This goes back to my 1st ever post here at Mixed Multitudes back on September 9th. Remember that town, Dothan, Alabama, whose Jewish community offered as much as $50,000, plus support finding a job, to any Jewish family that moved there?
Sure, we all had a good laugh back in September. I joked that Dothan is the peanut capital of the world and that Jewish kids are all allergic to peanuts. You laughed at that. You thought, “Wow, this Jeremy kid sure is funny. Hopefully he can keep it up.” And the rest is history…
Well now, it is the Jewish community of Dothan that is laughing at all its skeptics. This past week, Dothan welcomed its newest Jewish family. Matthew and Michelle Reed, along with their 2 sons, moved from North Carolina after Matthew finished his stint in the army at Fort Bragg.
Michelle actually has family from Dothan who were members of the local synagogue. Matthew is in the process of converting to Judaism.
It’s funny. When offering people money to live somewhere, it’s all about context. For example, when Dothan offers $50,000 to Jewish families to move there, we think, “Oh, how nice. A small community investing in their future.”
But if I were to offer any woman, aged 18-35, $20,000/year to live in my apartment, also to invest in the future, you’d think, “Mail order bride. It doesn’t get more pathetic than that.”
Luckily, I don’t have $20,000, so that situation will never come up…ladies.
