"An insightful and well-written book. One of the best studies of
local Jewish history extant."--Leonard Dinnerstein, University of
Arizona
For more than a century and a half, the Jewish citizens of the area
in and around Knoxville, Tennessee, have maintained the rituals and
traditions that define them as a separate people, even as they have
blended quietly with their non-Jewish neighbors.
Wendy Lowe Besmann paints a vivid picture of this community,
bringing alive the stories of merchants, grocers, immigrants from
Eastern Europe, and scientists and university professionals who
have come to call the area home. Drawing on interviews and other
sources, she traces the growth of local synagogues, explores the
role of Jewish community centers, looks at how children were shaped
by school and Temple life, and even recalls the community's summer
vacations at nearby Neubert Springs.
With broad historical sweep, Besmann examines what life was like
for Knoxville's early Jewish community and how the events of their
lives were affected by American expansion and depression, by social
upheaval and urban migration. Successive waves of immigrants, from
the traveling peddlers of the late nineteenth century to the
doctors, lawyers, and engineers of the late twentieth, have both
adapted to the culture of East Tennessee and shaped it in subtle
ways. As they did in cities all over the South, Knoxville's Jewish
population followed jobs, meaning that most of them did not grow up
in the region.
Besmann looks at topics as diverse as patterns of chain migration,
the role of Jewish merchants in the Civil War, and the
contributions of a Jewish-owned music store to the career of Elvis
Presley. She describes the vital role of ritual and celebration in
the community, from the importance placed on religious education to
the songs played at bar mitzvahs.
The Author: Wendy Lowe Besmann is a freelance writer whose work has
been published in The New York Times, USA Today, The Atlantic,
Self, and Better Homes & Gardens. She lives in Oak Ridge,
Tennessee.
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