MDN: The Friends of B�nai Abraham Synagogue is doing everything the group can to preserve and find a new use for the one remaining Jewish monument on the Iron Range.? The non-profit organization doesn�t want to leave behind the memory of the Jewish community on the Iron Range, even as the synagogues themselves are demolished or used for other purposes.

A public meeting will be held from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday so citizens can read about its history, see a slide show on the area�s Jewish experience and have input on its reuse.

�There is a lot of emotion involved�� in the preservation effort, said architectural historian Marilyn Chiat of Minneapolis, who is part of the Friends group. �The building signifies so much.��

The group is made up mostly of children or grandchildren, whose parents or grandparents helped get the synagogue built and hosted events there like weddings, bar mitzvahs and funerals.

But the area�s Jewish community dropped from about 1,000 at one time, Chiat said, to around 100 now. Those who were around became elderly, she added, and could not longer maintain the synagogue.

It was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, but the building at 332 S. Fifth St. was last used as a synagogue in the mid-1990s.

Chiat said preserving the Virginia synagogue is even more important because others in Chisholm, Eveleth and Hibbing are being lost. The synagogue in Chisholm was demolished, the one in Eveleth is a church again and the one in Hibbing is now a private home, she said.

The project to restore the red brick synagogue, which has beautiful stained glass windows, is being undertaken in several stages.

The first stage, formation of the Friends group, has been completed.

The next stage is a Historic Properties Reuse Study, which is being done in cooperation with the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest and the State Historic Preservation Office of the Minnesota Historical Society. The study, beginning today, includes interviews with Mayor Carolyn Luoma Gentilini, the Chamber of Commerce, the Ministerial Association, the local historical societies and others on how they would like to see the building used in the community.

�It�s a wonderful gathering space,�� which seats about 125, Chiat said, and could be used for cultural events.

The Friends organization also wants an exhibit on the Jewish experience on the Range kept in the building.

The study was made possible through a grant from the State Historic Preservation Office, which is being matched by in-kind assistance from the Friends organization and other national and community groups.

A final report on the study will be submitted by Sept. 1 and will include an estimated cost for restoring the building, potential partners for its reuse and future plans for its maintenance.

On the basis of the reuse report, the Friends will mount a major fund-raising effort in the fall to raise the capital needed to restore and maintain the structure.