Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1905-12-09

when all due credit + given TO both
rabbis and officers. he truth still re-
mains that without the hearty cooper
alton Of the members In general, sta
bility and prosperity would have been
impossible, And right here | wish TO
state that as regards loyalty and gen.
crosby the personnel OF the Monte.
fiore congregation compares very ia
v0rably with the best Of any congoega.
tions OF It's size In this country, This
little community OF scarcely sixty fam
lies expends annually approximately
$4,000 for purely congregational pur-
poses. when averages 80 per family,
And therein are not included the ex.
penditures OF the ladies' Benevolent
Society, nor those OF the B'nai Birth
lodge. both OF which are thriving in
stitutions attached to the temple.
(Other congregational institutions are
the Cemetery Association ant. the
Ladies' Temple Aid society," Taken
all In all. We may say without fear OF
successful contradiction that spiritual
ly the Jews OF Las Vegas stand on a
par with those OF any other city In the
country.
II this Is true OF them spiritually 1t
is even more SO socially. II Is a cur
rious phenomenon that In this city In.
stead OF the Jews catering to the
Gentiles, az Is the case In most places.
the Gentiles, In a certain sense, cater
to the Jews. This may be due partly
to their wealth. but only partly: In
the main It Is due to their culture and
refinement, their unfailing courtesy.
their open hospitality and their ster.
ling character. Jews and Gentiles
mingle very freely In a social way.
and yet there Is not a single case of
intermarriage known to have been
contracted in this city. Which goes
to show that assimilation does net
necessarily mean humiliation.
In trade and commerce here the
Jews are paramount. In fact. what
ever commercial importance this city
possesses Is owing mainly to Jewish
activity. The first white" merchants
! ere were Jews-the greatest mer.
chants today here are Jews. Such
firms as those OF Emanuel Rosenwald
IS62) Charles HELD (lS65) mad con.
siderable share In the upbnilding net
only OF this CITY, but also OF the sur
rounding country tributary to 1t. OH.
err Jewish firms OF importance are:
Rcsenthal Bros, Greenberger':. Bach.
arach Bros, H. Levy, Adler . Lewis,
Essinger & Judell. } Granf. I. Davis,
Stern & Nahm, l.. w. Held. App'e
Bros. Danziger Bros, etc, etc. All
these firms are rather prosperous and
enjoy the fullest confidence Of tho
ATr,-ican as well as the M,yi-an Top
ulation. The latter prefer dealing with
Jewish merchants rathe- tnan with
those Of their own race-which is elo-
,ucnt testimony to Jewish integrity
not less than to Jewish sagacity..
T.. Iluminent as are our co.religionists
nero scot. ny and cor nerc.ally. poll.
tically they are a negligible quanti:. .
Until latel they paid no heed what
ever to politics" 1t is only since
the last year or two that they are
commencing to take some little inter-
est In 1t. And they no ooner com
menced than they succeeded. In the
city OF Las Vegas we have one mem
Der each in the council, and board OF
education (Messrs. Simon Bacharach
and Sig Nahm). while in the town Of
Las Vegas we have two members on
the board of education, viz: Messrs.
Cecilio Rosenwald and David Winter
nitz. The first named gentleman was
the first president OF the board Of TINS
newly incorporated town. Mr. Ike
Davis was until lately treasurer OF
the same town, and Is now occupy
ing the position Of vice president
Of the Commercial cub OF greater Las
Vegas. His predecessor in the latter
position was another Of u co-rellgiOn'
lists, Mr.. Max Nordhaus. Mr.. Charles
Rosenthal held at one time the office
Of treasurer Of the city Of Las We
gas, while Mr.. Charles llfeld enjoys
the unique honor Of being presiden
OF the board Of regents Of the Normal
university Of New Mexico, situated ir
this city. It Is probably the first cas-
in the history Of the world that suci
an honor was conferred upon q Jew
being the executive head OF a stat
university.
To sum up this rather random
sketch let me say that the Jews o
Las Vegas stand high indeed spirit
ually, intellectually. socially and finan
cially, and will ere long play a prom
nent part even politically. Most Q
them are Of German origin, havin
settled here decades ago. They hav
earnestly striven to help build up tn
city and have In turn p%rospered then
selves. They have reason to be prou
OF their services to the city and tn
. city has reason to feel proud {
them.
chrjatmas and New Years Noljds