ANCHORAGE: Anchorage Borough

Congregation Beth Sholom, 525 E. Northern Lights Blvd Anchorage, AK 99504. Phone:(907) 338-1836 Fax:(907) 337-4013  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Reform) [February 2002]. "Today more than half of Alaska's Jews live in Anchorage, where Jew Leopold David was the city's first mayor, serving three terms from 1920 when the city was incorporated. Zachary J. Loussac, a Moscow Jew, served as mayor of the city in 1948 and established a trust fund that enabled building of the city's municipal library, which bears his name today. At Elmendorf Air Force Base outside Anchorage, Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Jewish chaplains rotated tours of duty from the early 1940s to mid 1980s, providing Shabbat services and serving Jewish residents in Anchorage and other areas. A mikvah for the wife of the chaplain was built on the base in 1974 and demolished in 1999. Reform Congregation Beth Sholom was established by 20 members of the Anchorage community in 1958. A first synagogue was erected in 1964; by 1982 with a membership that had quadrupled, a new synagogue on five acres was erected to house worship services, study, education center, camp, religious school, and sports. From 1984 until 2000, Rabbi Harry L. Rosenfeld was Beth Shalom's rabbi. The City of Anchorage proclaimed October 1, 1994 Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld Day as the state legislature honored him for his ten years of service to the Alaskan people. Alaska's first Chabad Center and only orthodox congregation, Shomrei Ohr of Anchorage was established in 1991 by Chabad emissaries Rabbi Yossi and Esty Greenberg. Three locations in the city are home to worship services, Hebrew school, adult classes, library, preschool, and a recently built mikvah. Chabad also has established a kosher section of a local supermarket, intends to open a future community center and is seeking grants for a culture and history archive." Source. [August 2005]