History of the Jews in Oregon
[2] Early European Jewish immigrants rarely faced antisemitism in the Oregon American frontier, as other settlers tended to consider them as fellow white pioneers.
[3] The Jewish populations' engagement in town building, involvement in pack train operations, and battling in Oregon's American Indian Wars further ingratiated them into their respective communities.
Beginning in the 1880s, an influx of Eastern European Jews from Russia, Ukraine, Poland entered Oregon, many of whom were conservative ideological socialists who practiced Orthodox Judaism.
[3] According to the Oregon Historical Society, "the requisites for strict practice, such as the quorum of ten men needed for a service and the availability of kosher meat, were lacking on the frontier.
"[3] Many Jewish men established businesses and trade operations via San Francisco, which led them north into the then-Oregon Territory.
[3] Historian William Toll described the Jewish immigrants who traveled to the west coast: They tended to be a different kind of person—independent-minded, ready to leave the community they knew, more connected to natural beauty than, say, the Jews who declined to leave urban centers of Philadelphia and New York for an unknown life among the evergreens and people who at the time were called Indians.
[2] Incidents of antisemitism in the Oregon frontier were rare, as English-speaking European Jews were generally viewed by other settlers as fellow white pioneers.
[3] Bernard Goldsmith, a Bavarian Jewish immigrant to Oregon who fought as a cavalry lieutenant in the state's Indian Wars,[6] was elected as the 19th mayor of Portland, serving from 1869 until 1871.
[6] Beginning in the 1880s, the United States saw an influx of Eastern European Jews, largely aspiring farmers and laborers from Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, and Poland.
[3] The Eastern European Jewish community that arrived in Oregon was considerably more conservative and religious than the already-established American Jews (largely of German origin); They were also more receptive to socialist and Zionist ideologies.
[3] Such ideological differences created a fraught relationship between the two groups, with many American Jews regarding the newcomers as "backward and insular", and fearing their presence may fuel antisemitism.
[3] The 1890s saw many Eastern European Jewish immigrants in Oregon working as traders or aspiring merchants in Portland, which by that time was a major economic and cultural hub in the Pacific Northwest.
[9][10] In the 1950s and 1960s, some Jewish Oregonians faced antisemitism through exclusion from country clubs, professional firms, and educational institutions such as high schools and college fraternities and sororities.
