Dec 14 2023 34 mins
My family moved to Bowling Green in 1987, but we weren’t the first Jews to live there, far from it. Jews had been settling in Bowling Green for over 150 years, drawn by economic prosperity. Jewish merchants helped open up the American frontier, wherever they could a stream or railroad to follow. They learned to adapt their faith and traditions to a new place, one where there wasn’t a Jewish community to rely on. And when their children grew older, and fell in love, it was sometimes with a local Christian kid.
In this episode, I speak with Dr. Laura Yares of Michigan State about 19th century Jewish life, and what it can teach us today. I also speak with Dr. Matt Boxer of Brandeis University about how and why Jews ended up in small towns to begin with. Along the way, Ben Dubrovsky shares another chapter in the story of Josh, while I share the Jewish history of the Nahm family, four brother who settled in Bowling Green just before the Civil War. The episode finishes with an introduction to a new friend, John Nahm, who grew up in Bowling Green and whose great-grandfather was Sam Nahm, one of the four original brothers and the only one to be buried in Bowling Green.
72 Miles features the stories of three separate interfaith Jewish families–two real, one not, and one mine. Together, they trace 150 years of Kentucky history, with experiences that resonate today—about being Jewish in America, about being Jewish and southern at the same time. About being Jewish, being interfaith, and the blending of the two.
So strap in, and take a ride with me, up and down I65, or back and forth on the L&N Railroad. In the end the when and the who don’t make as much difference and you might think. But the where sure does. My name is Nathan Jordan Vaughan. It’s 72 Miles til Kentucky. Let’s get moving.
72 Miles Til Kentucky was written and produced by Nathan J. Vaughan. Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lofi Girl. Curricular components for each episodes are available on the show's website.
You can learn more about me and any of my work on my website, www.nathanjvaughan.com.
Subscribe to my regular Torah podcast, Modern Torah anywhere you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening.