavender Hill Mob THEY SMUGGLED ARMS TO ISRAEL, 1948
Colorado Originals KKK • NATIONAL JEWISH • ONLY IN AMERICA
Gold, Silver & TB THE COUGH THAT BROUGHT JEWS TO COLORADO
Advertisers’ Index November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 3
Welcome from IJN Executive Editor
JEWISH NEWS
® ®
1177 Grant Street, Suite 200 • Denver, Colorado 80203-2362 PHONE: 303-861-2234 • FAX: 303-832-6942 • E-MAIL: hillel@ijn.com • WEBSITE: www.ijn.com MIRIAM HARRIS GOLDBERG RABBI HILLEL GOLDBERG, Ph.D. Editor and Publisher Executive Editor
November 4, 2011 To the General Assembly Delegates: At a minimum, Jews need to talk to each other. All Jews. Otherwise, we weaken. The ego vision fragments the collective vision. I like the federation table. All factions of Jews are welcome there. That table is not perfect. Nothing is. But that table should be, and usually is, welcoming. Now all of those tables come together for three days of dialogue and disputation. Welcome to the GA in Denver! My vision is “More Political Support to Israel,” “More Financial Support to Day School Education.” The way to the former is the latter. Colorado, second only to Israel, discloses the awe of G-d. Be together. Be successful. Be holy. Blessings and peace,
Rabbi Hillel Goldberg, PhD Executive Editor PUBLISHER — MAX GOLDBERG (1911-1972)
4 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011
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6 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011
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Welcome from Colorado’s governor
8 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011
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WARNING! Downtown Denver is confusing. It sits at a 45° angle to the rest of the city. Beware when you venture outside downtown — it’s different! Downtown’s 17th STREET runs at a 45° angle to the rest of the city’s 17th AVENUE. Reason for the different downtown grid? This way, you can see the mountains from TWO sides of any downtown building. Denver’s regular streets, such as main streets Broadway and Colfax Ave. (= 15th Avenue), run on a perpendicular, easy-to-get-around, north-south & east-west grid.
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Welcome from Denver’s mayor
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NEAT THINGS TO SEE STATE CAPITOL Beautiful stained glass windows, ornate fixtures, tons of Western art and history. Currently undergoing a much-needed dome restoration, the capitol building is still open for tours. Free historical tours, the dome tour and “Mr. Brown’s attic walk” (a special lofty space devoted to early Colorado history) are all available. At precisely the second step — Denver is 5,280 feet — a mile high. Five minute walk from downtown. 200 E. Colfax Ave. Tour Desk: 303-866-2604. DENVER MINT Watch money being made — quite literally. Free tours are conducted 8 a.m.-2 p.m., Monday-Friday, and must be reserved at http://www.usmint.gov/mint_tours/. (303) 405-4761. Very short walk from downtown. MUSEUM OF NATURE & SCIENCE See Egyptian mummies, breathtaking animal dioramas, dazzling gems and minerals — not to mention the Gates Planetarium and Imax Theater. Scheduled for this fall and winter: the awe-inspiring T. Rex Encounter. Ten minute cab ride from downtown. Nominal fee. 2001 Colorado Blvd. (in City Park). 9 a.m.-5 p.m. 303-370-6000. DENVER ART MUSEUM Everything from English countrysides to Degas’ dancers to Chinese silkscreens to Andy Warhol — in an utterly unique new structure designed by Daniel Libeskind. Special exhibitions during the GA: “Xu Beihong: Pioneer of Modern Chinese Painting” and “Olivetti: Innovation & Identity.” Five minute walk from downtown. Nominal fee. 100 W. 14th Ave. 720-865-5000. Tue.-Thu., Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Fri. 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sun. 12 p.m. DENVER ZOO Lions, tigers and bears and much more, including such special treats as Bear Mountain, Predator Ridge, Tropical Discovery and Primate Panorama. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Nominal fee. (Hint to GA’ers: Sunday, Nov. 6, is a free day.) Ten minute cab ride from downtown (in City Park). 303-376-4800. DENVER CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS Everything from ballet to Broadway, bop to pop, opera to symphony, in this visually stunning and welcoming cultural mall of integrated performance venues. Between 13th and 14th on Curtis St. in down-
town Denver (a five-minute walk from the Sheraton). Call 303-893-4100 or 800641-1222 for specific shows and theaters. DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT America’s largest international airport is already a beloved part of the Denver landscape. DIA is an architectural masterpiece, inside and out. It sits (for the moment) almost alone on the prairie, its flexiplexi snow white roof soaring skyward while mountain sunsets weave colorful patterns on surrounding highways (we could do without the infamous red-eyed “demon horse”). You probably already know how far it is from downtown Denver.
303-322-9862 • eskd1@aol.com
KOSHER
Food Resource for the GA Visit our Kosher Kafe in Sheraton lobby bar area Sandwiches • Soups • Deli Salads • Knishes Entree Salads • Bakery items • Snacks
Visit our store 499 S. Elm St. 15-minute drive from Downtown
SIT DOWN RESTAURANT • TAKE OUT DELI • BAKERY • GROCERY
Menus on our website
www.eastsidekosherdeli.com November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 11
Welcome from Allied Jewish Federation
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NEAT PLACES TO SKI VAIL. One of the largest single mountain ski KEYSTONE. Variety! Not only can you ski at any one of Keystone’s three areas in Colorado, Vail is a favorite. It boasts mountains, your lift ticket is also honored at Breckenridge’s four mountains 193 trails and 33 lifts, including eight, highand at Arapahoe Basin. Linking these resorts is a free continuous shuttle speed quad (four-people) lifts. They can transport service. Also, one of the most beautiful sights in Colorado: night skiing! 42,570 skiers uphill every hour. One can ski an 80 miles west of Denver via I-70. entire day and still not cover the entire mountain. 100 miles west of Denver, the drive via I-70 is about 2 hours. COPPER MOUNTAIN. Colorado’s perfect ski mountain. Why? Naturally separated terrain “segregates” ASPEN/SNOWMASS. Groomed novice skiers from intermediate skiers and on 2,500 acres of Aspen mountain are advanced skiers. No novice trails lead into some of the most grueling, high advanced trails. Just perfect skiing all day for any impact, intense trails level of skier. For those too young to ski, Copper in the world. With Mountain offers child care facilities. 90 16 lifts, including 5 high-speed quad lifts, you can get minutes west of Denver via I-70. in miles of skiing in one day. After a day of skiing, what better way to relax than to go shopping? The Village LOVELAND. Closest ski Mall houses 35 art galleries and 300 retail shops. resort to Denver, Take I-70 west to Colorado 82. 220 miles from Denver. under an hour via I-70. Loveland has WINTERPARK/MARY JANE. Two areas for the price of a wide variety of ski terrain, virtually no one. About 90 miles from Denver, this resort is one of lift lines and is reasonably priced. Colorado’s favorites. With over 112 trails serviced by 20 lifts Loveland Valley, a separate but con(four high-speed quad), you can ski to your heart’s content. New snow nected area, is ideal for “first-time” daily. Well groomed trails. Wide open spaces. Trails varying in difficulty. A great skiers or for long timers who place for beginners. I-70 west to US 40. need brushing up.
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JEWISH DENVER The Jewish population of DenverBoulder metro area has doubled in the past three decades to approximately 80,000. The Jewish population is spread throughout the metroplex from north of Boulder to Castle Rock in the south, Aurora in the east and the foothills of the Rockies in the west. WEST SIDE Long ago the area just west of downtown Denver along Colfax Avenue was a Western “shtetl”: shuls on every corner, kosher butchers, grocers, green grocers, fish markets, Yiddish theater. After World War II, the economy prospered and Jews on the West Side sought to “move up,” so the old West Side Jewish community began to shrink. But some 80 Orthodox families live on the West Side today, home to Yeshiva Toras Chaim, Beth Jacob High School, a mikveh at 1404 Quitman St., Denver Community Kollel and a bookstore. The West Side has an eruv. EAST SIDE In the 19th century the East Side referred to the German Reform Jewish community just east of downtown, as well as to BMH, a traditional synagogue in Capitol Hill. As many Jewish residents moved away from the West Side they often settled in the neighborhoods of Hilltop and Crestmoor. The corner of Alameda Ave. and Dahlia St. is the organizational center of Jewish Denver: the Allied Jewish Federation, the Loup JCC and the Mizel Arts and Culture Center. On the East Side are Temple Emanuel, Denver’s oldest and largest congregation. Temple Micah, also Reform, is in the Park Hill neighborhood. The traditional BMH merged with Beth Joseph in 1996 to form BMH-BJ, with both mechitzah and mixed-seating services. Conservative Judaism is centered at Rodef Shalom; next door is the Mizel Museum. Orthodox congregations include EDOS, Bais Menachem, DAT Minyan (also the location of Denver Academy of Torah, a modern Orthodox day school), Western Center for Russian Jewry and Kehillas Beis Yisroel. B’nai Havurah is a Reconstructionist congregation. Kohelet is a lay-led, post-denominational congregation. Hillel Academy is the community’s original Orthodox day school. The Mikveh of
East Denver is at 295 S. Locust St. The East Side is also served by an eruv and Aharon’s Book Store & Judaica. Kosher restaurants on the East Side include East Side Kosher Deli (499 S. Elm St.) and Pete’s Pizza (5606 E. Cedar Ave.). The Allied Jewish Apartments is a congregate housing facility for senior citizens in three buildings near the famous Cherry
Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado Creek Shopping Center. Rose Medical Center established in 1948 by the Jewish community, is at 9th Ave. and Clermont St. National Jewish Health — ranked #1 in its class — occupies a large campus at Colfax Ave. and Colorado Blvd. SOUTHEAST The expansion of the Jewish community continued past East Denver to Temple Sinai, a Reform congregation and the first synagogue in Southeast Denver; the Hebrew Educational Alliance, Conservative; Aish Denver, Orthodox, which includes a mikveh at 9550 E. Belleview Ave., and an eruv; and Beth Shalom, Conservative. Chabad has centers at the University of Denver and in Lone Tree, Colorado. The Denver Jewish Day School, K-12, includes a lower and upper school. Social service agencies in the Southeast are Jewish Family Service with its Weinberg Food Pantry; Shalom Cares, a continuum of care campus for older adults. Jewish gift and ritual items are at Boutique Judaica.
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BOULDER • NORTHWEST FOOTHILLS Boulder has grown to include its own synagogues, agencies and organizations. The heartbeat of the community is the Boulder JCC, on the cusp of building a new $16 million facility. The Boulder Jewish Family Service is headquartered there. Congregations include Bonai Shalom, Conservative; Har HaShem, Reform; Nevei Kodesh and Pardes Levavot, Renewal; and Aish Kodesh, Orthodox. The Longmont Shabbat Group meet periodically. Separate Chabads are on the CU campus, in Boulder and in Longmont. CU has a new Hillel House. Just south of Boulder in Denver’s northern suburb of Westminster are a Reform congregation, B’nai Torah and Chabad of Northwest Metro Denver. The western edge of the Denver metro area has B’nai Chaim, Reform, in Morrison (near Red Rocks); Beth Evergreen, Reconstructionist, and Judaism in the Foothills (Chabad), both in Evergreen. BEYOND DENVER Others centers of Jewish life in Colorado are Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Ft. Collins, Greeley, Trinidad, Grand Junction, Aspen, Vail, Summit County, Steamboat Springs, Durango and Crested Butte. Other Rocky Mountain West Jewish communities include: MONTANA: Great Falls, Billings, Butte, Flathead Valley and Missoula. NEW MEXICO: Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Las Cruces and Rio Rancho. UTAH: Salt Lake City, Park City and Ogden. WYOMING: Cheyenne, Laramie, Jackson Hole and Casper. INTERMOUNTAIN JEWISH NEWS Right in the middle of it all is the INTERMOUNTAIN JEWISH NEWS, the weekly independent newspaper with headquarters two blocks from the State Capitol in downtown Denver. The amply awarded IJN has covered the Jewish community of the Rocky Mountain West for 98 years, since 1913. Subscribers receive the print or the online editions — and special editions like this “Welcome to the GA.”
November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 15
JEWRY ’S GREATEST CHALLENGE UNIVERSALISM BY RUTH MESSINGER
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BRIDGE
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BY DAVID SIEGEL
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ne of the Jewish community’s enduring anxieties is shaped by a long-term and unresolved question that has tugged at our communal sleeve since the beginning of time: Is Judaism universal or particular in its orientation? Is our primary purpose as Jews to improve the condition of our world or to satisfy the distinctive needs of Jewish people? Rabbis have wrestled with this RUTH MESSINGER for generations. One famous Founder and President response was offered by 19thAmerican Jewish World Service century commentator, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, in his book The Nineteen Letters (1836). Hirsch took an integrated approach: We should express a particularistic Jewish identity in order to embrace the universalism of Enlightenment Europe. “We must forget the views and prejudices that we inherited
s representatives from Jewish communities across North America gather in Denver for the 79th annual General Assembly of the Jewish Federations, it is the perfect time to reflect on the state of events in the Middle East and how they affect the millions of Jews in the Diaspora. Representing Israel in the Diaspora, I am proud of to say that Israel is a highly diverse, DAVID SIEGEL open and energetic democracy. Israel Consul in Los Angeles With immigrants from 120 countries who came to Israel with different ethnic backgrounds, languages and traditions, we celebrate the extraordinary story of Israel and the ingathering of the exiles. But we haven’t simply gathered. In just 63 years, we have built a strong nation, a robust society and a highly-educated community of scientists and researchers, developing solutions to many of the world’s prob-
Please see MESSINGER on Page 17
Please see SIEGEL on Page 17
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MESSINGER from Page 16 about Judaism,” he wrote, “and, instead, turn to the sources of Judaism—the Tanach, the Talmud and the Midrash. We must read, study and comprehend them in order to live by them . . . Judaism, correctly conceived and conveyed, constitutes a bond of love and justice encompassing all creatures.” Fast-forward 112 years to 1948, and we find two major outcomes of the Holocaust. The first, the founding of the State of Israel, speaks to the particularity of Jewish experience and the importance of ensuring Jewish survival. The second, the UNs’ adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, speaks to the universal expression of Jewish values — making a difference in the lives of others and doing what, perhaps, we were put in the world to do. These two pieces of history animate how Jews live our lives today. They influence the choices we make and, no doubt, present two very different portraits of what constitutes “Jewish work” for our communal future.
