Maine History Volume 49 Number 1 The Maine Melting Pot Article 2 1-1-2015 Making it in Maine: Stories of Jewish Life in Small-Town America David M. Freidenreich Colby College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mainehistoryjournal Part of the Cultural History Commons, Jewish Studies Commons, and the Social History Commons Recommended Citation Freidenreich, David M.. "Making it in Maine: Stories of Jewish Life in Small-Town America." Maine History 49, 1 (2015): 4-38. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mainehistoryjournal/vol49/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Maine History by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Winter 2015 for color_Maine History Feb 2005 4/29/15 10:22 AM Page 4 Wolf Lipsky, Bangor, ca. 1900. Wolf Lipsky came to Maine from his native Rus- sia as a teenager and made his living as a peddler. Many Jewish immigrants to Maine during this period ran similar operations before eventually opening sta- tionary storefronts. Courtesy of the Bangor Public Library. Winter 2015 for color_Maine History Feb 2005 4/29/15 10:22 AM Page 5 MAKING IT IN MAINE: STORIES OF JEWISH LIFE IN SMALL-TOWN AMERICA DAVID M. FREIDENREICH1 A fundamental part of the experience of immigrants to the United States has been the tension between incorporating into a new country while maintaining one’s cultural roots. In this article, the author describes the experience of Jewish Americans in Maine, where climate, culture, and remoteness from larger Jewish populations contributed to a unique process of Americanization compared with Jewish populations in more urban areas of the country.