Tell Me Why
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Does Anyone Jewish Really Live
In Wyoming And South Dakota?
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSOCIATE EDITOR
CZ: Do any Jews live in Wyoming?
It may seem at first thought that Jews
• can't actually be living in states like
Wyoming, but be assured they do.
Jewish residents were recorded in Wyoming as
early as the late 1860s; most were peddlers and
shopkeepers.
The first synagogue was established in
.
A
Wyoming in 1915. Today, some 350 Jews — most
of them residents of Cheyenne — live in the state,
according to the American Jewish Yearbook.
There's also a Jewish community of 330 in Ida-
ho, 350 in Montana, 630 in North Dakota and 135
in South Dakota.
421: What exactly is a mamzer?
.A mamzer is a person born to a couple
AL • whose sexual relations are forbidden by
the Torah. The specific prohibitions involve adul-
tery and incest.
The inter-family relationships defined as in-
cestuous are listed in Leviticus 18:6-18. The pro-
hibition against adultery is stated, among other
places in the Torah, in Deuternomony 22:22.
Mamzerut is permanent and is passed down
from one generation to the next. A mamzer may
marry only another mamzer or a convert. Their
children — in fact, all their descendants — will
be mamzerim.
Mamzer is generally mis-translated into Eng-
lish as "bastard," that is, a person born to unwed
parents. Unlike other legal systems, however, Ju-
daism does not declare illegitimate a child con-
ceived or born out of wedlock. He or she has all
the rights and privileges of any other Jew.
Ca: Why were so many Jews Bolsheviks?
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. For two centuries under Russian rule,
A • Jews suffered daily physical violence, ha-
rassment and humiliation inspired by Christian
fanaticism. Large-scale pogroms in some cases were
organized by the czarist government, and in all cas-
es were condoned by the czar.
In the 19th century, as elements
within Russian Jewry became west-
ernized, they were introduced to
utopian philosophies, such as so-
cialism and communism, that
promised to end anti-Semitism.
Some of these Jews saw in commu-
nism the realistic possibility of a
new world that Judaism promised
only in a messianic era of the vague
future. Shedding their religion, they
became true believers in the com-
munist system and joined the ranks
of the revolutionaries.
In February 1917, the czar was overthrown and
replaced with Alexander Kerensky's Provisional
Government. In October 1917, Kerensky in turn
was toppled by the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin.
A number of prominent Bolshevik leaders,
thinkers and strategists, including Trotsky,
Kamenev, Litvinov, Sverdlov and Zinoviev, were
Jews. They did not attract the Jewish masses. At
the time, the vast majority of Russian Jewry was
religious, Zionist or both.
The Bolsheviks succeeded in putting an end to
the pogroms and allowed Jews to
advance in the Soviet Union's sec-
ular society. One poster that ap-
peared when the Bolsheviks came
to power read, "Anti-Semitism is
anti-communism."
However, the communists prac-
ticed a more subtle form of anti-
Semitism, placing limits on Jewish
social, political, professional and
educational progress.
Any efforts to thwart anti-Semi-
tism ended with Josef Stalin. Soon
after coming to power (despite the
fact that Lenin named Trotsky his successor), Stal-
in began a reign of terror that brought death to hun-
dreds of thousands. Among them were some of the
Soviet Union"s most artistically and intellectually
gifted Jews.
44: Why do some Jews write G-d?
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. Based on Exodus 20:7 and Deuteronomy
AL • 5:11, the Talmud (Berachot 33a) prohibits
the unnecessary use of God's name. In Hebrew
writing, this led to the practice of abbreviating
the name of God (the most abbreviated word in
Hebrew literature). The full name is spelled out
only in the Torah and in sacred texts such as
prayer books.
All rabbis agree this prohibition applies to He-
brew writing (some attach a mystical significance
to the Hebrew letters themselves). Some rabbis
extend this practice to other languages, hence the
abbreviation G-d. (Some have even taken to writ-
ing Al-mighty).
Any written, printed or engraved material that
contains God's name must be placed, when no
longer needed, in a genizah, a storage container
where the materials are allowed to decompose
naturally. Often, a genizah is located in a ceme-
tery. Detroit has two: one at Machpelah Ceme-
tery and one at Hebrew Memorial Park.
Send questions to "Tell Me Why" c to The Jewish News, 27676 Franklin Rd., Southfield, MI 48034