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or American Jews fiercely committed to social justice, the power of the particular remains a vital instrument for change. Looking inward and working internally will always be a defining piece of my own life as a Jew. But I also recognize that in a globalized, interconnected world, it is not enough. It’s not enough when over one billion people around the globe go to bed hungry and do not have control over their own food and water sources; it’s not enough when two billion people lack adequate sanitation; and not enough when violence against women, children and other marginalized populations is on the rise worldwide. This is especially the case when there are concrete things we can do to address these problems. Our community’s struggle with our own oppression and marginality has instilled an ethic of righteousness and justice. We have a rich history of manifesting Jewish peoplehood in social movements — the labor movement, the civil rights movement and the women’s movement, to name a few. It’s a legacy that clarifies our collective purpose and, for many, anchors Jewish identity in the 21st century. And so, the most pressing issue for American Jewry is the issue that has existed for centuries: ensuring that being Jewish retains its value and fundamental purpose. We must commit to using our teachings, ritual practice and communal story in service of a better world. And, in order to do this, we must live the legacy of both the particular and the universal with rigor and conviction.
SIEGEL from Page 16 lems. Yet, all too often, people relate to Israel solely through headlines and conflicts which often stereotype and distort the reality of life in Israel. For this reason, we need to broaden and enrich the conversation, because Israel is so much more than the crises we read about. This is particularly important today, as the Middle East goes through historic and tumultuous changes which are affecting hundreds of millions of people in the region. The historic political earthquake reverberating across the Middle East will be with us for many years. There are no easy solutions to the complexities of the region, including the Iranian nuclear threat, the lack of economic and human development, sectarian fighting in Syria, rapid Please see SIEGEL on Page 65 November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 17
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T
HE LOOK OF A
DOUG SESERMAN — NOT
CENTURY AFRAID
TO FACE THE CHANGES IN FEDERATION LIFE
BY CHRIS LEPPEK Photos of Doug Seserman by Arlen Flax
D
21st
elegates to this year’s General Assembly will see lots of local Colorado faces during their Denver stay — some more than others. One of those on the “more” side will surely be Doug Seserman, presidentCEO of the Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado. Not only is it his responsibility as the professional leader of the hosting federation to meet and greet executives from federations across the continent at the GA — it’s also his nature. Friendly and outgoing, Seserman embodies the warm Western spirit that Coloradans take considerable pride in. When the subject of his conversation is federation — which, not surprisingly, it frequently is — Seserman is even more Coloradan in his approach. He is laid-back, less concerned with worrying about problems than solving them. Proud of history and heritage, he is also progressive and futuristic in his orientation. These traits have been made manifest since 2002 when Seserman was appointed to lead the AJF, bringing considerable experience and expertise from the private sector. His tenure since then has been in many ways a roller coaster — the optimistic hopefulness of the early century battered by the harsh realities and lowered expectations of the recession, followed by the current need for new vision and direction. He has grappled with issues and dynamics very familiar to federation professionals and lay leaders across North America. How he has coped with those challenges, and how he is refocusing and rebuilding his own federation’s pri-
Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado
Please see SESERMAN on 20 November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 19
SESERMAN from Page 19 orities, may be of considerable and timely interest to his colleagues. In a recent interview with the JEWISH N EWS , INTERMOUNTAIN Seserman discussed these and many other issues, including how Colorado Jewry is both a part of and distinct from North American Jewry in general. To paraphrase the famous Jewish question: How is the Allied Jewish Federation different from all other federations? “We’re trying our best to be a contemporary federation that’s progressive — one for modernity. That’s reflective, I think, of the ties to our ancient traditions and everything we’ve done as a federation and a system. “It’s meeting donors and community members where they are, not where we want them to be. It’s more donor-centric. “This is the land of Total Choice Tzedakah, where donors can give both to and through their federation. That’s been quite controversial but at this point it’s just part of how we do business. “They say the trends start on the coasts but in the Jewish world west of the Mississippi, these Western communities look more like what the future of the federation system is about. “Denver is really kind of a hybrid community. We have some fourth generation families but we have a lot of people who have moved here from somewhere else. Their giving patterns don’t really resemble that of the communities where they used to be. So we’re trying to grow Jewish philanthropy in every flavor and form.” Was Total Choice Tzedakah largely a Denver or Colorado creation? “Virtually every federation that I’m aware of has some form of designated giving living within it, either to programs, projects or direct gifts to agencies. That’s what donors want. They want to be able to direct and control their philanthropy like they do their businesses. “But we’re really the ones that have taken it the furthest in terms of marketing — designated giving as an opportunity. What I like to say is we market choice but we sell federated giving.
“Federated giving is really the lifeblood of the Jewish philanthropic world but the annual unrestricted campaign is not a flexible enough or compelling enough product in and of itself to be the end-all for all donors’ philanthropy. You have to find ways to get donors engaged in whatever ways they want. “The command and control federation, where the federation dictates the community, is really a model more of the past than of the future. This is a community where we’re trying to collaborate with our agencies, not compete with them. Total Choice Tzedakah is a flexible giving platform to enable us to do that.” Is this a generational phenomenon largely and, if so, is there a Baby Boom cutting line or is it Gen X? Where is the differentiation? “I think it lives mostly in ‘Major Donor Land’ and ‘Younger Donor Land.’
‘Denver is really a hybrid community — so we’re trying to grow Jewish philanthropy in every form and flavor’
the federation enables it or not. In other words, the donors have total choice tzedakah. They can give to whatever organization they want to – Jewish, not Jewish. They live in a free country. “What Total Choice is doing is just opening up the tent to enable donors to participate in that philanthropy, all through the rubric of the federation’s annual campaign. “The controversy comes from change. Change comes hard. Some people don’t like it because it’s different. “This will be our ninth campaign with Total Choice Tzedakah. It’s been around for a decade. It’s not really new anymore, so it’s kind of funny in a way that it’s still controversial. “It hasn’t proved to be a magic bullet. It hasn’t solved everything in the community. When I first came up with the idea, if you will, I thought that this would enable the federation to raise the vast majority of resources in the community so that the agencies could focus on the programming and not be so focused on fundraising. “In the end, we haven’t been successful enough in raising dollars for the agencies to get out of the fundraising business. “So I think we have a contemporary giving platform that makes sense, but it hasn’t become the be-all and end-all for everyone.”
“The bigger the philanthropist, the more they want to have a direct say in their philanthropy, not just do it for another organization. “Then certainly among the younger generation — let’s say 40 and under, especially people in their 20’s and 30’s — they are very technically savvy. They have the Internet to engage for research on organizations very easily, so they really don’t understand umbrella giving in the same way that the older-than-the-State of Israel generation does. They have given more out of obligation and responsibility than out of a desire to do good.”
Is Denver also unique in terms of the amount of allocations that go to Israel? Are you a renegade federation in that way? “If you look at our unrestricted dollars they basically break up in four sections. We give the same amount of money to Israel, local allocations, our own internal programs that we run on behalf of our community, and then our overhead. “I don’t think we’re really that much of a renegade. We’ve had a very strong partnership — now called Partnership Together Community — with Ramat Negev. A lot of communities have relationships like that but ours seems to be on a people-to-people level.”
When you say that it’s controversial, is that a judgment on its success or failure, or simply its methodology? “All of the above. “Total Choice Tzedakah exists whether
The Allied has also become a sort of incubator for federation leaders else where. “One of my most proud accomplishments is that we’re starting to grow talent
20 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011
Denver’s national contributions
Susan Kramer
Ezra Shanken
for the system. “Susan Kramer is now the chief executive officer in the Dallas federation and Steve Morris, who used to be the volunteer campaign chair here, is now the CEO of the San Diego federation. “Ezra Shanken, who really came here as an assistant in an administrative role, is now the director of emerging leaders and philanthropists in the UJA Federation of New York. So he’s gone from the minor leagues in Denver to the major leagues of New York City.
Bob Loup
Judy Robins
“We’re proud of that. We’ve always had a great tradition of lay leadership at the national level. Bob Loup was the chairman of the UJA campaign. We’ve always had strong representation on the national Young Leadership Cabinet. I think today we have 19 members. “Judy Robins, who just won our Lifetime Achievement Award, was one of the first members of the Young Leadership Cabinet and Lion of Judah Society. “Why is that happening? I think that we have the right blend going on here in
Denver, where we’re both a traditional community and a new community. “We’re one of the fastest growing Jewish communities of our size. I think we’re the 16th largest Jewish community in the country. “Our last demographic study was in 2007. It showed that there were 84,000 Jews in the Denver-Boulder metropolitan area, close to 120,000 people living in Jewish households. We have grown our Jewish population by 33% in the last 10 years. The growth of non-Jews in Jewish households was over 100%. “So we’re really a growing community and I think the issues that we face and are struggling with are the issues that many federations and communities are struggling with. We’re just a bit ahead of the curve. “No one has found the answer, so other communities are looking to take advantage of some of our professionals who maybe are starting at second or third base instead of home plate.” Could you thumbnail the new chalPlease see SESERMAN on Page 22
November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 21
SESERMAN from Page 21 lenges? “Not to be negative, but I think the Jewish world feels a bit off-trend sometimes. Just the idea of being Jewish, and also the notion of federated giving as the be-all, end-all answer of Jewish philanthropy. Both of those feel like they’re a bit off-trend. “What do I mean by that? To some degree maybe we have become victims of our own success in this country. We have such great freedoms and are now so welcome to participate in the general community. There was a time when Jews could only participate philanthropically in the Jewish community because those were the boards that they were allowed to be on. “This year we lost our Jewish country club. I think that’s reflective of the same dynamic. It’s become a free market. There are a lot of ways that Jews can be accepted in the community and also practice tikkun olam, being involved in making the world a better place, whether that’s through nonJewish causes or Jewish causes. “In federation terms, we are the modern day version of the ancient Jewish tradition of the kuppah, the communal collecting box. The Mormons are known today for the concept of the tithe, but it’s a Jewish invention. In the Talmudic period, the rabbis and community leaders would collect tzedakah almost as a Jewish tax. If we could levy that tax today, we probably would meet a lot more of our needs. “While it’s in our genetic code to be extremely generous, we don’t necessarily do it the way our parents and grandparents used to. The challenge for the federation is to reinvent itself to stay fresh and make sure it resonates. “We’re in the process of ‘reimagining our future.’ When I first got here it was about trying to find a contemporary giving platform. Now we’re really working on this notion of finding a federation that’s relevant for the 21st century; that really takes an honest look at itself and reexamines what we’re doing well or not so well. “We call it the ‘five Rs’ of reimagining: First to reexamine our work, then redefine our mission, make sure it’s relevant for the 21st century, make sure that whatever direction we work on resonates with our
donors. . . and to relaunch a new direction sometime in the 2012 timeframe. “I’m really excited about it. Jerry Silverman, the national CEO, says it well: ‘What got us here isn’t going to get us there.’ We need to have the courage to try something new.” You’re talking about something much more substantial and profound than being hip. “Yes. It’s really about what’s the federation role in the community. It’s about who we are and what our mission is and then it’s about marketing that right.” And acknowledging that Jewish dynam-
‘The federation is the modern version of the ancient Jewish tradition of the kuppah,, the communal collecting box’ ics in the country, Jewish desires, to some degree are outside of your control? “It feels like we have existential threats to the Jewish world. We can’t control all of those existential threats, but we can control how we react to them. That has to do with Israel and what’s happening with North American Jewry. “The Jewish world is unfortunately small — around 13-14 million Jews in the world; around six million in Israel; a little less than six million in this country; one to two million in the rest of the world. “The future of Jewish life, grossly oversimplified, is about a safe and secure Israel and a strong and vibrant North American Jewry. “When you look at what’s happening in both of those areas, one shouldn’t get so nervous that the sky is falling, but we shouldn’t be complacent either, that just because it’s a 4,000-year-old tradition it’s always going to be here. We have to work every day to make sure that it’s here for generations to come.” Do you worry about so-called post-
22 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011
Zionism, the fact that Jews might come to regard Israel in a totally different light than their grandparents did? “I do. I have 15 Israeli cousins. None of them live in Israel anymore. One of my cousins, who I look up to the most, doesn’t understand why his non-Hebrewspeaking cousin from Denver is a bigger Zionist than he is. “There was a time when Israel was the lowest common denominator, really the glue, that holds us all together. I think in times of crisis it still serves that function, but today it’s becoming divisive, even within the Jewish community. “We have to get back to our roots, our basics, around Israel as a Zionist idea, the need for a Jewish state for our self-determination, regardless of where these borders end up. What we need to protect is a Jewish nation-state. “Ultimately that’s going to be in some kind of two-state solution, basically because of the demographics on the ground. If Israel is going to be both democratic and Jewish we have to find a twostate solution. “The sooner we can find that solution, the better off we’re going to be. The challenge is how to you get to that solution when you have no partner for negotiation? “In addition to the Torah — the greatest gift ever to the Jewish people — we should be so proud of Israel’s accomplishments in its 63-year history. It’s an incredibly exciting, innovative place. “One of the things I’m really proud of is the economic development trade missions that we led with former Governor [Bill] Ritter who created five memorandums of understanding for furthering the Colorado-Israel bilateral relationship over time. It was about knowledge transfer and best practice sharing and everything that Colorado has in common with Israel as it relates to high-tech, renewable energy, agriculture and water issues, trying to attract new economy companies. “I think the relationship that we have with Israel obviously has to move beyond the conflict. Even from a federation it needs to be multidimensional, not just a philanthropic relationship. It’s both get back to the basics and back to the future. “The basics are the Zionist idea — why we need a Jewish state and staying focused
on the idea of a nation-state for the Jewish people — and back to the future, around a new platform of the relationship with Israel as a partner in this new economy.” Not that long ago, East Coast Jewry thought of Denver and similar communities as the sticks, as hayseed Jewish communi ties. Has that changed? “I think there is an East Coast-centric Jewish view of the world. From Tel Aviv, you go to New York City, maybe you do a stopover in Cleveland or Chicago and then you jump to LA. Hopefully with this GA we’ll showcase that there’s a vibrant Jewish world happening right here in the Rocky Mountain region. “This is a cosmopolitan, great city. One of our visions is to show that Colorado isn’t just a great place to work and ski but a great place to be Jewish. Hopefully, people will fall in love with Colorado for its Jewish community, not just for its great outdoors.”
