BY BEVERLY M. POST
The Los Alamos Jewish Center is marking 70 years as a formal congregation, and the Jewish community on the Hill is celebrating the past as it looks towards the future.
The festivities take place Friday, August 23 to Saturday, August 24, with a mixture of Sabbath services, meals, and history-related events, along with opportunities for the community to get together for mingling and reminiscing. The anniversary celebration culminates in a Saturday evening dinner-dance party at historic Fuller Lodge. Long-time residents as well as Los Alamos Jewish Center members who have moved out of state and more recent members of the community will be in attendance.
In Jewish tradition, 70 years is considered a full human lifespan. Since the LAJC was founded in 1954, the 70th anniversary seemed an opportune time for a celebratory communal get-together. The festivities will begin with Friday evening shabbat services at 5:30pm followed by hearty refreshments, including home-made challah and other special dishes. Saturday morning shabbat services open with a participatory torah discussion at 9:30, and 10-noon Shabbat service with torah readings by various Jewish Center congregants. The Los Alamos Jewish Center’s board of directors is sponsoring a post-service bagel lunch.
Afternoon activities include two historic lectures, one by each of the current co-presidents of the New Mexico Jewish Historical Society. First up, from 1:30-2:30pm, is Linda Goff’s slide show presentation “Rabbi Helman: The Rabbi Different in the City Different,” which highlights one of Santa Fe’s iconic figures. Rabbi Leonard Helman was known not only for bridging various strands of northern New Mexico Jewish communities, but was noted as well for his public service and as a champion of international Humanitarian causes. During his tenure as rabbi of Santa Fe’s Temple Beth Shalom in the 1980s and 1990s, Rabbi Helman concurrently served the Los Alamos Jewish community on a part-time basis. Long-time LAJC members remember Rabbi Helman fondly, and have fun stories about this colorful character.
From 2:45-3:45pm, New Mexico Jewish Historical Society co-president Naomi Sandweiss presents her slide show, “New Mexico Jewish History.” Ms. Sandweiss is a New Mexico native and the author of Jewish Albuquerque 1860-1960, as well as numerous articles about Jewish history in the West. In parallel with the afternoon activities, there will be baby-sitting and children’s crafts activities.
The grand finale of the Los Alamos Jewish Center’s 70th anniversary celebration will be held at Fuller Lodge on Saturday night, from 6-9pm. There will be a catered dinner, music, and dancing; lawn games for the young and young-at-heart; and a chance to go down memory lane with photos and stories. The evening concludes with Havdalah, the brief ritual of braided candle, wine, and spices that mark the end of the Jewish Sabbath, which will take place on the Fuller Lodge lawn.
The LAJC is seeking old photos of Jewish Center members and Jewish Center events, including newspaper clippings, obituaries, and photos of life cycle events, and any other Los Alamos Jewish Center memorabilia.
All are welcome to join in the celebrations; for planning purposes, please RSVP for individual events on the Los Alamos Jewish Center website: https://www.lajc.org/event-list All events are free of charge; donations are gratefully accepted.
The Los Alamos Jewish Center is located at 2400 Canyon Road, just down the street from PEEC Nature Center. For more information about the Jewish Center, go to www.lajc.org, call 505-662-2140, or email losalamosjewishcenter@lajc.org
Continue your support for Jewish life in Los Alamos with a gift to the LAJC Life & Legacy Endowment Fund from your will, trust, life insurance, or retirement account.