Salt Lake City synagogue marks 50th anniversary
05/07/2023 09:28:30 PM
SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City’s longest-running and Utah’s largest synagogue celebrated its 50-year anniversary Sunday night.
Congregation members, community leaders, and supporters from other walks of faith gathered together at a gala at the This is the Place Heritage Park.
“I think that we’re an example of showing how people with differences can come together over shared values and the greater good,” said Rabbi Sam Spector of the Congregation Kol Ami.
In 1973, the Congregation B’nai Israel and Congregation Montefiore merged together to form Congregation Kol Ami.
“We’re a dual-affiliated synagogue of two different movements of Judaism that came together and that’s a very unique and rare thing,” said Spector.
At Sunday night’s gala, speakers included community leaders like Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, and Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson.
Celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month: 'No place for antisemitism in Salt Lake City'
05/04/2023 07:32:18 PM
SALT LAKE CITY — Julius Gerson Brooks and Isabella "Fanny" Bruck were the first known Jewish settlers in Utah. The husband and wife duo moved to Salt Lake City in 1864 and their millinery establishment became the first Jewish business in the area. Jews have continued to contribute to the state in a variety ways, ranging from business to politics.
Past pillars have included Utah's first and only Jewish governor, Simon Bamberger; and Louis Marcus, Salt Lake City's only Jewish mayor.
"These individuals have been dead for decades, but (their) names and stories still are mentioned with frequency in the halls of our synagogue," Kol Ami Rabbi Samuel Spector said, explaining that a quick drive downtown tells the stories of numerous Jewish contributions to Salt Lake. "I drove through downtown on my way back home past the symphony named for the Jewish conductor Maurice Abravanel; past our beautiful library created by Israel's greatest architect, Moshe Safdie; past the Greek Orthodox Church, which used to be home to one of our two main 19th-century synagogues that later merged and formed Congregation Kol Ami."
"Since 1853, 170 years ago, Jews have been contributing to this great city, making it our Jerusalem in America with its Jordan River and America's Dead Sea," Spector said. "When I tell people that I'm the rabbi of this great synagogue, I am telling them that I get to be a part of the great history of this city and that Jewish history in Salt Lake City is ... a living fountain that continues to contribute."
Despite the community's contributions, Utah has not been immune to a national rise of antisemitism. Incidents have ranged from a 2012 shooting at the Kol Ami synagogue, a 2017 bomb threat to a Salt Lake City Jewish community center and antisemitic conspiracies from a Utah tech entrepreneur and state GOP fundraiser in 2022.
Mayor Erin Mendenhall said the city takes hate crimes seriously and works swiftly to address them. Those efforts included an active shooter and first aid training for some of Kol Ami's congregation.
"There is no place for antisemitism in Salt Lake City, nor should there be anywhere in society and I condemn it wholly," Mendenhall said. "While I'm grateful that we as a city can provide that assistance and training, it is troubling that it's still so necessary and urgent these days."
Elder Pearson at interfaith fireside: Religions ‘add immeasurably to the quality of life’
05/03/2023 11:22:36 AM
On Tuesday, May 2, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hosted an interfaith fireside in the historic Salt Lake Tabernacle. This event was inspired by the Tabernacle Experience event, a full-sized, Old Testament tabernacle display showcased around Utah.
A frequent comment Rabbi Samuel L. Spector heard when he said he was moving to Utah was, “Those people are crazy. They believe that Jesus was in America. Can you believe that?” But the Rabbi, of Congregation Kol Ami, believes it isn’t such a crazy concept at all.
“The tabernacle’s existence showed that God was not stationary,” he said, “and that God could move and be found wherever people gathered.” If this were not the case, said Rabbi Spector, there would’ve been no Judaism — and consequently no Christianity or Islam — after the destruction of Solomon’s Temple in 586 B.C.E.
Rabbi Spector had his most powerful prayer experience not in an expensive synagogue, but in a cellar during a tour of the Theresienstadt concentration camp in the Czech Republic. A Jewish prisoner, Arthur Berlinger, had secretly painted art, prayers and Bible verses in a cellar to maintain his Jewish faith. Through prayer in such a small yet sacred space, the Rabbi felt God’s presence.
“We can all take a piece of what the tabernacle gave to us and bring it with us wherever we go. And in doing so, we can establish light and holiness.”
Head of Caucasus Muslims Office to Have Meetings in USA
03/03/2023 03:27:05 PM
Chairman of the Caucasus Muslims Office Sheikhulislam Allahshukur Pashazade and his accompanying delegation will be in Salt Lake City, USA on February 28-March 4 at the invitation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Stirling Foundation.
The visit itinerary includes meetings with President of the Utah Senate Stewart Adams, Lieutenant Governor of the State of Utah Deidre Henderson, heads of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, group of the G20 Interfaith Forum as well as Muslim community at the Khadeeja Masjid, Jewish community at the Kol Ami congregation, and Azerbaijani Diaspora.
Local Jewish community concerned by Ye's antisemitic comments
10/26/2022 07:09:52 AM
The recent antisemitic comments by Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, pose an especially larger challenge to the Jewish community due to his influence.
According to Rabbi Sam Spector of the Congregation Kol Ami in Salt Lake City, public figures often are capable of voicing particular opinions or viewpoints to more people with a greater sense of authority than others.
"When somebody is a leader whether it is a political or religious leader or media or performing icon like Kanye West, you have to think very carefully about the power of your words," said Rabbi Sam Spector of Congregation Koi Ami.
Thu, May 1 2025
3 Iyyar 5785
