A CHALLENGE FOR READERS
Can you figure out the real reason?
A Jewish organization is offering $50,000 to any Jew who moves to Dothan, Alabama.
This is their reason:
(…) 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 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.
I think I found the real reason here. Look over the details and use the comments to tell me if you spot it.
September 9th, 2008 at 9:00 am
I take it they want to balance out their moosie population?
September 9th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Just a guess………. perhaps they feel threatened by the Islamic presence in the area. It is nearly three times that of the Jewish faith. It wouldn’t really worry me, but with the situation in Israel it seems possible.
September 9th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Yep, that’s it. Not sure what caused me to look up Dothan but I can’t help but wonder myself what the “real” intentions are here. In any case, I can’t blame them. The Muslim community might engage in a tit-for-tat and offer goats for new Islamic immigrants to the area, though!
September 9th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
In rural Indiana the problem is simple — no jobs.
And $4 gas makes commuting unprofitable.