LAND 'O' SPUDS AND THE MIKVEH

from Kosher Today (before Passover)

Boise, Idaho… A new fledgling Orthodox community is beginning to take shape here as a local kosher cooperative seeks to fill the Passover needs of the small community. In addition, the community is in the midst of a capital drive to build a mikveh (ritualarium).*********

Back in the dark ages, we lived in Idaho Falls, Idaho twice- once for 10 months and once for 14 months. Our father was sent (along with several members of his “team”) to Arco, Idaho. Arco is a map location only(ie, it is not a town, just a spot on the map) located outside of Idaho Falls, Blackfoot and Pocatello where the old Atomic Energy Commission had several nuclear reactors. Our father, a nuclear engineer, was sent to do follow up work on his grandest creation- the reactor on the submarine Nautilus. When our family and our father’s team were there, the total number of Jewish families in Idaho Falls was ten! We organized ourselves as a shul and met in a church. We even had religious school once a week after public school. Aside from the fact that as Jews we were a curiosity piece, we encountered no anti-Semitism. OTOH, they sure did hate the Indians (now known as Native Americans, but back then as Injuns).

Our bubby sent food from back East, and our mother would order kosher meat from Denver. The butcher there would phone us to tell us that he had put the meat on a train that morning so we could meet our meat at the station. No one there had home freezers- you rented a wire mesh box that you could lock in the grocer’s freezer. We had three locked boxes for our stuff.

While we were there, we bought a calf and raised it to cowhood. We then brought in a shochet and had the cow shechted. We got the kosher meat and we sold off the trefe meat to others. The only problem? My brothers and sisters used to go visit the cow and pet it. They even gave it a name! The moral of the story, boys and girls, is never name an animal you are going to eat!

As we said, that was a long, long time ago back at the end of the 1950’s and the beginning of the 1960’s. We have no clue if the Jewish population of Idaho Falls ever grew or not, but it sure is good news to see that Boise is now planning a mikveh! We wish them luck.

Oh, and one other thing- yes, we went to school with a lot of Indian kids. Our best friend (OBM) was known as Red Pony. We were close friends. The only drawback? Every time we had a school dance, it rained for days afterwards.