Denver: It’s Little Wonder They Call It The “Mile Chai” City By Rob Reuteman

Not widely known as a Judaic oasis, Denver is home to more than 81,500 Jews, and the seven-county metro area ranks as the 16th largest community in the United States, according to a 2007 study done by the Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado.
More importantly, the Jewish population represents a 29 percent increase since 1997. It’s now similar in size to established Jewish centers like Baltimore and Cleveland and other growing western metropolitan areas such as Phoenix and San Diego.
The Jewish growth rate in Denver also surpasses that of its general population, the study concluded. Jewish households now represent 4.4 percent of Denver households, compared to 2 percent nationally.
“We’re a thriving, diverse Jewish community,” said Ellen Premack, executive director of the Mizel Museum. “You can be Jewish here any way you like, and you’ll find many places in Denver to be warmly welcomed.”
From Kosher pizza parlors (that would be Pete’s Pizza at 5600 E. Cedar Avenue, 303-355-5777) to specialty stores, from Golda Meir’s home to the Babi Yar Park, visitors to the mile high city will appreciate its many diversions. “Jews come to Denver for all kinds of reasons, from conventions to skiing—it’s amazing how many have come to Denver and passed through our doors over the years,” said Aharon Brewer, a Denver native and owner of Aharon’s Jewish Books and Judaica. “It’s not necessarily Judaism that makes Denver fascinating, but you’ve certainly got it here.” Aharon Brewer’s great-great grandfather migrated to Colorado in the 1890s from the Alsace-Lorraine region between France and Germany. “I don’t know why they picked Colorado, but they did,” he says. “From time to time, I think about how grateful I am that they came.”

A 150-YEAR HISTORY
The rich and deep Jewish history in Colorado started when Jewish immigrants migrated to Colorado in search of freedom, economic opportunity and adventure in 1859, according to Dr. Jeanne Abrams, a professor at the University of Denver. Although a few early Jews worked in mining, most opened stores to supply the miners with food, clothing and other essential items.
Preserving the fascinating history of Jews in the West is the Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society, one of the premier local Jewish historical societies in the United States. Together with the Peryle H. and Ira M. Beck Memorial Archives— the major repository of Jewish history in the region— the Historical Society serves the needs of scholars and others interested in historical research. The Archives were established in 1976 in memory of Ira M. Beck, a prominent Denver businessman devoted to cultural arts and Jewish communal life. In 1995 the Beck Archives became a fully integrated part of Special Collections at Penrose Library at the University of Denver. Penrose Library is undergoing major renovation and will soon provide a state-of-the-art environment for the use of the Beck Collection, which contains memorabilia and over one million documents including manuscripts, oral histories, newspapers, microfilm and more than 5,000 photos. “Preserving Our Past for the Future: Images of Pioneer Jewish Families” is an online exhibit featuring highlights of the collection. You can view it at http://lib-anubis.cair.du.edu/About/collections/SpecialCollections/ImagesofPioneerJewishFamilies.cfm
You can access the Historical Society at http://www.du.edu/cjs/rocky_mountain_jewish_historical_society.html or by calling 303-871-3020
While extremely varied, the history of Jews in Denver is deeply intertwined with the world of medicine. According to Dr. Abrams, PhD, who is also the director of the Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society and the author of Jewish Denver: 1859-1940, “At the turn of the 20th century, due to the rise of tuberculosis in the congested cities, Denver became a draw for its numerous sanatoria, which used heliotherapy—fresh air and sunshine—to cure the disease.”
Denver’s renowned National Jewish Health, which has been named the top respiratory hospital in the nation for the past 13 years by U.S. News and World Report, was first founded in 1899 by German Jewish immigrants to treat tuberculosis victims from all over the country free of charge. Other institutions also emerged. “In 1904, the Jewish Consumptives’ Relief Society was established to bring to its Denver campus indigent tuberculosis sufferers from around the country,” says Dr. Abrams. (In 1954, JCRS changed its mission to cancer research, becoming the AMC Cancer Research Center, the first institution in the nation to devote its scientific resources exclusively to the prevention and control of cancer. In 2005, it officially affiliated with the University of Colorado Cancer Center, a state-of-the-art research and treatment institution.)

THE LANDMARKS
The Golda Meir House Museum is where the future Israeli Prime Minister (1898-1978) lived with her sister and brother-in-law Shayna and Sam Korngold and niece Judith during 1913 and 1914, after she ran away from parents’ home in Milwaukee—she learned that they had a husband picked out for her…and that married women were not allowed to teach there. In her 1975 autobiography, My Life, she states, “It was in Denver that my real education began…” The Korngold house was considered a social and intellectual haven by numerous Jewish immigrants from Russia (Golda’s family had left Kiev in 1906), most of whom had traveled out west for medical treatment. In this environment, Goldie discussed politics, met her future husband Morris Meyerson and developed her future political philosophy. She became deeply involved with Zionism and made the decision to emigrate to what was then Palestine. The house was moved from its original site at 1606-1608 Julian Street to the 1146 Ninth Street Park on the Auraria Campus of Metropolitan State College of Denver, preserved as a museum as well as serving as the Golda Meir Center of the college’s department of political science. Tours can be arranged by calling (well in advance) 303-556-3220. For a photo tour, go to http://www.mscd.edu/golda/house/tour/
One of the newest and most vibrant Jewish cultural experience in Denver is the Mizel Museum, which has currently been given over to a remarkable, multi-room, interactive “4,000 Year Road Trip: Gathering Sparks.” The exhibition takes visitors of all ages and backgrounds through an exploration of the richness and diversity of Jewish life, culture and history with the skillful use of art, artifacts and digital media. A must-see, it runs through 2013. Special events abound at the Mizel, including regular Salon Nights, such as the upcoming January 12 evening entitled “Art, Science & the Cosmic Connection.” It will feature Denver artist Monica Petty Aiello whose works are inspired by planetary surfaces and Martin Mendelsberg, a graphic designer, design educator and Hebrew typographer whose creative practice often addresses the relationships between Judaic mysticism, mathematics and music. At 400 S. Kearney Street, 303-394-9993, http://www.mizelmuseum.org
Since 1983, the 27-acre Babi Yar Park has offered solace and inspiration to Denverites and visitors alike—a living memorial to the 200,000 Jews, Gypsies, Ukrainians and others who were murdered between 1941 and 1943 at the Babi Yar ravine on the outskirts of Kiev, Russia. The connection between Babi Yar and Denver began in 1969 when the late Mayor William H. McNichols, Jr. designated 27 acres of parkland at the corner of Yale and Havana as Babi Yar Park at the request of The Committee of Concern for Soviet Jewry. The purpose of the park was to create “a place and an act that would demonstrate a unified public protest.” Open space for the park was first dedicated in 1971 by Elie Weisel. The second dedication in 1983 marked its emergence as a true park, “a profoundly sacred ground of remembrance, hope and protest against all acts of inhumanity,” with native prairie surrounding a cedar grove and several art installations designed by landscape architect Lawrence Halprin.
The Mizel Museum, Denver Parks & Recreation and numerous community leaders are preparing for the next phase of development: The September 11 Memorial. Linking the memory of the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington to the memory of mass killings at Babi Yar began with a “memorial in transit” in August 2011—the transportation of sixteen pieces of steel from the site of the World Trade Center across the country to a new resting place in Denver. The opening of The September 11 Memorial is scheduled for 2012. At E Yale Avenue and S. Havana Street. You can visit on your own or schedule a guided tour by calling 303-749-5019. For a video tour, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrBXK4bzLNg&feature=youtu.be

COMMUNITY
The Robert E. Loup Jewish Community Center is a comprehensive community center founded in the mid-1920s. The JCC provides a wide variety of recreational, cultural and educational programs to serve (and perpetuate) the Denver community. It shares a campus with the Mizel Arts & Culture Center (MACC at the JCC), home to some of the area’s finest theater programs, art galleries, summer art camps and more. Denver’s newest state of the art, 430-seat performance space, The Elaine Wolf Theatre, will officially open its doors to the community this spring, hosting the 16th Denver Jewish Film Festival from February 23 to March 4, 2012. MACC is also the home of the Denver Children’s Theater; its Spring 2012 Mainstage Production is The Snow Queen by Charles Way
and directed by Steve Wilson. There is also the Wolf Theatre Academy for budding actors.
The Singer Gallery at MACC is one of the great visual arts institutions in Denver. Currently showing David Wander’s
In the Belly of the Whale:
Drawing from the Ancient Texts, now through January 8. Wander is part of the current generation of Jewish-American artists propelling the nationwide revival of religious-themed Jewish art, challenging and re-interpreting classic texts from their own points of view. The Art Academy’s adult classes take place in two art studios, Greinitz Art Studio and the Frankel Clay Studio, a fully equipped ceramics studio complete with pottery wheels and its own kiln. MACC XY Events are centered around the cultural arts and include a Jewish theme or element such as recent concert by Abraham Inc. featuring David Krakauer (see this issue’s “So, Nu? News”). At 350 S Dahlia Street, 303-399-2660, www.maccjcc.org

SHOP
Aharon and Chavah Brewer have run Aharon’s Jewish Books and Judaica store at for 15 years. The walls are packed with thousands of titles in Hebrew, English or both. They stock everything from kitchenware to shabbos candles to Italian Borsalino black hats. “We tend to work more the orthodox end of things,” Aharon says. In addition, Chavah has become a YouTube celebrity as you can see at http://youtu.be/b0f5fdLVNpo. At 600 South Holly Street, Suite 103, 303-322-7345, www.MileChai.com
Boutique Judaica co-owners Roz Weiss and Carolyn Auerbach have been selling beautiful menorahs, mezuzahs, books for adults and children, bar and bat mitzvah gifts, jewelry, wedding gifts and hundreds of other Judaica pieces for more than 30 years. Watch a YouTube interview with Roz at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Pbnu0rypMk  At 5052 E Hampden Avenue, 303-757-1317.

THE NOSH
Fans rave about the homemade bagels at The Bagel Deli, a family-owned and operated deli that was recently featured on Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-In and Dives. But that’s only the beginning. Segue to the stuffed French toast, a double slice of challah bread, stuffed with cream cheese, with blueberry sauce on the side. Blintzes, knishes, latkes, smoked fish and meat sandwiches—it’s all here. (Check out the handmade mugs and other must-haves behind the deli counter.) Owner Joe Kaplan always says the difference between a deli and a restaurant is that a deli is “a place where everyone knows your name.” His wife and co-owner Rhoda took over this Denver institution from her parents, who opened in a different location in 1969, and it’s the oldest family-owned deli in Denver. At 6439 East Hampden Avenue, 303-756-6667, http://www.bageldeli.com/
The East Side Kosher Deli, owned by Michael and Marcy Schreiber, has been in Denver for 23 years. Originally opened as a small sandwich deli, Michael and Marcy Schreiber bought it in 1997 and expanded it to 20,000 square feet at its current location with a take-out deli, a sit-down meat/pareve restaurant with an eclectic, multi-cuisine menu, a full grocery store, a meat market, an in-house bakery and catering facility. 499 S Elm Street, 303-322-9862, http://www.eastsidekosherdeli.com/
The New York Deli News restaurant opened in Denver over 20 years ago.  The owners’ lineage goes back 50 years to Manhattan’s Fashion Luncheonette on 39th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues in the heart of the garment district. Desserts are baked in the kitchen, but owners Al, Tory and Peter say their rye, bagels and bialys are from the Big Apple. At 7105 East Hampden Avenue,
303-759-4741, http://nydndenver.com/
Zaidy’s Deli has that Old World feel courtesy of stunning black and white photographs of people and old Denver all over the walls. Diners love the latkes, the Reubens and the black and white cookies. At 121 Adams Street, 303-333-5336, http://www.zaidysdeli.com

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