The Three Rabbis

Three men, half a century, one community

Timeline

1849

Jacob Goldsmith and Lewis May are the first Jewish settlers in Portland. Some of the Bavarian-born Jews who first arrived in Oregon, they operated a general merchandise story on Front Ave. *

* (From Scott Cline, “Community Structure on the Urban Frontier: The Jews of Portland, Oregon, 1849-1887”)

1853

The first Jewish woman in Oregon, Mrs. Weinshank, opens a boarding house in Portland for Jewish bachelors.

1858

Congregation Beth Israel is the first synagogue in Portland.

1850s

Louis Blumauer is the first Jewish child born in Oregon.

Noteworthy: Jews and Chinese were the two ethnic groups that flanked the miner towns. While Jews were viewed as European and assimilated, Chinese were discriminated against, and did much of the back-breaking labor.

1850s–1860s

The California Gold Rush spurred much of the Jewish movement from the East Coast, Midwest and California to Oregon. Jewish merchants moved west to profit from storekeeping in mining towns. When one gold camp or town dried up, Jews moved on to the next, and so made their way to Oregon. Jacksonville, Oregon became the most important town between San Francisco and Portland when gold was discovered nearby in 1851. Seven Jewish residents lived in Jacksonville in 1852; all of them were men. After gold played out in Jacksonville, most of the Jewish merchants returned to San Francisco. The continued gold mining in California created a demand for Oregon lumber and wheat, which freed Oregon farmers from the limited market of the Hudson Bay Company and established Portland and other Oregon towns permanently.

1873

A major fire destroys much of downtown Portland.

1880s

Jews have dominated Portland’s clothing industry, and own significant shares of federal merchandising, furniture, tobacco and wholesale supply establishments.

1880s

Eastern European Jews immigrate to Oregon. A rift between already-established German Jews of Portland, and more Orthodox Eastern European Jews changes the Jewish community.

1894

The Great Flood of the Willamette inundates Meier & Frank. The store stays open and uses rowboats to bring customers to plank walks along the sales counters. By 1914, Meier & Frank would grow to be the fourth-largest department store in America.

1905

Ida Loewenberg founds the Portland section of Neighborhood House (Portland’s major settlement house), and the National Council of Jewish Women. Founded on principles of assimilation into American Jewish life, Neighborhood House helped to breach the gap between cultural differences, teaching Americanization, citizenship preparation and trade skills. The South Parkway Club started up after the Neighborhood House. Warner Brothers’ Mel Blanc got his start in an early South Parkway minstrel show.

1910

The first Sephardic Jews arrived in Portland and begin the Ahavath Achim congregation.

1915

The Anti Defamation League (ADL) is founded after a Jew is lynched in Atlanta.

1925

Jeanette Meier dies and the dam breaks in the Meier & Frank empire. Portlanders became fascinated with the conflict between the Frank family and the Meier family over the company’s stock and future. The rise and fall of Meier & Frank is one of Portland’s richest business stories, and an American tale that reflects the outcomes of so many family-owned department stores when national conglomerates took over after WWII.

1930s

With the rise of Hitler and Nazism, it became less popular to be overtly anti-Semitic in the U.S. More subtle forms of discrimination resulted in exclusion from certain schools, social clubs, fraternities, sororities and high-level businesses. The Arlington Club and University Club were two such exclusionary social places.

1930s

In the midst of the Great Depression, people helped each other out in unprecedented ways. Many people began moving to the east side of the Willamette, and some Jews moved to smaller communities in Oregon such as Eugene. Financial strife riddled the synagogues during this time.

1938

B’nai B’rith Center officially becomes the Jewish Community Center.

Noteworthy: In the 1940s, the Holocaust became “the touchstone for all Jewish sensibility.” After the war, there was a dramatic increase in Zionist organizations nationwide. Jews everywhere fought to establish a Jewish state — a haven where Jews would be protected. Oregon Jews participated in money drives to assist refugees immigrating to Palestine. Gussie Rheinhardt went to Israel in 1973 to plant the first trees in the Oregon Friendship Forest on the hills of Galilee. Many Jews feel that the formation of Israel created a new kind of glue that holds the Jewish people together.

