The Jewish Frontier

The Jewish Frontier examines the history of the Jewish people who helped build the American West. They were some of the earliest settlers, arriving with the Gold Rush and staying to create the businesses and communities that formed the state.

In Europe, Russia, and elsewhere, Jews faced a long history of persecution. But in the unsettled American frontier they could create their own destinies. Arriving as merchants, they were welcomed for the much needed goods and services they provided to the growing towns.

They ranged from junk peddlers in Portland's immigrant community, to entrepreneurs who built multi-million dollar businesses. Aaron Meier opened his first Portland store in 1857 and went on to operate Meier & Frank, one of the nation's largest department stores.

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Bernard Goldsmith was a mediator between the military and Native Americans, and became Portland’s first Jewish mayor.

Sigmund Heilner followed gold miners to Southern and Eastern Oregon where he established one of the region's longest operating businesses.

Those earliest Jewish arrivals shed many traditional values, sometimes placing them at odds with each other. In one instance, an argument over religious practice led to a rabbi shooting at someone in the street.

Near Roseburg, a Jewish farming commune gave equal rights to men and women, long before most of society did.

In South Portland, Orthodox Jews from Eastern Europe and Russia settled into an immigrant neighborhood.

From its streets, newsboys hawked papers in front of speakeasies and junk peddlers sold their wares.

It was the early home of the “Man of a Thousand Voices” Mel Blanc, Trail Blazers founder Harry Glickman and internationally renowned painter Mark Rothko, as well as a few criminals.

Despite the differences, the shared Jewish identity brought the communities together and helped reshape Jewish culture.

Through Urban Renewal that displaced homes and synagogues, to the devastating aftermath of the Holocaust, Oregon’s Jews have continually found new ways to honor the past and set the foundation for a future, while at the same time redefining what it means to be Jewish in the American West.

Using rare historical photos, film, and more than two dozen interviews with people all over the state, The Jewish Frontier tells the story of pioneering Jews who helped shape Oregon.

People throughout Oregon's Jewish community give different answers to the question "What does it mean to be Jewish?".

RESOURCES AND INFORMATION

Interviews

Pete Asch,

Former Archivist, Oregon Jewish Museum

and Center for Holocaust Education

Noel Blanc

,

Voice Artist & Mel Blanc’s Son

Carol Chestler,

Volunteer, Oregon Jewish Museum

and Center for Holocaust Education

Joshua Boettiger

,

Rabbi, Temple Emek Shalom, Ashland

Gary Dielman,

Baker County Local Historian

Ellen Eisenberg,

Professor of History, Willamette University

Daniel Eliezer Froehlich

,

Jewish Genealogist

Gerry Frank,

Meier & Frank

Boaz Frankel

,

Peddle Powered Talk Show

Rosalie Goodman

,

Volunteer, Oregon Jewish Museum

and Center for Holocaust Education

Harry Glickman

,

Founder, Portland Trail Blazers

Miriam Greenstein

,

Holocaust Survivor

Bruce Guenther

,

Retired Curator of Modern Art,

Portland Art Museum

Judith Havas

,

Temple Administrator, Temple Beth Sholom, Salem

Michael Kaplan

,

Rabbi, Congregation Ahavath Achim

Jeff Levin

,

Jacksonville Local Historian

Eve Levy

,

Portland Kollel

Richard Matza

,

Sephardic Jewish Heritage

Albert Menashe

,

Sephardic Jewish Heritage

Chayim Mishulovin

,

Rabbi, Chabad Lubavitch of Oregon

Bruce Morris

,

Hazzan, P’nai Or of Portland

Joshua Rose

,

Rabbi, Congregation Shaarie Torah, Portland

Dirk Siedlecki

,

President, Friends of Jacksonville’s

Historic Cemetery

Barbara Sidway

,

Owner, Geiser Grand Hotel

Joshua Stampfer,

Congregation Neveh Shalom, Rabbi Emeritus

Robert Stein

,

Ahavas Torah, Eugene

George Tanner,

Ahavas Torah, Eugene

Judy Tanner

,

Ahavas Torah, Eugene

Menachem Taiblum

,

Holocaust Survivor

Sharon Tarlow

,

Volunteer, Oregon Jewish Museum

and Center for Holocaust Education

William Toll

,

Historian and Author

Shlomo Truzman

,

Rabbi, Congregation Beit Yosef  

Johan Visser

,

Jewish Section, Friends of Jacksonville’s

Historic Cemetery

Steven Wasserstrom

,

Professor of Jewish and Religious Studies, Reed College

David Zaslow

,

Rabbi, Havurah Shir Hadash, Ashland

Embracing a Western Identity: Jewish Oregonians
1849 – 1950
Eisenberg, Ellen

Jews of the Pacific Coast
Eisenberg, Ellen; Kahn, Ava; Toll, William

Promoter Ain't a Dirty Word
Glickman, Harry

In the Shadow of Death
Greenstein, Miriam Kominkowska

Jewish Life in the American West
Kahn, Ava

The Jews of Oregon 1850 – 1950
Lowenstein, Steven

Vida Sefaradi: A Century of Sephardic Life in Portland
Oregon Jewish Museum

Pioneer Jews: A New Life in the Far West
Rochlin, Harriet and Fred

With G-D at My Side: A Child's Story of Survival
Taiblum, Menachem

The Making of the Ethnic Middle Class: Portland Jewry Over Four Generations
Toll, William

Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education

Jewish Federation of Greater Oregon

Community Directory of Jewish Portland, Oregon

Everything Jewish

Mittleman Jewish Community Center