Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland AmericaHoughton Mifflin Harcourt, 2000 - 362 pages In 1987, a group of Lubavitchers, one of the most orthodox and zealous of the Jewish sects, opened a kosher slaughterhouse just outside tiny Postville, Iowa (pop. 1,465). When the business became a worldwide success, Postville found itself both revived and divided. The town's initial welcome of the Jews turned into confusion, dismay, and even disgust. By 1997, the town had engineered a vote on what everyone agreed was actually a referendum: whether or not these Jews should stay. The quiet, restrained Iowans were astonished at these brash, assertive Hasidic Jews, who ignored the unwritten laws of Iowa behavior in almost every respect. The Lubavitchers, on the other hand, could not compromise with the world of Postville; their religion and their tradition quite literally forbade it. Were the Iowans prejudiced, or were the Lubavitchers simply unbearable? Award-winning journalist Stephen G. Bloom found himself with a bird's-eye view of this battle and gained a new perspective on questions that haunt America nationwide. What makes a community? How does one accept new and powerfully different traditions? Is money more important than history? In the dramatic and often poignant stories of the people of Postville - Jew and gentile, puzzled and puzzling, unyielding and unstoppable - lies a great swath of America today. |
Table des matières
Can of Worms | 1 |
First Supper | 25 |
The Storm | 38 |
Landsmen | 55 |
Tied Up | 69 |
Gingers | 80 |
Backfire | 101 |
Coon on a Hounds Back | 115 |
Shikker at the Shul | 195 |
Mom Calling | 214 |
Matchmaking | 228 |
The Crime | 241 |
No Goodniks | 258 |
Sticks in Spokes | 278 |
Doc Wolf | 291 |
The Derailment | 315 |
Between the Cracks | 133 |
Kosher Hill | 144 |
Invitation | 161 |
Moishe and Shlomo | 176 |
Home | 331 |
Afterword | 337 |
Acknowledgments | 361 |
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Expressions et termes fréquents
Aaron Aaron Rubashkin Agriprocessors annexation anti-Semitism asked Bakken beard Bielke Borough Park Brooklyn brought Butch called Cliff corn Crown Heights Decorah Doc Wolf Doc's door drove eyes farmers father friends front gentiles Ginger's Glenda goyim Grush hand Hasidic Jews head Hebrew Herald-Leader Howie Ida Mae Iowa City Iowans Iris Jewish kids kippah knew kosher Lawler Street Lazar Leigh Rekow Lew's lived looked Lubavitchers Lutheran Mikey Mikey's mikveh Moishe morning never night nodded Postville Hasidim Postville Jews Postville locals Postville's pulled rabbi Rebbe religion Rosalyn rural Sabbath seemed Shabbos Sharon sheitel Shlomo Sholom Rubashkin shook shul slaughterhouse smile someone Stanley Stillman and Lew talk tefillin tell thing thought Toey told took town turned tzitzit vote walked wanted wearing week weekend wife woman yarmulke Yiddish Yussel