Summer and Fall Gatherings
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If you were born in Maine, had relatives who lived in Maine, or just plain love Maine You are invited to come and be connected to Maine’s Jewish History Join us for an afternoon of reminiscences and a brief presentation about DMJ; Encouraged to bring any Maine memorabilia from your bookcases, attics, and basements; Enjoy some great Maine delicacies and who knows… maybe find a long lost cousin.
Westchester, September 26, 2010, 2-5 pm at the ReMaine home, Westchester Boston , November 14, 2010, 2-5 pm at a Maine home in Newton, MA
RSVP to dopj @ mindspring.com |
| Jews have been living in Maine since the 1800s: There were fully functioning Jewish communities in Bangor in the 1840s,
and in Portland in the 1880s. Somewhat improbably, at least to outsiders, those and other Jewish enclaves around the
state have endured and thrived. Over the last 100 years, the Jewish population of Maine has ranged from
5,000 to over 10,000.
Honoring the Jewish tradition of remembrance, the Documenting Maine Jewry project seeks to tell the story, not just of those individuals, but of the singular communities they shaped. Our goal is to collect short histories of the many people and organizations that have contributed over time to the lives of Maine Jews. The question unavoidably arise : Who is a Jew? And who is a Mainer? On the former, the project takes no position. On the latter, we have used a broad definition including not only those who were born, grew up, or lived here, but also those who are buried here. |
From generation, to generation, to generation.
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Camp Lown, Oakland, 1948
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Maine Jewish life bring to mind different things for different Jews (of course). For some
it is where they were born, live, and cannot imagine living anywhere else. For others, it
is where they grew up and consequently hold special memories of childhood. Other
Jews see Maine as the place that they have vacationed for years or went to summer camp. As with other Jewish
communities, many families moved in because their relatives had asked them to come.
And increasingly other Maine Jews are ones who have opted to move
to Maine as the place where they want to live. Fortunately many of these diverse family experiences which in totality represent what is Maine Jewish life have been captured in long series of oral histories . | ||
| Some Jews in Maine arrived directly off the boat (116,000 European immigrants landed
in the Portland harbor); other were relocated here by the oddly named Industrial Removal Office of HAIS in the
early 1900s; other migrated here from the big cities seeking a physical environment more similar to their
former shtetls or wanting to find economic opportunities from the timber industry or trading activities. Economic, social, and
religious realities meant that some of the in-migrants or their descendants became out-migrants.
State maps, maps of the Old country , and maps from-away places in North America can help trace this history. The burial records of Maine's 19 Jewish cemeteries , memorial boards, and Yarzeheit records can link old family members with today's Jewish communities in the state and from away. |
Shenson & Jolovitz Grocers, Waterville, 1915. c
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Roz Bernstein Finishing a Torah at Bet Ha'am, Portland, 2008.
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Currently, the larger Jewish communities are in Auburn-Lewiston, Augusta ,
Biddeford-Saco , Bangor , Portland ,
Rockland , and Waterville . There are smaller Jewish communities in
Bath, Old Orchard Beach, Old Town, and The County (Aroostook). And of course there are Jewish families in rural, back-to-the-land
towns, Jewish students in Maine colleges and in inter-married families throughout the state . These communities are supported by a range of community centers, synagogues, Jewish newsletters, and social service agencies. Current contact information for these community institutions are on the local home pages and in the organizational index . |
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| The core of the project is the addition of new information by Maine Jews,
whether online through the website, by email, or by old-fashioned mail. Building the database DMJ
has benefited from support from community centers, synagogues, Chevra Kiddisha, burial associations, social clubs, sports teams
across the state and its partner organizations .
We encourage all registered users to supplement or correct existing information on individuals using the edit function on each person's page. Historical documents, oral accounts, photographs of community activities, and print articles can be emailed to dopj@mindspring.com. |
Jewish Community Center, Portland , 1960c
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DATABASE RESOURCES : Information is available today on
- 27,293 individual Jews with strong ties to Maine of which 2,167 are records with the Old Country orgin on first generation immigrants
- 7,657 records of burial in Maine Jewish cemeteries for which there are 2,915 headstone images
- 922 organizations important to the Maine Jewish community of which 332 are Jewish community institutions in Maine and 341 are businesses important to the Maine Jewish communities
- 144 are oral histories of which 43 are available as .mp3 audio recordings on-line
- 438 biographic citations and sources of which 106 are photographs and 144 are oral histories
Financial contributions to DMJ can honor their own Maine immigrant family or to inspire and inform the next generation of Maine Jews. These contribution supplement this largely volunteer effort by supporting data collection and outreach. DMJ is under the financial supervision of Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine(JCA), a 501(c)3 organization. Donations are welcome using the Tzedakah box below or by sending a gift (marked DMJ) to the JCA, 57 Ashmont St., Portland, Maine 04103.
For security reasons, complete access to the database is available only on request.
A full index of all burials , however, is publicly available.
Recent additions to the database include
Last Updated : June 12 2010
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Friday September 03, 2010
