Jackson Free Press

Dr. Stuart Rockoff is a historian who works for the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, which is sponsoring a photography exhibit at Millsaps College that focuses on Jewish history and culture in the South. The exhibit features 20 black and white photographs that are part of a collection called "Shalom Y'all" by Bill Aron. The exhibit will hang in the Lewis Gallery at Millsaps College until the end of November and at 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 11, Dr. Rockoff will give a guided tour of the exhibit and present a program discussing Southern Jewish life.

Why is this exhibit so important?

Southern Jews have been in some ways invisible in that Jews are less than 1 percent of the South's population. We're a tiny minority. Even within the American Jewish population, we are about 5 or 6 percent of the population. It's quite normal for Jews in Mississippi to go somewhere like New York and have folks shocked that Jews live in places like Mississippi. So part of the purpose of this undertaking was to make visible this vibrant community. … The photographs depict a community that may not be around in the future.

How does Jewish life in the South differ from Jewish life in the North?

Jewish life in the South is much more likely to be based in small towns. Jews who live in the North tend to live in or around large cities. I was in New Jersey last year and learned that on the Jewish holidays in their town, public schools are closed. Half the kids in school are Jewish, so kids grow up in a much more Jewish environment. In the South ... Jewish kids are usually one of the few or only Jewish kids in their class, if not the school. ... Also, Jewish life in the South is much more likely to be what's called "reformed," which is a movement within Judaism to change Judaism to better fit the environment of America. For example, traditional Jews do not work on the Sabbath, which is Saturday in Jewish tradition. But that can be very difficult if you're a Jewish merchant; Saturday was the big business day because Sunday there were blue laws that made stores be closed.

What would be a good example of a small Southern Jewish community?

Take Vicksburg, Miss., where there are about 24 Jews in the city limits. They still have a congregation with services every Friday night, and on your average Friday, 50 percent of the Jews in Vicksburg show up. I'm willing to bet that in Atlanta, Chicago, and New York the percentage is going to be tiny, tiny, tiny. And the reason (the Jews in Vicksburg) do that is because they know that if they don't show up, it's not going to happen.

What are some common themes in the photographs?

One is the long history of Jewish life in the South—photographs of old synagogues or old tombstones. One of my favorite photographs is of a tombstone from the Port Gibson cemetery in which a traditional Hebrew inscription is carved upside down and backwards. You think, "Well why would they have a Hebrew inscription upside down and backwards?" Well, chances are there was not a stone carver in Port Gibson who knew Hebrew, so they were probably working from a book and had it upside down.

There is also the theme of maintaining one's traditions even amongst the challenges of not having the sort of infrastructure for that practice. Another theme is the decline of small-town Jewish life, the passing of these several generations of Jewish merchants that filtered throughout the South. Despite this, there is a continued vibrancy of Jewish life in these places. The exhibit isn't a downer that just talks about the death of these communities, rather it stresses the vibrancy of Jewish life amongst these demographic challenges.

What challenges dp you face raising a Jewish family in a Christian South?

Not only are we a tiny minority, but this is the Bible belt. The culture of Christianity is dominant, to say the least. Raising two small kids to feel proud of their Jewishness even though they feel different from everyone else is challenging. For Rosh Hashanah, which is the Jewish new year holiday, my wife went to my daughter's class and served apples and honey, which is a traditional Jewish food for that holiday. So we're taking on that role of representing Jewishness. I think for the most part Jews have been largely welcomed. And I think that is because they do go to temple—that fits into the culture of churchgoing in general. The kind of religiousity that is common here in Christianity is sort of respected in terms of Jews. … I don't think I would be as involved in the Jewish community if I lived in Houston, where I'm from. You know, someone else will do it, right? But here I am youth group adviser, and we make an effort to go to all the programs at temple because there's that responsibility.