Bethlehem, NH – Many Jews Are Moving To The Small New Hampshire town of Bethlehem.

Behlehem, NH – Kosher history was made in this North Country town as clerks at the Bethlehem Village Store recently moved aside boxes of Luvs diapers and cases of Budweiser to make way for Manischewitz matzo meal, borscht, gefilte fish, potato pancake mix, and Tam-Tam crackers.

“The store is recognizing that there are other people who exist,” said Harold Friedman , 76, a Bethlehem selectman and resident of six years, by way of Long Island. “It’s wonderful.”

Bethlehem, population 2,300, has become an unusual rural scene. Jews from across the country have taken up residence in and around this faded resort town, lured in part by the area’s rugged beauty, but especially by the proximity to members of a common faith.

Meanwhile, the Hasidic Jews who make summer pilgrimages from New York, speaking Yiddish and generally keeping to themselves, are comingling as well. This summer they will begin construction on a year-round hotel that will cater to Jews and non-Jews.

Most significant, Jewish residents say, is the consecration of a 32-plot Jewish section in the town cemetery last fall, approved unanimously by the cemetery board, along with the installation of a faucet for visitors to wash their hands when they leave the cemetery, in keeping with Jewish tradition. Two residents have been buried in the section; three other plots have been sold.

“To live here, to die here, and to be buried here says that this is our town, too,” said David Goldstone , a New York City Department of Parks and Recreation official and long time summer resident who plans to retire to Bethlehem. [bostonglobe]