Travelogue by Miriam Karp

Wandering in the desert isn't new to the tribe. Indeed, we received the Torah on a lone mountain in a barren wilderness.

As Jews spread throughout North America in search of a livelihood and haven, adventurous souls headed to the southwest. They had no protective Clouds of Glory, Miriam's Well or Heavenly Manna that sustained their ancestors. But their Jewish memories and ingenuity served them well in this harsh territory.

Today the Southwest is home to thriving Jewish communities with amenities for the Jewish traveler seeking to enjoy the abundant sunshine, canyons, cacti, ghost towns, Indian tribes and desert splendor.

The southwest reflects the heritage of diverse peoples. In addition to the Native Americans and people whose ancestral roots are in Mexico and Europe, Jewish pioneers made significant contributions to the area's development. Jewish immigrants worked their way up the livestock industry from cowpoke and shepherd to cattle tycoon and sheep baron. Jewish pioneers helped build the first railroad in Arizona. While working as ranchers, merchants and peddlers, they built synagogues and communities. Pioneer Jews maintained their values and traditions while braving the hazards of the nation's frontier.

Prescott, Arizona had a score of Jews in 1880. Michel Goldwater, grandfather of Senator Barry Goldwater, led the minyan, reciting Kaddish and addressing the congregants in Yiddish. Emil Marks arrived in Tombstone in 1881 by stagecoach. He found himself shaving the beards and cutting the hair of the likes of Wyatt Earp. It made him nervous. His fears were well founded when hostilities began and he watched as the memorable gunfight at the OK Corral unfolded.

Oral histories, artifacts and documentation of these hardy Jews are preserved at the New Mexico State Records Center in Albuquerque and the Museum has a permanent exhibit called "Jewish Pioneers of New Mexico." Some early synagogues with Moorish architecture are the Stone Avenue Temple of Tucson, built in 1910, Temple Albert and Temple Mt. Sinai of New Mexico, built in the late 19th century.

Highlight of the Southwest is the Grand Canyon and its natural splendor. The northeast is high desert country, a vast uplifted area of multi-colored layered rock, featuring Canyon de Chelly, the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert.

The national parks are home to eroded rocky pinnacles, exotic wildlife, brilliantly colored fossilized logs, forests of saguaro cacti, colorful volcanoes and cinder cones with extensive lava flows.

Impressive cliff pueblo villages have remained unchanged for hundreds of years. Traces of more ancient civilizations in the twelfth century Anasazi period are preserved as National Monuments. New Mexico, the "Land of Enchantment" is a hauntingly beautiful state with a diversity of landscapes. White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns are famous National Parks. The scenic terrain varies from 14,000-foot mountain peaks to low, sandy deserts. It ranges from endless grassy prairie to lush green forests, scattered volcanic remains, colorful badlands and empty desert scenery.

Arizona's capital Phoenix is the eighth largest and fastest growing city in the US and probably the hottest big town in the world. The city and its suburbs are known as the Valley of the Sun, a popular winter resort and retirement center. In 1877 there were 48 Jews living in the Arizona territory. Phoenix today has a thriving Jewish population of 50,000. Synagogues and temples dot the valley. Chabad of Arizona has centers in Phoenix, Scottsdale, the Southeast, W. Valley, a beautiful modern mikvah, a Russian center and Camp Gan Israel.

In Scottsdale, a motel two-minutes from Chabad offers special rates and sensitivity to Shabbos needs. King Solomon Pizza is Phoenix's exciting new cholov Israel kosher pizza parlor. Segal's and Cactus Kosher are well stocked with kosher groceries and nosh.

Tucson, located on a wide, cacti-filled plain enclosed by rocky mountain ranges, isslightly cooler and more compact. It has about 20,000 Jews, with synagogues, a day school and active adult education. It is known as "Optics Valley" and the astronomy center of the world.

Most of New Mexico's 6400 Jews live in the Albuquerque area. Documents record Jewish life in 1848, playing an active role in the social economic and political life. The first religious services were held in 1869 in Santa Fe, and the first synagogue built in Las Vegas in 1886. Chabad of Albuquerque offers a Hebrew school, classes, pre-school, Mikveh Shoshana and activities. Malka's Kosher Emporium has a wide selection of Kosher items.

A grand old dame of 400 years, Santa Fe is the second oldest city in the United States, with a variety of cultural and recreational activities. This charming city has a large art center, and many of its gallery owners and artists are Jewish, as are a good percentage of the spiritual seekers that flock there for its New Age offerings.

Housed in an authentic Santa Fe style home, Chabad offers Hebrew school, communal Friday night dinners, Kabbala classes and a beautiful mikvah.

The Jewish southwest traces its origins to the Inquisition and migration of Spanish hidden Jews to the Americas.

The Crypto-Jews of the Southwest are practicing Catholics, but observe certain Jewish traditions. Some Hispanic Catholics curious about oddities in their language or customs begin a journey of discovery that uncovers a Jewish past. Some Southwestern Hispanic families light candles on Friday night, avoid pork and play a gambling game with a wood top called "put in and take out."

An administrator at the University of Arizona recalls that when he grew up in Tucson "there was a kid who spoke a funny Spanish. We used to kid him. One day I ran across a Ladino dictionary at the library. I realized that kid had been speaking Ladino. I wondered, 'Was he a descendant of the Spanish conversos?'

"Then I began to think about my own family and why we had a menorah in our Catholic home!"

A professor in Arizona recalls that when his sister died his mother told him she had to tell him a secret that had passed down through generations of their family, but only through women.

Now that his sister was gone, he had to have the secret. "She leaned over and whispered to me, 'Somos Judios.' I was stunned to learn that we were Jews, but then I remembered that my mother never served pork or shell fish."

The Crypto-Jews phenomenon has spawned books, journals, groups and research, and fascinating artifacts such as old Dreidels can be seen at local museums. It seems the wandering Sephardic Jews found their way to the southwest hundreds of years before the Ashkenazic pioneers of the nineteenth century.

In addition to the Grand Canyon, the saguaros and Indian reservations, the Jewish traveler can now explore a unique chapter of our people's journeys. The combination of history, pleasant sites with Jewish amenities, beautiful climate and natural majesty make this a special area to visit and enjoy.