JTF.ORG Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Shamgar on September 08, 2008, 06:11:01 PM
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Heck, ought to be able to get 10K for a gentile... :-[
Group dangles $50K for Jews who move to Ala. town By JAY REEVES, Associated Press Writer
59 minutes ago
DOTHAN, Ala. - Larry Blumberg is looking for a few good Jews to move to his corner of the Bible Belt. Blumberg is chairman of an organization offering Jewish families as much as $50,000 to relocate to Dothan, an overwhelmingly Christian town of 58,000 that calls itself the Peanut Capital of the World. Get involved at Temple Emanu-El and stay at least five years, the group's leaders say, and the money doesn't have to be repaid.
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More Jews are living in the South than ever — about 386,000 at last count in 2001, according to Stuart Rockoff, a historian at the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life in Jackson, Miss. But young Jews are leaving small places like Dothan in favor of cities like Atlanta and Birmingham, Rockoff said, and dozens of small-town synagogues have closed.
"A lot of the older people have died, and not many of the younger ones have stayed," said Thelma Nomberg, a member of the Dothan temple who grew up in nearby Ozark, where she was the only Jewish student in public school in the 1940s. "We are dying."
Being outside the Christian majority was never a problem, Nomberg said, even six decades ago: She won the Miss Ozark beauty pageant at 14 and sometimes attended church with friends after sleep-overs.
Now a widow, Nomberg has watched two of her four adult children leave for Florida as Temple Emanu-El lost nearly half its membership, down to about 50 families. She can only hope the recruitment plan hatched by Blumberg Family Jewish Community Services of Dothan works for her synagogue.
Launched in June, the Blumberg program has put advertisements in Jewish newspapers in Boston, Miami, Providence, R.I., and Washington, and it plans to expand the campaign.
"I think it's important that we try to find young people that we could use in our religious school, our Sunday school and help in the way of trying to create more of a family-type atmosphere in our temple," Blumberg said.
Groups offered financial aid for Jews to return to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Jewish organizations around the country offer moving assistance for relocating families. A congregation has loans and other benefits for Jewish families moving into an area near Boston.
"Our program is distinctive because it's Dothan, but it's also distinctive because of the type of financial assistance," said Rob Goldsmith, executive director of Blumberg Family Jewish Community Services, which will screen applicants and administer the grant program.
Trying to lure Jewish families to a quiet Southern town in a state with a reputation for hard-right politics and racial intolerance might be difficult. About 20 Jewish families have sought information about Dothan, though none has made the move.
Rockoff credits Blumberg and the rest of the congregation with fighting to remain in Dothan, where the synagogue has a full-time rabbi and the temple, which is aligned with the reform movement, hasn't missed having a Friday night service in decades.
"It is a small community, but they have some deep pockets to be able to do this," said Rockoff. "As a historian it is fascinating to see them trying to buck this trend."
Dothan lies at the heart of the South's peanut region, in Alabama's southeastern corner just minutes from Florida and Georgia. It's dotted with big fiberglass peanuts painted to resemble characters and people — there's even an Elvis peanut.
Little things are big here: The city boasts what it calls the world's smallest city block, a triangular traffic island near the civic center.
But Blumberg's group is selling prospective Jewish residents on Dothan's quality of life — its low cost of living, the heritage of its synagogue and its proximity to Florida beaches, about 80 miles away.
The city is the site of the down-home National Peanut Festival each fall, and it has a full schedule of community cultural events. It has two hospitals, a branch of Troy University and is just a short drive from Fort Rucker, the Army's main helicopter training base.
Downtown is filled with quaint red-brick buildings and colorful murals, and traffic never gets too bad on Ross Clark Circle, the perimeter road.
"We have Friday afternoon rush minute, and that's about it," said manufacturing executive Ed Marblestone, 69, who grew up Jewish in Texas but married a Dothan girl and has lived in the town since 1961.
Valerie Barnes grew up in Panama and moved several times before settling 20 years ago in Dothan and becoming active at the synagogue. She's never experienced any anti-Semitism and can't imagine living anywhere else.
"The biggest thing Dothan has to offer is that it's just a very family-oriented community," said Barnes, who directs a hospital foundation. "Our congregation is very vibrant, and we have a lot of things that we get involved in."
Rabbi Lynne Goldsmith didn't know quite what to expect when she moved to Dothan a year ago to lead the congregation at Temple Emanu-El, which was founded in 1929. She came with her husband, who directs the Jewish community services group.
A Connecticut native, the rabbi halfway expected the Alabama of old with wide-open racism and dirt roads.
"The Northeast has a really warped perception of what the South is all about, and I found out it was all wrong," she said. "The South is a wonderful place to be. The people are warm and friendly. There's very little traffic. And best of all, there's no snow."
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I HATE to sound this terrible, but I truly feel that the south is no place for Jews at all. Not at all. The anti-semitism is getting out of control. We have fellow Jewish Democrats as neighbors, even they are not voting obama, but they feel the anti-semitism very strongly too. We really have to try to get to Israel at this point. OR, wait out a terrible storm. Alabama?! Dear G-d.
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I'll go
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The South has been less anti JEWISH THEN THE NORTH read what Jews in the South say :) in the war btw the states the north was very anti semitic not the south
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(Did not read the whole article), but when I go to "Get involved at Temple Emanu-El and stay at least five years, the group's leaders say, and the money doesn't have to be repaid."
Automatically- NO NO NO! Its most likly a JewsforJ type of thing, and if not then it is a reform place (which is almost the same thing for me). So for 50K its not worth it.
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I HATE to sound this terrible, but I truly feel that the south is no place for Jews at all. Not at all. The anti-semitism is getting out of control. We have fellow Jewish Democrats as neighbors, even they are not voting obama, but they feel the anti-semitism very strongly too. We really have to try to get to Israel at this point. OR, wait out a terrible storm. Alabama?! Dear G-d.