run Faith Bible Chapel. The outreach to the pro-Israel community is an important part of the fabric of this community. We have a strong GLBT community here and we try to be welcoming there. We have very strong Orthodox outreach, with The Jewish Experience and Aish Denver. Please see SESERMAN on Page 24
What can Colorado Jews teach Jews from other places? “We’re a great example of a Jewish community in modernity. We’re a vibrant, diverse and growing Jewish community. What other communities learn from us is how they can grow also. “It’s about being welcoming. We have high intermarriage rates and high unaffiliation rates, but instead of crying about it we want to try to take advantage of the opportunity and be welcoming. “Many of our leaders and largest philanthropists are intermarried. Some of our largest philanthropists aren’t even Jewish. We have a great relationship with George and Cheryl Morrison who
November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 23
SESERMAN from Page 23 “I think it’s about giving a big hug. We have figured out, regardless of the spectrum of where you’re entering the Jewish world, that there’s a place for you and a way to connect. “Because we’re a contemporary community we know how to build bridges and look to the future. And we still have that pioneering mentality. We’re part of the West, kind of the beginning of the West. That makes us comfortable to be innovative.” Three years ago, the recession started. How rough have these three years been from the federation point of view? “It’s been really rough. The last couple of years have been really difficult. I’m proud to say that in this last campaign we’re starting to rebound. Our campaign this year is up about 6%, after two years of declines. “We had seven consecutive years of growth since I’ve got here. At one point we had grown our annual campaign by 69%, and our donors by 24%, before the economic downturn. We were then down 17%, then down 3%. “We had to do a lot of right-sizing in the community as well as the federation. We reduced our overhead and staff by about 30%. We took pay cuts and salary freezes and eliminated programs and launched an economic relief fund for the community. We were doing all the moves that we thought we needed to do and we were proud of that, but it didn’t feel good. “Now I think we’re on the other side. While it’s clear that the philanthropic giving will lag behind the recovery in the economy, and while the economy has recovered somewhat, it’s still very choppy out there and there’s a lot of uncertainty. It’s important right now that while we’re rebounding, kind of coming back, we don’t have delusions of grandeur — that we’re going to get back to 2008 levels of philanthropy. “It’s the new normal and the new operating environment in which we’re working. We’re positioned to take on our Reimagining project from a position of stability and strength, not one of desperation and downturn. “It feels like our confidence is back and there’s a little strut to our step, both at the
federation and in the community. There’s still a really bright future ahead.” Has the capital campaign been a casu alty of what you call the economic down turn and others call the Great Recession? “The Jewish Colorado Tomorrow campaign was one of the casualties of the Great Recession, for sure, and to some degree a casualty of a community that really isn’t federated in a traditional sense. “That was the most ambitious undertaking of my tenure. It was a master plan for the next quarter century. Our initial campaign was to be a $75 million project. We had raised $14 million in verbal commitments and then the downturn hit and we had to shelve the project. “In the meantime, we had spent around $2 million in pursuit costs to position us to be successful with the campaign. That still stings today. It was the right idea but the wrong time. Sometimes timing is everything. “Now what’s happening is the needs haven’t gone away, but the patience of all the organizations in the community to collaborate is not really there. Right now, it’s each institution on their own. We’re working through when the timing might be right to come back and coordinate. “I think this community really needs an effort like that and we’re happy to quarterback it when we feel that we can be successful, both in terms of the economic environment and the cultural environment. “I feel like we’ve been trying to creatively federate this community for almost a decade now. What we need to do is really understand that this community is what it is, and try to take advantage of its greatness and not try to turn it into some kind of Midwestern or Eastern community.” From the perspective of Colorado Jewry, what is the significance of the GA? “It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to host the Jewish world. The last time was 17 years ago, in 1994, that Colorado hosted the GA. “While Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people, for these three days Denver will be the capital of the Jewish world. It’s just an incredibly exciting opportunity. “We’ve worked hard to create what we
24 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011
call the four legs of the table to host the GA. “Leg one is volunteer coordination — 400-500 volunteers who will come out to host the GA in all kinds of capacities. We want to have a very visible and welcoming presence as a host community. “Leg two is young adult programming. There’s really exciting young adult programming, including a day of service to work with Metro Volunteers. For young people who attend the GA or are in the community they can do this day of service on Sunday. “Leg three is our celebratory event, a big Welcome to Denver celebration Monday night at the DCPA. We think that’s a great venue. That also showcases Denver as a major entertainment and cultural center. “People will be surprised how cosmopolitan Colorado really is when they see our party. We’re proud of our history as a cowtown, but we’re not a cowtown anymore. “Leg four is local delegation recruitment. We are hoping to break new records with actual delegates at the GA. We hope to have a couple of hundred delegates from Colorado. “We’ve also launched what we call the ‘Five Days of Doing Jewish’ so we can piggyback on the activity and speakers of the GA and create synergy. Following the three days of the GA, we’ll have our Choices event on Wednesday and our Men’s Event on Thursday. “The message to our own community is, first there were the five books of Moses, now there’s the five days of doing Jewish. Do all five days, do one of them, but do something. “All in all, we’re hoping to make a lasting impression on the people who come, as a welcoming and vibrant community, but also to provide the Jewish jumper cables and ignite a little extra inspiration for ourselves around getting engaged and being involved in this effort. “We’re actually a very Zionist community, an intellectual community with great universities; we have great Jewish institutions and we have that pioneering mentality that I think enables us to be entrepreneurial — all that in a great place to live, work and be Jewish. “We hope to show that G-d was born in Israel, but after He built Colorado, He at least needed to have a second home here.”
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26 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011
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here are O ne Be Don’t d probably e v o more congregations L Leave Your whose name begins hin with “Har” — Hebrew for mountain — in Colorado and the intermountain West than anywhere else in the world. Regional Jews are proud of their natural habitat and very adept at adapting their Jewish heritage to the alpine environment. Many Colorado Jews are Colorado Jews only during the winter months. In a climatic reversal of the “snowbirds” who flock to Florida in the winter, these migrant Jews head for wintry Colorado because of the snow. In trendy Aspen, the Aspen Jewish Community sees a near tripling of its active membership from summer to winter. Hundreds of people — already anticipating the soon-to-arrive ski conditions — regularly show up for High Holiday services, both Reform and Chabad. B’nai Vail, located in another glamorous ski resort, holds worship services regularly — also joined by Chabad. Har Mishpachah serves the Jews of Steamboat Springs, not as glamorous as other Colorado towns but very highly prized by locals, both as a ski resort and a very relaxed, open, clean and peaceful place to live year-round. Har Mishpachah’s membership is somewhat smaller, but remains more stable throughout the year. Other mountain or foothills Jewish communities are located in such lofty locales as Kalispell, Missoula, and Butte, Montana; and in Evergreen and Boulder, Colorado. Speaking of Boulder, one of its congregations is Har Hashem (“Mountain of G-d”). In Ft. Collins and Durango, Colorado, as well as in Park City, Utah, the congregations are Har Shalom (“Mountain of Peace”). Some years back, Wyoming sported “Beth Elk.” Then there is “Adventure Rabbi,” whose synagogue is, literally, the slopes, in both summer and winter. Not to mention, snow-capped Mount Evans is visible on any Shabbos morning from many shuls in Denver. All around, Alpine Judaism.
AIR MEDICAL PHILANTHROPY BEGAN WITH FRESH AIR
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IT ’ S STILL GOING
NATIONAL JEWISH ROSE
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nce upon a time there was no pollution in Denver. Air was pristine. Special. Seductive. Healthy. And so the ill came. The few local Jews, who appreciated the freshness, wonder and openness of Colorado, for their own sake, answered the call (see History Section). They responded with a tradition of medical philanthropy that long outlasted the immediate need, long outdistanced their actual resources, and, to this day, stakes a claim on conscience, the time, the money and the compassion of Colorado Jewry, way out of proportion to the size of the FRANCIS W. JACOBS community. Colorado Jewry spearheads the leadership of the national research center on immunology and respiratory medicine, NATIONAL JEWISH HEALTH; and founded a diversified medical center ROSE MEDICAL CENTER, when the death of General Maurice Rose, a Denver native, at the end of WW II, sparked a tremendous national effort, spearheaded by Maurice Shwayder and Max Goldberg. The goal was to provide employment for the many Jewish physicians facing job discrimination. Today, the chief medical officer of Denver Health is Dr. Philip Mehler. Not to mention, the national UNITED WAY started right here in Denver, founded by the legendary Francis Wisebart Jacobs (18431892). Colorado, statistically speaking, has less obesity than any other state in the nation. Our passion for skiing, cycling, hiking, swimming — and the gym — pays off. Medical philanthropy goes hand in hand with it all. Jews played pivotal roles in founding the JEWISH CONSUMPTIVES RELIEF SOCIETY, which treated tuberculars, and NATIONAL ASTHMA CENTER, which merged into what is now National Jewish Health. November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 29
ZIONISM WHERE GOLDA MEIR FIRST LEARNED ABOUT ZIONISM
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n 1981, the Boys Club of America was inches away from razing a humble, dilapidated duplex on Denver’s West Side when Jean May, an alert area resident made a dramatic discovery. The house was once the home of Golda Meir, who would, of course, one day make Israeli — and world — history. In 1913-14, young Golda Mabowitz lived here with her sister and brother-in-law, Shana and Sam Korngold. It was within these humble walls that Golda first heard lively discussions about the land of Zion, and the still youthful movement to make a Jewish homeland there. Narrowly saved from demolition, the GOLDA MEIR HOUSE still faced a number of difficult years. Eventually moved to an isolated site along the South Platte River, the empty structure awaited a permanent home while it endured lawsuits, vandals, a serious fire and a near-miss with a Front Range tornado. Finally, in 1988, with the persistent assistance of the late Mel and Esther Cohen, the late Jerry Carr, and Larry Ambrose and others, the Auraria Higher Education Center — a Denver collective university authority — raised the funds to move the building to its campus. Today, fully restored, the Golda Meir House shares land with other historic structures on Auraria’s Ninth Street Historic Park, a shaded, Victorian retreat in the very heart of the urban campus, about a 15 minute walk the GA in downtown Denver — (west on Colfax Ave. to Ninth Street, then right). Auraria officials use the house as an educational center in which the symbolic theme of Golda’s life — how a woman from a lowincome, ethnic environment realized her boldest dreams and ambitions — can be conveyed to young minority women today.
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lthough a relatively new face in the pantheon of Denver Jewish organizations — still less than 20 years old — Rose Community Foundation is already a central and critical component of the Jewish community infrastructure. It was founded in 1995, shortly after the sale of Rose Medical Center for some $170 million. The sale of that venerable Denver hospital provided the seed funding for the new foundation. RMC, originally General Rose Memorial Hospital, was a mainstay of the Jewish community of the mid-20th century. At one time, it was the only GENERAL ROSE viable alternative for young Jewish physicians seeking employment in a highly discriminatory work environment. The hospital was named in honor of General Maurice Rose, who grew up in Denver’s Jewish community and served in both world wars. He was said to be the favorite tank commander of Gen. George Patton, who had high praise for Rose’s bravery and steadfastness in combat. Tragically near the end of WW II, Rose was killed in action while fighting in Germany. Rose Community Foundation has sought to maintain those historical ties to Denver Jewry but has also extended its influence far beyond those limits. Since its formation, the foundation has granted more than $150 million, primarily to non-profit institutions in the greater Denver metropolitan area. Governed by a 17-member volunteer board of community leaders, RCF focuses its philanthropy in the areas of aging, child and family development, education, health and Jewish life. In the latter category, the foundation has honored its Jewish past not only by sustained and ongoing support to Jewish institutions, but by making substantial emergency grants to Jewish causes and organizations as they have struggled through the current recession.
