PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A rabbi newly arrived in Portland hopes to counter the perception that Maine has little to offer Orthodox Jews and to reverse a 30-year decline in worship attendance.

At Rabbi Isaac Yagod’s Shaarey Tphiloh Synagogue, membership has fallen over the past 30 years from 500 families to just 125.

Yagod, 41, moved from Memphis, Tenn., a metropolitan area three times the size of Portland that was similarly considered a difficult location for Orthodox Jews. That changed, starting 20 years ago, when an Orthodox synagogue began offering youth activities, contemporary music, classes, speakers and weeknight events designed to include all Jews.

Yagod wants that to happen in Portland. But he acknowledged that some shortcomings, for instance the lack of classes beyond second grade at Portland’s Jewish day school, cannot be overcome quickly.

One member of Shaarey Tphiloh, Peter Lewis, said resources for Orthodox Jews have shrunk so much that he’s thinking of moving to a city with a larger observant community.

“We’ve lost a lot of younger families,” he said.