Jews in Nevada: A History

Preface

9 xiii 0 Nevada Jewish history has been so well hidden that even natives are unaware of its presence. The present volume is an offering to both the Jewish and general readership about this people’s place in the state’s development from mining camps to a premier tourist destination. Were Jews in Nevada any different from Jews elsewhere in the West or the United States to warrant an account of their history? Because Nevada’s early Jewish settlers came from somewhere else and so many left the state before they died, it might be said that they were no different from their counterparts elsewhere. In its first fifteen to twenty years, Nevada was largely an extension and cross-section of California Jewry, and for many, San Francisco was the home to which they would return when the economy began to slide after 1878. Nevada Jews shared similarities of birth and occupation with other western Jews, but they could boast some significant “firsts.” The state’s first legislative assembly included three Jews, one of whom was a rabbi. One of Nevada’s several Jewish tailors invented the copper-riveted jeans in Reno. The Sutro Tunnel on the Comstock was an engineering feat unparalleled in its time. Jewish clothing and dry-goods merchants dominated the business districts of Virginia City and the state capital for almost thirty years. And the more than one hundred Jewish citizens of Eureka formed the first official Reform congregation in the Far West in 1876. Jews who came West thrived in urban environments such as San Francisco , Denver, and Portland. Nevada had no comparable large city for almost a century. Nevada was a rural state with many isolated camps and small towns whose Jewish presence may have been limited to a single store. Unlike their urban coreligionists, many Nevada Jews had little opportunity for regular communal worship. Likely, more Nevada male Jews than their western or eastern fellows married Gentile women, contributing to a lack of family Sabbath observance. In spite of severe obstacles, many maintained a level of repr efaCe pRefAce 9 xiv 0 ligious observance to keep them in the faith. The pressures to assimilate ran high in this rural state. Formal congregational affiliation ran as high as 100 percent in Eureka in 1876 but evaporated to less than 10 percent statewide in 2000. In this latter respect, contemporary Nevada Jewry ranked well below the national average. Although Jews played prominent roles elsewhere in the Far West and Southwest, few could measure up to their part in the development of Las Vegas as a gambling mecca and tourist designation. The imprint of Jewish gamblers , builders, bankers, merchants, lawyers, educators, and civil servants on modern Nevada is unmistakable and unique. Occupationally, Nevada Jews in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were—like their counterparts elsewhere—heavily invested in merchandising , particularly in textile businesses. They were also significantly represented as jewelers and purveyors of tobacco and alcohol. One occupational difference from the national profile is that more Nevada Jews were engaged in the mining business. Although only a minority actually worked in a mine or panned a stream, many merchants accepted mining stock as payment for goods and also speculated in mining stock based on the best local knowledge . Nevada Jewish women, like most in the West, played some role in the merchandising ventures of their husbands. But there is evidence that Nevada (particularly in Virginia City and Eureka) had a higher percentage of Jewish women working independently than elsewhere. Nineteenth-century Jews in the Far West may have felt an antisemitic barb from eastern visitors or competitors, but there was little evidence of hostility from Nevada locals receiving their services. The acceptance of Jews in Nevada society was due to several factors. Nevada had the highest percentage of foreign-born population of any western state through 1930. The early Jewish population was almost entirely foreign-born, and approximately 40 percent were from Polish Prussia and Slavic Europe—well before the mass migration from Eastern Europe after 1880. Their place of nativity was no obstacle to social and civic involvement. Second, most Jews were assumed to be “white,” espousing a Germanic ethos that was already endemic to American culture. Third, Nevada Jewish males, like many in the West, were charter members of Masonic and fraternal organizations, whose eastern lodges often banned Jewish membership. Nevada Jews also held public office well beyond their percentage of the population. Although Jewish civic activism was common elsewhere in the West...