8 Facts About Jewish Alaska
1. As of 2012, Alaska is home to just over 6,000 Jews.
2. Four mountain peaks in Alaska are named after Jews, including Mount Ripinsky for Solomon Ripinsky, a former mayor of Haines, Alaska, and Mount Neuberger for former Oregon Senator Richard Neuberger, who supported Alaskan statehood.
3. The largest Jewish congregation in Alaska, Congregation Beth Sholom in Anchorage, calls Alaskan Jews the “frozen chosen.” (Its website is frozenchosen.org )
4. Western lawman and sheriff Wyatt Earp and his Jewish wife Josie ran a saloon in Nome.
5. Russian-born Jew Abe Spring was the first mayor of Fairbanks. In 1906, during a period of Russian pogroms, he proposed housing persecuted Russian Jews in Alaska. The plan was rejected by congress.
6. In 2011, Sarah Palin called former Alaskan member of the House of Representatives Jay Ramras “Jay Bird-Nose Ramras” in an email.
7. Marty Beckerman, who has written popular comedic books such as “Dumbocracy” and published his first book at 16, grew up in Anchorage.
8. Ernest Gruening, who served as governor of the Alaskan territory from 1939 to 1953, became one of Alaska’s first official senators when the territory was turned into a state in 1959.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30