Postville Part Deux

So, almost finished with Postville. I have to say, it has turned out to be quite interesting. Once I got past the constant stereotyping of Iowans, it was really well written. The author, Stephen Bloom did an excellent job of laying out the complexities of the conflict. You take a group of Fundamentalist Hasidic Jews, who believe it is crucial to separate themselves from those around them as they are the Chosen People, and put them in a very unique setting, such as rural Iowa, and it set the stage for an interesting battle ground.

Bloom was sympathetic to both groups, all the while struggling with his inherent link to the Jewish population as a fellow Jew. Throughout the book, the reader sees Bloom's open and honest struggle with what is right and wrong. He sees how off-putting the Jew's behavior is (arrogant, condescending, racist--and proud of it!!--, and their immediate claim that any and all arguments against them is anti-semitism) as well as the close-mindedness some of the Iowan's exhibit. Sometimes, as we see in this story, there are reasons that generalizations are made, (not to say it's right) and it's easy to get caught up in an emotional state. Bloom is often caught in the middle of these two battling groups, and comes to find that he is reluctantly--but inevitably--drawn to the Iowans in this conflict. The behavior of the Jews of Postville--while right in their own minds--is too much to expect the Iowans to put up with. The pentultimate and proverbial last straw was a crime--viscious and unimaginable that was ignored and condoned by the Hasidim. An elderly shop clerk was shot, at point-blank range, by one of the Hasidim, and the Lubavitcher's (the Jew's in Postville) came out in force to show their support. For the SHOOTER. Because the victim was "just a gentile", it wasn't that big of a deal, and was not worthy of their sympathy.

Obviously, this is an accouting of the situation in Postville, and this case-study should not be extrapolated unto any other groups, and certainly not used as a description of Hasidic Jews as a whole; but it is an interesting view of one horrible experience of race problems in recent history.

I'd recommend it as an interesting look at race/religion relations in present day Middle America.

Thanks for reading...

Tommy