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Southern Jews a Dying Breed as Small-Town Communities Dwindle Fast
Forward ^ | April 28, 2013 | Seth Berkman

Posted on 04/29/2013 6:05:40 PM PDT by SJackson

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To: wardaddy

Yes, I remember fish sandwiches or patties and cheese pizza on Fridays. I won’t list my schools. SoJack is not the same place.

When I was growing up, we would drive through the areas around Provine HS, and you could tell that those areas had once housed prosperous people. But they weren’t anymore. The same is true of my old neighborhood.

They serve meatless foods here on Fridays during Lent. But this is a heavily Catholic area. I can think of very few Catholic classmates in Jackson. My Catholic friends went to . . . Prep! Lol


21 posted on 04/30/2013 12:12:17 AM PDT by petitfour
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To: wardaddy

bttt


22 posted on 04/30/2013 12:17:56 AM PDT by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life :o)
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To: wardaddy

In my neighborhood, I can remember at least two Jewish households. They kept to themselves. I do not know their names. We did not trick or treat at those two houses. I don’t remember them having children though they may have been older couples with grown children. Our neighborhood had one of those neighborhood covenants regarding the selling of your house. It was ignored by the time I was 22. Then neighbors sold their houses as quickly as possible to anyone who would buy.


23 posted on 04/30/2013 12:19:17 AM PDT by petitfour
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To: petitfour

St joseph has moved to madison county

I think st marys and theresa are closed

St richards and some new ones in rankin and maybe terry area

Best street around provine was pecan park boulevard...great christmas decorations

I had you figured for sykes and peeples?

Man french elementary is very very rugged hood now

A vacant lot wasteland by 2025


24 posted on 04/30/2013 12:21:06 AM PDT by wardaddy (wanna know how my kin felt during Reconstruction in Mississippi, you fixin to find out firsthand)
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To: wardaddy

I did go to Peeples. They tore it down in the last few years. I remember the roof leaking when I was in school. Lol

My neighborhood had the best Christmas decorations in town during my childhood. Those were the days . . .


25 posted on 04/30/2013 12:25:47 AM PDT by petitfour
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To: petitfour

Oh, I think they built another school on the same land. So Peeples still exists.


26 posted on 04/30/2013 12:27:41 AM PDT by petitfour
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To: wardaddy; petitfour

Temple Beth Israel is still on Old Canton Rd in Jackson, not far from Colonial Country Club. How large and vibrant the congregation is I have no idea.

My crew and I have lived in the Memphis area for about 9 years now, and there is a significant population of folks whose family are historically of the Hebrew faith.

I have a good friend and former co-worker, Jewish fella from High Point, NC, who once explained to me how the stereotype of the “Jewish Merchant/Banker” came to be, and why you see concentrations of Jewish folks in places you might not otherwise expect. This is his perspective, but it certainly seems to me to be a credible explanation.

Paraphrasing, he said, “When the Hebrew people were itinerant, after the exile from the Holy Land, they found themselves wandering through areas dominated by Christians and then muslims. In many cases they weren’t allowed to own land, and since the early Christians and muslims couldn’t loan money amongst themselves and charge interest (it was considered usury), the Jewish people filled the vacuum. They became skilled at it, and the trade began to be passed between generations. So if you look around the world, and around the US, any place that there is significant commerce, or even places where ther once WAS significant commerce, you’re likely to find a concentration of Jews. Memphis, for instance, was a VERY significant cotton port and exchange. Don’t forget that Lehman Brothers was founded in Montgomery, Alabama.”

So, Natchez, Vicksburg, New Orleans. All make sense.

In Memphis, there is an enclave in the Eastern part of the city proper, around a temple... where it’s generally accepted that if your home is on one of the key footpath routes to Temple, people are going to walk right through your back yard on Saturdays. So I’m led to understand. And if you don’t want to deal with that, well, you move to another neighborhood.

Southern parts of Kansas City are heavily Jewish, as I recall. Can anybody back me up on that?


27 posted on 04/30/2013 5:31:58 AM PDT by Yudan (Living comes much easier once we admit we're dying.)
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To: rmlew

“Maybe some Ultra-Orthodox Jews from the NYC metro area should move south and take up as farmers and shopkeepers. Then again, the wool clothing would be a real pain 6 months of the year.”

There are alternatives to wool clothing.

I tend to agree. I am from a very small town in Israel (3400 people) and can barely tolerate the giant shuls in NYC.

There is some very serious need for Kosher involvement in food production at all levels, mainly because non-Jews have realized that its a short-hand way of avoiding some of the frankenfood issues going on.

I think they’d do well in small towns.


28 posted on 04/30/2013 7:55:39 AM PDT by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem.)
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To: jjotto
There were comparatively many Jews in South Carolina before 1700! And not just in Charleston, but in a number of small towns as well.

