As Allie Goldman’s plane was making its descent on the blazing 97-degree Midland/Odessa airport in west Texas, the landscape dotted with oil dykes looked foreign to the Dallas native even though it was the same state.
As the sun inched below the horizon in this Mississippi River town, people arrived alone or in small groups and walked up the steps of Temple B\’nai Israel on Shabbat.\n\nOnly about a dozen Jewish residents remain in Natchez, a city of about 16,400 best known for its elaborate plantation homes. As younger generations moved away, the congregation hasn\’t had its own full-time rabbi since 1976
At the Passover seder next Wednesday evening, our children will recite the traditional question, “How is this night different from all other nights?” But the adults at the table are the ones who appreciate how this night really is different — not only from the rest of the year, but from the Passover seders of the past. As I started writing my third novel about Jewish spies during the Civil War, I began to wonder if American Jews had ever sat down at a seder where every part of the meal was served by slaves. As I discovered in my research, they did.
So you\’ve seen \”Big Fish,\” \”Forrest Gump\” and \”Driving Miss Daisy,\” and now you think you know what the South is all about — old mansions, moss-draped oaks, steamy swamps. Think again.
The South is a vibrant tapestry of culture, and its Jewish communities are important threads. Atlanta, Miami and Nashville are thriving tourism destinations, but Charleston, S.C., featuring luxuriant gardens, long porches and rocking chairs filled with laughing guests sipping sweet tea, is also flush with Jewish history that dates back to the 17th century.
\”Truthfully, my grandfather really was the catalyst for the journey,\” Brian Bain said in a phone conversation from Dallas, where he relocated after his New Orleans home was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. He was referring to Leonard Bain, a retired traveling hat salesman and silent film editor who was 99, in 2002, when the film was made. The elder Bain has since died at the age of 101.
Stretching along the popular beachfront area of Miami, approximately 650,000 Jewish residents support more than 100 synagogues, several Jewish community centers and abundant kosher restaurants, including authentic Thai food. The South Florida city even employs a full-time kashrut supervision department.
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