Cover of 'Salt' magazine, Portland, 1991
Item 57277 info
Maine Historical Society
"For now they keep coming, day after day, helping each other to make minyan.
"'Who knows [why].' Dean says. 'Habit probably.'
Because 'when you grow up that way it's not difficult.'
Because 'my father was one of the founders here.'
'Because they needed me.'
"Because, as Maurice says, 'I couldn't divorce myself of [it]. It's part of me, you know.' He pauses, then adds, 'It's like the appendix. It's a vestigial remain, but it's a part of the whole, and I feel that without it, I'd be lost.'"(Salt magazine #41 1991)
Certain Jewish prayers require the presence of 10 people, a minyan or prayer quorum. Like smaller congregations everywhere, Etz Chaim, the only synagogue remaining in Portland's original Jewish neighborhood, struggles to maintain religious traditions in an area that once supported four congregations.
As most of Portland's Jews moved away from Munjoy Hill, this congregation remained in the city's East End. Originally an Orthodox synagogue, Etz Chaim did not count always women in the minyan. Now it does.
Etz Chaim continues to hold regular services, and usually has enough people to make a minyan.
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