Rabbi Harry Sky has died. He was the spiritual leader of Maine's largest Jewish congregation, Temple Beth-El in Portland, for nearly three decades. A New Jersey native, Sky told Maine Public's Morning Edition in 2009 that he found Maine to be a very different place from others in “the way we talk, the way we think, the way we stretch out our hands to each other.”
During the 60's, Sky joined in civil rights marches. After retiring from Temple Beth-El, he helped revive another Portland Synagogue, Etz Chaim. He was a driving force behind the creation of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, where older adults can take courses in subjects ranging from the arts to history to astronomy.
In recent years, Sky moved to North Carolina to be near family. That's where he died Saturday at age 95. His funeral will be at Temple Beth El in Portland Wednesday at 10 a.m.
Updated Dec. 16, 2019 at 8:21 a.m. ET.
