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Travel

Join FRANKLIN BANK'S
employees and customers as we

"Walk to End
Hunger"

Anchorage, a grown-up city with
brew pubs, espresso bars and mega
malls, which survived a devastating
earthquake in 1964. The earthquake,
measuring 9.2, was the largest ever
registered in North America.
Perhaps best known of the present-
day Anchorage Jewish community are
Perry and Jerry Green who run David
Green Furs. The Green brothers
inherited the business from their
father. He came to Alaska from
Galicia inspired by Jack London nov-
els, and founded the company in
1922. Perry Green, a short, portly 64-
year-old father of five, is clearly the
more gregarious of the two. While he
likens his relationship with his broth-
er to Blanchard and Davis, the famed
Army football duo, it iS Perry who
›- plays golf with Congressman Don
Young, can pickup the phone and
speak to the mayor of Anchorage
whenever he wants and was named
Alaskan of the Year in 1996.
His showroom is filled with arti-
facts-and autographed photographs of
the rich and famous clients he has
served over the years, including
Leonard Nimoy, Tina Turner, Larry
Hagman, Sugar Ray Leonard, Hubert
Humphrey and Golda Mein
Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld arrived in
Alaska in 1983, after ordination at
Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati,
to serve as the leader of Congregation
Beth Shalom, a Reform congregation
founded in Anchorage in 1958. With
about 180 members, Beth Shalom
runs a Sunday school for about 100
youngsters in addition to a daytime
pre-school and kindergarten for 30
. children.
A high percentage of the congre-
gants serve in the legal profession as
judges and lawyers. Among them is
Russell Nogg, who left the flatlands
of Nebraska 20 years ago to start a
law practice and never looked back.
"A couple of hours out of town and
I'm at my wilderness cabin in the
Alaska National Forest with some of
the best fishing in the world," he says.
At Friday night services, about 40
people, some belonging to the
Flannel Shirt Club, come to celebrate
Shabbat and socialize at a warm kid-
dush reception where guests and new-
corners are publicly introduced and
welcomed.
Not far away is the home of the
Lubavitch Jewish Center of Alaska,
Anchorage's Orthodox community.
Also known as Congregation Shomrei
Ohr, it was established in 1991 by
Rabbi Josef Greenberg, Alaska's only

other full-time rabbi. Kosher food is
flown up from Los Angeles and
Seattle for the 20 families that belong
to the synagogue.
Rabbi Greenberg's wife Esti supervis-
es the only mikva in Alaska, located on
nearby Elmendorf Air Force Base.
There are smaller Jewish commu-
nities scattered throughout Alaska,
with notable congregations in Juneau
and Fairbanks. In Juneau, the capital
city, the Jewish population fluctuates
around 300 due to the transient
nature of the community, including
Israelis who work in the salmon can-
neries during the summer. There is
no rabbi in Juneau, no synagogue and
no community center. There are also
no roads to the city, which can only
be reached by plane or ship.
The first permanent Jewish settlers
in Juneau were members of the
Robert Goldstein family, who built a
general store on the city's waterfront
in 1885. His son, Isadore Goldstein,
served six terms as Juneau's mayor
before statehood.
His brother Charles built the
Goldstein Building and opened
Goldstein's Emporium in 1914. The
building, which still stands in down-
townJuneau, served as Alaska's inter-
im capital until the present state capi-
tal was built in 1931.
Like most Jewish communities in
Alaska, Juneau has a high number of
intermarried couples. In fact, only
half of Juneau's Jewish community
board members are Jewish.
Further up the Inside Passage on the
Alaska Marine Highway is the town of
Skagway, gateway to the Klondike Gold
Rush of 1896. Strolling down the main
street of this old gold mining town, one
can see the abandoned remains of
Goldberg's Cigar Store.
Fairbanks, the state's second largest
city, has one of Alaska's three syna-
gogues, Congregation Ohr HaT7nfon,
and the only Jewish cemetery in the
state. Ohr HaTzafon has the distinction
of being the northernmost synagogue
in the world. Trying to find three stars
to signify the end of Shabbat in
Fairbanks from mid-May to mid-
August can be difficult due to near con-
stant daylight at that time of year.
Because of these extremes and the
uncharted landscape, Alaska is a place
that inspires the imagination and cap-
tivates the soul. It is here that Alaska's
Jews, the Frozen Chosen, have found
their space and with it, an antidote to
confinement.
This is, as a license plate says,
The Last Frontier." I I

-

WHEN:

Saturday, August 21
10 a.m.

(Same day as the
Woodward Dream Cruise!)

WHERE:

Franklin Bank,
479 S. Old Woodward,
Birmingham (between
14 Mile & Maple Rd.)

c 1 3 Food Bank

Franklin
Bank

of Oakland County

MI IN NI MIN IN III NI =MIMI IN MI MI NIM MI NI MI NIM MI IIII

would like to walk.

YES, I
•
"I
m, My Address
III Phone Number

D I would like to make a donation of $
1 I wish to pay by (choose one) U Check CI VISA U Mastercard ID Discover 1
I Credit Card #
I Expiration
Signature
V.
Date
I
would
like
to
be
a
corporate
sponsor
(min. donation of $200) o yes o no
•
Amount of corporate donation $
wish to pay by (choose one) Ci Check [:3 VISA ID t M'a= ID Discover 111
▪
U
Signature
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11
credit
of
$200,
couples
$400,
businesses
up
50%
Michigan
t
c
I You can receive a
I
to
$5,000.
Make
checks
payable
to:
Food
Bank
of
Oakland
County,
PO.
Box
431385,
x
1
Pontiac, MI 48343-0700 (248) 332-1473 or fax (248) 332-7135

V

Traveling

Don't miss reading The Jewish News!

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• CHARLEVOIX

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Don's IGA

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McLean & Eakin Booksellers

3/13
1999

Detroit Jewish News 111