Numbers, Narratives, and Maine Jewish Life

The Maine Jewish Museum invites you to a thoughtful and participatory afternoon exploring how numbers and narratives together help us understand Jewish life in Maine.

This spring, students in a Maine Jewish History course taught by David Freidenreich, the Pulver Family Professor of Jewish Studies at Colby College and MJM’s Historian in Residence, are engaging deeply with Jewish Maine: The 2024 Community Study — a landmark, statewide demographic and sociological study conducted by Brandeis University. As part of this work, students have been drawing on There Is Always an &, the Maine Jewish Museum’s signature photography exhibition documenting the layered, expansive identities of Jews across the state.

Rather than stopping at charts and statistics, students interviewed individuals featured in the Ampersand Project, exploring how large-scale data connects to lived experience. The program will take the form of a poster session, with students presenting their research and reflections, followed by a facilitated community conversation at the Museum.

Together, we’ll consider how quantitative research and personal narrative inform one another — and what this combined approach can teach us about Jewish life, belonging, and complexity in Maine today. By attending, you are actively supporting the next generation of Jewish scholars — and helping ensure that rigorous inquiry, thoughtful storytelling, and community-centered Jewish life continue to thrive in Maine.

Whether you participated in the Ampersand Project, are curious about Jewish Maine: The 2024 Community Study, or want to have a final chance to check out There Is Always an & before it closes, we hope you’ll join us.

Registration is free but required. Light refreshments will be served.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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