Religion & Beliefs
Y’all Come Back to Judaism Now, Hear?
By punktorah / September 17, 2009
"Is you a Hebrew?" "So y’all believe in Jesus, right?"
"You can’t eat pork? What about ham? Or sausage?"
You’d be surprised how often I get asked questions like this.
It’s funny being one of the only Jews in your small town outside Metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. In a forty five minute car ride, I can be in the Jewish ghetto with a kosher grocery, a Judaica shop run by a bitchy Orthodox Yenta and every flavor of shul known to humankind.Â
But when I’m out at the bookstore, eating Chinese, getting my car repaired, I’m "it".Â
It starts out harmless. Someone sees my Star of David tattoo and can’t help but ask what that means. Or in the headache inducing haze of red-and-green-December-cheer I get the balls to look for menorahs at Target, only to have the friendly sales associate laugh at my Jesus-less request.
I recently posted an article about finding my beshert (soul mate) and the overwhelming response was that, if I wanted to get lucky with a sassy punk rock Jewess, I needed to leave the Confederated States. While I have not found my beshert just yet (though I have some hot leads since coming home from the Limmud conference), I will say that, if given the option of being another "hip Jew" of Brooklyn, LA or San Fran or a Lonely-Man-of-Faith in Dixie, I think I’ll take latter…and for very Jewish reasons:
-There are PLENTY of Jews in the South. Charleston at one point in US history had the largest Jewish population in America (and that is where my first relative from the Old World settled). Atlanta is particularly Jewish, with Chabad on every corner like McDonald’s and a Birthright Israel office that just opened in Midtown. Â
-In the South, Jews actually have to TRY to be Jewish! It takes work to resist deep fried catfish and the lure of bacon wrapped steak at Golden Corral. It’s hard to find gelt mixed in with leftover Easter candy. While NY Jews bump into each other on every street, Jews in the South relish each other. "Jewish Geography" is so much more meaningful when there are actually six degrees of separation between people, not just one or two. Israel means "to wrestle" and it’s hard to wrestle when you can get a bagel any time of day.
-Southern Jews have their own culture. Memphis is the home of the Annual Kosher BBQ Competition. Ever had someone say, "Shalom, y’all"? It’s awesome!Â
It may be easier being a West Coast Jew or a New Yorker…but being Jewish isn’t about life being easy. It’s about the thrill of the fight and the struggle to survive. With lower taxes, cheaper real estate and so many financial opportunities, the South is the Land of Milk and Honey. We just have to civilize it from the Southern Baptists. And that, to me, is incredibly Jewish.
Coming soon: Jewcy editor Lilit Marcus, herself a Jew from Raleigh, NC, has her own take on Southern Judaism.
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I love this article! Â Â I live in metro New Orleans, and while we have a pretty vibrant community here, it’s still quite a challenge! Â My local supermarket didn’t have a "kosher for passover" display until halfway through, and there’s only 2 kosher restaurants that I am aware of – both in the neighboring town.
 Many of my friends and family are constantly going out for rib bbqs or crawfish boils, and porkbone in the greens and beans – WHAT IS THAT ABOUT?  :) Â
All in all, it could be worse. Â I lived in the San Fernando Valley (California) when I decided Judaism was for me, and it’s so easy out there – a deli on every corner! Â Coming here was a real facepalm moment, but I cherish every new Jew I meet! Â Â
About the mass of Baptists, though, we have a truckload of Catholics here, too, and it makes for some interesting encounters…Â
Sure, I live in a little liberal oasis known as Asheville, but I completely agree with your statement. It’s still the South. I love the feeling of finding another Jew — it’s like finding a kindred spirit. It’s exciting. The South has so quickly become home for me, I can understand not wanting to move just to find other Jews more easily.
 My mom has a "Shalom, Y’all" doormat, by the way. It’s awesome and I plan on getting one of my own one of these days.Â
The Jewish Americans is a recent & thorough (6 hrs. long) documentary that includes much history of Jews in the southern states. It’s been on pbs, & is for sale at their website.
Item No. JEWA653
This author nailed it. Being jewish in the south can at times be quite the struggle, but it’s a rewarding struggle. My partner and I live in a historic community just outside of Shreveport, LA and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Our neighbors are friendly and our congregation is wonderful and supportive in ways beyond belief. Yes, the fundamentalist christians can be a bit much (being gay AND jewish has made life interesting at times) but for the most part we have a rewarding and fulfilling life. Being a part of a congregation in the south, because of our dispersal, has a shtetl quality that I’ve found lacking in larger places. We take care of each other, and even when we disagree we try our best to support one another. On Rosh HaShannah our rabbi literally asked the assembled congregation to call the office if they had job openings for those in our congregation who are unemployed. In my brief years I have never heard a rabbi do as such. And immediately after services I heard the congregation abuzz networking to find job openings for those unemployed, and making sure everyone had a job.Â
Yes, keeping kosher is a trial here. And you won’t find matzah at any of the stores. But all in all, I love living here.
B’shalom
JayCello
My late husband & I lived in Atlanta, GA. in the late ’70′s & found it somewhat
of a struggle to find Yahrtzeit & Shabbos candles, etc. But, we did enjoy attending
services at The Temple. It was the first time either of us had heard Hebrew with
a southern accent! I felt in awe of being in such a historical building, with it’s
interesting & sometimes sad history.
 We often had to explain, with pride, Jewish customs, food choices & traditions, but it was always a positive experience for both non-Jews & us!
