‘The real story of Jewish life’ N.J. photographer visits Bangor to weave its Orthodox community into his tapestry of images for new book

The local Orthodox Jewish community is one of 16 across the country that a New Jersey photographer and writer will include in his book “A Timeless People: A Photo Tapestry of American Jewish Life.”

Saul Landa of East Brunswick, N.J., was in Bangor earlier this month interviewing elders at Beth Abraham, the city’s only Orthodox synagogue. He also scoured the public library, the historical society and synagogue records for historical tidbits.

“It’s easy to do stories on the Jewish communities in New York, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles,” he said. “The real story of Jewish life in America is their perseverance in harder atmospheres in places like Bangor.”

Landa, a retired dentist, also plans to include Philadelphia; San Antonio, Texas; Memphis, Tenn.; and Charleston, S.C., in his book. The deadline for his book is September 2009, he said.

“I chose Bangor, because Jewish settlers were here as early as the 1840s, involved in the lumber trade,” Landa said. “That community died out, but it was replaced in the 1880s by immigrants from Russia and Eastern Europe. The tapestry here is varied, and the present-day community is relatively small but active.”

Although he had researched the synagogue and city before visiting, he was surprised to learn that Bagel Central, known for being the only kosher deli north of Boston, is owned and operated by a non-Jew.

“She told me that she grew up in the delicatessen,” Landa said of his interview with Sonya Eldridge. “She’s been working there since she was a teenager and doesn’t know any way to run a restaurant except kosher.”

One of the activities Landa captured during his visit was Beth Abraham’s Purim celebration on Thursday, March 20.

The holiday commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people in ancient Persia from Haman’s plot to annihilate them. The story is recorded in the Book of Esther, who foiled the plot. Esther was made queen by King Ahasuerus, and the king allowed the Jews to destroy their enemies.

Landa said that before he arrived in Bangor he chose to visit the synagogue in mid-March to capture the joyous atmosphere of the holiday on film.

“Purim is the zaniest day of the Jewish calendar,” he said. “Children and adults wear costumes, exchange gift baskets and behave with fewer inhibitions. There’s lots of color and emotion. It’s a photographer’s paradise.”

Jews also boo and hiss, blow horns and swing noisemakers whenever Haman’s name is read.

Louis Kornreich of Bangor has been an active member of Beth Abraham for more than 30 years. He said that Landa’s book is important because “little is known today about the Orthodox community.”

“We’re here and we’ve been able to maintain ourselves with a minyan twice a day, and we carry out all the duties of an Orthodox community,” he said. “But it’s not easy. We’re smaller, we’re older and each day is a little challenge.”

A minyan is the quorum of 10 males over the age of 13 needed to conduct communal prayers in the morning and the evening at an Orthodox synagogue.

Barbara Podolsky’s grandparents came to Bangor in 1908. Her granddaughters are the fourth generation born into Beth Abraham. She believes that being chosen to be in Landa’s book reflects the commitment of the Orthodox community in northern Maine to its traditions and values.

“If you are an Orthodox Jew in a place like Bangor, Maine, you are committed,” she said. “We have had to work at it, and it’s really been a chore. But we’ve chosen to be here mainly because we love the lifestyle in Maine.”

She said that on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath, she and her family walk from their homes near St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor to synagogue on York Street to follow God’s commandment that it be a day of rest. Friends and neighbors always greet them.

“That wouldn’t happen in New York or other big cities,” she said.