Small Town American Judaism

There have always been Jews in small American towns, and their communities look different from larger, more urban Jewish communities in important ways. In this episode, host Yehuda Kurtzer dives into the intricacies of small town American Jewish life with Rachel Isaacs, the rabbi of Beth Israel Congregation of Waterville, Maine, and director of Colby College’s Center for Small Town Jewish Life. They discuss what constitutes community in a place with few Jews, lessons born of necessity about how we practice pluralism, and the sense of communal collaboration that small town communities are more likely to engender.