I don’t personally know any Jews

I only know one, and he is a redneck chain smoker that loves to deer hunt. He’s not exactly the stereotype.

Same. From a very small area couldn’t name one. I do understand the narrative though but it is over played.

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I don’t personally know any Jews

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New Orleans has many due to it being a historical mercantile hotbed.

My jewish ancestors immigrated here from Amsterdam and are buried in the Dispersed of Judah Cemetery in mid-city. They assimilated pretty quickly due to Jews not being able to do certain things like own store-fronts on corners and things like that... They practiced masonry for a while and were pretty typical lawyer, doctor, banker types...

Some of my best friends are jewish (ethnically), the out of town jews I'm friends with are typical big city libs though.

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I only know one, and he is a redneck chain smoker that loves to deer hunt. He’s not exactly the stereotype.

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I personally fit much closer to this description than what you'd think of the "stereotypical jew"

It's almost like we're just normal people with different personalities and upbringings

I think the culture you are raised in often has as much to do with how you turn out as anything else.

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You probably do, many don't advertise it.

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Also, not every Jew has a last name with a Berg or Stein at the end.

In my case, you wouldn't recognize my last name as being potentially Jewish unless you were fairly educated in world history.

Maybe that helps with people not forming an immediate opinion of me based on a stereotype and I don't have the "full experience", I don't know. But it's never really mattered in any positive or negative way in my life

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You probably do, many don't advertise it.

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The sad reality is it’s tough to be a practicing Jew in very rural areas. The guy I know is married to a Christian and his children attended Christian schools. He had to drive over an hour to attend synagogue. There used to be many more in towns like Monroe, Greenville, MS, Natchez, etc., but the children would often move off and over the course of a few generations they have almost all disappeared.

Heard an interesting comment about religious affiliations. If a Christian, any form of Protestant or catholic, goes away from the church, they are no longer affiliated with their religion in perception or reality. But a non-practicing Jew is always a Jew in perception.

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The sad reality is it’s tough to be a practicing Jew in very rural areas.

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This is a very good point. Lots of non-practicing or now converted to Christianity ethnic Jews in the south.

Also, there was a large influx in America after WW11 and many of them converted to Christianity or largely quit practicing due to the fear and stigma around them at the time. Many also fled Europe alone or with a sibling or single parent and were largely alone when they arrived, and wound up marrying into Christian families.