Maine may be better known as a place to spot an occasional moose than to study Maimonides, but it is home to a fair number of Jews. An estimated 10,000 live in the state, largely in Greater Portland. But like moose sightings, university-level Jewish study opportunities in Maine are few and far between.

Enter Hebrew College. On July 19 at a private home in Falmouth, a suburb of Portland, members of the area's Jewish community will gather to get their first "Taste of Me'ah." Hebrew College President David M. Gordis will speak on "The Quest to Revitalize American Judaism in the Twenty-first Century," and Me'ah Dean David Starr will lead a text study session.

Merle Nelson, who is cohosting the event with her husband, Leonard, hopes that it will spark interest in bringing the 100-hour adult Jewish studies program to her home state. "Me'ah lends itself to those long, cold winter months in Maine," she says, "and is a perfect outlet for us Yankee Jews to keep our minds active and souls rejuvenated."

Elinor G. Miller MAJS'03, whose husband, Charles, helped organize the upcoming program along with Hebrew College National Board member Neil Rolde of York, Maine, and others, concurs. "A large number of people in Greater Portland would love this kind of program and don't have the time to drive down to the Boston area," she says.

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