Of Bill Clinton, Bagels and 9 Other Things About (Jewish) Arkansas

Arkansas Kid: Chelsea Clinton, who married Marc Mezvinsky in an interfaith ceremony in 2010, was born in Little Rock. Image by Getty images
1) 1,725 Jews live in Arkansas.
2) In the early 1820’s, Abraham Block, a store owner, became the first Jew to settle in Arkansas.
3) Little Rock’s B’nai Israel, founded in 1866, is the state’s oldest Jewish congregation.
4) In the early 1880’s, a group of Jewish pioneers from New York founded the Am Olam settlement near Newport, Arkansas.
5) NPR’s Margot Adler, granddaughter of psychotherapist Alfred Adler, was born in Little Rock.

Filmmakers and brothers Joel Coen (left) and Ethan Coen (right) Image by Getty images
6) The Coen Brothers’ “True Grit” was based on the novel of the same title by Charles Portis who was born in El Dorado and attended college at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
7) In 2004, Etz Chaim, Bentonville’s first Jewish congregation was founded.
8) Although a decent bagel is difficult to come by in the Razorback state, Little Rock’s Morningside Bagels has been offering the closest thing to a New York bagel experience since it opened in 2007.
9) Chelsea Clinton, who married Marc Mezvinsky in an interfaith ceremony in 2010, was born in Little Rock.
10) The Jewish Federation of Arkansas holds an annual Jewish food festival in the spring at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium.
11) In 2014, the University of Arkansas’s Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences announced the creation of a new Jewish studies program.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion Yes, the attack on Gov. Shapiro was antisemitic. Here’s what the left should learn from it
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Trump’s heedless approach to an Iran deal could be a big problem for Israel
-
Fast Forward In NYC, Itamar Ben-Gvir says he’s changed — and wants ‘the Trump plan’ in Gaza
-
Opinion Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to a Jewish society at Yale exposed deep rifts between US Jews
-
Fast Forward On his first trip to Auschwitz, New Jersey governor urges vigilance against rising antisemitism
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.