WATERVILLE, Maine — In the days before Passover, Rabbi Rachel Isaacs was busy coordinating the preparation of traditional ceremonial foods at Beth Israel Congregation, a central Maine synagogue that has seen its membership grow fourfold in the past decade and a half.
Expanding congregations is at the forefront of Isaacs’ work these days, as she spearheads an initiative to bolster rural synagogues and Jewish communities nationwide. The effort has connected with dozens of communities, with plans to reach many more.
“Rural Jewish life is important for the Jewish people and it’s important for rural America,” Isaacs said. “Those people deserve to be served and shepherded.”
As executive director of the Center for Small Town Jewish Life at Colby College, a liberal arts institution in Waterville, Maine, Isaacs oversees programs that launched ten years ago. The center now supports more than 60 communities spanning 22 states, all focused on helping Jewish congregations located far from metropolitan areas.
While Jewish Americans make up slightly under 2.4% of the U.S. population, one out of every eight Jewish people lives beyond major urban centers, and the center works to help these communities flourish, Isaacs explained.
This outreach comes at a crucial moment, as America has approximately 20% fewer synagogues today compared to 1990, based on research by Alanna E. Cooper, a Jewish studies professor at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. Rural areas face even steeper declines, with aging populations and resident relocations severely impacting congregations.
The rural synagogue initiative is also unfolding amid a surge in antisemitism and violent attacks targeting Jewish communities across America. The Anti-Defamation League documented nearly a 900% spike in antisemitic incidents over the decade ending in 2024. Several states with elevated incident rates include predominantly rural areas like Maine, New Hampshire and Wyoming, according to the ADL’s findings.
Isaacs believes the center’s mission can help counter this troubling pattern.
“You have more Jews that experience joy, who can locate strength, form connections with other Jews across the country and around the world,” Isaacs said. “In a world of rising antisemitism it’s more and more important that Jewish communities are joyful, strong and connected.”
Since its establishment, the center has assisted congregations stretching from Maine to California, Montana and Texas.
Isaacs also serves as rabbi at Beth Israel, a century-old synagogue located near Colby that stands as the sole Jewish house of worship within 20 miles of the campus. While the synagogue has expanded alongside the center, the Center for Small Town Jewish Life’s impact extends well beyond Maine’s borders, she noted.
Congregations that have partnered with the center describe its contributions as essential in a nation where Jewish populations have been predominantly urban since early immigration waves. In Helena, Montana, Rebecca Stanfel, executive director of the Montana Jewish Project, credits the center with helping unite her state’s relatively small Jewish community.
Connecting scattered faith communities holds special significance in places like Montana, Stanfel emphasized.
“In Helena, we have no choice but to rely on volunteers. And if we want to have something like a seder, High Holidays, it’s got to come from the community,” Stanfel said. “That is also a really important model for people outside rural America.”
The center supports congregations through three key approaches designed to strengthen rural synagogues. The first is Makom, a two-year mentorship initiative for rabbis in their early years of serving rural synagogues.
A second program prepares lay leaders to conduct prayer services and support congregations, enabling them to prosper without full-time rabbinical staff. The third component provides board leadership training, teaching synagogue presidents and boards effective management of small-town Jewish institutions.
Rabbi Lisa Rappaport, who serves Congregation Beth Israel in Chico, California, participated in the inaugural Makom program. Rural rabbis frequently oversee their town’s only Jewish congregation, making the work “special and it’s beautiful and it’s challenging,” she explained.
The Makom fellowship empowers rural rabbis to meet these unique challenges, Rappaport said.
“We have felt very validated as rabbis in small communities that our work is as important,” she said.
In Waterville, volunteers including Colby students and retirees prepared to welcome approximately 100 people for Passover. Though the community may be small, it remains strong and caring, said Jeff Lovitz, a synagogue member, while folding napkins.
“We’ve been here since the early ’70s. Our kids went to Hebrew school here,” he said. “I think it’s important to have a Jewish community in Waterville.”
