Andrew Muchin


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Tales from the Jewish Heartland

By Andrew Muchin

Tales from the Jewish Heartland
I’ve been fressing in the Midwest more or less continuously since 1958. I grew up in a kosher home in Manitowoc, WI, population 33,000, with an active Orthodox-ish congregation of about 50 families. When I was a preschooler, my Grandma Mamie Muchin used to shlep me to visit the local shochet, who kept chickens in his backyard. (Little did I know their fate.)Read More

Two Jewish Guys and an Arkansas Christmas Ritual

By Andrew Muchin

Two Jewish Guys and an Arkansas Christmas Ritual
You don’t need flashing reindeer lawn ornaments to tell you it’s the happiest time of the year in Arkansas’s capital. Simply tune into FM 89 KUAR in December for the “Jewish Guys’ Chanukah Special,” with co-hosts Phil Kaplan and Leslie Singer.Read More

A Final Yom Kippur in the Delta for Mississippi Community Begun in 1830s

By Andrew Muchin

A Final Yom Kippur in the Delta for Mississippi Community Begun in 1830s
As the members of Temple Beth El in Lexington, Miss., pray this Yom Kippur for inclusion in the Book of Life, they’ll be attending a funeral of sorts. The Ne’ilah, the day’s traditional closing service, will be the last scheduled worship to be held in their 104-year-old white wooden synagogue.Read More

'Rabbi' of Rumba

By Andrew Muchin

Before the Hip Hop Hoodios or the long-defunct Tijuana Brass added Latin rhythms to Yiddishe melodies, there was Irving Fields. The pianist who composed the 1946 hit “Miami Beach Rhumba” created the Latin-Jewish genre with the 1959 LP “Bagels and Bongos.”Read More

Pioneers in the Black Hills

By Andrew Muchin

It’s doubtful that Calamity Jane loved Wild Bill Hickock as much as local lore alleges, but there’s no disputing that the tomboy gunslinger bought groceries from Jacob Goldberg on Main Street.Read More



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