HUFFINGTON
08.05.12
JAWEED KALEEM
SHALOM Y’ALL
Boston, Atlanta or Washington,
D.C. All have sizeable Jewish populations. She doesn’t want to join a
synagogue, but she does want to be
around people who understand her.
“There are some natural cultural differences between Jewish
people and others. It’s nice to have
a certain baseline with people you
meet,” Pataky says. “If I move to
New York, I’d probably never even
have to think of being Jewish.” She
feels the same about Atlanta.
While she isn’t looking for a religious community, Pataky’s social
needs echo a refrain that Seligman
often hears. Young people want to
be around people like them. They
want variety and a big singles
scene. They want a city with a major sports team. They want to be
by the buzz. Birmingham, which
is revitalizing its downtown with
lofts, art galleries and a burgeoning restaurant scene, still pales in
comparison to bigger cities.
“All these kids go to Atlanta
thinking this is going to be the
place. This is where I’m going to
meet that person or land this perfect job, you know, because it’s
Atlanta,” Seligman says. “I tell
people when they call me and say
they are thinking of moving to the
South, ‘We are no Atlanta and we
don’t want to be.’”
Birminghamians are proud of
their city, which is situated in a
valley surrounded by lush mountain ranges and majestic hillside
homes. Blacks and Jews here
played a pivotal role in the civil
rights movement. While Birmingham has one of the highest crime
rates in the nation, the metropolitan area has one of the lowest.
Anti-Semitism is rare, though
there have been isolated incidents.
About 80 percent of Birmingham Jews are members of a synagogue or otherwise in ٽ