Rocky Mountain Chai

I’ll never forget my first trip "out west." As a mid-western girl, rolling hills and gentle pine forests were my idea of nature.

Driving from Denver into the Rocky Mountains turbo-charged my understanding of “nature” and “beauty” as we sat around the campfire singing Hebrew folk songs. The pristine air and breathtaking sights inspired us to feel G-d in a way we never did in Hebrew school!

Though we typically associate Colorado with rugged cowboys and brave settlers wrestling with the bears, Jews were right there with the first Anglo settlers.

One of the first recorded Jewish travelers through this majestic terrain was Solomon Nunes Carvalho, an artist who documented the expedition of Col. J. C. Fremont in 1853. Solomon‘s diary conveys his Rocky Mountain High.

"After three hours' hard toil we reached the summit and beheld a panorama of unspeakable sublimity spread out before us; continuous chains of mountains reared their snowy peaks far away in the distance, as the Grand River plunged along in awesome sublimity through its rocky bed. Above us the cerulean heaven, without a single cloud to mar its beauty, was sublime in its calmness.

Standing as it were in this vestibule of G-d's Temple, I forgot I was of this mundane sphere; the divine part of man elevated itself, undisturbed by influences of the world. I looked from nature, up to G-d, more chastened and purified than I ever felt before."

It was the lure of wealth, rather than ethereal beauty that settled the area. Colorado was untamed wilderness when gold was discovered near Pike's Peak in 1858. The cry "There’s gold in them thar hills" brought droves of fortune seekers in 1859. During the "big excitement,” at least twelve Jews of German descent migrated to Colorado in quest of freedom, opportunities and wealth.

The unpredictability of gold mining and a growing demand for supplies encouraged many Jewish "1859ers" to establish small businesses in towns and mining camps throughout Colorado. Over the next two decades Jews settled in places such as Leadville, Cripple Creek, Aspen, Trinidad, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Central City and Denver.

The relative absence of anti-Semitism and the fluid social structure in the newly established Colorado boom towns enabled many Jewish pioneers to enter politics and society with relative ease. Jewish settlers in the region were young men, usually unmarried, of German descent, entering businesses dealing with goods distribution.

In southern Colorado, Jews were active in commerce from the earliest days of Anglo entrance in that traditionally Hispanic area. They came via the Santa Fe Trail. In Colorado Springs, Burton and Charles Myers opened a hotel in 1864. Burton’s wife later recalled it as "a typical wild west hostelry where liquors were sold, and card games ran all night."

As the pioneer men married and started families, often importing their brides from back east, the fledgling towns began to stabilize, and began establishing a permanent structure, beginning with Denver’s Jewish burial society to ensure burial in accordance with Jewish tradition.

David May had moved to Colorado for his health, but found prosperity as well. He opened a Denver branch store in 1880 and went on to establish one of the largest department store chains. Leadville was the birthplace of Meyer Guggenheim, patriarch of the family, who purchased a half interest in a silver and lead mine for $5,000, valued at $15,000,000 by 1890. Meyer’s son Simon was to become a United States Senator from Colorado.

Denver’s East European population began with a trickle in the 1870s. To alleviate the overcrowding and poverty in eastern cities, Jews were encouraged to go west. The west side of Denver soon resembled the lower east side of New York with synagogues, small businesses and tradition.

At the turn of the century, tuberculosis was the leading cause of death. Colorado’s climate of taut, bracing air built its reputation as the "world’s sanatorium," and Denver faced a serious social problem when hundreds of severely ill people converged on the city. Propelled by the concept of “Gemilas Chasadim/acts of kindness, the Jewish community organized a hospital in Denver for tuberculosis victims. With the financial assistance of the International B’nai B’rith, the hospital opened its doors in 1899 to Jews and gentiles alike. Its motto, "None may enter who can pay – None can pay who enter," became a beacon of hope to the impoverished victims of the dreaded disease.

Shana Mabovitch Korngold, sister of the future Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, was one of the immigrant patients at NJH. Golda Meir lived with her married sister Shana in Denver’s west side from 1913 until 1914 and began her association with Zionism and democratic socialism.

Families of cured tubercular patients and a flow of Eastern European immigrants swelled Denver’s west side. Many prospered as their small businesses grew. The Shwayder brothers trunk factory produced Samsonite luggage and became the world’s largest luggage manufacturer.

From 1910 to 1954 the state’s Jewish population grew from 8,000 to 17,500, and by the 1980s it was over 40,000. The years since World War II were a period of consolidation, development and growth, the current Jewish population is around 80,000.

Denver, the capital city, is a popular stopover into the peaks, and its lively downtown is the 10th largest in the nation, with museums and sites.

Denver’s climate is pleasant, with two constants, a low relative humidity and more than 300 days of sunshine per year. Just make sure you always have a jacket on hand as predicting Colorado weather is like bronco busting.

The area is famous for its wild fluctuations -- during any given season and any given day. Average high and low temperatures for a month can differ by as much as 30 degrees. But, such rapid changes also mean most weather conditions are only temporary -- snow melts as rapidly as it appears.

The city has a vibrant Jewish community with Day Schools, Judaica stores, synagogues, classes, and Federation programs. Kosher food is available at Auerbach’s Kosher Foods, The Bagel bakery, Kosher Konfection, and the East Side Kosher Deli provides deli, grocery, butcher shop, restaurant and caterer, located near Denver’s Loup JCC. The Scroll-K is the insignia of Denver’s kosher supervision.

There are Chabad Centers in Highlands Ranch, Westminster, Center City, a Russian center, library, Gan Israel Day Camp, and a long list of activities. Colorado Springs Chabad serves southern Colorado.

Nestled against the face of the Rocky Mountains, twenty-five miles northwest of Denver, Boulder is a unique mid-size community of 96,000. With the University of Colorado, research and high-tech activity, and miles of hiking and bike trails, it offers a relaxed, sometimes eclectic environmentally sensitive life-style. The diverse but active Jewish community is drawn together at the annual Boulder Jewish Festival, held at the Courthouse/Pearl Street Mall site. Chabad of Boulder enriches the community with classes and celebrations.

Aspen, population 6,000, is famous as a very upper-end ski resort town, with the crème de la creme in slopes and all the amenities. If you want vast slopes with lots of snow and sun, excellent teachers and a town that has the solid feel of something that exists for more than four months of the year, Aspen has them in spades. It also sports culture. The ski-town's cultural life is rich with museums, opera and galleries, film festivals, tours and activities.

Rabbi and Mrs. Mendel Mintz (970 544 3770) have scaled the heights of Aspen, offering Shabbat Minyan, Kosher food, classes, guest lectures, Hebrew school, and good ol’ steaming chicken soup to warm up.

Rocky Mountain National Park, 75 miles northwest of Denver, is a 415-square-mile chunk of Rocky Mountain highs, latticed by 370 miles of hiking and walking trails that weave up steep rocky trails, over alpine tundra, past high-mountain lakes, and through aspen groves, spruce forests, and meadows peppered with columbine.

The rugged mountains carve out a skyline that captures the imagination and serves as both protector and passageway to the west. One-third of the park is above timberline, including the 14,255-foot flat-topped summit of Longs Peak. There are 71 peaks here above 12,000 feet.

The park is a preserved wilderness. Major attractions are hiking, backpacking, fishing, horseback riding, mountain biking, cross-country skiing, mountain climbing and sightseeing. The village of Estes Park lies just outside the entrance to the park on the edge of a lake in a mountain valley surrounded by snow capped peaks.