Purim carnival, 2010 (Photo by Laura Weisskopf Bleill)
by Laura Weisskopf Bleill
This past weekend, I was in Chicago’s northern suburbs (where I grew up) running some errands and shopping with my mom. We were talking to a sales lady at a mom-and-pop shop that we frequent and somehow, the fact that I don’t live in the Chicago area came up. And silently, in my head, I made the countdown until I got the question …. 10 … 9 … 8 … 7 …
“There are Jews in Champaign-Urbana?”
Having heard this inquiry so many times before, I now have a pat answer.
“Well, a university needs professors, doesn’t it?”
The answer, of course, is tongue-in-cheek, playing on stereotypes. Yes, there is a substantial portion of the local Jewish population that is affiliated with the University of Illinois in some way. But there are also Jewish people who have made this community their home who are not directly connected to huge state U. They are doctors, lawyers, midwives, photographers, writers, small business owners, engineers, orthotists (look it up), financial analysts, nurses, teachers, health care administrators, accountants, you name it.
Cue the Sesame Street classic, People in Your Neighborhood, except for the part about Santa Claus. Jews are the People in Your Neighborhood, in your neighborhood, in your neighborhood ….
The upshot is that the Jewish community here is a diverse group with a lengthy history. There are some whose families have lived here for generations. The first permanent settler to Urbana who was Jewish moved there in 1855. The local synagogue, Sinai Temple, dates back to 1904. There are people who have come from other countries including a small but vocal Israeli community. Then there are the domestic transplants – many of them from the Chicago area – including myself.
Of course it’s very difficult to convince such people – my people – that we are able to live a rich Jewish life down here in a cornfield. So I’ve stopped trying.
Now, I just try to amuse myself with their ignorance.
Laura Weisskopf Bleill, a co-founder of chambanamoms.com, still loves going home even if she has to defend her adopted hometown. She writes “Being a Jew in C-U,” a column about being a Jewish suburban girl in a cornfield, on Thursdays. You can reach her at laura@chambanamoms.com.
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Oh, I completely get this.
Living in a seriously non-Jewish part of the country has actually enriched my Jewish life. The members of the tribe here in Alabama are active, involved, connected folks; they have to be in order to maintain some sense of identity in the (new Testament) Bible Belt. I don’t think my family in the Northeast gets this at all, but I’ll keep trying to explain…
Love the shout-out to local Jewish orthotists….LMAO!
It sounds like you guys have a really nice community. I would have to say that even after seven years in our small university town, I sometimes feel a bit lost. I do wish things were different here. That being said, I am trying to give my kids as many positive Jewish experiences as possible. I guess maybe I’ve given up a bit. I’m glad you haven’t!
Sometimes you have to create those experiences for your kids, as Laura and I did with our synagogue’s Tot Shabbat/Shabbat Rocks program. Don’t give up, figure out how to change the situation for the better!
ROFL because I’m one of those geographic snobs from the ‘burbs!
Some people aren’t worth convincing. I love that you use the such grace in your response. Here we have over 90K unaffiliated jews. Yes, 90K! No one really asks me if we have Jews here b/c they know we do since our population jumps in the winter. We’re a pretty low key community though.