Friday, March 29, 2024 -
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What’s a century between friends?

One hundred years. A century. Ten decades. 1,200 months. 5,217 weeks. 36,524 days. Wow! That’s a long time, isn’t it?

To celebrate a centenary is to recognize achievement. To operate continuously for 100 years is no small feat. The experiment begun in 1913 by Rabbi CEH Kauvar and Dr. Charles Spivak (pictured on the front of the magazine) was successful. We continue to fulfill the vision of these two pillars of Denver’s early Jewish community. So we are proud.

But we are also humble. For our 100th magazine, we sifted through myriad past issues of the IJN, which made us realize, as Tehilla Goldberg observed in her column this week, that we’re just one of the links in a chain of the varied publishers, journalists, advertising executives, administrators, graphic designers, interns, etc. that comprise IJN history.

And we are proud and humble — simultaneously — by our company in this crowd of “oldies” serving Colorado’s Jewish community. Jewish Family Service marked 140 years in 2012. National Jewish began seeing patients in 1899 — though it was actually built in 1893. And JCC isn’t far behind us, currently in their 91st year of operation. Of course we can’t forget the synagogues and temples, like Emanuel, Zera Abraham and BMH, which have been providing religious services since 1874, 1888 and 1897 respectively. (And those are just the ones in the Denver area! There’s also Temple Emanuel in Pueblo, Congregation Albert in Albuquerque, Mt. Sinai in Cheyenne — all over 100 and still in operation.)

Not all the Jewish institutions from those early days survived, and in the meantime, many new, vibrant institutions were established; both those aspects are covered in our magazine). But we’re proud to be members of the pioneer club, and to not only share in the rich history of local Jewish life, but document it, too.

So here’s to celebrating 100 years of Jewish Colorado — and to 100 more!




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