Shalom Y'All

The kitchen of Henrietta Levine in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where chopped liver is sautTing. Ben and Betty Lee Lamensdorf's farmland in Cary, Mississippi, where cotton, wheat, and pecans are harvested. The New Americans Social Club, a group of Holocaust survivors that meet regularly in New Orleans. The historic and flourishing Temple Emanu-El in Birmingham, Alabama. From Levy, Arkansas, to Kaplan, Louisiana, Southern Jewish culture is alive and well below the Mason-Dixon line. In Shalom Y'all, award-winning photographer Bill Aron provides a vibrant portrait of contemporary Jewish life, dutifully recording the heroic, funny, and sometimes tragic experiences of a people who have long settled in the Bible Belt. With a moving foreword by Alfred Uhry, author of Driving Miss Daisy, this book covers all aspects of the Jewish experience, from food (chopped liver, of course, but also bagels and grits) to occupations to religious practices to friendships. Together, the text and photographs tell a story of a culture that has managed, with a mixture of good humor, perseverance, and faith, to make a home.

Bill Aron's work is part of permanent collections in a number of museums, including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Art Institute of Chicago, the International Center of Photography, the Museum of Modern Art, the Jewish Museum, and the National Museum of American Jewish History. He has had over twenty solo exhibitions, has been part of over twenty-five theme exhibitions, has contributed to a number of books, and his work has been featured in a host of magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times, Time, Newsweek, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times Vicki Reikes Fox has worked in museums for over twenty years as a curator and educator, and she was the founding project director of the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience. Born in Savannah, Georgia, she was raised in Hattiesburg, Mississippi