This year, the ADL filmed the 2022 Governor’s Holocaust Remembrance Program in the Feiner Family Memorial Chapel in Temple Emanuel. Temple Emanuel and the Feiner Family Chapel have a rich history in the Colorado community and beyond.
Temple Emanuel
Founded in 1874, Temple Emanuel is the oldest Jewish congregation in Colorado. In its first year, the congregation’s original membership of 22 members nearly doubled and continued to grow with the community. On September 28, 1875, its first synagogue was dedicated at what is now the corner of 19th Street and Curtis Street. In 1882 a new synagogue was erected at 24th Street and Curtis Street. That building still stands today, although it was gutted by a fire in 1897. After the fire, the congregation moved to 16th Avenue and Pearl Streets to accommodate its growing community. The present building at 51 Grape Street is the result of several expansions beginning in 1957. The Temple’s 130-year history has seen fourteen rabbis as its spiritual leaders. Rabbi Joseph R. Black became Senior Rabbi in July, 2010.
The Feiner Family Memorial Chapel
The Feiner Family Memorial Chapel in Temple Emanuel is dedicated to the preservation of the Jewish community’s rich heritage and legacy, and the historical struggle to preserve Judaism. The chapel is testimony to the faith that endured through the Holocaust: “Ani Maamin – I believe.” This references the belief that the Jewish people are Am Olam, an eternal people which must never perish.
Many of the furnishings in the chapel were present when the last Jew spoke in a small synagogue in Kolin, Czechoslovakia. The artifacts, furniture, symbols, and the Torah hold the memories of the 480 Jews who lived in Kolin and the over 2000 Jews who were transported through Kolin to Nazi concentration camps. Sixteen of those Jews survived to return to Kolin.
The objects from the small synagogue in Kolin endured the tragedies of the Holocaust in a warehouse. They were stored by the Nazis as museum objects to represent a religion that was not allowed to survive. Judaism did survive; six million Jews did not. In 1989, the Torah in the ark of the Feiner Family Chapel was reunited with ark from which it was taken by the Nazis in 1942. It is Torah MST#287, allocated on permanent loan by the Memorial Scrolls Trust in London in 1988. It is one of 1,564 scrolls that survived the Holocaust.
The religious symbols from Kolin are united with furnishings from the sanctuary from the old Temple Emanuel on Pearl Street and combine to powerfully link generations of Jews. In this way the spirit of ani maamin will continue for on for generations to come.
To read more about the Feiner Family Chapel and the history of Temple Emanuel, click here.
The ADL thanks Michael and Debbie Feiner and the Feiner Family Foundation for their generous sponsorship of the 41st annual Governor’s Holocaust Remembrance Program and their continuing community support.
Register now for this year’s Governor’s Holocaust Remembrance Program. There is no cost to register.