Friday, June 23, 2006

Trivia question - Jewish communities

I am trying to post every day - we'll see how long that lasts! =-)

One of my interests, especially since we first did our research before moving, is hearing about Jewish communities where you wouldn't expect them. In a recent article about cities that are growing, I was surprised by one of the cities named and looked up whether there was a Jewish community there. I found a great article about the Chabad family who moved there in 2005, starting the first Chabad in that state. The article said that there are only five states left now with no Chabad.

Can you guess which five states do not have a Chabad, and what the sixth one was?
(It's not a trick question - it's really just the places with almost no Jews.)

12 comments:

Selena said...

I would guess:

North Dakota
South Dakota
Maine
Arkansas (I know they have one now, is that who you meant)
Mississippi
Alabama

Selena said...

Oh, maybe Montana? or Idaho?

have popcorn will lurk said...

My guesses are exactly the same as Mary Kay Gal's!

Idaho was my first guess - N*zi compound haven - Wyoming (Dick Cheney's home state), Montana (huge state - only about 5 people there to begin with!), N. & S. Dakota - too cold!!

Doesn't Chabad go where there are Jews to begin with????

There are definitely Jews in Maine!

Selena said...

oh my gosh, Mary Kay Gal: Mazal Tov! You need to start your blog up again.

JMRosenfeld said...

Did you read that article about Walmart and the growing Jewish population in Arkansas. I am not sure where I read it, but it probably was the LA Times last weekend. But it is possible that I saw it on the internet--linked from Arriana Huffington's site.

Selena said...

I think she probably saw the article on Arkansas on Orthomom....

Orthonomics said...

West Virginia
North Dakota
South Dakota
Wyoming
Montana

Idaho recently got their first Chabad, although they have sent shluchim there for years.

Jewish Action has a story about a couple (two gerim) who moved from Yardley, PA back to Montana under unfortunate circumstances and host vacationers. They are in one of the only places without a Chaad.

Orthonomics said...

I looked around a bit online after answering the triva question and was surprised that I couldn't find a listing for a Chabad in Mississippi. There have been Jews in Mississippi for generations.

On this website I found one Orthodox shul.
http://www.kosherdelight.com/MississippiSynagoguesOrthodox.shtml

Is it possible there are still six states without a Chabad and Idaho was the seventh state that added a Chabad (probably as a result of the tech boom bringing in a sizable Jewish population)?

Esther said...

Great guesses. Based on SephardiLady's comments and something I found online after I posted, I want to check one state and then I'll post the answer.

Esther said...

I'll have to come up with more of these - this is fun! Based on SephardiLady's comments and another article I found after I posted, I need to check one state before I post again.

cool yiddishe mama said...

My Boise connection's husband was involved with the Chabad shaliach there. I will not go into it here. Too late to participate in the trivia game. I'll hit the next one.

Esther said...

Ok, according to the Chabad website, SephardiLady is correct. The article I read was about the Boise, Idaho Chabad. Then I found a very interesting article about Jews in Montana and the possibility of Chabad heading there. (I have to find the article again and I will post it.) Anyone else have any fun questions ike this?