{"id":496,"date":"2011-04-13T10:22:16","date_gmt":"2011-04-13T14:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/"},"modified":"2013-05-23T22:10:08","modified_gmt":"2013-05-24T02:10:08","slug":"aroostook","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/maine\/aroostook\/","title":{"rendered":"Aroostook"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Jewish History of Aroostook County<\/span><\/h2>\n

by Natalie Cohen (April 2011)<\/em>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

My family name is Koven.\u00a0 I lived in Grand Falls, N.B., which is 3 miles from the Maine border and Aroostook County.\u00a0 I left Grand Falls in 1948 but my memories are still vivid.\u00a0 At that time there were many Jewish families living in the County from Fort Kent to Island Falls.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is not known for certain what originally brought these Jewish families to Aroostook County but many of them were farmers and it may have been that the weather and fertile soil was similar to their home countries.\u00a0 There were some who had been merchants and they became the peddlers in their new home.\u00a0 My father, Herbie Koven, was one of these men.<\/span><\/p>\n

During my time in the area, Jews and Gentiles lived peacefully side by side.\u00a0 I do not remember any animosity.\u00a0 I did ask Ray Givetz if he knew of any incidents and he also said \u201cno\u201d.\u00a0 I do remember in the \u201860s when the synagogue in Presque Isle was desecrated, the Bangor Daily News or Kennebec Journal wrote an article about how the local townspeople came to the synagogue to help clean up the \u201cmess\u201d, because and I quote, \u201cthis shouldn\u2019t and doesn\u2019t happen here\u201d.\u00a0 My husband, Max, and I were at a rally held in Augusta in conjunction with the desecration and were amazed that so many people, including teenagers, came to show their support for the Jewish congregation.\u00a0 As far as we know none were from Aroostook county.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the community in Grand Falls were Catholics.\u00a0 There was one other Jewish family, the Simkovitz\u2019s.\u00a0 At a town meeting, a gentleman got up and made a motion that all stores close on Catholic Holy Days.\u00a0 One man objected saying Herbie Koven closes his store 3 days a year but you do not hear him asking us to close ours on Jewish Holy Days.\u00a0 The motion was tabled and never brought up again.\u00a0 I was not really aware of Anti-Semitism until I moved to Montreal at age 18.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Fort Kent, and surrounding areas, there were enough families to support a synagogue. The synagogue has been removed, but there is a rock with a plaque showing just where it had stood and it is inscribed with the names of the families.\u00a0 Jacob Escovitz, who was farmer as well as a car dealer, had a Mikva in his home as well as 2 kitchens \u2013 one for meat and the other for dairy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the families were involved with the potato industry.\u00a0 As far as I remember, there were no Jewish families in Madawaska, but across the bridge in Edmonston, N.B., there were several.\u00a0 They were merchants or cattle dealers.\u00a0 They also were involved with the families in Fort Kent.\u00a0 In Van Buren, there was the Harris family who were merchants.\u00a0 One of the Harris sons, according to my memory, was the only Jewish person from Aroostook County to be killed during World War II.<\/span><\/p>\n

As we all know, to cross from Canada to the U.S. or vice versa, we must stop at Customs, well my father, who was excited, was driving into Van Buren to pick up a meat order from Bangor to be used for the \u201cBris\u201d of my younger brother and he forgot to report.\u00a0 The State Trooper picked up my father at Mr. Harris\u2019s store and if it weren\u2019t for Mr. Harris, who gave my father the $1,000.00 for the fine, the car and my brother and father and I would have been stranded.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Limestone, there was one family, the Marks, who were potato farmers.\u00a0 Fort Fairfield had several families, some of whom were merchants, but there were others who were involved with potatoes also.\u00a0 Ten miles north in New Brunswick, in Perth and Andover, there were 2 families.\u00a0 One family had 6 children.<\/span><\/p>\n

We, my mother and my older brother, drove 24 miles each week to Andover, N.B. to take Hebrew lessons.\u00a0 A Rabbi from Woodstock, N.B. came up (he drove 40 miles) to teach Hebrew, prepare the boys for Bar Mitzvah and to kill our chickens (he was also a shochat).<\/span><\/p>\n

In Caribou, there were 4 or 5 families, one had a grocery store, one man sold car parts, another was a car dealer and the rest were involved with potatoes.\u00a0 One of the men was a Sunday school teacher.<\/span><\/p>\n

