50 Years Ago: Colorado’s Rabbi Manuel Laderman Makes a Historic Plea for Israel

October 8, 2023, will mark 50 years since Rabbi Manuel Laderman of the Hebrew Educational Alliance delivered one of the most powerful and poignant speeches in Colorado Jewish history.

Two days earlier, on October 6, 1973, the joint armies of Egypt and Syria launched an unprovoked attack on the State of Israel. The onslaught, initiated on Yom Kippur — the holiest day on the Jewish calendar — appeared to place the existence of the Jewish state at risk.

In Colorado, 6,900 miles away from the fighting, the Jewish community gathered to pray for the welfare of the State of Israel and to rally for its support. The meeting, held at Denver’s Temple Emanuel, included Jewish leaders from across the ideological spectrum.

My father, Dean Rotbart, age 16 at the time, attended the gathering and used a cassette tape recorder to cover the remarks.

One of the speakers was Rabbi Manuel Laderman of the Hebrew Educational Alliance. [At the time, the HEA was an Orthodox synagogue. It became affiliated with Conservative Judaism in 1994.]

The elderly rabbi had spent more than 40 years on the pulpit. Rabbi Laderman was a force of nature. In the course of his career, he headed the Rabbinical Council of America and the Denver Board of Health and Hospitals, and served on the boards of the American Red Cross, the American Medical Center, and the Denver Symphony Society. Holding a PhD in theology, he taught religion at the University of Denver. In 1973, he held the respected position of dean of the Denver rabbinate.

He began his speech by noting that he was speaking on Columbus Day — a day of significance for American Jewry. In August 1492, when Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain on the voyage that would take him to the New World, he passed ships of Jews fleeing from Spain following the Edict of Expulsion.

To the Jews leaving their Iberian homes, the future must have seemed bleak. They could not have realized, however, that the solution to their problems — the safe harbor of America — would so soon present itself. As the Yiddish saying goes, “G-d creates the remedy before the plague that’s coming.”

The land that Columbus arrived in would eventually become the largest Jewish community in the world and the most affluent Jewish community in history. And what is the divine purpose of this greatness and material wealth? It is, Rabbi Laderman explained, to help our brethren in their time of need.

During Yom Kippur, Rabbi Laderman continued, we recited the Al Chet prayer, listing our sins. Among them, we ask God to forgive us for sins committed “through confusion of heart.” 

With the onslaught that the State of Israel was facing, he noted, Jews are confused about how to aid the country.

What’s more, the United Nations Security Council met to discuss the war and criticized Israel highly. Appropriately, Rabbi Laderman remarked, the 19th prayer of the Amidah asks for protection against those who criticize Israel. 

And yet, at the United Nations, it wasn’t just those countries that have existed for a long time that were criticizing Israel. So many new countries were critical of Israel, too.

Rabbi Laderman then returned to his main point, that as people who are fortunate enough to live in America, the Jews of Colorado have a great responsibility to help those who are oppressed. 

He then quoted the Biblical non-Jewish prophet Bilaam, who said of the Israelites, “This is a people that dwell alone and is not reckoned among the nations” (Numbers 23:9).

With the State of Israel under siege and alone among the nations, he pleaded, it was incumbent on Jews across America to give Israel strength.

The first time Rabbi Laderman went to Israel — for Passover 1949 — he had no relatives there. Today, in 1973, he explained, he did — as did many of the people assembled in the room. Humorously, Rabbi Laderman added, his 12-year-old Israeli grandson, to whom he spoke on the phone the night before, was more curious about the pennant prospects of the Oakland Athletics than he was about the news of the war.

All of a sudden, Rabbi Laderman interrupted his remarks. He had just been handed a note announcing that Israel had retaken the Suez Canal, entering Egyptian territory — a remarkable reversal of fortune in just two days. His announcement was followed by 40 seconds of applause.

So, he concluded, what could Jews do to support Israel in her time of need? The answer was to purchase Israel Bonds — loans to the government that would be repaid after 10-12 years. Buying Israel Bonds, he continued, would send the message that “We are with you, we believe in you, we trust you.” Rather than just a straightforward donation, a loan to Israel — with an expectation of repayment — would deliver the message that American Jews believed that Israel would survive long enough to repay the loan.

He added that the United Jewish Appeal was also trying to raise $100 million by Sukkot — only days away — for its Israel Emergency Fund.

By investing in and donating money to Israel, Coloradans could show Israelis that they do not stand alone and could make a valuable contribution to the war effort.

In the days after Rabbi Laderman’s plea, the Israel Defense Forces were indeed able to turn the tide of the war. Still, by the time the conflict ended on October 25th, nearly 2,700 Israelis had lost their lives, the country’s military reputation had been permanently damaged, and the government — led by Prime Minister Golda Meir — severely weakened.

Fifty years later, the State of Israel faces different threats — from Iran, from the Palestinians, and from internal strife — that are perhaps less imminent but no less existential.

In 2023, the Israeli people (regardless of how we in the Diaspora may feel about specific governmental policies) still need to hear the message from Colorado Jewry that “We are with you, we believe in you, we trust you.” 

To purchase an Israel Bond, click here.

Did you know…? The Hebrew Educational Alliance has had four rabbis in its 91-year history: Manual Laderman (1932-1978), Daniel Goldberger (1978-1994), Bruce Dollin (1994-2022), and Salomon Gruenwald (2022-present).