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OUTREACH
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hen Yeshiva Toras offices throughout metro Denver, an UNPARALLED ACCEPTANCE Chaim founders adult Jewish “university,” retreats, OF OUTREACH Rabbis Isaac and Reva social events and holiday celebraWasserman and Israel tions, all with a hip approach that and Leah Kagan came to Denver in respects its traditional yeshiva back1966, no one ever dreamed that their ground. TJE touches about 2,800 aspirations would someday come to people a year. dominate outreach in Colorado. MERCAZ TORAH V’CHESED Yeshiva Toras Chaim opened its In 2008, the yeshiva responded to doors in the West Side historic home the need for an intensive, “in-reach” of the Jewish community in 1967. Torah-study center for the East Side, At first, the yeshiva served only its which, these days is home to Denver’s student body. However, even then largest concentration of Orthodox the yeshiva did not operate in a vacJews. Rabbis Chaim Sher and Aver uum. Rabbi and Mrs. Wasserman Jacobs created Mercaz Torah reached out to members of the V’Chesed, which attracts observant Jewish community across the obsermen on a nightly basis to Torah and vance spectrum. Talmud classes. In the 1980s, through their HABAD-LUBAVITCH friendships, the Wassermans began Chabad has 17 centers in to share the yeshiva’s scholarly Colorado. Chabad started resources with Denver Jewry. They in Colorado in 1978 when set the stage for many outreach Rabbi Yisroel M. Popack was sent as efforts. an emissary of the late Lubavitcher DIVISION OF COMMUNITY Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. SERVICES Schneerson, to set up shop in the Mile After several years of offering a YESHIVA TORAS CHAIM High City. Talmud class by Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer Then, Rabbi Yisroel Engel joined at an East Side synagogue, the yeshiva the staff at Lubavitch of Colorado. Hands down, he is one of the founded its “Division of Community Services” and hired Rabbi sweetest and most popular Jews in Colorado. He introduced creative Yaakov Meyer as its first director in 1984. He launched how-to classoutreach activities such as the Shofar Factory, the Model Matzah es in business offices at lunch, homes and synagogues — and a Bakery and the Dreidel House. Rabbi Engel also runs Camp Gan mobile unit donated to the yeshiva for outreach. Israel, a summer day camp; and is the spiritual leader of Conregation AISH DENVER Bais Menachem. Rabbi Meyer built a loyal following of young, upwardly mobile It took awahile to reach beyond Denver, but suddenly — it seemed Jews in Denver’s southeast suburbs and was encouraged to open a — Chabad was in Aspen, Vail, Highlands Ranch, Westminster, study center there. The “Southeast Center for Judaism” was opened Evergreen, Aspen, Longmont, Aurora, Colorado Springs, Fort in a part of Denver in which no synagogue of any denomination Collins, and on college campuses throughout the state. existed. The yeshiva continued to offer classes, workshops, Discovery seminars, visiting lecturers and individual mentoring — and opened HE DENVER COMMUNITY KOLLEL might be the a synagogue. Long story short: Aish Denver grew exponentially and only kollel founded by a girls school — Beth Jacob High is one of Aish Hatorah’s major success stories, a thriving congregation School for Girls, in 1998. and educational center with more than 300 membership units. Its fellows teach all over metro Denver, besides THE JEWISH EXPERIENCE engaging in traditional Torah study on an Meanwhile, in 2000, the Wassermans’ advanced level. youngest child, Rabbi Ahron Yisroel Rabbis Ahron Yehuda Schwab and Wasserman, returned to his hometown Shachne Sommers are the deans of the kolfrom Lakewood, NJ, to re-brand the lel, which holds classes in business offices, “Division of Community Services” into synagogues and private homes throughout “The Jewish Experience.” A dozen years the community, as well as providing private, later, it has grown into a major organization individualized learning for community of its own, located in the lobby of the Loup members. JCC — front and center for outreach, even These portable outreach programs mean though many programs take place outside that virtually any Colorado Jew can have a the JCC. private tutor or attend a relevant class in any TJE offers “The Sunday Experience,” topic of his or her choosing. Colorado is “The Bat Mitzvah Experience,” “The Bar educating its Jews on a new level. Mitzvah Experience,” classes in homes and RABBI YISROEL ENGEL OF CHABAD
YESHIVA AISH CHABAD KOLLEL
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32 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011
ISRAEL COLORADO ON IST
17- YEAR - OLDS . . . FOR 40 YEARS SENDS
‘ISRAEL STUDY TOUR’ 1971 . . . AND COUNTING
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he Denver Jewish Community, through the Israel Study Tour, has sent more than 2,400 high school students to Israel since 1971. IST is one of the two longest-running community teen trips in the US, having started after the Six Day War of 1967. Area rabbis and educators saw the need to instill a love for Israel in teenagers, and knew the best way to do that was for the teens to see the Jewish State firsthand. STEVE MORRIS JUDY ALTENBERG IST, the flagIST 1975 IST 1979 ship program of The leader in the The international the Colorado Allied Jewish president of BBG Agency for Federation became the became president of J e w i s h CEO of the Jewish American Jewish Education, is a Federation of Committee, joint effort of San Diego Denver chapter the Allied Jewish Federation, Rocky Mountain Rabbinical Council and area synagogues. In fact, AJF, area synagogues and individual donors subsidize portions of each particpant’s trip, the balance of which is the responsibility of the parents. No student is ever turned away due to an inability to pay. The IST summer trip is for teens between their junior and senior years of high school. As a prerequisite, the teens must prepare during the academic year prior to the trip in classes and seminars. The trip has ranged in length from five to six weeks. In the late 1990s, a Poland component was added. At first, the opportunity to visit concentration camps and to see where Jews who perished in the Holocaust lived was optional. Now it is part of the total experience, enabling the teenagers to grasp the concept of Israel as a haven for the Jewish people in the aftermath of the Holocaust. In Israel, the students travel the width and breadth of the country, engaging in educational, social, recreational, archaeological and religious activities. They are also exposed to the Israel Defense Forces. IST has inspired many teens to increase their level of Jewish observance and Israel activism. There have even been several marriages of Jewish teens who met on the trip. November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 33
DYNAMO ‘ IF
YOU NEED SOMETHING DONE , ASK A BUSY MAN
...’
MUSEUM AIPAC WIESENTHAL MACC
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he way Larry Mizel began his philanthropic career, he had this thing about the local archbishop — Jews should build bridges, he thought. And so he did, with Catholics and through the Boy Scouts and via soup kitchens. Meanwhile, he once told a US Senator, “High, my names’s Larry, what’s your position on Israel?” Mizel is dogged. He does not know the word defeat. For him, that word only means, find another way forward. And so it is, decades later, that Mizel has built more bridges than he ever imagined he would, and stood up for Israel steadfastly. LARRY MIZEL He heads Mizel Development Corp., and through its success has founded the Mizel Museum in Denver, the vehicle for his outreach to other religious and ethnic communities; the Mizel Arts and Culture Center; The CELL, the nation’s only museum focused on terrorism and homeland security. For the Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado, he underwrites the Men’s Event, possibly the largest annual gathering of Jewish men west of the Mississippi. The annual dinner of the Mizel Museum, which attracts some 1,800 people, is the major social event in Denver. Mizel is chair of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, and doggedly determined to see the construction of the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem through to its conclusion. Mizel underwrites the annual Colorado event of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee; and has a way, though he is a staunch Republican, of winning bipartisan support for Israel. Mizel lines up the Democrats and lines up the Republicans in the legislature and Congress. He lets them see his consuming passion for Israel. Perhaps nothing is more important than what he does for AIPAC. He serves notice that Colorado Jews are eagle-eyeing their Congressional delegation on Israel. Miriam Goldberg, IJN editor and publisher, observes that no matter how early in the morning one gets up, Larry gets up earlier. 34 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011
DYNAMOS THE SHORT LIST OF THEIR CHARITABLE INTERESTS IS LONG INDEED
SHALOM CARES ZOO 51ST SENATOR KIDNEYS
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PERLMUTTER, the real estate tycoon admitted to Colorado’s Business Hall of Fame for the millions of square foot of housing and shopping center space he has constructed, guided the construction of Shalom Cares, Denver Jewry’s continuum of care for the elderly. No one could have done it like Perlmutter — gathering friends along he way, never making an enemy, manifesting the highest ethics — the type of person for whom the word mensch was coined. STEVE FARBER? The name is already a legend. The man who brought the Democratic national Jordon Perlmutter convention to Denver in 2008, who brought the city a new football stadium, who co-founded the area’s most dynamic law firm, now takes the lead in finding kidneys for people in a desperate state, as he was, before Farber’s son donated his own kidney to his father. And NORM BROWNSTEIN, Farber’s co-founder? Suffice to say that no less a personage than the late Sen. Ted Kennedy called him the nation’s 51st Senator for his limitless political influence — and for all the good causes he puts them to use for. The Robinson brothers — DICK and ED — make it look so easy. Inheritors and bequeathers of a multi-generational dairy — help charitable causes as naturally as they breathe: Girl Scouts, Colorado Symphony, ADL, Boy Scouts, Denver Zoo, Temple Emanuel, National Jewish, Denver Art Museum, Chamber of Commerce — and that’s just the short list. Also (also?) Dick helped bring Major League Baseball to Colorado! Ed and Dick Robinson ORDON
November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 35
BOULDER NOT AN APPENDAGE OF DENVER , BOULDER JEWRY HAS ARRIVED
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DIFFERENT FACE & FEEL TO A COMMUNITY
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t has been said that 10% of the population of Boulder, Colorado is Jewish. While that might be stretching it a bit — according to Jewish population studies and federal census figures — the fact remains that there are thousands of Jews and Jewish households in the greater Boulder area, and that they represent one of America’s most colorful Jewish communities. Whether one is Orthodox or chasidic, Reform or Conservative, Reconstructionist or Renewal, Boulder has congregations and community programming to suit. Many Boulder adherents of alternative forms of Judaism find great value in the community’s reputation as a birthplace of Renewal Judaism, founded by Boulderite Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, and as the home of the Naropa Institute, an alternative-New Age university that has enjoyed strong Jewish support and participation. Jews, in steadily increasing numbers, are finding Boulder an attractive place to call home. Whether they are attracted by the city’s spectacular foothills location, its blend of modern and traditional architecture, its proximity to (yet comfortable distance from) the Denver metroplex or its college town atmosphere as the home of the University of Colorado, local Jews are building a fine community here — including a new JCC, Colorado’s most successful Jewish capital project. In addition to its panoply of synagogues and JCC, Boulder Jewry has its own educational programs, children’s and family service and a community-supported organic farm. The Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado has a Boulder arm, as does the ADL. Taken as a whole, Boulder, without doubt, is a “different” sort of place — a community where tradition and innovation enjoy a friendly hand-in-hand relationship and where unchallenged conventional norms are few and far between. All of which makes it the perfect spot for a warm, creatively inventive yet firmly grounded Jewish community.
November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 37
Intermountain Jewish News Read in 278 cities . . .
So its only natural we’ll publish “Welcome To The GA” 38 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011
The Rocky Mountain Lavender Hill Mob The Denver men who smuggled arms illegally to Israel in 1948 — and never spoke about it BY CHRIS LEPPEK The Rocky Mountain Lavender Hill Mob” originally appeared in the INTERMOUNTAIN JEWISH NEWS on May 14, 1990. To our knowledge, all but two of the original Denver gunrunners have passed away. Sam Weinstein and Bernard Springer are thankfully still with us. The republication of this story is in their memory and honor.
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he old gunrunners left few traces behind them. Some of the buildings in which they used to stockpile lethal firearms, explosives and ammunition, all bound illegally for Israel, are still standing in Denver. Somewhere in the nearby Rocky Mountains there is still an old gold mine, long abandoned, which once served as a storehouse and staging point for weapons bound for a still Please see MOB on Page 40
Bill Saxon, the one martyr of the cause.
The late Nathan Gart facilitated the purchase of gunpowder by suggesting the formation of multiple gun clubs. Gart and his brother Melvin ran Gart Brothers, a sporting good business in Denver (pictured above). Nate’s son Jerry Gart expanded the business, opening the landmark Sports Castle at 11th and Broadway. Gart Brothers was eventually sold to Sports Authority. Three generations of the Gart family have assumed leadership in roles in Denver. Nancy Gart, wife of Nathan Gart’s son Mickey, is chair of the Allied Jewish Federation coordinating council. November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 39
MOB from Page 39
wanted and needed an arms procurement network across the US, and elsewhere, in order to gain the physical means of self-defense and survival. Underground cells of American Jews were organized by the Haganah into four major regions. Groups similar to Denver’s operated in a host of American cities during this critical period, most of them managing small miracles in smuggling various arms and materials into Israel. Historians agree that the efforts of these loosely-connected and highly secretive cadres may well have tipped the balance in Israel’s favor during the War of Independence.
unborn Jewish state anticipating a tough fight for existence. But the runners themselves, who remained a cautious bunch even after the statute of limitations ran out some two decades ago, never spoke very much about their highly clandestine activities during the historic period of 1946-49. They seldom spoke of those things even amongst themselves, and they never bragged. Today, all but five of them have died. Sam Sterling and Bernard Sam Weinstein The late Mike Jultak Springer, two of those five, agree that it’s time the story was finally told in some detail. Other than a brief article in the INTERMOUNTAIN oday, Bernard JEWISH NEWS by the late Springer is Max Goldberg and a few s e m i - re t i re d paragraphs in Leonard from a long Slater’s 1970 book The and successful Pledge, the story of the invisicareer in the life insurance ble Denver arm of Israel’s business. A New York native, Haganah has remained largehe has lived in Colorado since ly untold. That’s unfortunate WW II when, as a Military because, even though the Policeman, he saw duty in men Slater admiringly called Denver and at regional pristhe “Rocky Mountain oner-of-war camps. Most of Lavender Hill Mob” prethose involved in the Denver ferred their anonymity, their arms network were, in fact, story is a remarkable, even recent military veterans of heroic, one. WW II, active members of “All we wanted to do was The late Bernard Golden Denver’s Jewish War Veterans The late Ben Girsch help,” Springer told the IJN Post 342, including Denver in a recent interview. “That’s all.” attorney Sam Sterling, the group’s leader and That’s a bit of an understatement. In a period initial Haganah contact. less than three years in duration, a core group of “Sam Sterling, he was the key man,” 10 or so Denver Jewish men, assisted by a handSpringer says. “He started the thing. He ful of sympathetic gentiles — white-collar protapped me and the rest of the guys.” fessionals and businessmen for the most part — Sterling also resides in Denver, and is still managed to amass more than a ton of gunpowlisted as being of counsel to his law firm, but der, half a million percussion caps, hundreds of he considers himself retired. A Denver native, rifles and pistols, boxes upon boxes of ammunihe served as a reserve officer in the US Cavalry tion, field radios, various weapons-related from 1923-40; and in the Air Corps, as an machinery — even a bomber aircraft! This unofinspector general on stateside duty, during ficial arsenal was painstakingly, often illegally WW II. He was back in Denver by 1946 after acquired, carefully hidden and stored, and being hospitalized for a frostbite injury to his through various ingenious means, successfully legs and had yet to re-establish his law practice shipped to Israel. here. In the tense months before Israel’s declaration Sterling’s involvement with the Haganah of independence, the underground Jewish army really began at an Allied Jewish Council (foreknown as the Haganah was correctly assuming runner of the Allied Jewish Federation) meetthat a fledgling Jewish state would soon have to ing in 1946. “When I got up to make my face the hostile armies of the Arab League. It Bernard Springer pledge,” he recalls, “I said, ‘I will give $250
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40 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011
and a case of rifles to be sent to Palestine.’” The comment was made half in jest, Sterling says. But Rabbi Herbert Friedman, then of Temple Emanuel, was at the same meeting, and he took Sterling’s comment seriously. “The day after the meeting, Herb called me. I knew him well enough to talk quite freely. He asked whether I would like a chance to try some log-rolling. I asked him what he meant. He said they needed someone who was willing to go out and put themselves on a rolling log, with a good chance of falling off.” Rabbi Friedman later explained that he was talking about gunrunning for the Haganah, describing to Sterling the sorts of munitions and supplies the Haganah was requesting. Sterling said yes and a few months later, after Rabbi Friedman had taken a position with the United Jewish Appeal in New York, he called Sterling to offer him the leadership of the Haganah’s Rocky Mountain region for arms procurement. When he accepted the post, Sterling was quietly given a major’s commission in the Haganah. Sterling chose primarily Jewish war veterans like himself as his recruits, enlisting insurance men Springer, Sidney Golden and Harry Pells; businessmen Morris Adelstein, Billik Saxon and Joseph Pepper; clothier Bernard Golden; florist Michael Jultak; and attorneys Sam Weinstein and Ben Girsh. Another attorney, Irving Oxman, was commander of JWV Post 342 when the Haganah activity began in Denver. Although sometimes listed as an active participant, he says he kept himself at a distance from most of it. “I think there were
very few people who really knew what they were doing,” Oxman says. “I had the type of involvement where I knew what was going on but I didn’t know any of the details of it. It was all kept pretty much on the Q.T.”
