Admit it: You’ve probably found yourself wondering how Orthodox Jews manage to live a full and vibrant Torah life outside of the greater New York-New Jersey area. Particularly puzzling to many big-city Orthodox folk is how those of us in smaller communities make a meaningful Jewish life for ourselves.
Living as I do in Portland, Maine, I am often asked what it is I miss most about having left Brooklyn for this lovely New England city. It’s certainly easy to pine for the vast Jewish shopping areas of Brooklyn, as well as the plethora of kosher restaurants of all shapes and sizes. And just knowing that in Brooklyn one has so many shuls to choose from, with minyanim and shiurim almost around the clock, makes life in Portland for an ex-New Yorker like myself somewhat different.
Different, but rewarding.
Portland has been quite the place so far in 5764. Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis started things off at Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh, the city’s Orthodox shul, with her pre-Rosh Hashanah visit. The sanctuary was full and the audience responded well to her message “Be proud to be Jewish.”
In November, Cantor Avi Albrecht traveled from Baltimore to thrill us with his musical skills, and plans are underway for a return visit. Yom Haatzmaut featured Paul Zim and his band in a musical performance that had men, women and children singing in their seats. This master performer, known throughout the world for his creativity with Jewish music, grew up in Portland where his father served as chazan at Shaarey Tphiloh for many years. Many old timers remembered the boy they called “pinchik” who often was the featured soloist in his father’s shul choir.
The second week of June brought the Los Angeles-based syndicated columnist Arlene Peck to Portland for her first visit. She shared her impressions of contemporary Jewish life formed through the numerous celebrity interviews she conducts on her weekly television show and, of course, her many trips to Israel and Europe.
On June 10 Arlene was the featured speaker at Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh’s annual dinner. The following morning she discussed “Jewish life in Hollywood” with residents of the Atrium, a residential facility created five years ago by the Portland Home for the Aged for citizens seeking independent living arrangements.
On Shabbat the congregation hosted a group of Stern College seniors who had come to Maine for a week-long marine biology study program at the Darling Institute, a facility run by the University of Maine sixty miles north of Portland. Ms. Peck engaged the students in analyzing the anti-Israel sentiment so prevalent on American college campuses.
I dedicated my Shabbat sermon to the courageous decision of Rabbi Samuel Belkin, late president of Yeshiva University, to create Stern College for Women, which opened its doors in 1954. During the course of these fifty years, a significant number of students from Maine have attended Stern.
Next week, Shaarey Tphiloh will host Yeshiva University Professor Jeffrey Gurock for several days of scholarship. Among other topics, he is scheduled to speak about the 350th anniversary of the arrival of Jews in North America and on Jews in sports – which happens to be the theme of his forthcoming book.
On Tisha b’Av Professor Gurock will deliver the second annual Rabbi Steven Dworken Memorial lecture. Rabbi Dworken served as rabbi of Shaarey Tphiloh 30 years ago and he and his wife are remembered quite fondly here. Upon his death last year, the congregation established an annual lecture in his memory for the entire Portland community.
Wednesday, July 28, has a special place on our calendar – it’s Jewish Community Night at the Portland Sea Dogs baseball game. The Sea Dogs are a double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. An interview with Professor Gurock will be a feature of the evening, along with a special kosher refreshment stand.
As the reader can see, there’s plenty to keep us busy here. But Portland has a long and rich Jewish history. Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh was established in 1904. The city has been home to a Jewish day school for the past 52 years. And while there is at present no kosher restaurant in town, two large supermarkets and one large health food store provide almost everything one needs for kosher supplies. (And Boston is only 90 miles away.)
Portland has the state’s only Jewish home for the aged – CEDARS – now in its 75th year and supervised by the Portland Vaad Hakashrus. The Portland mikvah, a lovely facility, is located adjacent to Shaarey Tphiloh and is used regularly.
Not only does Portland have both a men’s and a women’s chevra kadisha, but there’s a Jewish funeral chapel as part of the chevra. Portland is also proud of its Jewish Federation which features offices of the Jewish Family Service, the Jewish Community Center, and the Hebrew Free Loan Society.
So what’s missing? I’ll tell you. We need some sincere and enterprising Orthodox men and women to consider relocating to our area. Those who make the move will be well received by the congregation and the entire community. Our dream is to see a kollel-type structure created here. The facilities of the shul will be made available for such a project. It is my expectation that the local Jewish Federation would be most supportive.
I do not want to convey the impression that Portland is the ideal place for observant Jews who are not yet ready to move to Israel. But living here offers the challenge – and the reward – of helping to build the kind of thriving observant Jewish community that existed in Portland 50 years ago.
I am most interested in speaking to anyone who might wish to explore this option. Give me a call at 207-773-2611 and we can chat. I’d even be pleased to share with you information concerning the non-Orthodox synagogues in town or to relate to you the ways that Shaarey Tphiloh works in conjunction with our local Chabad.
I should add that if you feel you don’t get enough aliyas in your present shul or are not asked to daven for the amud as often as you?d like, then Portland really is the place for you.
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