Search results

Irwin (Ernie) Wilson came to Boulder as a faculty member for the University of Colorado chemistry deparrtment. When he and his family arrived, there were very few Jews in Boulder, a Jewish Fellowship rather than a full-fledged congregation, no synagogue and very little organized Jewish social and cultural presence. He talks about getting settled in Boulder, gradually finding a social life involving both other Jews, and non-Jewish colleagues and neighbors, and how he met his goal of the Bar Mitzvah of his son absent a rabbi. The family became members of the boulder Jewish Fellowship, which developed into congregation Har HaShem. He talks about the difficulties of obtaining rabbinic services, and eventually being able to build a synagogue that had a full-time rabbi. He mentions various Boulder Jewish congregations. He tells stories about teaching at CU and memorable events in his life here.

Zhenya Gallon, a science editor and writer at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, moved to Boulder more than thirty years ago. In this interview she describes her early spiritual life on the East Coast in terms of her family's Judaism and as a member of a family affected by the Holocaust. She also talks about the development of her sexuality as a lesbian, and links the topics of spirituality and sexuality as she describes her involvement in a havurah (a small group of like-minded Jews who practice and socialize together) of Jewish lesbians in Boulder, their work to create a Haggadah for Passover Seders, and her eventual finding of a spiritual home with the Jewish Renewal congregation of Nevei Kodesh.

Stanley Goldberg talks about his life in Boulder as a secular Jew. He describes what life was like as one of only a few Jewish families in Boulder during the 1950s, his eventual membership in both the Boulder Jewish Fellowship and Congregation Har HaShem, his contribution as the architect of the Har HaShem synagogue, and his experience of completing a Bar Mitzvah at the age of eighty. He also touches on his mountaineering accomplishments and his continuing love of being in the mountains.

Laura Fischer moved to Boulder in 1959, a time when the Jewish community in Boulder was very small. She tells about the growth of the community since that time, including describing Jewish institutions in Boulder such as Hillel, the Boulder Jewish Fellowship, Congregation Har HaShem, and Congregation Bonai Shalom. She also describes her own teaching career, in which she worked with children and adults with learning disabilities.