O The late Irving Oxman
The late Joseph W. Pepper
The late Sidney Golden
The late Sam Sterling
The late Harry Pells
The late Morris E. Adelstein
f this basic core group who knew of or participated in Haganah activity in Denver, Sterling, Oxman, Weinstein, Pells and Springer are alive today. In the late 40s they were, for the most part, a group of young men fresh out of uniform, newly married with young families, just getting started in their careers. Yet, at Sterling’s request, they were ready and willing to commit a handful of rather serious federal offenses. Sam Weinstein, who still practices law in Denver, acknowledges that some of their activities were illegal — “if you could call it that” — but says he never felt their offenses to be morally wrong. “I wouldn’t have participated,” Weinstein says, “if I didn’t feel it was warranted at the time.” While Springer would undoubtedly agree as to the work being warranted, he has no illusions about much of its legality. “Well sir,” he says in a tone of unrepentant confession, “I was carrying a gun, which was against the law. We were gunrunning, which was against the law. We were buying more ammunition, gunpowder, rifles and pistols than we were allowed to, and we were shipping it, which was against the law. A lot of things!” Springer says he never asked what the penalties for these offenses might be. He didn’t really want to Please see MOB on Page 42
November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 41
MOB from Page 41 know. That wasn’t a luxury that Sterling, as an attorney, felt he could afford to enjoy. “I thought about it,” Sterling says with a smile. “I thought about it a lot. I figured that if I were arrested, I would have had to plead guilty because it was an ipso pro facto case — we had everything right there.” However, based on the fate of his colleague, the late Hank Greenspun, who ran the Haganah’s Pacific region out of Las Vegas, Sterling doesn’t think the penalties would have been that stiff. After pleading guilty to gunrunning, Greenspun was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment and gained early release with a pardon from Harry Truman. Still, Sterling was careful not to implicate any more Denver men in the operation than was absolutely necessary. “The fewer people who knew about all this,” he says, “the better.” Their reasons for taking such risks were direct and simple enough. For Sterling, the clandestine work was a tonic which helped him recover from his Army injuries, and gave him meaningful work at a time when nothing much else was going on for him. “And I was 40 at the time,” he says. “I thought maybe this might be my last chance for a fling in life. I also found it very satisfying, very attractive, because of what it was doing and because I wanted to do what I could to help create a state.” “It was my opportunity to help,” Springer says. “Here was something I could do for Israel. It was a new, fledgling country and already there was a war going on. I had enough of that during the war. I had enough of that during the Holocaust.” Although Springer’s WW II service was far away from the Holocaust itself, one of his Army duties was policing a Colorado mountain POW camp reserved for Nazi SS troops, a group of prisoners he describes as “the worst there is — animals, every one of them.” “I was angry,” he says. “I figured this was one way to get back, one way to help. I feel like I became part of history itself, that I helped create a country. It wasn’t shooting or fighting, but I was doing what had to be done.”
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cquisition, of course, was priority one. Money for the war materials was provided to Sterling through Haganah contacts. All trans-
actions, naturally, were done strictly with cash. “Everything was cash,” Springer recalls, “and I never saw so much cash in my life.” In fact, Sterling had set up a business based in Boulder, incorporating it as a mining concern, a distinction which allowed the firm to purchase certain explosives and other controlled materials. Haganah monies were funnelled through this firm’s checking account and then transformed by Sterling into usable cash. “Money was no object,” Sterling recalls. “Whatever we wanted to get, we could get the money for it.” The Haganah, through occasional nocturnal meetings with Sterling or telephone calls, made quite explicit requests for materials. Sterling was also regularly in touch with Teddy Kollek, present-day mayor of Jerusalem, who was then in charge of Haganah purchasing in New York and kept an office above the famed Copacabana Club. The Denver group used a number of approaches to acquire the TNT, gunpowder, carbines, .45s, .38s, Springfield rifles and ammunition so desperately needed by Israel. Sterling usually took care of acquisition on a regional basis.
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uch of it was gathered on a host of rather unusual weekend jaunts. In his brown sedan, “a big old Plymouth,” Sterling ranged as far from Denver as Las Vegas, El Paso and Pueblo, scouring sporting goods stores and sundry other sources. He’d fill the Plymouth’s trunk and backseat floorboard with several hundred pounds of powder and cruise back to Denver. “What I did in order to make it as inconspicuous as possible,” Sterling says, “was to take Mildred and the two boys along — I think they were 14 and 10 at the time. The boys would sit in the backseat and we’d put the cans of powder or whatever on the floor beneath them.” Even though these trips weren’t really as dangerous as they might sound, Sterling admits that “I made sure to drive with extreme caution.” One sporting goods dealer in Durango regularly sent cans of powder to Sterling in Denver, cleverly concealing them in bushel baskets of Western Slope peaches. “We had peaches coming out of our ears for awhile,” Sterling says. Springer was usually in charge of procurement in Denver, making the rounds
42 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011
Rabbi Herbert Friedman of Temple Emanuel, later of the UJA, who started the Denver operation of local sporting goods dealers and pawnbrokers, looking for the same sorts of munitions. He purchased many weapons, he says, from pawnbrokers on Denver’s Larimer Street, but never discussed their destination. The proprietors, however, many of whom were Jewish, seemed to sense the reason for the purchases. “It was all surplus,” Springer says. “It was 1948, what the hell, the stuff was all over the place. There was one guy who wanted a stiff, fat profit, but the rest of the Larimer Street guys were just great. Whatever we wanted, they bent over backwards and got it. They had it in stock and if they ran out, they went and got more. Most of the guys took the profit and dropped it to a point where it was almost trade. We didn’t tell them what was going on, but I think they knew up to a point.” Much of the explosive material, Springer says, came from Nate Gart, the Denver sporting goods merchant. “One of the nicest guys in town was the late Nate Gart,” he says. “I’m grateful to him to this day. You could only buy so much gunpowder at a time, for a group. So I went in to Gart’s the first time and told him what I’d like to buy. He said, ‘Come on, let’s have a chat. What are you going to do with it?’ I said, “I can’t tell you.” He said, “Okay, you can only buy so much, but there’s a way to do it.” “And, suddenly,” Springer continues,
“in two or three minutes, there were established two dozen or so gun clubs, shooting clubs, gun and fishing clubs, rifle clubs, collector’s clubs. All phony. You had to sign for this so I signed lefthanded. I was president of a dozen clubs in three or four minutes!” The material was stored temporarily in various locations — an Alameda Ave. warehouse owned by Sterling’s father-in-law or
of paris and then a few inches of oil. The idea was to make the barrel weigh roughly the same as a full barrel of oil. To further mislead any curious customs inspectors, the group marked the drums with such routine, but technically honest, terms as “Parts” or “Machinery.” Once, when they shipped a disassembled field radio, they semi-truthfully labeled the barrel “Musical Equipment.”
The precise location of the inactive gold mine near Gold Hill is still being kept secret Springer’s West Side garage. Once Sterling and Springer had amassed a sizable cache, the packing process would begin, which was where most of the others participated. At irregular times, the group would gather at various warehouses or vacant buildings or in an apartment building owned by Sterling at 1210 Harrison St. in East Denver, carrying their deadly cargo in golf bags and boxes marked “Books.” “I seem to recall an empty building or a factory on the West Side,” Weinstein says. “It was what you could call a packaging area.” At Sterling’s apartment building, they would gather in a basement workshop, where a number of empty oil drums would have been collected, and very carefully begin to pack the munitions. First, to stabilize the contents, a layer of plaster of paris would be poured into the drum, followed by a layer of newspaper, the contraband cargo itself, more newspaper another layer of plaster
The whole process was handled quietly and with extreme caution. No matches, cigarettes or pipes were even allowed on their persons while the packing was taking place. “If anything had happened down there,” Springer says with a grimace, “all they would have found was dust. The place was dangerous.” For that very reason, as soon as several barrels had been packed at Sterling’s place, they would be driven via truck to the warehouses for temporary storage. After a certain quantity had been collected there, some would be shipped directly from these sites. Others would be moved to an inactive gold mine near the old town of Gold Hill in Boulder County. The owner of the mine (the precise location of which is still being kept secret) not only knew what was being stored there but helped with the storage and shipping himself. In fact, even the Boulder County sheriff knew of the hidden horde, Sterling says, and allowed the storage to proceed uninPlease see MOB on Page 44
Palmach jeeps at December, 1948 opening ceremony of the Road of Valor (Kvish Hagvura), which circumvented Arab positions and enabled supplies to reach beleaguered Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 43
MOB from Page 43 terrupted. In this rustic and quiet retreat the barrels would be stored until a large truckload had been gathered.
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nd then came shipping day. “Our job was to go downtown, “ Springer recalls. “In those days, on Larimer St., you used to have what was called — and I hate to say it — the ‘Slave Market’ — poor guys who needed work. I used to pick up five at a time, all strong, young-looking guys.” The workers were offered $15 for a day’s labor, but only if they did not ask the nature of the work beforehand. Springer would drive them up to the mine in his Ford, stopping along the way to say only that their work that day was to be kept absolutely secret. He kept a large pistol in a shoulder holster, and displayed it to the workers as a not-so-subtle hint as to the consequences of their saying anything. They were told only that they’d be moving heavy containers and that the contents were very, very fragile, and would have to be handled with the utmost care.
Sterling recalls that the deal was struck at the wedding reception of the Dallas man’s daughter. “He said, ‘Consider this my wedding present to Israel,’” Sterling says. And for six months, the group’s Colorado mine was home to a huge store of US government TNT, a quarter of a million pounds of it, which the Haganah had somehow managed to purchase. Sterling tried for months to find a Mexican national to help him incorporate a subsidiary of his Boulder firm so that the incredible cache could be shipped out of Veracruz. He found no willing partners among the nervous Mexican Jewish community, however, and the Boulder sheriff was growing increasingly nervous about the TNT’s volatility. “He said, ‘Sam, you know if this stuff goes up it’ll blow up half of Denver, not to mention Boulder,’” Sterling recalls. At last, Sterling was forced to sell the TNT to a munitions manufacturer in Baltimore, and hired a small fleet of truck drivers to transport the material back east, instructing them not to mark their trucks with the usual explosives warning. Even after paying the truckers double rate for the haul, however, Sterling compensated for the loss of the TNT by handing the Haganah a tidy $11,000 profit on the deal.
‘Sam, if this stuff goes up, it’ll blow up half of Denver’ The Denver group mobilized these temporary work crews a total of four or five times, using different men each time. “And never, ever, did any one of these guys talk about it,” Springer says. They loaded the barrels onto a semi-trailer owned by a Denver man of Irish origin, an employee of Billik Saxon who owned the mine himself. “He detested the British with a passion,” Springer says, “and had an affinity for Jews and the State of Israel. He equated Israel with Ireland and wanted in so badly he could taste it.” To keep things vague in front of the workers, Springer and the Irishman called each other by the same name — Joshua. The license plates, PUC numbers and other identification on the truck were covered during the loading, and once Springer headed back to Denver with the workers, the coverings would come off. The Irishman insisted on paying for the gasoline himself. “I think the truck went to Omaha,” Springer says. “From there it went on an airplane to New York. But once it left here, we didn’t want to know where it was going next. We only knew what we were doing here.”
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n fact, the loose organization and compartmentalization of much of this activity has resulted in the fact that, even today, participants sometimes express ignorance of each other’s activities. For example, even the Denver men helping Sterling often didn’t know of other operations he was conducting independently. But Sterling was indeed a busy man. Through the aid of a Denver “junk dealer,” Sterling managed to purchase a bullet loading machine from Remington’s old armament plant on 6th Avenue. The entire apparatus was painstakingly dismantled, packed in drums marked “Agricultural Equipment” and sent to awaiting Haganah troops in Palestine. On one occasion, Sterling travelled to Dallas after receiving word that a wealthy Jew there desired to do something on Israel’s behalf. Sterling suggested the man come up with $100,000 to purchase a surplus B-29 bomber which he knew to be available. After a moment’s hesitation, the man agreed. Within a week a valuable B-29 was winging its way to Palestine via Mexico and the Canary Islands. 44 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011
Throughout the entire history of the Denver operation, both Sterling and Springer say, not once was there a serious threat to its security. Their caution and care paid off handsomely. But there was one tragic price. Just after New Year’s Day in 1950, when these covert activities were virtually completed, Billik Saxon, one of the Denver group, was driving to Texas to visit the Army post at Ft. Bliss. Accompanying him were Ike Barash and Manny Feder, Denver businessmen whose ties to the Haganah remain unclear. Saxon, a military surplus dealer, was to pursue the chance that machine guns might be available from certain Army personnel at Ft. Bliss, but these discussions never took place. Their car missed a curve near Hot Springs, NM and Saxon, along with Barash, perished in the ensuing crash. “Billik actually gave his life working for this program,” Sterling says quietly. “He died there, but he died while . . . ” The memory still brings tears to Sterling’s eyes.
