I have made two brief business trips to Portland and Bangor, Maine in the past year (2008), enough to make me fall in love with the State. I was able to visit the many small Jewish communities of Maine in this excellent photographic history, "Maine's Jewish Heritage" (2007) as part of the "Images of America" series of Arcadia Publishing.
The authors of "Maine's Jewish Heritage", Abraham and Jean Peck, both are part of families with long histories in Maine. Abraham Peck has written widely on Jewish communities throughout the United States and on the Holocaust.
Although I don't have personal experience with the Jewish communities of Maine, the photographs and commentary in this book of Jewish life in mostly small cities and town seemed immediately familiar. The photographs of synagogues, people and families, small shops, community organizations, and local leaders reminded me of communities I knew. I felt at home. There were some differences. The various Jewish communities in Maine are small and scattered through the State, mostly in the southern part, unlike the concentrated community of an urban area. From the Pecks' book, there appears to be substantial interaction among the various communities in Maine, some of which are located at considerable distances from each other. Life in small New England towns has differences from the life I know. But mostly, these were communities whose roots I shared.
In his share of the introduction to the book, Abraham Peck writes of several themes that have characterized Jewish life in the United States: "a belief in the promise of America; faith in the pluralistic nature of America; a quest for economic and professional success; and a commitment to the survival of the Jewish community." As far as the Jews of Maine are concerned, the community began in the 1840s but developed only with the large waves of immigration from Eastern Europe in the 1880s. The Maine Jewish communities were almost exclusively Orthodox and remained so until the 1940s. Portland Maine, Peck tells us, was once known as "The Jerusalem of America." Maine Jewry now includes a spectrum of all aspects of Judaism from Orthodox to nonpracticing. Peck also observes that while Jews have faced discrimination and exclusion in Maine, they have generally been welcomed into what has basically been a tolerant, open society. Peck quotes a leader of the Portland Jewish community in the late 19th Century who observed, with respect to his Christian neighbors that "our city fathers have in the past fully merited the good will and affectionate esteem in which they are held by us."
The photographs and commentary that follow the Pecks introduction illustrate the themes of Jewish life and integration of Jewish life within the American and Maine community. The first chapter of the book focuses on religious Jewish life in Maine with photographs of synagogues and religious practitioners from the 1880s to the present day in a variety of Maine cities, including Portland, Bangor, Biddeford, Bath, Presque Isle, Rockland, Calais, Old Orchard Beach, and others. The synagogues range from small wooden shacks to modern buildings and they cover all the various denominations of Jewish practice. It is a moving photographic tribute to religious worship.
The book continues with chapters showing the ways Jewish people earned a living in Maine which seems similar to the Jewish immigrant experience elsewhere in the United States: pedlars, small shopkeepers, clothiers, car dealerships, and wholesalers receive substantial attention, with recognition as well of the occasional Maine Jewish farmer.
The Jewish communities in Maine devoted important effort to improving relationships with their non-Jewish neighbors, to inter-faith activities, and to breaking down barriers of discrimination. In 1930, with the increase of KKK activities in Maine during the prior decade (which targeted mostly Roman Catholics) members of the Portland Jewish community were instrumental in creating the Portland Interracial Fellowship of America, which taught ecumenicism and tolerance among the many religious denominations in the city. Jewish religious leaders in Portland worked together with other religious leaders in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and in many programs designed to increase understanding and respect among people of different beliefs.
The Pecks sees the Jewish community in Maine as undertaking the difficult task of combining Jewish values, as individuals in the community understand these values, with the values of the vibrant, pluralistic democracy of the United States. Abraham Peck writes in concluding his introduction to this book: "For Jews in this nation, including Jews in the Jewish community of Maine both visions translate into an understanding that being a better Jew is important in becoming a better American." The Pecks offer an inspiring look at the American Jewish experience in the State of Maine.
