Harry Etscovitz
The Etscovitz family in northern Maine was famous for its twokitchen house (one for milk and one for meat) with a ritual bath,
too. When Harry Etscovitz came to America in 1890, he was a
horse trader, but by the time he died, he had a car dealership,
and each of his six sons also owned a variety of dealerships.
When I drove to Ft. Kent to interview the family, only Sam
Etscovitz was available—most of the family members were dead
or gone. Sam (Harry's son) and his wife, Lynn, have modernized
the parental home—no double kitchens, no ritual bath, indeed no
sign of the Orthodoxy practiced by the previous generation. After
his parents died, Sam had a tremendous stone moved to the front
lawn to commemorate the synagogue that existed until 1960. The
plaque states in English on the left and Hebrew on the right: "To
commemorate Congregation Beth Israel founded October 14,
1914, by a group of faithful and devoted Jewish pioneers. They
brought to this region of northern Maine their cherished spiritual
heritage which they bequeathed to their posterity... to build a
house for the name of the Lord." Lynn decorates the lawn around
the stone with flowers that bloom most of the year.
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