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[1] was followed by a history of immigration and settlement that parallels the history of Jewish immigration to the United States.
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The first recorded Jew in Maine was Susman Abrams, who arrived in the area in 1785.[1] Abrams, originally from Hamburg, Germany, first settled in the town of Waldoboro and worked as a peddler.[2] Abrams would later move to Thomaston and then Union, where he opened a tannery.[2] In 1810, he married widow Mary Jones of the town of Friendship, a Christian.[2] Abrams died on October 6, 1830, at about 87 years old.[2]
Small Jewish communities began forming across the state, with German Jews settling in Bangor by 1829.[3] The Jewish community in the city of Bangor would be the first to found a synagogue when they founded Congregation Ahawas Achim in 1849.[4] Ahawas Achim would close seven years later, and its members left the state for other Jewish communities.
In 2012, the Jewish population in Maine was nearly 14,000[5] and spread out over several communities.
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1908 | 5,000[6] | — |
| 1955 | 7,500 | +50.0% |
| 1965 | 8,285 | +10.5% |
| 1971 | 7,259 | −12.4% |
| 1975 | 7,945 | +9.5% |
| 1985 | 9,350 | +17.7% |
| 1995 | 7,500 | −19.8% |
| 2005 | 10,315 | +37.5% |
| 2011 | 13,900 | +34.8% |
| 2015 | 13,890 | −0.1% |
| 2019 | 22,600[7] | +62.7% |
- ^ a b "Beth Israel History". Bath Jewish History. Beth Israel Synagogue, Bath, Maine. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
- ^ a b c d Sibley, John Langdon (1851). A History of the Town of Union, in the County of Lincoln, Maine, to the Middle of the Nineteenth Century. B. B. Mussey & Co. p. 110. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
- ^ "Maine Jewish History". Jewish Virtual Library. American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
- ^ Peck, Abraham & Peck, Jean (2007). Maine's Jewish Heritage. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-73854-965-1.
- ^ Amron, Yardain (July 8, 2014). "8 Things You Didn't Know About Jewish Maine". The Forward. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
- ^ "Population of Maine Jews : 1860-2019". Documenting Maine Jewry. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
- ^ "American Jewish Population Project". Brandeis University. Retrieved March 10, 2020. Note: The American Jewish Population Project of Brandeis University reports two different numbers: Total Jewish population and Adults who identify their religion as Jewish. 22,600 is the estimated total Jewish population, while 15,000 is the estimated total for those who identify as Jewish.