py Birth

STORY BY WENDY ILENE FRIEDMAN

Marking its 400th
anniversary, this
Southwestern city of
adobe architecture and
multicultural markets
boasts a Jewish
community comprising
descendants of
mercantile pioneers who
came to New Mexico in
the mid-19th century,
more recent revivals from
the East Coast and
Hispanic New Mexicans
who have uncovered
long-buried Sephardic
Jewish roots.

Above: Carol Mui, owner of

Historic Walks of Santa Fe,

shows guests the statue of

Kateri Tekakwitha (patron saint

of ecology) outside the Cathedral

Basilica of Saint Francis of

Assisi. The company also offers

a special Jewish history tour

led by Palace of the Governors

and Santa Fe Opera docent Joel

B. Stein. Above right: Each day

Native American vendors sell

their handmade goods under the

portal outside the Palace of the

Governors. Generations of fami-

lies have made their living selling

their jewelry and crafts.

Founded in 1610 by the Spanish, Santa
Fe holds the distinction of being the
oldest capital city in the nation. New
Mexico's "city different," as it is often
called, is the first location in America
designated a UNESCO (the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization) creative city for
its arts, heritage and special place of
character.
And while this Southwestern destina-
tion is largely celebrated for its Hispanic
and Native American traditions, there is
also a lesser-known Jewish influence.
As told in A History ofJews in New
Mexico by Henry J. Tobias (1992), the
story of Jews in what was to become
New Mexico begins even prior to

Santa Fe's founding, when cr -ypto-Jews
(hidden Jews of Spanish origin who
were forced to convert to Catholicism
but maintained their Jewish practices
in secret) came north to escape the
Mexican Inquisition. In the 19th and
20th centuries, the story is more famil-
iar: German merchants settled in Santa
Fe to become merchants. But "unlike
communities which migrated into fron-
tier areas as distinct, compact masses,
like the Mormons, for example, the Jews
came as individuals or family members.
They made their way within the general
population without presenting them-
selves primarily as Jews." Instead, they
chose to maintain their traditions qui-
etly to survive in business and socially.

More recent Jewish arrivals include
Jewish Americans who have traveled
west to settle in Santa Fe for an enjoy-
able retirement or for work opportuni-
ties in the fields of science and the arts.
According to Dr. Frances Levine,
director of the New Mexico Museum
of History, the first group of German
Jews, which numbered around 12 men,
arrived in the early 19th century, with
family members joining them later mid-
century. More followed once the rail-
roads were built in 1881.
Evidence of this small, close-knit
community is "everywhere you look in
Santa Fe where Jewish merchants trad-
ed," says Levine. "Many streetscapes and
buildings were built by Jewish merchants,

