HUFFINGTON
08.05.12
SHALOM Y’ALL
led by volunteers. In Greater Birmingham — home to one million
Alabamians and the bulk of the
state’s Jews — the Jewish population has plateaued, and by some
estimates, declined. Meanwhile,
the region’s broader population
has grown by tens of thousands in
a decade, fueled by growth in its
medical research industry.
To help combat this trend,
Seligman, the outreach coordinator, is looking for a few good Jews
to bring to her city.
The stakes are high. Not only
could Birmingham’s historic
synagogues one day disappear,
but so could its secular Jewish
organizations, including popular
schools and social service groups
that often cater to non-Jews.
For Seligman, who lost her own
children to the Jewish metropolises of Houston and Minneapolis
but dreams of the day they move
back, the job can get personal.
Her task is not easy. She
works long hours — often arriving
at her modest office by sunrise —
trying to recruit young Jews, one
at time, to a city with a graying
Jewish community that’s eager
for a more balanced population.
She tracks down college students
who have moved away to entice
them to return. She travels to
campuses as close as Tuscaloosa,
Ala., and as far as Bloomington,
Ind., to pitch the city to students
who would otherwise end up in
Chicago or New York. She fields
phone calls from strangers considering jobs in Alabama. When a
new Jew arrives, she’s ready with
From top
to bottom:
A bulletin
board hangs
in Seligman’s
home office,
which she
works from
below; afterdinner drinks
at the Tavern.