Paulette, you can't generalize this particular issue. Atlanta has a large Jewish population and several synagogues and Jewish centers. I have been to one of the large centers north of Altanta and it was a beautiful campus with several large buildings. On the night I was there there were several hundred people and the community is obviously thriving.
The only people I hear bashing Jews are blacks and Arabs. There are more blacks and Arabs up north in the south, thank goodness. I live in a very small town just north of Atlanta and no-one has ever made any discouraging remarks about Jews that I have heard and I am very active in the community. If fact people are very supportive of Israel.
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(Did not read the whole article), but when I go to "Get involved at Temple Emanu-El and stay at least five years, the group's leaders say, and the money doesn't have to be repaid."
Automatically- NO NO NO! Its most likly a JewsforJ type of thing, and if not then it is a reform place (which is almost the same thing for me). So for 50K its not worth it.
It is a deform synagogue.
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Sorry I posted. I do not want to be accused of trying to lure righteous Jews away. :'(
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I HATE to sound this terrible, but I truly feel that the south is no place for Jews at all. Not at all. The anti-semitism is getting out of control. We have fellow Jewish Democrats as neighbors, even they are not voting obama, but they feel the anti-semitism very strongly too. We really have to try to get to Israel at this point. OR, wait out a terrible storm. Alabama?! Dear G-d.
I have an office building with some very nice open space in it. Paulette, you move to North Georgia and I will lease it to your for $1 per year for a Jewish worship "place" (not sure of which term to use).
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Most southern whites are evangelical Christians in support of the state of Israel.
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Hello,
I dont want to reopen the wounds of the north vs the south, but my impression which was formed by a story my Dad told me about when he drove through the south, is not good. He told me that he was called "Jew Boy" by a cop who pulled him over. I dont have a good impression of the south, sorry...
muman613
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Interesting. Although, I think us Jews are trying to distance ourselves from any peanut places. This is due to the fact that one of last presidents had a peanut for a brain. I don't want you to rack your brains.... I mean Senor Habib al Hasna Carter. :::D
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Interesting. Although, I think us Jews are trying to distance ourselves from any peanut places. This is due to the fact that one of last presidents had a peanut for a brain. I don't want you to rack your brains.... I mean Senor Habib al Hasna Carter. :::D
(http://www.extremefunnyhumor.com/pics/homer_s_brain.jpg)
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Interesting. Although, I think us Jews are trying to distance ourselves from any peanut places. This is due to the fact that one of last presidents had a peanut for a brain. I don't want you to rack your brains.... I mean Senor Habib al Hasna Carter. :::D
(http://www.extremefunnyhumor.com/pics/homer_s_brain.jpg)
Wow! Jimmy Carter inspired Homer Simpson? I knew their intelligence was similar! ::) :::D
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Interesting. Although, I think us Jews are trying to distance ourselves from any peanut places. This is due to the fact that one of last presidents had a peanut for a brain. I don't want you to rack your brains.... I mean Senor Habib al Hasna Carter. :::D
(http://www.extremefunnyhumor.com/pics/homer_s_brain.jpg)
Wow! Jimmy Carter inspired Homer Simpson? I knew their intelligence was similar! ::) :::D
(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d101/MyFriendAnthony/Misc/Simpsons-Homer-Stupid_B.jpg)
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Hello,
I dont want to reopen the wounds of the north vs the south, but my impression which was formed by a story my Dad told me about when he drove through the south, is not good. He told me that he was called "Jew Boy" by a cop who pulled him over. I dont have a good impression of the south, sorry...
muman613
What year was that? I ask because it may have been before the Christian Zionist movement really took off in the last 20 years.
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Hello,
I dont want to reopen the wounds of the north vs the south, but my impression which was formed by a story my Dad told me about when he drove through the south, is not good. He told me that he was called "Jew Boy" by a cop who pulled him over. I dont have a good impression of the south, sorry...
muman613
Around Carter?
What year was that? I ask because it may have been before the Christian Zionist movement really took off in the last 20 years.
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I live in the south, in a very rural area, and I wish we had a Jewish presence.
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Hello,
I dont want to reopen the wounds of the north vs the south, but my impression which was formed by a story my Dad told me about when he drove through the south, is not good. He told me that he was called "Jew Boy" by a cop who pulled him over. I dont have a good impression of the south, sorry...
muman613
Muman, a few years ago, if you drove through Germany, there was a good chance of being dragged out of your car and thrown in a concentration camp if not shot on the side of the road. Pheasant, does that still happen today?
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I was raised not to be antisemitic at all.
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I'd like to hear MassuhD's comments on this.....
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I think it's great what this guy is doing, but even when applying for jobs I stayed away from applying in the deep south. It's a scary place, especially if you're Jewish. I just got a job today in Newark, NJ. The way I figured it, if I got into Newark, at least I'm just over the GWB from NYC. In other words I feel more comfortable in an area that is no stranger to a Jewish Population. That's just me.
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Hello,
I dont want to reopen the wounds of the north vs the south, but my impression which was formed by a story my Dad told me about when he drove through the south, is not good. He told me that he was called "Jew Boy" by a cop who pulled him over. I dont have a good impression of the south, sorry...
muman613
What year was that? I ask because it may have been before the Christian Zionist movement really took off in the last 20 years.
Hi,
I believe that my dad was talking about during the 60s, before I was born...
muman613
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What are the gun laws like in Dothan, AL? If Obama becomes our next President (G-d forbid), it might make sense to move to a place where we can be as armed as we want to be.
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Come to North Georgia. We have lots of cool guns.