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Hasidim in the heartland When University of Iowa journalism professor Stephen Bloom '73 read a small squib about an ultra-orthodox Jewish slaughterhouse in the tiny town of Postville, Iowa, he says: "I knew in my bones that this was a story that needed to be told." And he knew that he was the one to tell it. In a state where pigs outnumber people five to one, here was a town with more rabbis per capita than any city in the United States. "It was like manna from heaven dropping into my lap," recalls Bloom.
These Hasidic Jews of the Lubavitch sect had decided that it made sense to locate their kosher slaughterhouse near the Iowan cattle. And, at first, the Postville locals were just "tickled" that anyone would choose to call their town home, says Bloom. The Hasidic population, of 150 and growing, also provided a much-needed boost to the economy in the 1980s--a time when Postville, like so many places like it, was turning into a town of empty storefronts. But soon a culture clash between the predominantly German Lutheran locals and the very insular Hasidic Jews erupted. Steeped in centuries of tradition, the Lubavitchers had no interest in fitting in, so they simply ignored the locals and their customs--they drove like New Yorkers, they didn't tend their lawns, and they bargained for everything. While some locals maintained that these newcomers had saved the town, others grew increasingly riled by what they perceived as their "rude behavior." So they called for a vote to "annex" the slaughterhouse and bring it under the city's control. When the Lubavitchers threatened to leave as a result, the vote effectively became a referendum: Should the Jews stay or should they go? Was this anti-Semitism, as the Jews claimed, or were these Lubavitchers really just impossible to live with? Bloom realized this story was tailor-made for him. Formerly a journalist at the Los Angeles Times, Bloom had uprooted his family and moved cross-country to teach journalism at the University of Iowa. As a secular Jew from New Jersey, he had some shared culture with the Lubavitchers but, ultimately, his world and theirs were miles apart. And, while he loved his new home, he missed the big city and felt he would never truly fit in in Iowa. To both groups Bloom was part insider, part outsider. Postville has received critical acclaim (it was named "best book" in newspapers across the country) and last year Bloom toured the country and the networks with it. But, he says, "Many Iowans think it is a hit piece on the state. And many orthodox Jews are incredulous that a fellow Jew would write a book that exposes the family's linen." To his great dismay, Bloom has been labeled a "self-loathing Jew" by many orthodox Jews. Others tell Bloom that they identify with his story. "The book resonates with people who, because of fate, circumstance, or design, are living in different places from the kinds of places they set out from," he says. Take Note: Class of '89 Secretary Brett Kanazawa
Kanazawa earned his MBA at UC Irvine and has been working in human resources for Sun Microsystems since 1991. "There's a lot I have to be thankful for, in terms of my professional career and the friends I have today, all due to the fact that I went to Cal," he says. "I guess that's why I feel such loyalty. I hope, in some small way, that by doing things like being Class Secretary I am beginning to repay that debt." |
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