Podcasts History Mississippi Moments Podcast MSM 402 Jon Levingston - Growing Up Jewish in the Delta

MSM 402 Jon Levingston - Growing Up Jewish in the Delta

Published: June 25, 2014, 8:11 p.m.

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Like many Jewish children in the South, John Levingston of Cleveland, Mississippi attended kindergarten at a Christian church.\xa0 In the episode, Levingston remembers how that led to some confusion for him.

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\xa0Growing up in a Reform Congregation, Levingston did not participate in some traditional Jewish practices.\xa0 He recalls his decision to learn Hebrew and have a bar mitzvah in his late thirties.

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\xa0The once thriving Jewish population of the Delta has dwindled as younger generations have moved away.\xa0 Levingston explains why he chose that as the topic of his bar mitzvah talk.