Jewish community grows in northwest Arkansas
Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006
BENTONVILLE — Benton County drew national attention this week when New York Times writer Michael Barbaro described the local effect of what he called "the Wal-Mart Jews."
The local Jewish community created Congregation Etz Chaim in August 2004 to give people a central place to worship and to pass on Jewish traditions to their children.
While the New York Times story garnered some attention in chatrooms and on blogs, to the average Benton County resident, the effect of the synagogue goes mostly unnoticed.
The small white-with-bluetrim building on the corner of Central Avenue and Moberly Lane sits unopposing, getting little more attention than the Hispanic Assembly of God congregation that previously used the facility.
The subtle change from "Christmas vacation"to "winter break"on the public schools’ calendar raises few eyebrows, and the menorah added to the downtown holiday lighting celebration didn’t spark a religious riot.
But even subtle changes make differences in the big picture, Congregation Etz Chaim member Mark Levine said. "For the Bentonville community, it’s great,"he said of the national press the everdiversifying community is receiving. "I believe that right now we’re just planting seeds. It’ll help people in their relocation process when they see that there is some place that they too can worship."
Most of the Jewish community here — like many in the overall community — was drawn to the area for one of two reasons: Wal-Mart or a Wal-Mart vendor.
When Levine moved here from New York 11 years ago, there was no Jewish community here at all. But as Wal-Mart has grown — and Bentonville has grown — the Jewish population has grown. "When I moved down here, it was one of my concerns that my child would only see one culture,"Levine said.
Now his 2-year-old son celebrates Jewish holidays with other Jewish children and families.
Levine said it is the Jewish community’s responsibility to educate the Christian community about Jewish culture, especially when it comes to public schools. "I think there is a problem on some of the Jewish holidays,"he said. "These are the holidays where we don’t work, and we go to synagogues, to our temple, and we’re not working, and we’re not going to school."
Levine pointed to a case in which a student did not receive perfect attendance honors because she missed a day of school for a Jewish holiday. "It’s not like we’re out to make a big deal out of that. It’s more like if we educate some of the administration, they’ll better understand,"he said.
In Barbaro’s story, Bentonville Schools Superintendent Gary Compton noted that "you just don’t go from being noninclusive to inclusive overnight."The New York Times story reports Compton no longer schedules PTA meetings the night before Jewish holidays, which begin at sundown, and he tries to make sure Jewish songs are included in traditionally Christian lineups. "If it’s an issue to someone, I try to make it important to me,"Compton said Tuesday. "Anytime you have differences in your school district, you try to be inclusive. It’s certainly an issue of religious sensitivity."
Whether it be growing religious diversity or just a new stoplight on Walton Boulevard, change is always thick in the air of Benton County. While some things — like the push to legalize package liquor — come with more resistance than others, most residents here are eager to meet the change head on.
For others, every change is just one more in the neverending wave of change that is continually pouring over Benton County. "We’re bombarded with so much information that after a while, none of the news stories has any meaning,"Compton said. "I think in this case, this is one that is significant. It’s big stuff anytime you have enough forward inertia, in this case, to form a synagogue. That conveys lots of things."
The story is also significant for other burgeoning non-Christian groups whose populations are growing in the area.
In November 2005, the Hindu Association of Northwest Arkansas opened a prayer and cultural hall in Gentry. The prayer hall is now the spiritual home to the more than 500 Hindus in northwest Arkansas and surrounding areas.
When the Helping Hands Board of Directors was pushing for a larger contingent of churches to get involved in the local faith-based organization, board member Joanna Jacobs suggested calling the Jewish synagogue. "(The Jews) are very big on community involvement and helping the poor and doing the right thing,"she said.
And the fact that their religious beliefs differ didn’t matter to Jacobs. "We’re theological cousins, as my pastor put it,"Jacobs said. "The whole point of the thing is to help the community, not to argue over religion."
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