ONGREGATIONS
CONGREGATIONS BY REGION
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lmost from the moment Jews arrived in Oregon, they have sought to meet the spiritual needs of the community. The first Jewish New Year services in the Oregon Territory were held in 1856 in the gold-rush boomtown of Jacksonville in southern Oregon, where German-Jewish immigrants had moved from the California gold fields. During the first 100 years of Jewish life in Oregon, congregations emerged, merged and evolved to meet the ever-changing spiritual, lifecycle and community needs of an increasingly dispersed and diverse population. Congregation Beth Israel, the first Jewish congregation west of the Rocky Mountains and north of California, was founded in Portland in 1858 and continues today as the state’s largest Reform congregation. Congregation Ahavai Sholom, a Conservative congregation, was founded by Jews originally from Prussia, in 1869. Congregations Neveh Zedek 16
RESOURCE GUIDE 2022 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
and Talmud Torah began in 1892 and 1893, respectively, and eventually merged with Ahavai Sholom in 1961 to form Congregation Neveh Shalom. In 1902 Congregation Shaarie Torah organized as an Orthodox congregation, purchasing its first building in 1905. (The congregation is now affiliated with the Conservative movement.) By the 1960s, Oregon’s synagogues had stabilized to include today’s Congregations Beth Israel, Neveh Shalom, Shaarie Torah, Ahavath Achim and Kesser Israel, all in Portland; Temple Beth Israel in Eugene; and Temple Beth Sholom in Salem. Corvallis had to wait until 1974 before Beit Am arrived. That same decade, Portland saw its first new congregation in many years – Havurah Shalom, founded in 1978. The decades since have seen continued growth and diversity within Oregon’s Jewish community, On the following pages, you can find the congregations and outreach groups that now serve the Jewish communities of Oregon and Southwest Washington.
