Jews have been living in Maine, a state in the northeastern United States, for 200 years, with significant Jewish communities in Bangor as early as the 1840s and in Portland since the 1880s. The arrival of Susman Abrams in 1785 was followed by a history of immigration and settlement that parallels the history of Jewish immigration to the United States.
The first recorded Jew in Maine was Susman Abrams, who arrived in the area in 1785. Abrams, originally from Hamburg, Germany, first settled in the town of Waldoboro and worked as a peddler. Abrams would later move to Thomaston and then Union, where he opened a tannery. In 1810, he married widow Mary Jones of the town of Friendship, a Christian. Abrams died on October 6, 1830, at about 87 years old.
Small Jewish communities began forming across the state, with German Jews settling in Bangor by 1829. The Jewish community in the city of Bangor would be the first to found a synagogue when they founded Congregation Ahawas Achim in 1849. Ahawas Achim would close seven years later, and its members left the state for other Jewish communities.
As of 2012, the Jewish population in Maine is nearly 14,000 and spread out over several communities.
Auburn-Lewiston
The first Jewish residents came to the Lewiston-Auburn area around 1865 and were largely merchants. It wouldn't be until the 1920s when the area would receive its first formal places of Jewish worship: Beth Jacob Synagogue in Lewiston and Beth Abraham Synagogue in Auburn. Prior to these congregations a more informal place of prayer and religious education called a shul, a Yiddish word derived from the German word for school, existed to cover the needs of the community. Beth Jacob, located at the corner of Shawmut and Sabattus Street in Lewiston, considered itself Orthodox in its religious practice, but allowed for mixed seating during services. In addition to the two synagogues, the community was served by the Jewish Community Center on College Street in Lewiston. In 1981, the Beth Jacob congregation merged with the Community Center to form a new institution: Temple Shalom Synagogue Center. Temple Shalom is an unaffiliated congregation.
Population data over the years
First Jewish resident recorded in 1865
Highest population estimate 1955-1965 : 1400
Latest population estimate 2007 : 600
Current Jewish organizations
Temple Shalom Synagogue Center (Independent) Jewish Student Union
Major events and milestones
Early immigrant period (pre 1900)
The first Jewish family settled in Lewiston in the mid 19th century. While a synagogue was not built in the area before the turn of the century, early settlers to the area secured a hall in Lewiston to serve as a synagogue. Beth Abraham synagogue was founded in 1898, and Beth Jacob congregation established a cemetery by 1899. Several Jewish families moved to what became known as New Auburn, just across the Androscoggin River, making travel to the Lewiston congregation more difficult.
Later immigrant period (1900 – 1920)
By 1902, Beth Abraham Synagogue held services and Hebrew School in a rented building on Second Street, establishing the first synagogue in the Lewiston and Auburn area. That same year, the Beth Abraham Cemetery Association was formed.
Across the river in Lewiston, Beth Jacob leased a hall in 1904 to hold services for their 40 members. By 1907, the congregation was formally organized as Congregation Beth Jacob, and formally incorporated in 1914.
By 1909, both a Young Men’s Hebrew Association (YMHA) and Hebrew Aid Society were established, the YMHA even boasting a championship basketball team in 1912.
In 1917, Beth Abraham had outgrown its space, and purchased what had been known as the Union Musical Society Building. However, just six months later, the building was destroyed in a fire.
End of WWI to end of WWII (1920 – 1945)
The area’s mills continued to develop and prosper. Ways of earning a living diversified. Those who had begun as peddlers were beginning to find greater opportunities in areas such as carbonated beverage manufacturing, shoe manufacturing and furniture sales. Meat markets and grocery stores grew in number, and with the advent of the automobile came the businesses associated with its sales and upkeep. In addition, the area’s second generation of Jews entered into the professional fields. Many became teachers while others entered law and medical schools.