The Jews of Dothan
By Symi Rom-Rymer
Can you put a price on living in a Jewish community? Larry Blumberg of Dothan, Alabama hopes you can. Blumberg, a local businessman, is offering $50,000 to any Jewish family willing to settle in Dothan and grow the local community. Like the Jewish experience in many small southern towns, Dothan’s Jewish community shrunk considerably since the 1970s when mom-and-pop stores--once the economic engines of the small Southern Jewish communities—were put out of business by retail giants. But today, the Jews of Dothan are fighting back.
As a recent Atlantic article explains, Dothan must first break through the stereotypes that come with a small town in the deep South. “I tell them there’s running water, that we wear shoes, have a Starbucks. There have never been any swastikas on the temple door,” said Rob Goldsmith,...