Las Vegas Jewish community celebrates first anniversary of temple's purchase

Rosh Hashana, the beginning of the Jewish new year, was celebrated at sundown on Friday.

As the first of the Jewish High Holy Days, Rosh Hashana is always special, featuring the blowing of a hollowed-out ram’s horn, synagogue services, the recitation of special liturgy and festive meals. Apples dipped in honey are consumed as a gesture of hope for a sweet year.

But for the Jewish people of Las Vegas, New Mexico, Rosh Hashana is especially sweet this year because it marks the first anniversary of the community’s purchase of Temple Montefiore from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

“According to tradition, (Rosh Hashana) is the one time of the year when the gates of heaven are opened,” said Diana Presser, a member of the Las Vegas Jewish community. “It seems like only yesterday, but at this time last year, the gates of heaven were surely opened and God answered our prayers.”

The sale was completed in time to observe Rosh Hashana in the temple last year, although Presser said conditions were somewhat primitive. For example, the building did not have a working restroom then.

“We were greeted by porta-potties,” Presser said. “But it was the first holiday celebrated in our own temple. I can’t even begin to tell you the emotion.”

Built in the 1880s and dedicated in September 1886, Temple Montefiore was the first Jewish place of worship in the New Mexico Territory. By the 1950s, however, the number of Jewish families in Las Vegas had decreased dramatically, and the temple was sold to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

The Jewish population of Las Vegas rebounded in the 1990s. Without a synagogue, the Jewish faithful attended services in private homes, Las Vegas churches, even old Temple Montefiore, which Las Vegas’ Immaculate Conception Parish had converted into a Newman Center chapel for Catholic students attending New Mexico Highlands University.

“We remember the kindness of local churches that opened their doors to us,” Presser said.

Then, last year, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe put the temple building up for sale. By the time the Jewish community discovered the building was on the market, it had only a month to raise $200,000 for the purchase.

It launched a fundraising campaign that included a GoFundMe account and, miraculously, raised $300,000, enough to buy the old synagogue as well as an adjacent parcel of land and a house that the archdiocese was also selling.

Temple Montefiore was rededicated during Hanukkah last year.

Presser, a former secretary and former board member of the Las Vegas Jewish Community, said the last year has been devoted to refurbishing the temple.

“The first thing we did was put in a bathroom that worked,” she said. “Volunteers repainted the inside. We fixed a wall that was leaking and had to do some electrical work. All the things you basically need to do first. We now have our own spiritual center, a repository for our Torah scrolls and prayer books.”

She said attendance at services has gone from a handful to as many as 40 people. Rosh Hashana is a two-day observance. Presser said 30 persons attended Rosh Hashana services Friday at Temple Montefiore and 20 were there on Saturday.

“From the secular to the conservative, the temple has embraced the community under one umbrella,” Presser said. “Everyone seems happy.”