the Jewish Indian Chief By Jerry Klinger "If my path to God and
life is different than the majorities, does that make it wrong?"
- William Rabinowitz Periodically, the story of Solomon Bibo is
sent out via the internet. Each time, it astonishes the Jewish
world. Bibo was a Jewish man from Poland. He was a Chief of the
Acoma Indians of New Mexico in the 1880's. Recently, his story
was revived yet again and sent out by My Jewish Learning, a web
site that disseminates tantalizing vignettes of Jewish history,
culture and religious thought. The vignettes are unfortunately
short or perhaps planned so. They leave the reader wanting more
or simply deleting the contact and skipping on. A friend
forwarded me their recent article on Bibo asking if I knew the
story. I did. I met members of the Bibo family at the Acoma
Indian Pueblo south of Albuquerque, New Mexico more than ten
years ago. I was involved with the New Mexico Jewish Historical
Society. "Solomon Bibo was born in Prussia in 1853, the sixth of
eleven children.