EAST HAMPTON'S JEWISH COMMUNITY

When Ephraim Lewis was asked earlier this year by Betty Marmon, the president of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons, to take on a history of the Jews in East Hampton, he responded with alacrity. He is clearly enjoying the task.

"We're about one-third of the way through," said Mr. Lewis, a retired editor for Business Week magazine and a year-round weekend resident of Springs. "I've interviewed several people, including people whose families came here just after World War I," such as Joan Brill Kallmeyer. The Brill family established a clothing store on North Main Street in the early 1900s.

"Things are still in a bit of a jumble right now," Mr. Lewis said. He is assembling photographs and continuing to interview people, and hopes to complete the project, which will culminate in a pamphlet of about 24 pages, by the end of the summer.

The earliest Jewish resident Mr. Lewis has been able to track down is Aaron Isaacs, a German immigrant who was buried in the South End Burying Ground in East Hampton. "He got here in the 1740s," Mr. Lewis said. Later, he converted to the Presbyterian faith. "He was the grandfather of John Howard Payne, and at one time owned the Payne house," which we know as Home, Sweet Home.

"It's hard to find much" from the mid-18th century through the late 19th century, Mr. Lewis continued. "The history really begins in the late 1880s, when the Jewish community flourished. Jewish engravers and craftsmen were imported from New Jersey to work at the Fahys watch case factory in Sag Harbor."

In his efforts, Mr. Lewis has been aided by a committee established for the project. The members are Doris Brill, Stuart Epstein, and John Weiller.

In the meantime, Mr. Lewis has decided to spend a solid week here working on the history, and he promised more news as his research continues apace.

ROBERT LONG