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y early 1950, with Israel an established political reality and the war for its independence won, the “Rocky Mountain Lavender Hill Mob” quietly ceased to exist. The strange combination of lawyers, guns and money went back to jobs, families and more genteel means of supporting Israel. They haven’t forgotten, however. “It was the glory days,” Springer says, “and I loved every minute of it. I’d do it again at the drop of a hat.” Sterling says simply: “I feel as if I did the right thing.” Sterling would receive a book signed by David Ben Gurion and on later trips to Israel would be re-introduced by Teddy Kollek to some of the former Haganah officers he’d met during secret Denver meetings. For awhile, he worked with Israel’s “Land and Labor Movement,” encouraging specialists in needed fields to make the move to Israel. Springer and other members of the group were eventually to receive — with appropriate anonymity and lack of fanfare — a large plate made in Israel. Accompanying it was a little card, unsigned, with a message eloquent in its simplicity. “Thank you,” was all it said.
COLORADO ORIGINALS CALL THEM LEADERS , VISIONARIES , HARD WORKERS
COLORADO JEWRY
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EVEN CHARACTERS .
W O U L D N ’ T BE T H E S A M E W I T H O U T T H E M
F R I E D M A N • M I N T Z • H O R N B E I N • K AU VA R KIESLER • LORBER • SHWAYDER • HOFFMAN ENGLARD • GOLDBERGER • GOLDBERG • ELEFANT
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he independent streak in Coloradans is reflected in the pioneer lifestyle of the Jewish community’s leaders. They had the strength and determination to stop at nothing to accomplish what they felt was needed. Here are vignettes of but a few of the many luminaries who left original legacies.
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November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 45
46 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011
BUILDING BRIDGES
ELDER CARE
RABBI WILLIAM S. FRIEDMAN 1868-1944
BELLA MINTZ 1874-1960
“I
’ll never forget my first view of the mountains,” the 21year-old William S. Friedman recalled of his first journey to Colorado. “Only then did I realize why the psalmist wrote as he did. I fell under their enchantment and am under it still.” The Chicago native and recent Hebrew Union College graduate came West in 1889 to lead Denver’s Temple Emanuel, the region’s first congregation. A spellbinding orator, Rabbi Friedman soon became the intermountain region’s most recognized rabbi, until his retirement in 1939. His interest in matters which transcended Jewish life — charitable, economic, educational, cultural — soon made him a prominent figure in the general Denver community. Two years after taking the Temple pulpit, Colorado Gov. John Routt named him to represent the Jewish community on the state’s board of charities. Rabbi Friedman used this position to further many philanthropic causes throughout the city and to cement ties with representatives of the city’s Christian faiths. These ties remain in place today, seven decades after Rabbi Friedman’s death.
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permanent home for its elderly population was not a high priority for a pioneering community in the Wild West. It was 1917 before a young woman named Bella Mintz saw the glaring need and did something about it. A turnof-the-century immigrant to Denver, the Warsaw native gathered a troop of like-minded women and began the painstaking process of asking Denver Jews for support. “They went door to door asking for donations,” an old memorial album recalls, “sold pencils, held raffles and dances. If one couldn’t pay in money, anything of value was accepted, including chickens or eggs.” Within a year or two, the “Moshev Zkenim Home and Hospital Society” had raised $35,000 and, thanks to Ms. Mintz’s efforts and the generosity of the Isidore Rude family, purchased 14 lots in West Denver. The cornerstone for the Beth Israel Hospital and Home was laid in 1919, a year before it opened. Deeply religious and devoted to the institution she had done so Please see ORIGINALS on Page 48
November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 47
ORIGINALS from Page 47 much to create, Ms. Mintz would help guide it through several expansions and drives, until she herself passed away there at the age of 85. The original site of Beth Israel was sold in 1987, but the institution lives on in a new state-of-the-art facility in a new, southeast Denver location — “Shalom Cares” — a continuum of care center embracing independent living, assited living, a nursing home, a hospice. The vision of Bella Mintz lives on.
in Denver during the late teens and early 1920s. Although Hornbein himself once called the KKK problem “a small fire in the forest, which fills the sky with smoke,” he took many opportunities to address community meetings on the dangers of supporting the Klan. He also advocated legal measures to limit its growth. Although routinely offered protection by the churches and community groups he frequently addressed, Hornbein’s trademark response was to scoff at the thought.
KU KLUX KLAN
VILNA TO DENVER
PHILIP HORNBEIN 1879-1962
RABBI C. E. HILLEL KAUVAR 1879-1971
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orn in New York, attorney Philip Hornbein spent some of his early years in Cripple Creek, Colo., scene of Colorado’s last major gold strike. As the town’s fortunes declined, the young man came to Denver to practice law, rapidly establishing a reputation as a leading labor and defense attorney and a Democratic Party activist. Hornbein’s primary claim to lasting fame would be his unflinching and highly visible opposition to the Ku Klux Klan. The KKK became a political force to be reckoned with in Colorado and
48 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011
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abbi Charles Eliezer Hillel Kauvar brought to Denver Jews both his background as a native of legendary Vilna and his modern education as a rabbi at New York’s “old” (pre-1902) Jewish Theological Seminary, when it was an Orthodox yet thoroughly Americanized institution. Hired by Denver’s Congregation BMH in 1902, Rabbi Kauvar would hold this pulpit until his retirement a half century later, whereupon he maintained an active emeritus career for nearly two more decades.
He quickly became one of the Jewish community’s undisputed spokesmen and most respected spiritual leaders. Although an inspiring sermonizer, he did not confine himself to the synagogue. Rabbi Kauvar pioneered Jewish studies at the University of Denver and combatted anti-Semitism and juvenile delinquency. He helped establish Denver Jewry as a community dedicated to social action. He was instrumental in founding and sustaining many of the community’s institutions that survive to this day, including the INTERMOUNTAIN JEWISH NEWS and the precursor of the Allied Jewish Federation. His prominence on the national stage was no less luminous. He was an early champion of the cause of mikveh and a sponsor of the scholarly writings of his West Denver colleague, Rabbi Juah Leib Ginsburg. His saintly mien affected all.
ONLY IN AMERICA
eryman and at various odd jobs. He worked for a chemical laboratory for several years, learning a valuable trade and saving $1,000 — enough to incorporate his own business, Peerless Alloy Co., in 1909. That firm went bankrupt after the stock market crash, but Kiesler borrowed enough money to keep it afloat until rosier times. It was worth the effort, at least in terms of philanthropy. By 1959 — after Peerless Alloy had more than proven itself — Kiesler had donated something in the neighborhood of two million dollars to an array of local, national and international causes. Israel was the primary beneficiary. Although fabulously successful in his business, Kiesler gave away so much money that from 1944 on he no longer had any financial reserves. Personally honored by President Harry S Truman and Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, Kiesler was chosen as the Jewish leader to place a wreath on Theodor Herzl’s grave in honor of the 10th anniversary of Israel’s rebirth.
ADOLPH KIESLER 1880-1967
“M
oney,” Adolph Kiesler once said, “is made to be given away.” Kiesler, Denver Jewry’s ultimate philanthropist, certainly practiced what he preached. A native of Romania, Kiesler came to Denver at the age of 20, virtually penniless, but soon found work for himself as a small newspaper publisher, a coal deliv-
‘NATIONAL JEWISH’ FANNIE LORBER 1881-1958
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n 1900, Mrs. Jacob N. Lorber, a native of Russia and a Denver social worker, became aware of a tragic family story. Acquainted with a woman who was hospitalized in one of Denver’s tubercular sanitariums, Mrs. Lorber learned that the woman’s husband had committed suicide in Michigan, leaving his two children utterly isolated. “What should be done about these helpless dependents?” she worried. Please see ORIGINALS on Page 50
November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 49
ORIGINALS from Page 49
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
While she likely did what she could to assist that unfortunate family, Mrs. Lorber’s concerns quickly manifested themselves on a much larger scale. By 1908, she and her lifetime friend Minnie Willens had successfully marshalled enough Denver Jewish philanthropy to open the Denver Sheltering Home, a humble structure in West Denver, to care for orphans, children of tuberculosis patients and juvenile delinquents. In 1920, when increased occupancy taxed the home beyond natural capacity, Mrs. Lorber established a national fundraising office on New York City’s East Side and set up a chain of local auxiliaries for Jewish women in towns and cities across the nation. Her devotion to improving the lives of Jewish children bore intergenerational seeds that created some of Denver’s best and brightest leaders. The home moved several times and changed its focus decades later, devoting itself to the care of severely asthmatic children. Renamed Jewish National Home for Asthmatic Children, its motto was: “We prepare and prevent rather than repair and repent.” Fannie Lorber headed this venerable charitable institution, including its extensive national fundraising network, until her death in 1958. Her son Arthur took over its reins and served as its president until its merger in 1973 with what is now called National Jewish Health.
JESSE SHWAYDER 1882-1970
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esse Shwayder, born and raised in the Colorado Rockies, had a seemingly infallible business sense. He encouraged his father, pioneer Isaac Shwayder, to leave his failing grocery business in Blackhawk, Colorado, to seek better fortunes in Denver. Later, when Jesse Shwayder operated a small retail store in downtown Denver, he decided to go into the luggage business. Selecting his boyhood Biblical hero Samson as a namesake, “Samsonite” — which became one of Colorado’s largest industries — was born. Taking in his brothers Mark, Maurice, Benjamin and Solomon, Jesse Shwayder built Samsonite into one of the biggest industries in Colorado. Shwayder was a firm believer in business ethics. For years he circulated thousands of little blue and gold spheres, dubbed “Golden Marbles,” which carried his most beloved motto: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The larger Shwayder family sold Samsonite long ago, but the family retains a multifaceted presence in the Jewish community, not least through Congregation Emanuel’s Shwayder Camp, high in the Colorado Rockies, at the base of Mount Evans.
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info@ericksonmonuments.com 50 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011
SOVIET JEWRY LILLIAN HOFFMAN 1913-1996
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illian Hoffman co-founded the Colorado Committee of Concern for Soviet Jewry and parlayed it into international growth and effectiveness. Inspired by the late Rabbi Samuel Adelman of BMH — a member of the first delegration to Soviet Jewry after WW II — Hoffman decried the injustice visited upon those Jews sentenced to death in Leningrad in the early 70s, on Anatoly (now Natan) Sharansky, Ida Nudel, Vladimir Slepak and other original refuseniks. She orchestrated countless letterwriting campaigns, staged noisy demonstrations, fought for airtime on television and space in newspapers, and persuaded or cajoled elected officials to join her cause. Hoffman was undeterred by Jewish leaders who criticized her methods as too high-profile or unruly, or by government officials who believed that “quiet diplomacy” was the best way forward. She once telephoned the warden of the Russian prison where refusenik Sharansky was being held and literally ordered the official to provide decent treatment to the prisoner. (She then convinced the Soviet warden to pay for the telephone call!)
Her former colleagues in the Soviet Jewry movement and the journalists with whom she so frequently dealt (including this newspaper), remember her as a role model for doing the right thing.
HOLOCAUST FRED ENGLARD 1915-2002
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mong many amazing Holocaust survivors who strengthened Colorado Jewry, Fred Englard stood out. He who had led the Rosh Hashanah davening in Auschwitz in 1944 never stopped davening with power, and never stopped talking about the Holocaust. He had his one-liners: They can kill Jews, but not Judaism. Or: I have no tombstones. I took my cemetery with me, inside me. Or: People say, Where was G-d? I say, did G-d build Auschwitz? Where was man? He packed a lot into his oneliners. He looked you straight in the eye. He was riveting. He stated a few words, expected you to absorb them and to be silenced by them — the same as he. Only after he died did it come out that on the final death march, Englard — five feet tall — picked up a fellow Please see ORIGINALS on Page 52
November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 51
ORIGINALS from Page 51 marcher, carried him for miles, saving his life. To this day, it is amazing — or maybe it is not — how many people still talk about Fred Englard.
RABBINICAL LIGHT RABBI DANIEL GOLDBERGER 1924-2007
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hen Daniel Goldberger arrived in Denver in 1951 to assume the helm of Beth Joseph, a modest shul whose downtown Denver location had closed and which opened in small rented space in East Denver, a legendary relationship with the congregation and the entire Jewish community was born. With his lovely wife Ida by his side, the Orthodox rabbi succeeded in raising funds to construct a booming new synagogue, gaining a hundred members a year for a decade. He became a visible presence at communal events. Everyone, regardless of affiliation or place on the Jewish spectrum, adored this man. The feeling was mutual. Retiring from Beth Joseph in 1971, Rabbi Goldberger pursued a
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52 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011
new career as a marital counselor. But in 1979, after Rabbi Manuel Laderman retired, he hesitantly accepted the top position at the Hebrew Educational Alliance in Denver’s original West Side Jewish community. He was about to retire when the Alliance moved from the West Side to southeast Denver. In 1994, he said farewell to the rabbinate. But the lessons he imparted continued. As Parkinson’s Disease limited his mobility and speech, he refused to be confined. When his wife Ida wheeled him into a dinner, throngs of people surrounded him — and he made each person feel special. Four years after his death, he is very much alive. His love is everywhere.
