Familiar Faces Photo Exhibit At Temple Beth Shalom Celebrates Jewish History

The middle-aged men are frozen mid-toast. They are happy — jackets off, sleeves rolled up, drinks held high.

The photograph is one of the only records of the annual meeting of the Hebrew Free Loan Society. The group was founded in Spokane during the Depression and disbanded sometime in the 1960s.

Members would pool their money, then make interest-free loans of $500 or $1,000 to anyone who needed a little help. Their only requirement was a co-signer.

The picture is part of a collection that documents little-known or long-forgotten Jewish organizations that have been part of Spokane’s history since before the turn of the century.

Now they hang in the halls of the newly built Cowen Education Center at Temple Beth Shalom as proud testament to Jewish contributions to life in the Inland Northwest.

Some of the display will be visible to those attending Sunday’s annual Kosher Dinner. Monthly tours of the exhibit begin in April.

“A lot of people forget that Jewish people were among the pioneers who settled the West,” said Nancy Compau, the historian who oversees the Northwest Room at the Spokane Public Library. “They were very integral contributors to the growth of this city.”

To that end, members of Temple Beth Shalom have embarked on a major historical project. The photo collection is among the first fruits of that endeavor.

The congregation is archiving thousands of photographs and documents, and recording the oral histories of its older members. There is no shortage of material.

“We have seven huge boxes full of photos,” said Nate Grossman, the synagogue’s archivist. “It will take years to do it all justice.”

Like many other ethnic communities, the Jewish community used to be much larger in Spokane.

There were as many as 400 families, two synagogues, a kosher deli, grocery and butcher.

The businesses, synagogues and most of the families were all located on the lower, western edge of the South Hill, between Fifth and Eighth avenues, and Elm and Ash streets.

But most of that is gone. The Orthodox temple, Keneseth Israel at Fourth and Adams, was vacated in 1967 and later razed to make way for Interstate 90.

The Reform Temple Emanu-el, 1502 W. Eighth, was sold to Plymouth Congregational Church at the same time. The two Jewish congregations merged and in 1969 built Temple Beth Shalom at 1322 E. 30th.

With the neighborhood dispersed, much of the history was relegated to the memories of those who lived it.

“They’ve already lost a lot of people to death,” Compau said. “So if that part of our history is to be preserved, it has to be done now.”

The display is fascinating to the current members of the congregation, said Elliot Fabric, administrator at Temple Beth Shalom. Before and after services, crowds gather to search the pictures for familiar faces and names. (Grossman has painstakingly tried to identify every face in the accompanying captions.)

“For the older members, it’s very nostalgic,” he said. “For the younger members, it’s kind of a kick.”

The photos allow anyone under 40, as well as dozens of new members to the temple, to appreciate the contributions of the old Jewish community.

“For all these years we’ve had very active Jewish organizations, people on boards of directors, in public office …,” Grossman said. “They shouldn’t be forgotten.”

Along with documenting Jewish history in Spokane, the exhibit casts light on what life was like for Jews in rural areas of the Inland Northwest. They were communities too small to employ a rabbi or support a synagogue.

One of the oldest documents on display is the 1884 ketubah, or Jewish marriage certificate, issued to Aaron Kuhn and Leah Grostein. Kuhn’s family lived in Colfax, Wash. ; Grostein’s in Lewiston.

The families came to Spokane to wed because a Portland rabbi was passing through.

Behind every document and photo is another intriguing story. In one picture, a group of women prepare for the annual Kosher Dinner, which dates back to 1940.

In another, hundreds of people gather for an annual picnic at Liberty Lake.

Down the hall, a picture shows dozens of children acting in a pageant celebrating Purim.

“I had no idea how rich the Jewish history was in Spokane,” said Valerie Wall, a museum assistant at Cheney Cowles Museum who supervised the framing and display. Although she has lived in Spokane since 1980, she said she had no clue about the city’s Jewish history.

“All of a sudden it’s so obvious to me that their roots go really deep,” she said.

Compau, who has co-authored a Spokane history textbook for schoolchildren, points out that this region holds many pleasant surprises when people start doing the research.

“Even if you are new to the area, the fact that you live here now makes this important to you,” she said. “You need to know your past to deal with your future.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: On Display Photo exhibit A photo exhibit documenting the history of Spokane’s Jewish community is on display at Temple Beth Shalom, 1322 E. 30th. Part of the exhibit can be seen during the annual Kosher Dinner, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. Tickets ($10 for adults, $5 for children) for the dinner usually sell out. Late last week there were a few tickets still available. For information, call 455-4543. Nate Grossman, archivist for the display, conducts monthly tours the second Thursday of every month at 3 p.m.