Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America
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Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America (ISBN 0156013363) is a 2000 book by journalist Stephen G. Bloom. The book documents the struggle between the small town of Postville, Iowa, and a group of new arrivals - Chabad Hasidim from New York who came to the town to run Agriprocessors, the largest kosher meat plant in the United States.
The author travelled to and from his home in Iowa City and Postville, acquainting himself with the local native Iowan and Hasidic populations. Initially, Bloom sought out the Postville Hasidim in his quest to connect to his Jewish heritage in a largely Christian area, and to understand how the community adapted to life in small-town Iowa while surrounded by an insular, homogeneous and occasionally anti-Semitic culture. The Hasidim, a proselytizing sect of Orthodox Jews, initially accepted Bloom because of his Jewish heritage and attempted to convert Bloom (whom they viewed as a "wayward Jew" due to his secularism) to their brand of Orthodox Judaism. Upon realizing that the Hasidim offered little enlightenment on either issue (as their sole concern was his religious awakening), Bloom's mission quickly changes from a personal quest to a journalistic exploration.
Bloom describes the arrival of the Hasidim in Postville. In 1987, Rabbi Aaron Rubashkin purchased an unused meat-rendering plant and turned it into a state-of-the-art facility for producing Glatt kosher meat. A group of a few hundred Hasidim joined him to help manage and operate the facility, which grew to employ 900. The town's population of around 1,300 Lutherans had a mixed relationship with the Hasidim.
Throughout the book, Bloom describes the power struggles between the two groups, culminating in a ballot referendum held by the town calling for annexation of the land where the plant was located, which permitted the town to gain the ability to tax and regulate the plant. According to the jacket, the book tries to the answer whether "the Iowans [were] prejudiced, or were the Lubavitchers simply unbearable?"
Bloom chooses sides in the culture clash. In the book, Bloom voices his opinions on the vote (he supports annexation) and his condemnation of the Hasidic community (whose behavior towards the local native Iowans he frequently describes as "despicable", and whose beliefs he characterizes as "racist" and "perverted"). At one point in the book, Bloom compares Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the international rebbe (religious leader) of the sect who died in 1994, to Louis Farrakhan, asserting that their messages of separatism are nearly identical.
In the Afterward of the updated edition of the book, Bloom describes the receiving in the aftermath of the book's publication frequent accusations of airing the Jews' "dirty laundry," and betraying his brethren.
The book was published by Harcourt in 2000 and was named a Best Book of the year by MSNBC, The Chicago Sun-Times, the Rocky Mountain News, The Chicago Tribune, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
