Short History of the Fairbanks Jewish Community

The history below reflects the development of Jewish communal life in Fairbanks and Interior Alaska. We also recognize that this history took place on the traditional homelands of Alaska Native peoples, including the Dena people of the Interior.

Jews have played a prominent part in the history of Alaska since its purchase in 1867. Early Jewish fur merchants in San Francisco played a major role in encouraging the U.S. purchase and in operating the Alaska Commercial Company, which succeeded the Russian-American Company.

Fairbanks was founded in 1902. By 1904, a Jewish community had formed with the arrival of Robert Bloom, a Lithuanian Jew who came from Ireland via the Klondike in 1898. Bob Bloom operated a general store from 1906 to 1941 and served as a mainstay and leader of the Fairbanks Jewish community for nearly half a century.

During the initial gold rush years, from 1904 to 1910, there were enough Jews in Fairbanks to hold regular High Holy Day services, if not always a minyan for Shabbat. The community had a Torah and formally organized as Congregation Bikkur Cholim in 1908. The Clay Street Cemetery in downtown Fairbanks included a Jewish section where Jewish headstones can still be seen today.

Between 1910 and World War II, relatively few Jews remained in Fairbanks, and many were transient, with the notable exception of the Bloom family. Bob brought his bride, Jessie, back from Ireland in 1912. Both of these remarkable people lived into their 90s and made major contributions to the growing town of Fairbanks as well as to its Jewish community. Bob was one of the founders of the University of Alaska and a charter member of its Board of Regents. In later years, he developed experimental strains of wheat. In 1925, Jessie founded Alaska’s first Girl Scout chapter and was active in many social and political causes. She left extensive correspondence, reminiscences, and records that now form a rich contribution to both Fairbanks and Alaska Jewish history. The Robert and Jessie Bloom Collection is housed in the University of Alaska Rasmuson Library Archives and the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati, Ohio.

World War II and the establishment of military installations in the Fairbanks area began a new period in local Jewish history with the arrival of hundreds of Jewish GIs. The Bloom home remained a center for Jewish activity, and many Jewish soldiers fondly remembered attending Passover seders there.

With the growing military presence, a Jewish chaplaincy was established for the Alaska command, and a Jewish chaplain was stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage from the early 1940s until the early 1980s. Chaplains typically served two-year rotations among Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform clergy. Most visited Fairbanks several times each year, providing leadership and encouragement to both the local civilian community and Jewish military personnel stationed at nearby army and air force bases. Seymour Gitin, chaplain during the early 1960s, inspired the community to organize a Jewish Sunday school that operated steadily for decades and educated well over 100 Fairbanks Jewish children.

By 1960, Jews in the military still outnumbered civilian Jews. However, with the suspension of the draft in the early 1970s, military numbers declined. At the same time, the Jewish community began to shift toward a more civilian and permanent population. The closure of the Alaskan chaplaincy ultimately encouraged Fairbanks Jews to rely more fully on their own growing communal resources.

A new Fairbanks Jewish community and board of directors were formally organized as the Jewish Congregation of Fairbanks in 1980, followed by the establishment of a chapter of Hadassah in 1986. The Fairbanks area continues to support a small but active Jewish community. Regular High Holy Day and festival services are held each year. Friday evening Shabbat services were held monthly until 1985, when they became weekly. Special events such as bar and bat mitzvah celebrations and brit milah ceremonies are observed as occasions arise.

Our first summer rabbi served in 1989, and since then we have welcomed an array of talented rabbis and cantors from the Hebrew Union College program and elsewhere. High Holy Day services are often led by former summer rabbis and cantors eager to return, or by other leaders interested in participating in our warm and inclusive community. Weekly erev Shabbat services are led by community members. The Fairbanks Jewish community continues to be sustained by dedicated members and friends from throughout Interior Alaska.

Historian Michael Krauss once recalled the following story from a department store clerk in Cleveland, Ohio, while preparing to move to Alaska in 1960:

“When I said, as a matter of fact, I was moving to Fairbanks, his first reaction was, ‘Then you’ve got to look up Bob Bloom. I was stationed there during the war. We used to go to his house. Such a Seder I never had.’”

This historical overview was compiled in substantial part from the work and recollections of historian and longtime community member Michael Krauss (1942–2019), with later edits and updates by Congregation Or HaTzafon.