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Congregation Beth Israel in Portland, Oregon, 2008

The History of Jews in Oregon goes back to before Oregon was granted statehood and has gone through several waves of immigration. The first Jews to settle were German Reform Jews. In the early 1900s, Jews came to Portland from Sefardic lands and Eastern Europe and Settled in Old South Portland. While there, they established several pieces of community infrastructure. The Orthodox Jewish population in Portland has increased since 2005.[1]

History[edit]

Early immigration and frontier presence[edit]

Jewish immigrants from Europe began settling in the Oregon Territory as early as 1849, primarily single men of German origin, many of whom were not strong adherents to the Jewish religion, which delayed the establishment of religious communities in the state.[2] According to the Oregon Historical Society, "the requisites for strict practice, such as the quorum of ten men needed for a service and the availability of kosher meat, were lacking on the frontier."[2] Many Jewish men established businesses and trade operations via San Francisco, which led them north into the then-Oregon Territory.[2]

By the early 1850s, approximately one-third of merchants in the southern Oregon mining boomtown of Jacksonville were Jewish.[2] The first documented Jewish religious service in Oregon took place in Jacksonville in 1856 in celebration of the High Holidays.[2] After an influx of Jewish women in Oregon beginning in the late 1850s, family formations began, leading to the establishment of Congregation Beth Israel in Portland, founded in 1858.[2] Beth Israel was the first Jewish congregation in the western United States north of California and west of the Continental Divide.[3] By 1861, Beth Israel had established the first synagogue in the state of Oregon.[2] The growing Jewish community in Portland also necessitated the founding of the city's first Jewish cemetery, Mount Sinai Cemetery, which was established in 1856 near the west end of the present-day Ross Island Bridge.[3] In 1862, Congregation Beth Israel acquired the cemetery, after which it became Beth Israel Cemetery before being relocated in 1871.[4] It has the distinction of being the oldest continually running Jewish cemetery in the United States.[3]

Newspaper advertisement for Henry Heppner's wool and grain warehouse, 1900

Incidents of antisemitism in the Oregon frontier were rare, as English-speaking European Jews were generally viewed by other settlers as fellow white pioneers.[2] Furthermore, the Jewish population's engagement in town building, pack train operations, and fighting in Oregon's Indian Wars helped foster inclusion of Jews in organizations such as the Native Sons of Oregon, which celebrated American pioneer history in the state.[2] Prussian-born pack train operator Henry Heppner established mercantiles in the cities of Arlington, La Grande, and Umatilla in the 1860s; the city of Heppner, which he founded, takes its name from him.[2]

While smaller communities in eastern and southern Oregon—particularly Burns and Baker—maintained Jewish populations through the 1860s, the Jewish communities there began to wane by the 1870s, with many relocating to the burgeoning Portland due to its larger Jewish population as well as for career and business opportunities.[2] A lack of congregations and synagogues also served as an impetus for many Jews to move to Portland, as they often had to travel there for holidays and life-cycle rituals.[2] In 1869, a splinter group of Prussian immigrant Jews established the more conservative congregation Avahai Shalom in Portland, contrasting with the established Beth Israel, which developed into a reform congregation.[3]

Second wave; civic engagement[edit]

Jewish civic leadership in Oregon in the following several decades was bolstered by the community's early ingratiation with other pioneers.[2] Bernard Goldsmith, a Bavarian Jewish immigrant to Oregon was elected as the 19th mayor of Portland, serving from 1869 until 1871.[2]

Beginning in the 1880s, the United States saw an influx of Eastern European Jews, largely aspiring farmers and laborers from Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, and Poland.[2] The Eastern European Jewish community that arrived in Oregon was considerably more conservative and religious than the already-established American Jews (largely of German origin); They were also more receptive to socialist and Zionist ideologies.[2] Such ideological differences created a fraught relationship between the two groups, with many American Jews regarding the newcomers as "backward and insular", and fearing their presence may fuel antisemitism.[2] In response, the established Jewish communities began creating aid programs preaching Americanization to incoming Eastern European Jewish immigrants.[2]

New Odessa colony members, Roseburg, Oregon, 1882

Among the Eastern European Jewish movements was Am Olam, a Russian-Jewish socialist agricultural colony that originated in Odessa and established satellite colonies in New Jersey, Louisiana, and North Dakota in 1881.[2] In 1882, Am Olam founded the New Odessa Colony on 900 acres (360 hectares) in Roseburg, Oregon.[2] The group lived communally at New Odessa for approximately five years until its dissolution in 1887.[2]

The 1890s saw many Eastern European Jewish immigrants in Oregon working as traders or aspiring merchants in Portland, which by that time was a major economic and cultural hub in the Pacific Northwest.[2] In 1902, Portland's first Orthodox congregation, Shaarie Torah, was established by Russian Jewish immigrants.[2][3] This was followed by Linath Hazedek in 1914; Kesser Israel in 1916; and Ahavath Achim (also 1916).[2][5]



In 1930, Julius Meier, founder of the Portland-based Meier & Frank department store chain, was elected as the president of the Oregon Senate, despite an increase in antisemitism on both a national and local level.[2]



In 1905, the Conservative Congregation Shaarie Torah was founded in Portland, followed by Congregation Ahavath Achim, a Sephardic Orthodox synagogue, also erected in Portland in 1916.[5]


Ben Selling, a Jewish businessman and civil rights advocate, served as the speaker of the Oregon House in the 1910s.[2]


Synagogues[edit]

Synagogue Founded City Denomination Ref.
Congregation Ahavath Achim 1916 Portland Orthodox [5]
Congregation Bais Menachem 1961 Portland Chabad Orthodox
Congregation Beit Yosef Portland Orthodox
Congregation Beth Israel 1859 Portland Reform
Congregation Kesser Israel Portland Orthodox
Congregation Neveh Shalom 1961 Portland Conservative
Congregation Shaarie Torah 1905 Portland Conservative
Temple Beth Israel 1961 Eugene Reconstructionist


Notable people[edit]

See also: Category:Jews from Oregon

See also[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Judaism in Oregon.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Binder, Melissa (October 21, 2015). "Orthodox Jews streaming into Portland, thanks to new infrastructure". The Oregonian. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z "Jews in Oregon". The Oregon Encyclopedia. Oregon Historical Society. Archived from the original on January 28, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e Bergen & Davis 2021, p. 148.
  4. ^ Bergen & Davis 2021, pp. 148–153.
  5. ^ a b c Morse, Andrew. "Congregation Ahavath Achim". The Oregon Encyclopedia. Oregon Historical Society. Archived from the original on January 28, 2024.

Sources[edit]

  • Bergen, Teresa; Davis, Heide (2021). Historic Cemeteries of Portland, Oregon. Mount Pleasant, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-467-14861-0.
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