MEDIA MAX GOLDBERG 1911-1972
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rphaned at the age of 7, Max Goldberg was a selfmade man, probably the most well known Jew in Colorado for decades. Enterprising, persuasive and idealistic, he ran the successful gubernatorial campaign of the man who allowed the Japanese into Colorado from California during WW II, Ralph Carr, and the successful senatorial campaign of one of only two senators who raised the issue of the Holocaust during WW II on the Senate floor, Edwin “Big Ed” Johnson. Goldberg became a household word in Colorado through his 25-year Denver Post column and his 17-year television interview programs. He brought network television to Colorado in 1952, and interviewed the “great [including JFK and MLK], the near great and the obscure.” He published the INTERMOUNTAIN JEWISH NEWS for 29 years and raised the funds that built General Maurice Rose Memorial Hospital. His integrity and visibility in the Gentile community helped build the bridges that make Denver a city relatively free of ethnic strife.
EDUCATION DR. WILLIAM L. ELEFANT 1927-2011
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ith a beautiful joie de vivre, Dr. Bill Elefant turned every human interaction into a teaching opportunity. Often, his tools were creative word plays — in Hebrew — that enabled the learned to marvel at his instintive feel for the holy tongue and enabled the not-yetlearned to gain insights into large concepts through a small, accessible twists. A master of gematria, a retired professor of education, a humble scholar, Dr. Elefant came to Denver 60 years ago from Williamsburg and found a way to radiate the teachings of Judaism to Jews and gentiles, old and young, with unconditional love.
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HISTORY SECTION ‘You mean there are Jews in Colorado?’ Why Jews Came To Colorado
Founder of the Jewish Consumptive Relief Society, Dr. Charles Spivak, left, plays chess with a patient, circa 1925. Ruth Spivak cavorts on the grass of the Denver tubucular facility. Photo: Courtesy of Adele Karsh
November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 53
Jews in Colorado? Yes! Gold in them thar hills, fresh mountain air . . . and a disease called tuberculosis
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BY ANDREA JACOBS
UMAN MEMORY wavers like fickle candlelight across the mind, obscuring faces once adored, illuminating others hardly known. Kaleidoscopic images — a favorite toy, a hiding place, an ancient dream — invade our daily routine then disappear. Out of thousands of spring mornings past, one single and completely average morning survives with extraordinary clarity. Every sound, shade, shaft of light stands out so vividly that the present moment fades in comparison. Thousands of spring mornings have vanished into oblivion. Please see JCRS on Page 57 November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 55
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JCRS from Page 55 “It’s funny what you remember, what comes to you,” Rose Zelinger said about the Jewish Consumptive Relief Society (JCRS), where her mother died in 1916 and her father worked for 70 years. “My father took care of the dining room for a while, and I can just see the young waiters and waitresses in their white coats with warm white towels draped over their arms. I don’t know why but I see them as clear as day.” What did Adele Karsh, a granddaughter of JCRS founder and guiding spirit Dr. Charles Spivak, recall about the West Denver sanatorium which treated 10,000 primarily Jewish tuberculosis patients from 1904 to 1954? “I remember when Papa (Dr. Spivak) would drive through the big gates on Colfax Avenue to his office. I often went with him to JCRS. He would sit me on the patients’ beds while he examined them. “It was always fun to go out to JCRS because it was always so beautiful. The summers were so lush and green, and there were always cows at the Robinson Dairy. The Robinsons donated the land, you see. “I got my first job at JCRS typing envelopes in the Texas Pavilion for the annual fund drive at Rosh Hashanah. I was 16 years old.” Don Strauss, Mrs. Karsh’s younger brother, was only four when his by then legendary grandfather passed away in 1927. Yet he too returned if not to the actual event then its anec-
there about two years, until 1919, and then I married Louis ‘Lazer’ Robinson. But yes, I still remember the doctor. I could just picture him by his desk — medium height, a nice-looking man. He gave Lazer and me a wedding present, too, a fine set of white and gold dishes.”
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Lena Zinik Robinson circa 1918 fied man sloshing along West Colfax Avenue in snowshoes, a large bag draped over his shoulders. Passers-by must have thought he was Santa
Tuberculosis was the leading cause of death at the turn of the 20th century dotal retelling. “For example, there was a terrible blizzard in 1913 and nobody could get out to JCRS — except my grandfather. He put on snowshoes and walked from 14th and Court (the end of the carline) to the sanatorium with a 100-pound sack of flour on his back. And he did it again the next day, only this time he carried a 100pound sack of sugar. “Imagine how it looked, this digni-
Claus, and I guess to the JCRS patients isolated by the storm he really was a kind of Santa!” At 93, Mrs. Lena Robinson needed “a little push” to find her way back to 1918, when she worked for Dr. Spivak at the JCRS office building in downtown Denver. Lena Zinik “was just a girl” in 1918, the year she began working for Dr. Spivak, also one of founders of the INTERMOUNTAIN JEWISH NEWS. “I stayed
housands of Eastern European Jews arrived at JCRS during the early part of the 20th century. They were young people on the edge of poverty, unable to speak English, too sick to work. Those who recovered reentered their new country with practical work skills and vastly improved English. Whether hospitalized one year or 10, patients inevitably regarded JCRS as their home and family. By the time they were healthy enough to leave, many had married or become engaged to fellow patients and established new lives outside the sanatorium. It’s no wonder that many couples decided to make Denver, particularly Denver’s West side, their permanent home, contributing to the Eastern European and Orthodox character of the community that survives to this day. A set of fine dishes, lush green summers, white serving towels: brief, impressionistic trickles from a waterfall of memories.
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olorado possessed two natural antidotes for tuberculosis that didn’t come in a bottle: fresh mountain air and sunshine. Many Jewish doctors who understood the benefits of Colorado weather had already moved here by the late 1800s. If they didn’t have the disease themselves, their wives and children had it. And if it wasn’t TB it might have been asthma or some other disorder affecting the lungs. Dr. Charles Spivak, whose wife was often sick, firmly believed that brisk dry air, sunshine, rest and diet could have a positive effect on tuberculosis, the “White Plague,” the leading cause of death in America at the turn of the century. A Russian immigrant with liberal
Please see JCRS on Page 59
November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 57
Photo: Courtesy of Adele Karsh
Colorado pioneer, founder of JCRS, co-founder of INTERMOUNTAIN JEWISH NEWS, Dr. Charles Spivak. 58 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011
JCRS from Page 57 political affiliations, Dr. Spivak also believed in the inherent right of all men, and women, to receive proper medical care regardless of the ability to pay. And there was no such thing as a hopeless consumptive. While some segments of Denver society bemoaned the incurable and often indigent patients in their midst, Dr. Spivak simply opened his arms wider and wider. He was not alone. From the beginning, the Jewish community living on
grew to $5,000, enough to purchase 20 acres of open land in Jefferson County. In 1904, the Jewish Consumptives Relief Society opened its doors to 21 tubercular patients: 17 from Russia and one each from Austria, Hungary, Rumania and the US. A breakdown of the first 97 patients reveals that 73 emigrated from Russia. While JCRS welcomed and treated hundreds of non-Jews with TB, Jews accounted for at least twothirds of the patient population. Old ledgers kept behind glass in one of the buildings at JCRS — now
Many a romance unfolded in the underground tunnels connecting every building on the JCRS campus or near West Colfax Avenue scraped the bottom of their generally empty pockets to donate a few pennies or nickels to the new sanatorium. Slowly, the $1.10 collected at the first Denver Charity of Consumptives’ meeting
home of the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design — tell a more intimate story. The following entries are from the spring of 1910: “Sarah Diamond, 23, Austria,
housewife; Morris Dresser, 36, Russia, peddler; Harry Kantor, 20, New York, bookkeeper; Charles Waldbaum, 53, Romania, merchant.” New arrivals were also asked to give their mother’s maiden name.
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CRS differed from National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives, founded largely by German Jews in 1899. Because the majority of Eastern European emigres could not afford medical treatment — and without treatment, TB meant almost certain death — the ability to pay was ruled officially irrelevant. The sanatorium also was a refuge from hunger, poverty and loneliness. During its 50 years, JCRS provided approximately three-and-a-half million days of hospital care at absolutely no cost. What it provided to the human spirit is incalculable. JCRS was a kosher institution. Jews who never practiced Judaism ate kosher. Non-Jews ate kosher. The nurses and secretaries ate kosher. The
Please see JCRS on Page 60
November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 59
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The ledger of Denver’s tubercular victims reveals the tragedy’s scope. Most victims were immigrants without family, money or mourners.
ELCAR FENCE
circa 1946
JCRS from Page 59
DENVER
60 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011
doctors all agreed that adhering to the Jewish dietary laws couldn’t hurt the body — in fact, dairy products seemed particularly beneficial — and could certainly help the soul. As JCRS physician and first president Dr. Philip Hillkowitz wrote, a Jewish sanatorium should have “a Jewish spirit and not a cold, complexionless habitation which happens to be supported by Hebrews.” A house of prayer since the early 1900s until 1989, the Isaac Solomon Synagogue is now the JCRS Historic Synagogue & Story Center and contains a small museum. “Papa [Dr. Spivak] would frequently pray in that tiny shul,” Adele Karsh said. “He was what you call a liberal Jew, yet he was still a very religious Jew. He belonged to [Reform]
Temple Emanuel and [traditional] BMH, if that gives you an idea.” Dr. Spivak formed a deep friendship with BMH’s Rabbi C. E. H. Kauvar, who led services at the shul on Monday and Thursday mornings. If he was unable to travel the considerable distance to JCRS, he would send another rabbi in his place. JCRS functioned as an autonomous city, with its own post office, general store, book bindery, dairy and other small industries. Now part of the City of Lakewood, Colo., the area surrounding JCRS has been called Sanatorium, Colo., and Spivak, Colo. It was a beautiful city, with stately buildings and a pastoral mountain backdrop. Even today, as traffic whizzes by on perennially congested Colfax Avenue, the grounds retain a serene and introspective quality conducive to the healing process. Because suffering and death were part of the daily routine, the staff went out of its way to host festive events. Female patients would invaribly find tantalizing shipments of the latest fashions from Neusteter’s Department Store in their dorm rooms. “Go ahead, pick something out,” the staff encouraged. “It’s a gift from the Neusteter family. Everything is free.”
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eligious holidays evoked special memories for Don Strauss, Dr. Spivak’s grandson and board member of the American Medical Center, which succeeded JCRS. “The Passover seders were especially beautiful. Every year the entire family would celebrate the first night of Passover at JCRS, and the second night at home. We maintained this tradition until the late ‘40s. “I’ll never forget the size of those matzah balls. These matzah balls were at least two-and-a-half to three inches in diameter. Incredible. “Anyway, the seders were held in the huge dining hall. I bet 300 people fit into that room. The older male patients
conducted a private service in the shul; the rest of us concentrated on eating. Sometimes patients would be too sick to leave their rooms but their families would join us and talk about their loved ones as if they were there. “I remember there was a man who worked in the
Please see JCRS on Page 62
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November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 61
JCRS stalwart, Henry Rubenstein, pictured in 1942 — the man who spent 70 years on the JCRS grounds even though he never had TB. JCRS from Page 61 kitchen. He was at the seder every year. I think my sister Adele knew him better than I did. Wait a minute. Ruby, his name was Ruby. I don’t know if he was a patient, but I still can see his face.”
mistake. “My father had been spitting up blood, so of course the doctors rushed him out to Colorado,” said daughter Rose Zelinger. “But at JCRS they discovered right away he didn’t have TB. I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t TB.” Though pleased with the diagnosis, Henry couldn’t return to New York because he was $2 short of the full train fare. He approached Dr. Spivak, explained his situation and hoped for the best. Dr. Spivak quickly gave the young man various odd jobs around JCRS and soon Henry had more than enough money for a ticket. But by that time he didn’t want to go home. He’d fallen in love. Gussie, a beautiful young patient from the East Coast, had long, thick dark hair and near perfect features. She became Mrs. Rubenstein in 1911, and the couple had two children, Rose and Seymour. Placed in The Sheltering Home for Jewish Children during their mother’s illness, Mrs. Zelinger remembered “going to JCRS every day to see her; eating all our meals there.” Gussie died of TB in 1916, when her daughter Rose was only two years old. “Dad never spoke about her. Perhaps it was too painful.” The portrait of Gussie that hung in the living room was painted from the only
JCRS functioned as an autonomous city, with its own post office, general store, book bindery, dairy and other industries Henry “Ruby” Rubenstein of New York, a sickly lad of 20, arrived for treatment at JCRS in 1909. He remained there for the next 70 years, until his death in 1982 at the age of 94. Ironically, the man who spent almost an entire century in a tuberculosis sanatorium doing everything from supervising the kitchen to running the movie projector, never had TB. The doctors back East had made a
known surviving photograph. Henry continued working at the sanatorium after Gussie’s death. His face became so familiar to staff, patients and their children that everyone called him “Ruby” for short. In 1924, Ruby married Jennie Rubenstein, who lived on Denver’s West Side. Never afflicted with tuberculosis, Jennie nonetheless made JCRS her home for the next 48 years. She passed away in 1972. “Dad was a very handsome man,”
62 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011
Henry Rubenstein in the library of American Medical Center, successor to JCRS, in 1974, when he was 86. Mrs. Zelinger said proudly. “He always dressed so elegantly. And he was extremely neat and clean, something I think he learned spending his life at a sanatorium. He took long walks way before doctors told us walking was good for our health. He always seemed to know how to take care of himself. “JCRS was his family, almost as much as we were, It was his security, too: he never once looked for another job. And when JCRS became the AMC Cancer Research in the 1950s Dad stayed right there and continued working. “You know, I visited AMC not too long ago. It was very difficult to go back. I spent so much time on the grounds as a child; my mother died there. Now Dad was gone and all the people he knew were gone.”
