Shtetl Uniontown By Rabbi Arnie Fine Today the term shtetl brings up the picture of a small town in Eastern Europe, with a traditional Jewish community from a century or so ago —Annatevka from Fiddler on the Roof. In my experience there were and still are shtetlach (plural of shtetl) all over the world, whose inhabitants work to maintain Jewish life in small towns, often isolated by distance from Jewish centres, who struggle to live and thrive as Jews. The people do not look like they are from Annetevka but are no less dedicated. I was a rabbi in one of them. When I received my semikha in 1966, the USA was still very involved in Viêt Nam. Some of my classmates were conscripted into the Armed Services as chaplains. Those of us who were not called up, had the responsibility to become the rabbis of small, rather isolated congregations. Where Chevy and I, along with our then 2-year-old son, settled was Uniontown in southwestern Pennsylvania, 80 kilometers south of Pittsburgh, only about 30 kilometers from the University of West Virginia. This is a region called Appalachia, a beautiful, fascinating but problemetic part of the United States of America, which is encompassed by several states. It was and probably still is relatively poor. The major industry in those days was mining soft, bituminous coal, which was coked. When coking happened the sky turned red from the open flames. At one time there were 33 millionaire coal barons in the town. It was in its transition phase when we arrived, but the Jewish community was quite
comfortable financially. The Jewish community was interesting, then about 300 families. I am not certain when it was founded but probably sometime in the early years of the twentieth century. Many who settled there made their livings by peddling in the various coal patches, villages where coal mining was the reason for their being. These communities were dominated by the company store, which maintained certain prices and gave credit and was unforgiving. Remember the song of the 1950-60’s, “16 tons and what you get... I owe my soul to the company store.” It reflected the reality of these little communities. The peddlers, many Jewish, were a bit cheaper and they also gave credit which was a bit less problematic and perhaps a bit forgiving. While we were there, Jewish peddling was still a reality. However, they no longer walked with a pack on their back or with horses and wagons but drove cars and vans loaded with merchandise. In several of the coal areas the peddlers opened stores and went into competition with the company store. These enterprises were known as Jew stores and the proprietors were very respected. They prospered. Others opened businesses in Uniontown proper. There were two department stores with distinctive Jewish names. The main street had shops with Jewish names. The Jewish population had done well economically. When we were in Uniontown there were at least two pharmacists, several physicians, department heads at the local hospital, dentists, a veterinarian,
owners of general stores, bars, a bank owner to name a few. There was a kosher butcher, who also provided a wide range of kosher grocery products. There were two congregations, one Reform and one that was nominally Conservative, with a few people who claimed Orthodoxy. Two synagogue buildings were a few blocks from each other. Each had an afternoon religious school. Each had a cemetery,
each had a Hevra Kaddisha. Both maintained regular tefillah and my shul also had shiva minyanim when needed and, of course a kosher kitchen. And yes, there were two newly minted rabbis. There was healthy competition between the institutions. There was also a Jewish Continued on page 26
YINN Pesach 5781 | 23
