Kosher gems

How Tucson’s gem show became a trendsetter for Jewish jewelers

By Tzirel Lite

Each winter, an estimated 65,000 guests from around the globe come to Tucson, Arizona, to buy, sell, trade, and view rare and enchanting gems, minerals, and fossils at multiple locations in the area.

The gem show, as it is referred to by locals, takes place annually in late January and February with most of the shows open to the public. Certain trade shows, however, can only be attended by those who have a business license - these are where the precious gems are sold.

One of those exclusive shows is the AGTA GemFair Tucson of the American Gem Trade Association which runs for 6 days at the Tucson Convention Center. Noticeable among the colored gemstones and cultured pearls showcased there are the ones who are selling them: Torah-observant Jewish men and women.

These dealers mostly hail from New York and New Jersey where they are typically members of thriving Jewish communities which have for more than a century supported synagogues, schools and kosher restaurants. So when these dealers traveled to Tucson in the 70s and 80s for the embryonic gem show, almost half of their luggage contained kosher canned food so they could marginally sustain themselves while here.

One such dealer was Jack Abraham, owner of the New York-based Precious Gem Resources and founder and owner of the Jack Abraham Precious Collection. Abraham, a founding member of AGTA, built his reputation as a pioneer of full disclosure with regard to the enhancement and origin of precious gems. He worked with the Federal Trade Commission to promote greater transparency in the industry.

But when thinking back to his early days coming to Tucson for the gem show, Abraham noted, “It was not an easy experience or an especially pleasant one.” The absence of a Jewish network here was daunting, so he was quite excited when he met a bearded Hasidic rabbi walking the hallways of the DoubleTree Hotel in 1987. That was Rabbi Yossie Shemtov who had been sent by the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, to found Chabad Tucson a few years earlier, in 1984.

“The gem show at the time consisted of vendors staying in their individual rooms to sell their wares,” recalls Rabbi Shemtov. “When my wife Chanie and I learned about the inadequate food supply for Jewish gem dealers, we set out to provide it for them. Chanie prepared sandwiches and I went around to hand them out.”

That year, Abraham was concerned about observing the anniversary of the passing of his father which occurred during his time in Tucson. Though he thanked Rabbi Shemtov for the kosher sandwich, Abraham needed something more. He needed a minyan on Shabbat to say kaddish in honor of his father’s yartzeit, and he asked Rabbi Shemtov if he could help him gather one. “Many of my colleagues and friends thought I was crazy” for trying to get a minyan in out-of-the-way Tucson, Abraham says. Little did they know that Abraham had just planted the seed for what would become an expansive Shabbat operation for gem shows around the world.

Rabbi Shemtov readily offered to help Abraham. During his rounds of kosher deliveries, Rabbi Shemtov encouraged the Jews he met with to participate in the minyan. He even threw in a sweetener: He would spend Shabbat with them in the hotel and would provide a delicious cholent stew to enjoy after prayers.

Abraham still remembers that morning. “There were only nine people at first,” he said. Then, noticing a fellow Jewish man walking by, Abraham begged him to be the 10th and fulfill the necessary quorum of 10 people. The man agre- ed but when Abraham honored him with an aliyah to the Torah, others present objected because the man wasn’t Shabbat observant.

In typical Chabad fashion, Rabbi Shemtov interceded. “Inclusion of all Jews is the way to enhance the Jewish community,” he stated. The man received the honor and the tradition began. Within just a few years, Abraham’s one-room Shabbat minyan grew to full Shabbat accommodations organized by Chabad and a model for gem shows in Las Vegas and Hong Kong.

The Shabbat program was initially held at the DoubleTree Hotel and later moved to the Viscount Suite Hotel and the Omni Tucson National Resort. This year, it will be held at The Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa.

No longer is the gem show an unpleasant work experience for the Jewish jewelers. All the vendors who have come to the hotels for Shabbat leave their booths at the show and have “the time of their lives,” according to Abraham. In addition to heartfelt prayers, they engage in songs and share words of Torah during the meals. In recent years, most of the Jewish-owned booths proudly display professional signs, provided by the (AGTA) stating “Closed for Shabbat.”

Rabbi Shemtov says serving visitors is just one more service that Chabad happily provides. “We meet Jews where they are,” he says. Some vendors call months in advance to make sure that everyone In their entourage has kosher food and a place to stay for Shabbat. This year, at the La Paloma, participants will enjoy glatt kosher sit-down meals, Shabbat services, and a small eruv so they can carry around the hotel. This is in addition to a pop-up restaurant serving gourmet kosher meals during the days of the AGTA show.

Abraham notes that while other gem shows have replicated the model set in motion in Tucson, participants say their favorite show remains the Tucson one. Here, they find not only wonderful weather, but wonderful and abundant food prepared by Chabad, and accommodations ready to joyfully meet their needs for Shabbat.

“It means so much to us to have Rabbi Shemtov and Chabad in Tucson,” says Johnny Kordvani, Owner and Partner at A&D Gem Corporation in Great Neck, New York. “It’s close to 40 years that they are providing us kosher food during the week and he guides us during Shabbat and we appreciate everything they do for us.”

Ashkan Enayatian of Premier Color Source Inc in New York City sums it up. “When we travel all over the world for shows, we have kosher food and Shabbat programs these days,” he says. “But the personal touch of the Shemtovs makes Tucson unique. Tucson is where it all started.”