Wal-Mart Jews

There's an interesting story in today's NY Times about how the Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas has brought Jews to the area for jobs, changing the demographics of the town significantly.

When many of these Jews, called "Wal-Mart Jews" in the article, first moved to Bentonville, they were not affiliated at all, but moving to a city bereft of Jews changed that:

There were, for example, Betsy and Marc Rosen, who moved to Benton County from Chicago in 2000 after Mr. Rosen was offered a job in Wal-Mart's technology department. The family did not attend a synagogue in Chicago because, Mrs. Rosen said, "you didn't need a synagogue to have a Jewish identity." There were Jewish neighbors, Jewish friends, Jewish family.

But not in Bentonville, where her daughter brought home from day care a picture of Jesus to color in. Suddenly, a synagogue did not seem like a luxury anymore, but a necessity to preserve her family's Jewish heritage.

Bentonville, where, according to the article, natives knew next to nothing about Jews and Jewish life, are slowly being introduced to the details of Judaism that most non-Jewish residents of more diverse cities have always been familiar with.

Recruited from around the country as workers for Wal-Mart or one of its suppliers, hundreds of which have opened offices near the retailer's headquarters here, a growing number of Jewish families have become increasingly vocal proponents of religious neutrality in the county. They have asked school principals to rename Christmas vacation as winter break (many have) and lobbied the mayor's office to put a menorah on the town square (it did).

...Not everyone is ordering the knishes, but Christians throughout Benton County are slowly learning the complexities of Jewish life. Gary Compton, the superintendent of schools in Bentonville and a member of a Methodist church in town, has learned not to schedule PTA meetings the night before Jewish holidays, which begin at sundown, and has encouraged the high school choir to incorporate Jewish songs into a largely Christian lineup.

The piece talks about some challenges the new synagogue faces, one being the fact that the members are all from different denominations and at different observance levels, which has led to differences over questions such as whether to allow photography during services (yes). Another challenge the synagogue is facing is competition, from a Chabad Rabbi who headed over to Bentonville to hang up his shingle as soon as the Jewish community started to grow, offering Orthodox services and kosher meals - apparently an almost impossible-to-get amenity in Bentonville. high turnover also seems to be an issue.

The piece highlights how when Jews move to a town with no Jewish identity, it can bring changes to the town, as well as to the Jews themselves.