Presque Isle was the hub of our Jewish activities.\u00a0 I believe this town had the most Jewish families.\u00a0 There were merchants, an antique dealer, a car dealer and again families involved with the potato industry.\u00a0 Mr. Harry Green, a merchant, owned a large building on Main Street.\u00a0 His store was on the first floor, but upstairs was where, until the synagogue was built, we held Sunday school and had family get togethers.\u00a0 The only International B\u2019Nai Brith Lodge and Chapter held their meetings there.\u00a0 From the kitchen many meals were served and all our deli and kosher food came from Sklars in Bangor.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the war the boys from the air base in Presque Isle were invited to our Seders, Holy Days, breakfasts, etc.\u00a0 All the homes, including ours in Grand Falls, were opened to them.\u00a0 I was made mascot of one of the squadrons.\u00a0 Also, I remember, a cousin of mine who lived in Presque Isle, met and married a flyer from the air base.<\/span><\/p>\n

As you know, the schools in Aroostook County close during potato picking time.\u00a0 So until our synagogue was built in Presque Isle we used the high school gym for our High Holy Day Services.\u00a0 Families, like ours, who had distances to drive, stayed at the hotel or the local families opened their doors to us.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two or three of the men from Presque Isle, took it upon themselves to get the synagogue built.\u00a0 The synagogue then became the center of all our activities. My younger brother was one of the first to be Bar Mitzvahed there.\u00a0 The dinner was held at the hotel.\u00a0 My mother and father helped, instructed and observed the hotel kitchen being prepared, so that the food would be strictly kosher.\u00a0 Again, all the food came from Bangor.\u00a0\u00a0 Due to lack of families and money this lovely synagogue may soon be closing.\u00a0 It is now open only for the High Holy Days, although a family from Sydney, N.S. held their daughter\u2019s Bas Mitzvah there recently.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

When Loring A.F.B. was in operation in Limestone there were many Jewish families stationed there.\u00a0 Again, the Jewish community opened their doors.\u00a0 The air base had a Rabbi, Rabbi Henry Isaacs, who subsequently served as the Rabbi at the orthodox synagogue in Bangor for 39 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mars Hill had the Adelman family.\u00a0 Mr. & Mrs. Adelman Were two of the founders of the Jewish community.\u00a0 He was a potato farmer.\u00a0 Both sons, Milton and Yale, and a daughter, Elizabeth, married and brought up their children there.\u00a0 Elizabeth and her husband had a store.\u00a0 Milton is still living in Mars Hill.\u00a0 I believe that at one time you could buy their potatoes at Publix in Florida.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Houlton, there was a car dealer and maybe 2 or 3 other families.\u00a0 There were 2 brothers who practiced law there.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if any of the Jewish families is still there.\u00a0 I know that none of the Escovitz\u2019s is.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jake Shur, who was a potato farmer, lived in Island Falls.\u00a0 His son Arthur, still lives there and is in the potato industry.<\/span><\/p>\n

Generally, religious services were held only on the High Holy Days and other special occasions.\u00a0 However, every Sunday the community gathered for religious studies. <\/em><\/strong>I have many happy memories of being a part of this wonderful community, being with other Jewish families, and observing many traditions of the Holy Days, etc.\u00a0 We traveled 48 miles to Presque Isle.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t matter what the weather was like, unless Presque Isle called it off \u2013 we went.\u00a0 After Sunday school, we would end up at the home of one of the local families.\u00a0 We would spend the day going to movies, hanging out, or doing our homework together, while our parents either went back to the Synagogue or just had an adult occasion.\u00a0 By midnight, we would be picked up and taken home.\u00a0 I recall all the wonderful memories of families and friends.<\/span><\/p>\n

The only ones left in the county that I remember are my cousin, Arthur, in Island Falls, Milton Adelman and Alvin and Ruth Weinberg of Presque Isle.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Jewish community of \u201cthe County\u201d was not only generous to Jewish philanthropies but also to the communities in which they lived.\u00a0 Max and I attended a Jewish fund drive in Presque Isle and within a \u00bd hour $100,000.00 was raised.\u00a0 My parents attended all functions.\u00a0 We had picnics, get togethers, and socials.\u00a0 We were only a phone call away from everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whenever I meet any one from the County and ask if they know of the Escovitz families, they always reply, \u201cMy parents bought all their cars from them\u201d.\u00a0 They would then tell me of the other families and the contributions they made to their towns.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Jewish History of Aroostook County by Natalie Cohen (April 2011) My family name is Koven.\u00a0 I lived in Grand Falls, N.B., which is 3 miles from the Maine border and Aroostook County.\u00a0 I left Grand Falls in 1948 but my memories are still vivid.\u00a0 At that time there were many Jewish families living in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1764,"featured_media":0,"parent":491,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/496"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1764"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1190,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/496\/revisions\/1190"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}