Campus Salutes Pilots’ Bravery

500 guests recently celebrated the grand opening of the Alaska Jewish Museum and its inaugural exhibit, “On the Wings Of Eagles: Alaska’s Contribution to Operation Magic Carpet.”

The operation in 1949-1950 was led by Alaska Airlines pilots and flight attendants who took enormous risks to rescue 49,000 Yemenite Jews from hostile territory and bring them safely to the fledgling Jewish homeland, the new state of Israel.

Present were two of the pilots, 95-year-old Sam Silver and 86-year-old Elgen Long, who shared first-hand accounts of their experiences when they worked 16-20 hour shifts under difficult and dangerous conditions, for a period of 17 months.

During a tour directed by Museum Curator Leslie Fried, the pilots recalled flying a twin engine DC-46 or DC-4, carrying substantial overloads of passengers as they averted Arab tracers and gunfire.

“When we came off the plane yesterday, and we got a tour of the building, all I could do was cry,” said philanthropist Rabbi Morris Esformes, a supporter of Torah institutions around the world who contributed to the museum and campus.

The event in Anchorage also celebrated the opening of the Esformes Jewish Campus of Alaska which includes the Gan Yeladim Early Learning Center and the Lubavitch Center where Chabad’s social and spiritual outreach activities will now take place, led by Rabbi Yosef and Esty Greenberg.

Present were Alaska U.S. Senator Mark Begich, US Congressman Don Young, Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan, Lt. Governor Mead Treadwell, Rasmuson Foundation CEO Diane Kaplan and Anchorage Museum Director Jim Pepper Henry .

The campus project was launched by a matching fund campaign by Morris and Delica Esformes back in 2007 and was matched by enthusiastic support from the Alaskan community.

Among them are Jerry and Enid Green and Perry and Gloria Green; The Rasmuson Foundation who supported the Gan Yeladim Early Learning Center; then Speaker of the House, Rep. John Harris, and State Senator, Kevin Meyer, who secured a grant from the State of Alaska to support the Jewish Museum, and Fran and Evan Rose from the Dave and Frances Rose Foundation, the Alaska Humanities Forum and Alaska Airlines who supported the Alaska Jewish Museum and Operation Magic Carpet.

Esformes led a delegation of over 50 prominent rabbis, philanthropists, friends and family members from the Chicago area and elsewhere who joined him for the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony.

Among the guests attending were Rabbi Yaakov Rajchenbach of Torah Umesorah, Rabbis Yitzchok Levin and Mordechai Mannes of Telshe Yeshiva in Chicago, Philanthropist Mr. Robert Hartman, whose in laws Wilfred & Lois Lefkovich are the namesake of the building, Rabbi Daniel J. Raccah of Ohel Shalom Torah Center, Rabbi Binyomin Newman of Adas Bnei Israel Congregation, Rabbi Yitzchok Wolf of the Esformes Cheder Lubavitch Girls School.

Also attending were Rabbi Pinchas Ezagui, of Esformes Chabad Campus Daytona Beach, FL; Rabbi Sholom Ber Levitin, Head Shliach of Washington state and Rabbi Gedalya Shemtov, Executive Director of the Shluchim Office in New York.

In his greetings before a crowd of about 500 well wishers and supporters, Rabbi Greenberg recalled that when he and his wife Esty prepared to move to Alaska 22 years ago, the Lubavitcher Rebbe told the young couple that they should “warm up Alaska.”

The Greenbergs kept those words close to heart, working to thaw this last frontier with the warmth of yiddishkeit, community and a vibrant Jewish life experience, unimaginable here when they embarked on their mission.

Their reach extends far beyond Anchorage’s 3000 Jews, and even beyond Alaska’s total Jewish population of 6000. The Museum itself, hopes Greenberg, will go a long way towards building bridges between Alaska’s Jewish and non-Jewish communities.

“This is a museum about Alaska’s contribution to Jewish life and about the contribution of Jews to Alaska,” he said. “Imagine children visiting the museum as they learn that 60 years ago, Alaskan pilots risked their lives to save Jewish lives. This is a great way to open a discussion about our distinct cultures and our shared humanity, and the powerful results that can be achieved when cultural bridges are created.”

Rabbi Greenberg also points out that the Museum is Alaska’s contribution to the Rebbe’s call, which he issued back in the 1980s, for all people to embrace the seven Noahide Laws. These laws provide the foundations for a civilized society of justice, ethics, and kindness, by which all humankind is united. “I believe our new Jewish Museum is Alaska’s contribution to this noble mission.”

Rabbi Esformes spoke about the Greenbergs’ commitment to their community. “Their passion, their love for each and every one of their community members is so evident.

“When they first brought me to their home and started telling me about the constituency here in Alaska, you could see it in their eyes, you could see it in their smiles, you could feel it in their heart; they love you like their own children, and because of that, they have been able to achieve the transformation that has happened in this community. It is remarkable.”