Of Maine's estimated 10,000 Jews, about half live in Greater Portland, and only

Authors

Abby Zimet

Source

Down East

Date

10-1-2006

Pages

82-85, 99-102

Abstract

Of Maine's estimated 10,000 Jews, about half live in Greater Portland, and only a minority belong to a Jewish congregation. Others have formed groups as diverse as the Bagel and Dreidel Society in Wilton, the Casco Bay Tummlers on Peaks Island, and Jews in the Woods in Oxford County. Jews began coming to Portland in the 1870s, and by the 1920s had created a lively enclave on Munjoy Hill. By the late 1930s, the Jewish Community Center on Cumberland Ave. had become the center of Jewish life. After World War II, prosperous Jews began to move to the suburbs or the Woodfords area. With details on Maine's Jewish synagogues and on the multiplicity of ways that individual Jews express their secular and religious heritage.

Subjects

Jews, Jews in Portland, Casco Bay Tummlers, Jews in Maine

Recommended Citation

Zimet, Abby, "Of Maine's estimated 10,000 Jews, about half live in Greater Portland, and only" (2006). Maine News Index - Down East Magazine. 3242.
https://digitalcommons.portlandlibrary.com/news_downeast/3242