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This Alabama millionaire offered Jews $50,000 to move to his town. 16 years later, what’s left?

JL;DR SUMMARY In 2009, Larry Blumberg, a hotel magnate in Dothan, Alabama, initiated a bold move to revitalize the dwindling Jewish community by offering up to $50,000 for Jewish families to relocate to the town and join its Reform synagogue, Temple Emanu-El. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish CommunitiesTemple Emanu ElAlabamaSynagogue DeclineLarry BlumbergDothanInterfaith ActivitiesJewish Relocation InitiativeRabbi Lynne GoldsmithJewish Identity In Rural America

Places mentioned

Dothan, Alabama, United States
"Karen Arenson and her daughter Emily light the Shabbat candles at Temple Emanu-El in Dothan, Alabama, as Rabbi Lynne Goldsmith looks on, in a scene from the 2016 documentary There Are Jews Here."
Colorado, United States
"It certainly opened up the eyes of people in Dothan. She recalled a man who walked into the synagogue and asked where they performed sacrifices. We havent done them for 2,000 years, she told him. Goldsmith, who became a rabbi after a career in accounting, was Temple Emanu-Els first female clergy member and Dothan, her first and only full-time pulpit. People were just super, super nice, she said of her days in Alabama. I never experienced any antisemitism. I did experience some blatant ignorance. And Im not saying that in a pejorative way. I me...},{"

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