Huffington Magazine Issue 8 | Page 50

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.