Building Back Better After the Fire

Fire is a powerful symbol of sanctity in Jewish tradition. Fire marks the beginning and end of Shabbat with the lights of the Shabbat and Havdalah candles, setting the intervening 25 hours apart from all the other hours of the week. Fire is central during Chanukah, when for eight days, Jews commemorate the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem by kindling the flames of the menorah and recalling the fire of the altar, ever-present and never to be extinguished. Fire can be used to purify objects, making that which is forbidden “kosher” or fit for ritual use. Under some circumstances, fire even takes an ordinary meal of grain or meat and turns it into an act of worship of God.

On the other hand, fire can also be a powerful force of destruction. Here in Maine, Portland’s distinctive brick and Victorian architecture are a legacy of the Great Fire of 1866 (probably caused by a spark from a firecracker), which began in a boathouse on Commercial Street on July 4, rapidly spread through the city, and ultimately burned away on Munjoy Hill, devouring 1,800 buildings and making 10,000 people homeless -- thankfully, only two people were killed. Prior to the 1866 fire, most houses in Portland were made of highly combustible wood. Eighty-one years later, a fire that began in a northern Maine cranberry bog (the cause is still unknown) turned into a raging inferno that between October 13 and October 27 eradicated half of Acadia National Park and nearly all the mansions on Millionaire’s Row in Bar Harbor. In all, sixteen people were killed, nine entire towns and 250,000 acres of forest were reduced to ashes, 851 homes and 397 seasonal cottages were destroyed, and 2,500 people were left homeless.1947 will, therefore, forever be known as “the Year Maine Burned.”

And at around 1:00 AM on May 20, 2020 – almost exactly two months after Governor Mills issued the stay-at-home order in Maine – an electrical fire behind the Ark in Etz Chaim Synagogue wreaked havoc on the 132-year-old Congress Street building that houses the synagogue and the Maine Jewish Museum. Thanks to our sprinkler system and the rapid response of the Portland Fire Department, the building was saved and no lives were lost. The water damage, however, was extensive. A precious Torah and six paintings were destroyed, the iconic stained-glass windows in the front of the building were ruined, the entire first and second floor of the building had to be removed, and all the floors and ceilings needed to be rebuilt from scratch.

The real story, however, is of resilience and rebuilding, and of caring and community. After securing rental space at 76 Washington Avenue, Curator-in-Residence Nancy Davidson created a pop-up gallery and continued to hold two exhibitions a month while the Congress Street Building underwent repairs; many of our current “regulars'” first introduction to the Museum was through the pop-up. And thanks to the overwhelming generosity of our friends and supporters in the middle of a global pandemic and a national lockdown, we were truly able to “build back better.” In addition to reconstructing the first and second floors of the museum and recreating the Etz Chaim sanctuary to the exact specifications of the original 1920s space (including the hand-painted clouds on the domed ceiling), we expanded the community room, improved office space, and added landscaping.

As the before and after photos in this online exhibit show, the small but mighty Maine Jewish community ensured that the fire was but a chapter in the Maine Jewish Museum’s story, not the end of our story. For this, we are eternally grateful. May the fire inside us always burn brighter than the fire around us.

Dawn LaRochelle
Executive Director

After the Fire