 NOVEMBER 26 • 2020 | 17

One of the Torahs was sold 
to a scribe who then sold it to 
a small synagogue in Joliet, Ill. 
The money from the sale was 
used to repay a debt owed to a 
former congregant.
The scribe estimated the 
Torah age to be approximately 
150 years old, from Eastern 
Europe. There is no evidence in 
the shul’
s records how the Torah 
got to Iron Mountain.
Anshe Knesseth Israel board 
members later asked the Joliet 
congregation if it wanted 
anything else from the Iron 
Mountain synagogue. So on 
a sunny but cold day in early 
January of this year, Zacks 
loaded two large, ornate bimah 
chairs, two floor menorah 
lamps, the congregation’
s eternal 
light, and various other syna-
gogue relics into his minivan 
and made the five-plus-hour 
drive to Joliet.
The Torah that went to 
Illinois was quite possibly the 
same one Zacks read from 
during his bar mitzvah. Bar 
mitzvahs were special occasions 
in Iron Mountain. With a few 
exceptions, the services almost 
always occurred in June because 
it was the only time they could 
get a rabbi to make the 100-mile 
drive from Green Bay, Wis., to 
Iron Mountain to officiate the 
service.
While studying for their bar 
mitzvahs, the boys had to be 
driven to Green Bay twice a 
month to learn their Torah por-
tions. The two-hour drive each 
way was especially grueling 
during the winter. And, tutoring 
sessions needed to be scheduled 
around the Green Bay Packers 
football schedule to avoid game-
day traffic.
Except for Russman-
Halpern, who lobbied to par-
ticipate in the rite of passage, 
there were no bat mitzvahs in 
the synagogue. Cohodes, an 
attorney now living in Seattle, 
said that she participated in an 
adult b’
nai mitzvah 14 years 

ago because she missed the 
opportunity as a teen.

SMALL-TOWN JEWISH LIFE
In September, during an online 
event hosted by the Jewish 
Historical Society of Michigan, 
Zacks, Russman-Halpern, and 
two others shared their mem-
ories of Anshe Knesseth Israel 
and discussed Jewish life in Iron 
Mountain.

Participants said they are fre-
quently asked what it was like 
to be Jewish and live in a rural 
area, under the assumption it 
could be a more antisemitic 
environment.
“
As far as I could tell, Jews 
were viewed as positive con-
tributors to the community. So, 
it was never something to be 
hidden. It just wasn’
t a salient 
part of life,
” said Zacks. “Early 
on, I realized I was Jewish, but I 
didn’
t view it as part of my pri-

mary public identity. I think my 
parents were assimilationists. 
Their goal was to blend in. You 
couldn’
t live primarily within 
the Jewish community because 
the community wasn’
t large 
enough.
”
These Iron Mountain resi-
dents reported mild antisemi-
tism incidents or, in some situa-
tions, what they would consider 
simple ignorance. For example, 

when Russman-Halpern 
brought matzah to school for 
lunch during Passover, class-
mates thought it was “made 
from the blood of Christ.
”
Being Jewish wasn’
t some-
thing Kushner thought much 
about until high school. He 
always felt there wasn’
t much 
of a difference between him 
and his peers, except he didn’
t 
celebrate Christmas. “In high 
school, there were times when 
it got a little rougher. People 

sometimes called each other 
kikes. It was uncomfortable, 
and I got in a few fights over it,
” 
recalled Kushner, stating that 
the boys had it a little rougher 
than the girls.

A BRIEF HISTORY LESSON 
In the 1890s, at least 30 Jewish 
families found their way to 
Iron Mountain. Most were 
Eastern European immigrants 
who came to the United States 
to escape antisemitism. They 
initially settled in Chicago 
and Milwaukee where they 
worked as peddlers and fre-
quently made trips north to 
sell their goods to the miners 
and lumberjacks in the Upper 
Peninsula. Ultimately, they 
would bring their families to 
live in Iron Mountain, a town 
located in the western part of 
the U.P
., 200 miles from the 
Mackinac Bridge.
All of these families 
were Orthodox. They kept 
kosher and held regular 
minyans in a room they 
rented above one of the 
downtown stores. One 
of the more observant men in 
town served as the shochet, 
allowing Iron Mountain res-
idents to obtain kosher meat 
without traveling long distances.
At one point, a second min-
yan was formed with the idea of 
holding less-religious services. 
However, within a few years, the 
two minyans reunited, leaving 
the community with one con-
gregation and two Torahs.
By 1908, the decision was 
made to establish a formal con-
gregation. No one alive today 
knows why they called it Anshe 
Knesseth Israel. At first, they 
gathered in a bank building but 
purchased a Swedish Methodist 
church and established what 
would become the shul’
s perma-
nent home.
Having only bought the 
building and not the land, con-
gregants found a desirable piece 
of property and moved the con-

“I’M ... REALIZING THAT THE LIFE OF 
A JEWISH COMMUNITY IN A SMALL 
TOWN CAN HAVE A BEGINNING, 

MIDDLE AND AN END.”

— RACHEL SOLOM

Jim Zacks, congregation president 

Rachel Solom and Rose Zacks as 

they prepared to transport the 

Torahs to a scribe in Illinois.

continued on page 18

