Social life and customs

Abstract

The Hebrew Educational Alliance confirmation class of 1943 are standing in two rows. Flowers are in front of the class and the girls are holding flowers. There is a painting of the ten commandments and decorative doves behind the class. Rabbi Manuel Laderman stands in the center of the first row. The Hebrew Educational Alliance was a modern Orthodox synagogue formally founded in 1932 and became the largest congregation on Denver's west side.

Abstract Jacob and Charlotte Gordon stand in front of a building. In front of them are their daughters, Bess (with a large bow), Baila, and Eleanor. A son born later is not shown in the photograph. Jacob, a schohet (a kosher slaughterer in the Jewish tradition), Talmudic scholar, and later a mohel (one who performs the ritual circumcision), migrated to Denver, Colorado, in 1914 from Russia to join his uncle, Velvel Heller. By 1917 Jacob Gordon saved enough to bring his wife and daughter Bess from...

Abstract Louis Cook discusses his father's emigration from Russia and describes Jewish life on West Colfax Avenue in Denver, Colorado in the early 1900s. He also discusses Cook's Russian Bath House that his parents Harry and Ida operated and the Cook's Bath baseball team, the early Hebrew Education Alliance, and his early career as a newsboy. Louis Cook was born May 8, 1895 in Denver, Colorado, where he lived all of his life. He married Susie Finer in 1918. Cook was one of the founders of the Hebrew...

Abstract

Wolfe Karsh discusses his family's emigration from Poland to Denver, Colorado when he was three years old. He describes Jewish life in Denver in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the Jewish religious community in the early 20th century. He talks about Shul Baer Milstein and the Hebrew Educational Alliance. He also discusses his interest in singing, his various jobs in Denver, his experience in the U.S. Navy, and his experience as a farmer and cattle rancher.