There may be more to Seward's Folly than most Alaskans know, and the local Jewish community wants to tell that story, not with just words, but with a museum.

The Lubavitch Jewish Center of Alaska is coming a step closer to its dream of opening a full-scale center and museum with its first official fund-raiser Oct. 30. The center's museum will highlight Jews' historical contribution to Alaska. Jewish influence can be traced as far back as the Alaska purchase from Russia, according to Perry Green, a member of the fund-raising committee. Through various connections, Jewish merchant pioneers interested in the fur trade helped convince William H. Seward to pursue the Alaska purchase. So if folks were dancing in the streets when the American flag was raised over Sitka on Oct. 18, 1867, some of them were probably doing the Hava Nagilah.

Some sources say, according to Green, that Jewish fur trappers accompanied Vitus Bering on a 1728 Russian expedition to Alaska and later figured prominently in the Russian-American Co. He said 99 percent of the research remains to be done but emphasized that there is a Jewish connection in areas including trade, commerce, government and even the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

"They knew the value of Alaska. It was a very rich, robust, wonderful opportunity."

This year's Alaska Day spotlights the importance of promoting historic and cultural awareness through this center, the Alaska Jewish Community Center and Historical Museum.

"We felt that, from every point of view, there should be a major Jewish community center, where there would be exhibits and classes and information about Jewish culture," Rabbi Yosef Greenberg said. "There is a great need, a thirst, in the Anchorage community for such a concept."

Greenberg listed three reasons for the new center: history, posterity and diversity.

"It's important from a historical perspective," he said, "important to tell the story. How many people know that the first mayor of Anchorage was Jewish (Leopold David) and the first U.S. senator from Alaska (Ernest Gruening) was Jewish? And the list goes on and on."

The second reason, the rabbi said, is for future generations -- the cultural continuity of the Jewish people who live in Anchorage.

And the third is to highlight the Jewish community in the multicultural context of the city, for all the people who live in Anchorage.

"The Alaska Jewish Community Center and Historical Museum is dedicated to bringing awareness, building bridges and providing exposure to Jewish history and culture in the true spirit of Anchorage, a place where diversity of cultures is promoted and honored," according to the center's mission statement. "Through its educational and social programs, the center strives to enhance the community's need for family-oriented opportunities that will truly deepen the cultural wealth of the broader Alaskan community."

The center would cater to members, locals and tourists, school groups or University of Alaska Anchorage students doing research. Classes in Hebrew, the Kabbalah and other subjects would be offered, and exhibits would highlight holidays, history and more.

The rabbi spoke in a phone interview almost literally on the fly: He was at a New York synagogue about to head to the airport for a plane ride to his sister's wedding in Israel. The next day, the same emblem of energy was evident when his wife, Esty, did a phone interview from a local tailor shop where she was knee-deep in navy blue velvet backdrops for the Saturday night fund-raiser, "An Evening of Old World Tradition."

The Greenbergs have been cultivating the idea for a Jewish culture center since they arrived in Anchorage in 1991 and founded Lubavitch Jewish Center of Alaska/Congregation Shomrei Ohr. Since then, they've set down roots in the community with a preschool, a workshop and a piece of property, besides the main location in Rogers Park. All this would be consolidated at the new center, on 36th Avenue between Lake Otis Parkway and Latouche Street, across from David Green Park.

"We moved here and set up the center," Esty Greenberg said. "It started small, and it grew and grew. As things developed, we felt this to be an amazing need and a wonderful opportunity in our community."

The congregation's board of directors developed a building fund working toward this goal. The project is now moving into the next phase with building plans, the fund-raiser and a hoped-for 2005 groundbreaking.

The fund-raiser was born in the David Green Master Furrier store, when Shani Green met with Dr. Helen Bedder over a fur donation for a different fund-raiser auction. Noting the store's support for numerous community auctions, Bedder offered to help Green do something for her own cause. Several other non-Jews joined congregation members on the committee to produce an elaborate event that will incorporate the Shabbat meal, a Jewish wedding and "Fiddler on the Roof" under the theme of old-world tradition.

There will be a kosher Shabbat meal, 200 silent auction items, an upscale live auction, an exhibit of Jewish historical figures by Miriam Hurwitz of New York City, decorations by Margret Hugi-Lewis and more. Shani Green is especially excited about teaching everyone the traditional dances such as the hora and Hava Nagilah while well-respected New York City band Piamenta plays music she describes as the Jewish version of ZZ Top.

"This has to be fun and different, educational," Greenberg said, "not just a boring activity where people come, eat dinner and listen to a talk. It's got to be a smash. It's got to be exciting. We want to have a good time."

Daily News reporter S. Jane Szabo can be reached at jszabo@adn.com.