We all came to the Capitol, for one reason or another, for Jewish Community Day

Story and Photos by Diane Joy Schmidt

Day of Celebration and Reflection
February 4, 2026 was declared New Mexico Jewish Community Day at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe, while the legislature was in session. Some twenty Jewish community organizations set up tables throughout the day in the West Hall — though not all were invited, and not all who were invited came. Those excluded arrived anyway, staging a silent protest around the seated audience in the Rotunda.

The event was sponsored by Sen. Craig Brandt of Rio Rancho (R) and the Friends of Israel Caucus, Rabbi Berel Levertov of the Santa Fe Jewish Center-Chabad, and Director Juan Dircie and Co-Chair Alonet Zarum Zandan of the Jewish Community Relations Coalition-NM (JCRC-NM).

Program Highlights
The day centered on an hour-and-a-half program in the Rotunda, where Zarum, Dircie, Brandt, and Senator Jeff Steinborn, a Jewish Democrat from Las Cruces, each gave remarks. Ron Duncan Hart followed with a slide presentation on the history of Jewish New Mexico. Then came a lively panel discussion with three rabbis — Levertov, Rabbi Jack Shlachter of the Los Alamos Jewish Center, and Rabbi Celia Surget of Congregation Albert — moderated by Dircie. Rabbi Hazzan Jonathan Angress of B'nai Israel closed the program with a prayer.

Before the Day: Competing Narratives
In the days before the event, competing op-eds in the Santa Fe New Mexican set the tone. Jeff Haas, director of Santa Feans for Justice in Palestine, argued it served as a political platform for right-wing support of Israel. Haas also reported that Israel's Consul General would attend — information that proved outdated. Lonnie Zarum wrote (here) that the day was about celebrating Jewish New Mexico. Tensions were enough that a security alert went out to Jewish community members the night before.

Read "Coming Together: Jewish Community Day at the Roundhouse" by Ellen Marks for further context.

Protests and Vigil
Outside, beginning at 12:00, a weekly protest group joined by Haas displayed signs and a papier-mâché skull mounted on a skeletal framework equating the U.S. and Israel with death. Any mention of Hamas' October 7 attack, or its stated goal of eliminating Israel, was absent from their messaging.

At 1:30, as the Rotunda program began, four Jewish community organizations — most prominently Albuquerque Jewish Voice for Peace — who had said they were excluded from the event held a mostly silent vigil inside, standing in a circle around the seated audience. All wore black sweatshirts reading "Another Jew for a Free Palestine." (see all photos below)

Meanwhile, outside, the weekly pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel protest:

Everyone came, for one reason or another, to Jewish Community Day at the Roundhouse:

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Diane Joy Schmidt is the publisher and editor of the New Mexico Jewish Journal, launched March 2024. Raised in the traditions of Reform Judaism, she is grounded by her memories of fireflies at Union Institute summer camp and the Big Dipper and is an admirer of all things spiritually resonant. A Chicago Tribune Magazine regular contributor, Tribune Photo Arts columnist, and NEA Fellowship recipient, she later served for more than a decade as senior correspondent and columnist for the New Mexico Jewish Link and as columnist for the Gallup Independent, both now shuttered, and for the Navajo Times. Her books include the internationally published photographic monograph The Chicago Exhibition. She has published hundreds of articles, commentaries, literary stories, photo essays, and drawings. She has received eight Rockower Awards from the American Jewish Press Association and special recognition for Jewish Journalism from the Jewish Federation of NM. Most recently she completed the screenplay Turquoise Mountain, a finalist in the Beverly Hills Screenplay Festival (2024) and cited by the Austin Film Festival, and has a graphic novel in progress, On This Night. She holds an MFA in New Media from Antioch University, an MA in English from UNM, a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design, and a BA from Prescott College. More at www.dianejoyschmidt.com.

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