The Lesson Southern Jews Knew First

When I reflect on my rabbinical career, I realize I have spent nearly a third of it south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Yes, that includes about 10 years in South Florida — and lest you see South Florida as a mere extension of Long Island, when I moved to Miami in 1981, it still had traces of an old Southern Jewish community. I enjoyed my time in the South. I found the people gracious, the communities strong, and I did good work there. However, I never fully grasped Southern Jewish sociology. I famously and infamously missed social cues. I never fully understood what it meant to be a Jew in the South. If only I had sat at the feet of Nick Lemann, with whom I had a conversation for our podcast.  His new book, "Returning: A Search for Home Across Three Centuries," is the story of his German Jewish family, who journeyed from a small village in the Rhine Valley to the sugar plantations of Louisiana and into the elegant, complicated world of New Orleans high society. They prospered. They assimilated. They sent their children to Harvard. They built beautiful homes under live oaks and hosted cocktail parties with silver trays and crustless duck sandwiches. And yet, even at the height of their success, a quiet awareness lingered: Acceptance was real, but never complete. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices