Jewish Albuquerque In Images Of America
The Images of America series offers an opportunity to learn about many communities throughout the United States. This book in the series "Jewish Albuquerque: 1860-- 1960" (2011) shows how Jewish people came to Albuquerque, New Mexico and made themselves a home and a community. Tne author, Naomi Sandweiss, is an Albuquerque native and a longtime volunteer for the New Mexico Jewish History Society. Noel Pugash, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of New Mexico wrote a Foreword to this volume. He aptly describes Sandweiss' book as "a revealing, admirable and delightful photographic history" which "captures ordinary people, their daily lives, their workplaces, their residences, and their special moments," I was moved to learn about this community.
New Mexico became part of the United States in 1848 following the Mexican American War, and it became a State in 1912. Albuquerque was lightly settled until the railroad came in 1880, leading to an influx of immigrants. These immigrants included Jewish people, largely of German descent. They came from the East coast and from Europe. The community was small and close-knit and many families quickly established themselves as merchants, with some becoming wealthy.Albuquerque throughout was commendably free of religious prejudice. The first two mayors of Albuquerque were both Jewish.
Somewhat later immigrants began to arrive from East Europe. These immigrants too tended to go into commerce but on a smaller scale. They tended to be more traditionally religious than the earlier German immigrants. Soon two houses of worship began to serve the Albuquerque Jewish community. The first was Congregation Albert, founded in 1897 as a Reform temple. The second was Congregation B'nai Israel, founded in 1920 as a more traditional synagogue. Both are still thriving in Albuquerque today, togeth with some later Jewish places of worship and community.
In text and images, Sandweiss eloquently describes the people and places of Jewish Albuquerque and relates it to the city as a whole. The six chapters of her book, show the early pioneers, their businesses, the houses of worship they maintained, the interaction of many Albuquerque Jewish businesspeople with Native Americans and with the tourist industry, community and civic life, and, briefly, modern Albuquerque from 1960 --2000 (an update would be welcome). The book stresses how Albuquerque's Jews were welcomed into the community, into politics, and into institutions such as country clubs and social organizations without prejudice.The Jewish community is a welcome part of the thriving Albuquerque community. This is an important and inspiring lesson.
I enjoyed my short visit to Albuquerque in this book. The Albuquerque community reminded me of the Jewish communities I know in the East and the Midwest, but as each city has its own character, so does each community. The Albuquerque community felt distinctive in part because for many years Albuquerque and its history were distinctive. I was moved to look up both Congregation Albert and B'nai Israel on the web and to learn a little more about them and their current activities.
The book concludes with a brief bibliography for those wishing to learn more about Albuquerque and its Jewish community. I would have welcomed more discussion of two matters. First, Albuquerque reputedly had a crypto-Jewish population from the earliest days of settlement under Spain. This might have been mentioned more. Second, the book observes that some of the leading Jewish merchants opposed Statehood before it was granted in 1912. I was curious to know why. The book stresses, properly so, the patriotism of the Albuquerque Jewish community through the two World Wars and continuing to the present.
This is a good volume in the Images of America series and, indeed, a "revealing, delightful and delightful photographic history" of Albuquerque and its Jewish community.
