History of the Jews in Alaska

The Klondike and Nome gold rushes attracted Jews to Alaska to seek their fortunes as miners and businessmen and resulted in the first organized Jewish communities.

After the United States purchased the Alaskan Territory from Russia in 1867, some San Francisco Jewish miners, merchants, fur dealers, and traders moved up to Alaska.

[2] The following year, two Jews from San Francisco, Louis Sloss and Lewis Gerstle, helped found the Alaska Commercial Company.

Jacob established a successful business (which would later merge with Carrs), while his wife, Anna, a teacher, helped found Alaska's first Parent-Teacher Association (PTA).

[6] After hearing about the discovery of gold, 19 year old Max Hirschberg biked the 1,100 miles (1,800 km) from Dawson to Nome in ten weeks, despite freezing temperatures and extreme weather.

[10] In 1908, the Fairbanks community formally organized Congregation Bikkur Cholim, and the Clay Street cemetery still has a Jewish section dating back from this period.

When World War II brought a number of Jewish GIs to the Fairbanks area, the Blooms acted as “unofficial chaplains” and opened their home to many service members.

[12][13] In 1906, Russian-Jewish immigrant and Fairbanks resident Abe Spring proposed that Jewish refugees fleeing Russian pogroms be settled in Alaska.

The resulting Slattery Report and the introduction of a bill to make the idea possible were roundly rejected by the Alaskan public who did not think that such "aliens" would fit in well.

[15][16] While the bill died in subcommittee in 1940 and the plan never came to fruition, the subject garnered fresh interest in 2007 with the publication of the bestselling novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon.

The Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage retained a Jewish chaplain between the 1940s and 1980s, changing every two years and rotating between Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox leaders.

[17] These chaplains often ended up serving the entire Jewish community in Alaska, travelling to cities, small towns, and outposts for a bar mitzvah or offering a learning opportunity.

The congregation's small first synagogue was built in 1964 and was used for religious school classes and Shabbat services but not for the High Holy Days when larger facilities were required.

[17] In the 1990s, the popular TV show Northern Exposure centered on a young Jewish doctor moving from New York to a fictionalized small town in Alaska.

[7] In 2013, Chabad's Alaska outpost, headed by Yossi and Esty Greenberg, opened a new campus in Anchorage that serves Alaskan Jews as well as visitors.