Charleston was at one time supposedly the world headquarters of the "International Jewish Conspiracy." Something with it being the 33rd parallel and the Scotch Rite Masons being headquartered there.

29 posted on 04/30/2013 8:59:06 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (Ki-hagoy vehamamlakhah 'asher lo'-ya`avdukh yove'du; vehagoyim charov yecheravu!)
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To: KC_Lion
You know more about that part of the country than I do Ping.

As I understand it, there was a time when almost every small town in the country had at least one Jewish family. The limitation of American Jews to large cities is a relatively recent phenomenon.

The Southern Jews were primarily "Reform" (notice the use of the term "Temple" in the names of the synagogues; only the "Reform" call their synagogues "temples"). I believe Judah P. Benjamin was "Reform" as well.

Ironically, while the old Southern Reform owned slaves and pretty much held the same beliefs as their non-Jewish neighbors, nowadays the remaining Reform population is as radical as those anywhere else in the country . . . at least from my limited experience with the "Temple" in the city north of here.

30 posted on 04/30/2013 9:06:20 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (Ki-hagoy vehamamlakhah 'asher lo'-ya`avdukh yove'du; vehagoyim charov yecheravu!)
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To: Yudan
In Memphis, there is an enclave in the Eastern part of the city proper, around a temple... where it’s generally accepted that if your home is on one of the key footpath routes to Temple, people are going to walk right through your back yard on Saturdays. So I’m led to understand. And if you don’t want to deal with that, well, you move to another neighborhood.

"Temple" is a term used exclusively by "Reform" Jews, and "Reform" Jews will drive on Shabbat.

Orthodox Jews, who have to walk on Shabbat, do not call their synagogues "temples."

31 posted on 04/30/2013 9:11:51 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (Ki-hagoy vehamamlakhah 'asher lo'-ya`avdukh yove'du; vehagoyim charov yecheravu!)
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To: Jewbacca
“Maybe some Ultra-Orthodox Jews from the NYC metro area should move south and take up as farmers and shopkeepers. Then again, the wool clothing would be a real pain 6 months of the year.”

There are alternatives to wool clothing.

I tend to agree. I am from a very small town in Israel (3400 people) and can barely tolerate the giant shuls in NYC.

As I understand it, even large Jewish neighborhoods in big cities have numerous small shuls to davnen in. One need not attend a large, ornate synagogue. From my own limited experience visiting synagogues in a city two hours away from my own home I know I far preferred the small shul to the large one. The small one had serious davnening; in the large one everyone was talking and it was hard to pay attention. Of course, I only visited on Simchat Torah and Purim, so that might have had something to do with it.

There is some very serious need for Kosher involvement in food production at all levels, mainly because non-Jews have realized that its a short-hand way of avoiding some of the frankenfood issues going on.

We need kosher Moon Pies--stat!

But seriously, although the rules of slaughter for Jews and Noachides are different, most authorities hold that non-Jews may eat food that is kosher-slaughtered for Jews.

I think they’d do well in small towns.

I'd like to think so. Maybe if they distributed those charts that trace world history from Adam to today?

32 posted on 04/30/2013 9:19:55 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (Ki-hagoy vehamamlakhah 'asher lo'-ya`avdukh yove'du; vehagoyim charov yecheravu!)
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To: SJackson; Zionist Conspirator

This is true.

I was back in Texas (San Angelo) to see my mom for the high holidays and our synagogue barely scraped up a male minyan, and that included me who is pretty much a heretic.

I was pretty sad about it. About 1/2 of my classmates have intermarried (I married an Israeli at least) and are following their spouse’s faith, 1/3 just moved away to Dallas or Houston or wherever, and 1/3 just stopped coming.

There is one young family and I can tell they are temporary in town.


33 posted on 04/30/2013 9:24:12 AM PDT by MeanWestTexan (Beware Obama's Reichstag Fire.)
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To: SJackson

The Orthodox, who typically have large families, would do a better job of keeping the Jewish population level up.


34 posted on 04/30/2013 10:22:06 AM PDT by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed &water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS, NOW & FOREVER!)
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To: Zionist Conspirator
Local Jewish Farm Girl....Sounds Great!

Thanks for the Info Z.C.

You are a treasure trove of information!

35 posted on 04/30/2013 10:29:19 AM PDT by KC_Lion (Build the America you want to live in at your address, and keep looking up.-Sarah Palin)
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To: Zionist Conspirator

I stand corrected. Thank you. I did not know the difference. Obviously I am not Jewish.


36 posted on 04/30/2013 11:38:18 AM PDT by Yudan (Living comes much easier once we admit we're dying.)
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