,

DE TRO I T JEWIS H NEWS

tr.

w

38

Iron Mountain was, at one time, home to an Ortho-
dox Jewish community. They had a mikvah. Mr. Co-
hodes' mother kept a kosher kitchen. Many congregants
walked to shul on Shabbat.
There were brit milah, wedding and bar mitzvah cer-
emonies. Women spoke Yiddish while preparing jello
molds and gefilte fish for Passover seders in the base-
ment.
Mr. Cohodes remembers when Anshei Knesseth had
a membership of 20 to 25 families. That was big.
The last wedding took place 25 years ago. Around that
time, things started to change. Nearby iron mines shut
down. Population decreased along with job opportuni-
ties. Jews, as usual, made money in retail and witnessed
their profits drop along with the exodus of miners. When
strip malls came to town, the small, Jewish-owned mom-
and-pops were all but doomed.
The youngest Jew in town these days is 50 years old.
The others are in their 70s and 80s. Congregation An-
shei Knesseth hasn't had manpower and money enough
to retain its level of observance.
Or, maybe that's not the whole story.
"My brother and I know how it was back then. But
you see, people don't care anymore," Mr. Cohodes says.
"They've lost that closeness with the synagogue. Why?

f

.1

Above: Michigan's
Upper Peninsula
attracted immigrants,
mostly Finnish and
some Italian, to its
logging and mining
industries. The rugged
stock of laborers
survived cold winters
and harsh working
conditions. PHOTO COURTESY

OF SUPERIOR VIEWS

Left: In St. Ignace, the
Winkelmans and
Rubins light Shabbat
candles and participate
in the Petoskey
congregation across
the bridge. The hardest
thing about being
Jewish in the UP?
Being Jewish, they
say. PHOTO BY RUTH LITIMANN