Most rabbis wait for Jews to come to them. Rabbi Jeremy Simons goes to the Jews. As the new itinerant rabbi for the Institute of Southern Jewish Life, Simons drives through 13 states, serving 110 congregations from Oklahoma to Virginia. When we met with him in his office at the ISJL, a squat brown building…
1. Mississippi’s first official Jewish religious service is believed to have occurred in the port town of Natchez in 1800. 2. Perry Nussbaum, rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in Jackson, was heavily involved in the civil rights movement. In September 1967, the synagogue in Jackson was bombed by Ku Klux Klan members. In November of…
Seen one sukkah, seen ’em all — or so Rain Chan-Kalin thought. The 20-something project designer at Berkeley design/build firm Friedman Brueggemeyer grew up around garden-variety sukkahs and describes them as if she’s reciting a recipe for a not-especially-delicious meal: “three walls, maybe part of a fourth; some sort of plastic sheeting or fabric; reeds…
47,500 Jews live in Oregon. On June 1st 2014, the Portland Sephardic community celebrated its 100th anniversary. Ambacht Brewery makes matzo-based beer called “Ambacht’s Matzobraü,” made from leftover matzo collected from the local Jewish community. Bernard Malamud, author of “The Fixer,” “The Natural” and “The Assistant,” taught at Oregon State University from 1949-1961. Ron Wyden,…
1. 17,470 Jews live in Indiana, which is 0.3% of the state’s total population. In 1900, 25,000 lived here. 2. Grammy-winning violin player, Joshua Bell, grew up in Bloomington, where his father was a noted psychologist. 3. In 2013, former governor of Indiana and current president of Purdue University, Mitch Daniels tried to block the…
What has become of Indiana’s historic synagogues? The following four historic synagogues were originally built as synagogues and are still standing in Indiana. This list is not exhaustive and it does not include historic Jewish congregations who worshipped in other types of buildings, such as homes and former churches, or other historic Indiana synagogues that…
This past Labor Day weekend we celebrated the 125th anniversary of a synagogue to the sounds of AC/DC, rumbling Harleys, and the Blake Shelton song, “Kiss My Country Ass.” The synagogue was none other than Ahavath Sholom, built in Ligonier in Noble County, Indiana in 1889, and the music, well, it was part of Ligonier’s…
Synagogues in rural Iowa are few and far between for good reason. Out of almost three million residents in the 26th largest state, there are no more than 6,000 Jews, and almost half of them them live in the capital, Des Moines. So few Jews live — and die —in Iowa that the Jewish Funeral…
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