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raternization between the sexes was strongly discouraged. Doctors thought the excitement and anxiety inherent in falling in love placed undue stress on already precarious constitutions. For some patients, a broken heart could prove disastrous. In this matter, patients respectfully
but resolutely disobeyed doctors’ orders. Things might begin with a furtive glance on the way to the segregated dining hall, followed by discrete inquiries: “Do you know her name?” “Is he seeing anyone?” Introductions were made. After a while, the new “cousins” — the code word for boyfriend and girlfriend — took leisurely strolls through Sputum Park after meals. Or better yet, they arranged to meet in the tunnels. Everybody remembers the tunnels. An elaborate underground tunnel system once connected every building on the JCRS campus, including the Texas Pavilion for Women on the far west side and the New York Building for Men on the far east side. Protected from inclement, possibly life-threatening weather, patients were wheeled over dirt floors through the dimly lit labyrinth. “We all knew about the tunnels,” said Mrs. Karsh. “I used to play in them as a child. But many romances unfolded there, I can tell you that. Couples would plan their rendezvous — what time and where — at meal times: take so many steps from the women’s building, then turn left, take 20 more steps, go right, etc.” Within those darkened walls nervous men, with utmost propriety, declared their love to blushing young women. It was all very innocent — holding hands; exchanging a kiss or two. Couples dreamed of a future free from coughing spells and diets and constant supervision. Brides shared a community wedding dress. Today, steam pipes run through
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here were several goodlooking male patients at JCRS, Lena Robinson recalled fondly. “Belle Hurwitz — she’s gone now — well, she worked in Dr. Spivak’s office with me. There were about five of us girls. Anyway, Belle and I would
Infants succumbed to TB. They are buried on The Hill — there are no headstones. go to the sanatorium often. “We were Jewish girls who liked to meet nice Jewish boys, and there were lots of nice Jewish boys at JCRS. We thought we had fellows there, boyfriends. Oh, it was innocent enough,” Mrs. Robinson laughed, “not like it is today.” In 1918, when Lena Zinik worked for Dr. Spivak in downtown Denver, part of her job was interviewing newly arrived TB sufferers, taking down information and then sending them out to the JCRS campus. The majority came from New York and New Jersey. “Most of the people I talked to were young, not old. It seems to me like TB hit young people harder than others. “Some of the boys we visited at JCRS were real sick,” she said, “but others could walk around with us. We knew all about TB and how contagious some people said it was, but we didn’t care, not at all. They were all such nice boys.” For a very long time, the face of
JCRS was not a hospital, it was a home. This phrase recurs in yellowed letters, diaries, doctoral theses the tunnels, supplying heat. Glass fixtures throw an electric, unromantic light across cement floors. An oddly familiar scent normally associated with old library books permeates the tunnels, caused by damp water pipes. There is no hint of love, only utility: the warm pipes work so effectively that the sidewalks above remain dry in the worst Denver snowstorm.
“One day when I came to visit, the doctors were giving Teddy the silent treatment. When a patient’s lungs became so badly diseased he or she was forbidden to talk, and that was called the silent treatment. The doctors didn’t want to stress those poor, tired lungs. But they let me see him.
one of those young men continued to haunt Adele Karsh. His name was Teddy Jackson. “When I met Teddy he was 25 and I was 16,” Mrs. Karsh said in a subdued voice. “He’d been a patient at JCRS since he was a child. We became good friends. Teddy was the sweetest young man — and cute as the dickens.
“I remember expecting to hear Teddy’s voice, but all he could do was shake his head yes or no. Then I said goodbye. That was two days before he died.” The decades fall back like dominoes; long ago becomes yesterday. “That was the first time someone close to me died of TB,” she says. “It left a lasting impression on me. I had no idea an illness could be so devastating. I can never forget Teddy lying there unable to speak, struggling for every breath.”
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ountless TB patients died at JCRS. Many left behind spouses, parents, children, friends. They were the lucky ones who would be remembered by the living. Sometimes survivors lived thousands of miles away from Denver and could not afford a funeral for the deceased, let alone attend. Many died alone and penniless. There was no money for a burial, no friend to say kaddish; no one to mourn or remember. But JCRS refused to abandon the dead. They received the same tenderness, concern and charity JCRS freely gave to them in life. Eight hundred people who died at JCRS were interred at Golden Hill Cemetery, in the section known as “The Hill.” About 200 headstones remain. As with most older cemeteries, many graves are unrecognizable except for a slight protrusion in the ground topped by a dozen large rocks. Tin markers that were never replaced by the traditional headstone lean perilously close to the
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November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 63
JCRS from Page 63 earth. The heavy logbook maintained by the West Side Benevolent Society since 1906 is often the only way to locate the burial site. One burial on The Hill took place March 6, 1915. Mr. Aaron Cohen was “22 years of age, born in Russia, single.” Mr. Cohen was the 538th person interred at Golden Hill Cemetery.
JCRS. TB. $42. With the exception of Sadie Gelfant, whose husband was present for the funeral, burial was arranged by a Mr. Disreally (sic), one of Dr. Spivak’s assistants. His name appears routinely under the heading, “Nearest friend or relative.” Obviously not a relative and perhaps only vaguely acquainted with the deceased, his name embodies the
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few decades ago, Denverite Ted Ruskin took a long hard look at the neglected Hill section at Golden Hill Cemetery and called upon the community to donate some tender loving care. Volunteers weeded, raked, planted seeds, installed a watering system and erected a memorial to the long-deceased infants. The
THE ‘HILL SECTION’ OF GOLDEN HILL CEMETERY
Norm Bloom
Many JCRS patients — including nameless infants — were buried in ‘The Hill.’ As tuberculosis disappeared, the section and its victims were forgotten, leading to decades of neglect. In the past 20 years, the Hill Section has been restored by community volunteers. The meticulously kept ledger, which now belongs to the cemetery, provides more than logistical information. Each line, each fact, retrieves a unique human life from anonymity and oblivion: • Morris Schor, Russia, age 30, married. Died 3/31/1915, JCRS, tuberculosis. $14.50 (cost of burial). • Abe Senders, Russia, 20, single. Died 4/9/1915, JCRS, TB. Nearest friend or relative: $14.50. • Esther Geller, Russia, 34, married. Died 6/3/1915, JCRS, TB. $29.50. • Sadie Gelfant, (no country of birth), 28, married. Died July 30, 1915.
sanatorium’s belief in simple human kindness. Every Jewish man, woman and child deserves a Jewish burial. Small rocks are visible on several headstones, a trail left by the living out of respectful remembrance. Hundreds of infants succumbed to TB at JCRS. They too are buried on The Hill. There are no headstones, no tin markers. Only in the cemetery ledgers are their names discernable: “Baby Cohen,” “Baby Toltz,” “Baby Breslow,” “Baby Levite,” “Baby Smookler” — and hundreds of others. Often three, even four babies share the same last name. One can only speculate about the circumstances.
64 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011
beautification project contributed to The Hill’s designation as a national historic landmark. Relatives from all over the US have visited The Hill, but Ruskin will never forget an elderly woman who arrived in the spring of 1990. “I was doing some work in the cemetery when a car pulled up,” he recalls. “This very frail lady who must have been about 85 years old got out of the back seat.” Leaning on a walker she inched her way toward Ruskin and held out a piece of paper. “She asked if I could please help locate the grave of her father, Philip Liquornik.
“As we walked toward the west end of The Hill, which is the oldest section, she explained that she grew up in Nashville. Her father, who had a severe case of TB, wanted to travel to Denver in hopes of being cured. Doctors warned the woman’s father he was too sick to survive the train trip. He left anyway.” The woman was five years old. Tragically, her father died the very day he arrived in Denver. Mr. Liquornik’s parents, who lived in Austria, arranged for their son’s burial on The Hill and also paid for a headstone. The years passed. The fatherless girl grew into womanhood, married, moved to Memphis and had a family of her own. And until that spring day in 1990, no one from Philip Liqournik’s family was able to traverse the years and miles to say hello. “Finally we found the memorial and the woman just stood there for a while,” Ruskin says emotionally. “As I looked into her eyes it was like 78 years melted away and she was a five-year-old girl again, seeing her father off at the train station for the last time.” Ruskin’s own eyes cloud over. “Then I remember she touched the memorial with a thin hand. Patting it gently, she whispered, ‘Papa, I’ve finally come to say goodbye.’”
B
y the early 1950s, tuberculosis had become a medical and historical anachronism. The drug Sulpha, coupled with the introduction of pasteurized milk, all but eradicated the once dreaded White Plague. Along with their Dick and Jane reading books, all US school children automatically received a TB vaccination shot. In 1954, the virtually emptied JCRS became the AMC Cancer Research Center. But beware. The dragon once thought slain for all time has emerged from a decades-old slumber. From New York City to San Francisco to Denver, people are contracting a form of TB proving resistant to standard antibiotic treatment. One factor remains constant: Today’s tuberculosis victims, like yesterday’s, are predominately poor. Today, two-thirds of tuberculosis patients are black, Hispanic, Asian or American Indians. JCRS has long since faded into memory; and memory will not soothe the brow nor caress the spirit of these current TB sufferers or those fated to join their ranks. If TB continues spiraling perhaps someone like the late Dr. Charles Spivak will come along and organize a healing institution accessible to everyone regardless of ability to pay or the severity of disease — a place like the Jewish Consumptives’ Relief Society. “JCRS was not a hospital, it was a home. It was family.” This phrase recurs in yellowed letters, diaries, doctoral theses, and flowed gratefully from the mouths of former patients’ relatives. Adele Karsh agreed. “The patients at JCRS were quite simply the happiest
bunch of sick people you ever saw.”
The IJN is indebted to the Ira M. and Peryle Beck Memorial Archives of the Center for Judaic Studies and Special Collections, Penrose Library at DU, for sharing its archival material. Originally published in 1994, this article has been updated.
BRIDGE
-BUILDING
SIEGEL from Page 17 toppling of regimes and deep-seated ethnic conflicts with no end in sight. The volatility in the region is not helped by the Palestinian intent to unilaterally declare a state at the United Nations. We are deeply worried about the implications of this decision, which might spark violence and further undermine confidence between Israelis and Palestinians. There is an urgent need for the parties to return to the negotiating table in an effort to achieve a peaceful two-state solution. At the same time, Israelis are concerned about the threat of Hezbollah missiles, Hamas rule and the daily firing of rockets from Gaza. However, we refuse to let these challenges define us. I am proud that Israel today is as strong, open and dynamic as the communities that I’ve been introduced to here in the Southwest. Many of us have heard of Israel as a “Start-up Nation,” with a world-class high-tech sector, leading academic institutions and Nobel-prize winning scientists. Israel is also a global leader in areas such as water technology, alternative energy and biotech. Less known perhaps but no less important, Israel is also a “Social Entrepreneur Nation” at home and overseas. Volunteers from Israel were the first to arrive in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, Japan and Turkey, no matter the distance or risk to their own lives. The town where we live in the Jerusalem mountains is in the heart of Israel’s wine country, where Jews and Arabs coexist and interact daily in all walks of life. This is repeated throughout the country, whether it’s Israeli architects and city planners who are helping build the first modern, middle-class Palestinian city of Rawabi; joint Israeli-Arab high-tech ventures such as Babcom; or Bridge Over the Wadi, one of several joint Arab-Jewish school programs which teaches co-existence. These are but a few examples that reflect the depth and complexity of life in Israel, often overlooked. Little-known are projects such as “Save a Child’s Heart,” where Israeli physicians perform free, life-saving heart operations on children around the world, half of whom are Palestinians, many from Gaza; Ayalim student villages which work to strengthen Bedouin and Jewish communities in the Negev; or Kishurit in the Galilee, which provides new opportunities for Jewish and Arab children with disabilities. If you’ve been to Israel, you’re probably familiar with this reality. If you’ve visited our hospitals or emergency rooms, you’ve seen that Jews and Arabs work together every day to save lives. The daily drumbeat of Middle East headlines sadly obscures these examples of real life in Israel. This is not to say that everything is perfect in Israel; it’s not. Self-criticism is almost a national sport. There are real challenges and areas that we need to improve, and there are also real threats to Israel’s existence and security. While we can accomplish a great deal, we can’t do it alone. As Consul General, I have made it my first obligation to foster a deep sense of pride in Israel and to strengthen Israel’s special bond with the communities here in the Southwest. I believe in connecting communities, strengthening relationships and sharing resources for preserving future generations of the Jewish people. Our major goals include: ensuring the Consulate serves as a bridge for community building; providing timely, accurate information about Israel to the community; and doubling the number of people visiting Israel from the Southwest, because there is no substitute for first-hand experience. November 4, 2011 • Intermountain Jewish News — Welcome to the GA • 65
ADVERTISERS’ DIRECTORY 1st Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 AFMDA — American Friends of Magen David Adom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .INSIDE FRONT COVER Allied Jewish Apartments, AJA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado, AJF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5, 7 American Friends of Hebrew University, AFHU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 American Friends of Israel Defense Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 American Jewish World Service, AJWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 American National Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 Amit Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 Argonaut Liquors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 Assaf Harofeh Medical Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61 Bayada Nurses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 B’nai B’rith International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 B’nai B’rith Youth Organization, BBYO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 CAJE — Colorado Ageny for Jewish Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Camp Ramah National Commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 Centerplate Catering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 Comcast HD Mountain Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BACK COVER Courtyard by Marriott Cherry Creek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .INSIDE BACK COVER Darrell Howe Mortuary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 Denver Jewish Day School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 East Side Kosher Deli . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Elcar Fence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 Erickson Monuments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 Friends of Yad Sarah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 Genzyme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 Greater Glendale Chamber of Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Integrity Print Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 INTERMOUNTAIN JEWISH NEWS® . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 Israel Ministry of Tourism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 Jewish Agency for Israel, JAFI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 Jewish Family Service, JFS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 Kentwood Co. — Bobbi Lou Miller and Jennifer Dechtman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 King Soopers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Margaret Morse Tours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Mazon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 National Jewish Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 Norman’s Memorials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 Preferred Travel Helpers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Ryley Carloc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 Shalom Cares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 Sheraton Denver Hotel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 The Bagel Deli . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 The Covenant Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 The Denver Post . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 The Inn at Cherry Creek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 The Jewish Experience, TJE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 World Jewish Congress, WJC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 66 • Welcome to the GA — Intermountain Jewish News • November 4, 2011