Our Mission

Mission Statement
The AJHMCC will be dedicated to enriching the understanding of all Alaskans and encouraging the appreciation of the history and culture of Alaskan Jews and their contribution to the development of the Last Frontier. The museum and center and its programs will serve as a catalyst for exploring the diversity and multiplicity of all cultures in Alaska.

The Importance of Telling Our Story
Jews have played a hugely prominent role in the formation and continual development of Alaska.  By telling this story through the new Alaskan Jewish Historical Museum and Community Center, we will do justice to Alaska’s history and the history of Jews in America.  This story should be told to the local residents of Alaska and to the millions of tourists who visit Alaska every year. 

Diversity and pluralism
Telling the Alaskan Jewish story will make a significant contribution in promoting the spirit of diversity and pluralism which is crucial to the well-being of a free and open society.  It is important to create this museum to help Alaskan residents and tourists experience the significant accomplishments of Alaskan Jews.  In larger communities, exposure to Jewish culture and history is constant and prevalent through Jewish museums, universities, and greater population.  Alaska, as a young state and with a smaller Jewish population, lacks the kind of exposure that larger communities are accustomed to.  The Alaska Jewish Historical Museum and Community Center is important in filling a void in this growing community and giving its youth the understanding and appreciation of the role that the Jewish culture has played, even in a territory as remote as Alaska.

Cultural Crossroads
In this last generation, Alaska Natives were faced with a great dilemma in preserving their culture and inspiring their youth in the face of the majority culture in America.  In response to this great social problem, the Native population (with the help of local community and civic leaders) established the Native Heritage Cultural Center to maintain and promote their Native culture.  Some Native leaders have pointed out that, from a historical and local perspective, the Jewish story could provide insight into maintaining a cultural heritage in the face of cultural dominance.  We share the same story, the same dilemma with the Natives, and we can learn from each other how to maintain our language, our culture, and our history.  The Alaska Jewish Historical Museum and community center would be another place Native children could visit and see a similarity of stories and how Jewish children maintain their culture and their pride. 

Jewish Continuity
From the begining, Alaska provided a challenge for Jewish families who chose to raise their children in the Last Frontier.  This is due to the small population of Jews in Alaska and the great distance from major Jewish communities.  According to a study conducted by Brandeis University Professor Bernard Reisman, most Jews that live in Alaska were not born in this state.  The second generation Alaskan Jew is not within reasonable reach of extended Jewish family, or of participating in family gatherings such as bar mitzvahs, weddings, and other important social markers.  If American Jews, in general, find it difficult to maintain Jewish identity in the face of the very influential American culture, how much greater the challenge must be in a place where you might be the only Jew in a public school, or neighborhood!  Therefore, it is of vital importance to create a place where Alaskan Jewish youth can feel a connection to Alaska and the Jewish culture.  The Alaska Jewish Historical Museum and Communntiy Center would instill pride in Jewish youth by telling the true story of their culture and how influential they were - and are - in the making of this wonderful and exotic place in America.  This pride and cultural support would also serve as encouragement to the great majority of young Alaskan Jews who - as presented in Reisman’s survey – leave for college and do not come back to Alaska.  This future generation is desperately needed to return and continue their Alaskan Jewish cultural tradition and to develop this Last Frontier.

Alaska’s Holocaust Museum
At different points of history, such as the Russian pogroms (anti-Semitic riots) in the early 1900’s and the Holocaust in the mid-century, Jewish people have turned to the Alaskan Government and its people as a place to find refuge from persecution.  During crises, the government considered the possibility of placing Jews in Alaska. In the early 1940s, Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes and members of Congress, considered a proposal for Alaska as a settlement for Central European Jewish refugees seeking asylum from the Nazis.  Abe Spring, the first mayor of Fairbanks, introduced a more modest proposal in 1906.  This Russian-born Jew tried to save some of his countrymen from the violence of the pogroms.  In the end, unfortunately, neither act of compassion came to fruition due to anti-Semitism.   Along with that regrettable chapter in Alaskan history the Museum will also tell the story of Alaska’s compassion towards Jewish refugees.  From 1948-1950, Warren Metzger (Chief pilot and vice-president of Alaska Airlines flight operations) and his wife Marian (a flight attendant with Alaska Airlines) assisted in Operation Magic Carpet, the airlift of more than 40,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel by Alaska Airlines.

Tourism
Alaska attracts more than 2 million visitors a year from all over the world who come to see the beauty of Alaska, its cultural heritage, and its story.  Most tourists do not expect to encounter Judaism in Alaska.  Even Jewish tourists find it nearly unbelievable that Jews live in such a distant community with such a rich local history.  Alaskan Jewish history is more than 150 years old. From a traveler’s perspective, this museum would add a twist to the tourist industry.

In addition, Jewish tourists in particular will find of interest visiting this museum since Alaska has long been a point of attention to worldwide Jewry.  The story of Alaskan Jewry, past and present, is currently being studied and admired by Jews all over the world.  Our story is used as an example of courage and comfort: no matter how remote, no matter the harshest of conditions, a Jewish community can be maintained and can flourish.