1953

Rabbi Joshua Stampfer arrives in Portland, and takes the reins of what will become Neveh Shalom.

1960

Rabbis Emanuel Rose and Yonah Geller arrive in Portland. Rose comes to take the helm of Temple Beth Israel and Geller leads Shaarie Torah.

1960s

During the 1960s, urban renewal and freeway projects forced many changes in various congregations. It became increasingly difficult to maintain the Orthodox traditions of walking to synagogue, not working on the Sabbath, providing separate seating for men and women, and other laws of kashrut. These changes paved the way for the Reform and Conservative movements.

A closer look

Historic Profile: Sigmund Heilner

Sigmund left his family in New York to join his brother in San Francisco, and eventually moved to Browntown, Oregon to start a money-lending business. He was involved in battling a few Indian uprisings in Southern Oregon, then moved to Sparta in Union County, where he established a general store and later moved to Portland where he married his wife Clara Neuberger. Their son Richard Neuberger was Oregon’s second Jewish U.S. senator. Finally, the Heilners moved to Baker City, Oregon and became local luminaries. Sigmund and Clara are both buried in Beth Israel cemetery in Portland. His diary pages have been published, and uniquely detail his interpretations of beginning life in Oregon as a Jew.

Historic Profile: Bernard Goldsmith

Mayor of Portland from 1869-1871, Bernard Goldsmith built the Willamette Falls Locks in Oregon City.

Meier and Frank

Aaron Meier: Founder of Meier and Frank Department Store.

Emil Frank: Aaron Meier’s business partner in the Meier and Frank department store. Emil Frank’s brother Sigmund married Aaron Meier’s daughter Fannie in 1885.

Jeanette Meier: Aaron Meier’s wife who was a powerful force at Meier & Frank. She lived for 36 years after Aaron’s death, was the guiding force of the business, and became known as “Tante Jeanette.”

Historic Profile: Ida Lowenberg, Community Leader

Born 1872 in Posen, Prussia, Ida Loewenberg founded the Portland section of Neighborhood House, and the National Council of Jewish Women, helping bridge the rift between German and Eastern European Jews in Portland.

Historic Profile: Stephen Wise

Rabbi of Beth Israel from 1900-1906, Stephen Wise established a free pulpit in Portland and went on to be one of the preeminent rabbis in American history.

Organization: The Failing School

The Failing School taught many ethnic groups, and children of all ages to speak English. Most Jews went on to Lincoln High School, where many children made their first real contact with the rest of society, and struggled with trying to maintain traditional ways while facing the temptations of high school.

Organizations: Jewish Newspapers

The Weekly Gleaner, The American Hebrew, the Jewish Tribune, Portland Jewish Review.

Historic Profile: Louis Albert

Born 1891 in Kiev, Russia, Louis Albert was the “Soda Pop King” who made Portland Punch.

Historic Profile: Sam Schnitzer

A self-made man who started out selling junk, Schnitzer went on to become a Forbes magazine “richest citizen.” His business grew into an international metals dealership.

Organizations: The Zionist Movement

Hadassah, Mizrachi Zionist Society, Portland Zionist Roll Call, Zionist District of Portland, Lovers of Zion Society, Portland Zionist Council.

Portland was unusual in the broad and vital support Zionism received from the Jewish community. Stephen Wise and David Solis-Cohen created the founding principles of Portland’s Zionist movement. Theodore Herzl himself came to the Beth Israel pulpit in Portland to speak. Zionism appealed to both the frontier heritage and pioneer spirit of Oregonians.

Historic Profile: Gus Solomon

Born in 1906, Gus Solomon served as a federal district judge from 1949-1987. His efforts to open up social clubs to Jews in the 1960s effectively broke barriers for Jews in high-business as well. Known as one of Oregon’s most prominent social justice leaders, he set up the first branch of the American Civil Liberties Union in Oregon, and helped institutionalize the ideals of social justice.

Historic Profile: Irv Goodman

Civil rights lawyer and “champion of the underdog,” Irv Goodman’s efforts made Portland the second city in the nation to end Jim Crow laws.