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Few Jews, many aliens: Inside Roswell’s vanishing Jewish community

JL;DR SUMMARY The article explores the curious relationship between the UFO folklore of Roswell, New Mexico, and its dwindling Jewish community. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish CommunitySynagoguesConspiracy TheoriesTourismNew MexicoAliensAvi LoebUfoRoswellStanton T. Friedman

Places mentioned

Roswell, New Mexico, United States
"(JTA) ROSWELL, New Mexico If it werent for an Ashkenazi Jew named Stanton T. Friedman, the world might have long ago forgotten whats come to be known simply as the Roswell incident."
Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
"Roswells only synagogue, Congregation Bnai Israel, closed up and moved to Albuquerque five years ago."
Beverly Hills, California, United States
"An Orthodox Jewish rabbinical authority, Rabbi Pini Dunner of Beverly Hills, California, has called the Roswell incident nonsense."
Roswell, Georgia, United States
"A Google search for Roswell and Jewish reveals three synagogues in Roswell, Georgia a suburb of Atlanta one of which is a Messianic church."
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
"There was never a large community here, said Cymantha Liakos, a Philadelphia native who wasnt raised as a Jew but recently took a DNA test and discovered she has Jewish ancestry."
Israel
"His 23-year-old son, John, a graduate of the nearby New Mexico Military Institute, visited Israel in 2022 as the first Roswell native (and quite possibly the last) ever to participate in Birthright, the program that takes young Jews to Israel on free trips."
Czechia
"which had been rescued from a small town in Czechoslovakia by the Karnowsky family during World War II."

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Cairo Item ID 66487
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2025-11-12 05:31:33 UTC
Curated 2025-11-12 08:31:27 UTC