Growing up in a town with pretty decent Jewish population, it is hard for me to imagine what it would be like to live in a place without other Jews, especially in regards to preserving my Jewish identity. As a child, I never had a problem telling my classmates or neighbors that I was Jewish; however, if I was from an area with a less prevalent Jewish community that may not have been the case.
Stella Suberman is an example of being raised in village with only one Jewish family, which was her own. In her memoir, The Jew Store, she recounts the experience of moving to a small town in Tennessee with no Jews so that her family could start a Jew Store—a store to sell goods, such as clothing, bedding, and yard goods to the poorer people of the town. Jew stores were found in many small towns of the south. As I was reading her memoir I kept thinking how someone in a situation like that could preserve their self-identity and not try to conform to the culture and lifestyle around him or her, especially with the pressure of prejudice from the Ku Klux Klan and civilians of the town. Trying to put myself in Suberman’s place, I noticed the prevalent theme of identity throughout her story, focusing on the ways in which she described physical appearances and the importance of each person’s name. Just as in our society today, Jews then had the same stereotype about their looks. Miss Simmons confesses to have instantly identified that the Bronsons were Jewish because she saw “certain looks”, such as the “ravishin’ black curls” on Suberman’s older brother. Despite being so easily recognized, Mr. Bronson did not necessarily want the people of Concordia, Tennessee to know that him and his family were Jewish right away, and he denies that he looked like a stereotypical Jews because of “his light coloring”. Physical appearance is just one indication of how strong Jewish identity is, and regardless of being thrown into areas with few Jews, southern Jews still had their physical characteristics to maintain their cultural identity. Suberman’s memoir also touches on significance of names: a way that Jews can not only identify with their ancestors and their heritage but also make connections with others. Upon coming to America, Suberman tells us that her father’s name was changed in Ellis Island from “Droskowitz” to “Plotchnikoff”. She describes this name change as bad luck, which I think is fair to say since our names are the foundation of our identity, and it was especially important for Mr. Bronson to carry on his family name in a new country. Later in the memoir, Mr. Bronson lands himself a job after recognizing “Bronstein [of BRONSTEIN’S READY-TO-WEAR AND HOUSEHOLD] was a Jewish name”. Even though, I can not imagine how hard it would have been to preserve my self-identity in a town with no other Jews and with discrimination against my family, Suberman’s memoir expresses two underlying and inescapable identifications of being Jewish: appearance and name.
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Jordan Pincus
Emory Student. Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology. South Florida Jew. ArchivesCategories |