Rabbi David Segal, Aspen Jewish Congregation’s full-time rabbi from 2010 to 2017, quickly found upon his arrival that there was an item of spiritual leadership that belonged to someone else, in relative perpetuity:
The telling of the Chanukah story.
“Gideon Kaufman would tell the Chanukah story on Shabbat, because he had a very particular, funny version of it,” says Segal.
“People came for that Shabbat, and expected to hear it.
“That was one of the fixtures of the year.”
Let there be no doubt, that was one of Kaufman’s many fixtures.
Kaufman moved to Aspen in 1973 after finishing law school at George Washington University. He planned to stay only one year; as it turns out, he spent the rest of his life in the Roaring Fork Valley.
Upon his arrival, as a budding real estate attorney, he surveyed the landscape for a place to worship.
There was none, and Kaufman immediately went to work, co-founding the Aspen Jewish Congregation.
“While he was not a formerly ordained rabbi, he ultimately served the congregation as our founding spiritual leader for 35 years,” says AJC’s executive director, Jason Schnissel.
During the first year of existence, AJC grew slowly. Then, the congregation put a simple two-sentence ad in the Aspen Times mentioning they would be holding High Holiday services. That led to further growth, and Kaufman led the charge.
“Gideon was an incredibly generous person,” says Schnissel. “He was so willing to give his time. He did it on a volunteer basis and he just gave wholeheartedly to the community. He threw himself in wholly in everything he did.”
Among Kaufman’s loves was being a fine-tuned athlete. He was superior at barefoot water skiing, and he was an accomplished cyclist.
Ironically, that pursuit of cycling led to Kaufman’s death on Oct. 26. Kaufman, 77, suffered a crash while on Castle Creek Rd. He died on the scene after suffering blunt force trauma.
“There is the common euphemism of somebody doing what they loved,” says Schnissel. “At times it can feel cliché and it doesn’t offer any solace in a tragic passing, but I think there is some truth to the fact that he went doing one of the things that he loved.”
By the time Segal was hired as AJC’s full-time rabbi (which was a package deal with Segal’s wife, Cantor Rollin Simmons), Kaufman was stepping back from some of the multitude of duties he had taken on since he helped form the congregation.
“I think we connected for a variety of reasons,” says Segal.
“Kaufman’s father was part of the group of Reform Jewish leadership who was involved in bringing Zionism more to the forefront of the movement. We both felt kind of a kinship around that connection.”
Schnissel sums up: “Gideon was the face of the Aspen Jewish Congregation for over three decades. I think it is incredible that he was able to do this in a volunteer way for so many years.”
© IJN 2025
