{"id":752,"date":"2011-06-14T10:43:51","date_gmt":"2011-06-14T14:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/"},"modified":"2011-06-14T21:52:03","modified_gmt":"2011-06-15T01:52:03","slug":"intro","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/exhibition\/intro\/","title":{"rendered":"Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Why did Jews come to America?<\/h2>\n<p>To travel for weeks on a rolling and rocking boat across the Atlantic  Ocean was not a pleasant experience. Regardless, European Jews were  willing to leave everything behind and make the trip.\u00a0 What would drive  them to journey across an ocean in search of a new life?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Economic Factors<\/strong>:  Jews had always faced hardships, and over the course of the 19th  century economic challenges became more severe. As poverty rose in the  Old Country, the United States appeared as a beacon of hope. European  Jews came by the millions to take advantage of new opportunities in  America.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Marginalization<\/strong>:  Jews were often segregated from the rest of the European population,  with limits on where they could live and how they could earn a living.  Many Christians believed that Jews would cheat them, curse them, and  harm them. Mobs, sometimes with governmental support, attacked Jews and  destroyed Jewish property, shaking the stability of the religious  community. The United States offered hope of acceptance and escape from  persecution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What drew Jews to Maine?<\/h2>\n<p>European Jews did not step off the boat and find their  feet on Maine\u2019s rocky shores. Immigrants and their descendants have  chosen Maine over larger Jewish communities in places like Boston and  New York. Why?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Jobs<\/strong>:  Most Jews came to Maine in search of employment. When Maine\u2019s lumber  and textile mills bustled with activity, Jewish immigrants found  opportunities to sell goods and services to the state\u2019s laborers. Some  joined family members who had already gained an economic foothold.  Today, most of Maine\u2019s Jews have jobs that require higher education.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Quality of Life<\/strong>:  Maine offers a different lifestyle from America\u2019s big cities and their  suburbs. Immigrants chose to escape crowded neighborhoods in the cities  and heard that the weather in Maine resembles what they were used to in  Poland and Lithuania. Maine\u2019s quality of life and natural beauty  continue to attract Jews from across the United States.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Maine\u2019s Jewish history shows that all Mainers have their  own stories about how they came to Maine and why they\u2019ve chosen to stay.  What\u2019s yours?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/exhibition\/intro\/stereotypes\/\" target=\"_self\">Jews Before There Were Jews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why did Jews come to America? To travel for weeks on a rolling and rocking boat across the Atlantic Ocean was not a pleasant experience. Regardless, European Jews were willing to leave everything behind and make the trip.\u00a0 What would drive them to journey across an ocean in search of a new life? Economic Factors:&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2894,"featured_media":0,"parent":588,"menu_order":0,"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\/752"}],"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\/2894"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=752"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":776,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/752\/revisions\/776"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}