I have some very nice memories of that time in Atlanta & I treasure them.Â
It is very difficult to be a different type of Christian other than Southern Baptist in the South—today and now you know why it is so difficult to be a Jew. These Southern Baptists to me seem like anything but Christians (an even other Christians such as Lutherans and Episcopalians say the same thing). They think that Jews should be saved and become Southern Baptists. They are very self-centered and do not respect the religious rights of others. You only have to go to Alabama to live and you will see just how anti-semetic these Baptists are. One family moved down from New York and at the High School were subjected to Christian Prayers to Jesus every morning and at the football field. The daugher was often haranged by other students because she was Jewish. Of course, this was very offensive not to mention the harrassment that the daughter had to go through because of these anti-semetic bigots who seem to think that EVERYONE should be like they are.Â
 It took the ACLU and the Courts to try to stop this and even though these so-called Christians lost in Court to the tune of several million dollars –these so-called Christians still persisted in sneaking around to bring their brand of Christianity into the public arena. Speak of Freedom of Religion and the right to be FREE of it —that does not seem to exist in the minds of these Baptist folks as they in their minds are the only religion around and everyone should be a Baptist. What goes for Jews also seems to go for those who are of the Islamic faith also and horror of horrors if one is Buddhist. I have seen many of both our faiths (Hebrew and Islam) give up and horror of horrors eat pork et al. These so-called Baptist folks like to pervert the Talmud and use it as a means to discriminate against various people but yet they eat pork, drink milk with fish, wear clothing that is forbidden in Leviticus. They are the world’s worse hypocrits—they engage in adultery, condemn gay people and then have secreted sexual affairs with them while condemning them in the Pulpit. They then turn around and say that because we are the chosen people that they ABSOLUTELY MUST respect us –which they do not or only give lip service too.
I live 120 miles North of Atlanta. We have a very nice Jewish Community here (we have no "ghetto") and two (well maybe three) Temples and generally speaking this community has long been a safe haven for Jews escaping from the Holocaust or seeking other places to live—-that includes many  household names as Albert Einstein and family, the Rothchilds, Henry Kissinger, Madeline Albright et al have found either permanent or temporary shelter here but alas –no kosher restaurants et al. Other than those Baptists; many other Christian denominations get along very well with.
I have often wondered how these Baptists have come to the way that they are. South Carolina, in its early days, welcomed Jews escaping from the Spanish Inquisition and the first temple in what became the United States was founded in Charleston (it is still active). Jews have always been an important force in the professions and business world of South Carolina and have contributed heavily to the good of the people of all faiths.
So if you are coming south–don’t be fooled by the corn pone y’all come bit. Be prepared to do mental battle with these folks who pervert all the faiths of the Abrahamic religions. It is not that these folks are just backward, crude  and rude—it is that they are very obstinate and are so stupid that they can not see things from the other persons or groups viewpoint.
That’s funny and true when the author says that about Jewish geography. I live in Jacksonville Beach, Fl. When my neighbor across the street (who is Jewish) found out I was Jewish, she was really excited about that.
Spoken with absolutely no irony:Â
“The beans? They don’t got pork. The bacon is only for flavoring.”
I hear where you’re coming from, Patrick. I’m a native Atlantan (a Northside baby, actually) who moved to NYC after college. While I adored my temple and the…….*ease* of all things Jewish there, returning to the South has brought with it unexpected rewards as well (including finding my equally wonderful, vibrant temple in Sandy Springs, Or Hadash). It does take a certain amount of patience to be a Southern Jew, no doubt, as for example when I was explaining to an aquaintence that "Jews do not recognize Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah" and she thought about it for a minute and replied, "But you celebrate Christmas, right?".
 I’m glad I found http://www.punktorah to follow as a result of this post as well. *So* wish I could have gone to LimmudFest this year!
 Oh, and if any of you punkrock/Burner/outdoorsy Members of the Tribe find yourselves at the Alchemy Festival (http://www.alchemyfestival.com) on Oct. 2, come by Sukkat Shalom at Camp Scheherazade to share a Shabbat/Sukkot potluck and help decorate the sukkah……
Here is the link for the kosher bbq event it looks awesome, I will try my best to be there!!
http://www.asbeekosherbbq.org/Â
Hail to the Mason-Dixon!
It’s nice to see someone (viz. LauraP and Morganfrost) acknowledging that anything south of Pennsylvania is "the south". Maybe Maryland is in fact on the cusp between north and south, and maybe I have crayfish instead of crawdaddies or crawfish, and maybe BBQ is something one in my parts does only once a year on Independence Day, and maybe I live in an area with just as many atheists and Catholics and Muslims and liberal Protestants as Evangelicals. But dang it, Maryland is still technically in the south, and "howdy" and "y’all" are legitimate, organic, natural, and unconscious elements of my lexicon. So it’s to my constant consternation that wherever I go with NYC Jews (usually in Israel), they insist quite vehemently that I have no right to say "y’all". (At least one friend of mine who so criticizes me has some credentials, as he’s from Atlanta. But what’re these NYC Jews doing questioning me?)
Actually, I’ve found that my accent changes depending on the subject of discussion and my level of comfort; more informal or casual topics will yield a more southern accent, while more technical or formal discussions, especially with superiors, will yield a more northern accent.
"It takes work to resist deep fried catfish"
 I’ve seen deep fried catfish, and have no trouble resisting it. Having said this, and being almost slightly southern (Maryland is, after all, below the Mason Dixon line and was generally of mixed feelings during the Civil War), I’m more than a little intrigued by the Memphis Kosher BBQ Competion… would you care to provide some more info??
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