Congregation Kol Ami celebrates 50 years, and ongoing relationship with Latter-day Saints
05/07/2023 10:56:11 PM
SALT LAKE CITY — The 50th anniversary celebration for Congregation Kol Ami on Sunday was also a celebration of community and connection as Rabbi Samuel Spector thanked government leaders and the leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for their support of the small Jewish community in Salt Lake City.
Kol Ami is a unique Jewish congregation; it began when two different congregations joined forces — Congregation B'nai Israel, a congregation of reformed Jews, and Congregation Montefiore, which was a group of conservative Jews. The congregation, with about 350 families, is about one-fourth of Utah's Jewish population.
"Fifty years ago, our community decided to do something incredibly bold, something that hadn't been done, really anywhere in the country. And that was bring two different movements of Judaism together, to create one community — Kol Ami — which means all our people," Rabbi Spector said.
He said something like that would only happen in Utah, where people look out for each other and love each other despite differences. Rabbi Spector said friends, family and the community coming together has inspired people around the world.
Rabbi Spector said when he learned he would be moving from a predominately Jewish community in Los Angeles, to Utah, where a very small portion of people are Jewish, he called a rabbi friend to ask what it was like to be a minority group. Initially, the other rabbi said it was hard dealing with antisemitism, but then when he heard Rabbi Spector was going to Utah, the rabbi said, "Oh, Latter-day Saints love you guys."
His experience has confirmed that, Rabbi Spector said, along with the experience of Jewish people since they arrived in Utah 150 years ago. He said members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came to Utah to escape persecution, which is similar to the background of many Jews.
Rabbi Spector said it has been "incredibly touching" to see leadership from major political parties reaching out to see how they can help the Jewish community, despite the religion being a very small minority. He said politicians have proven over and over that they will support the Jewish community.
Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson and Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall also spoke at the celebration.
Mendenhall said that while the Jewish population makes up fewer than 2% of the state of Utah, it has a far greater positive impact on the community
"We care about our communities. We care not only about what unites us as Utahns but the things that make us different and unique," Henderson said. "We believe that harmony is being different together, and that's what this congregation represents."
The relationship between government and faith communities, she said, is important to the state's history, and she looks forward to the next 50 years of the congregation. Henderson read a proclamation recognizing May 2023 as the 50th anniversary of the Kol Ami congregation.
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.
Tue, August 5 2025
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