Rating: 
Summary: So Much More than Dirty Laundry...
Review: In this book, the parallels and rivalries between "Jewish" and "American" are brought to the fore both in the political and economic setting of Postville, Iowa and in Bloom's own life as an assimilated Jew. It might be tempting to dismiss "Postville" as one more hostile attack on Orthodoxy by a non-observant Jew, a disturbing trend in recent (Jewish) media. But Bloom manages to mostly keep his book from deteriorating to that level. He rarely stoops to rhetoric, choosing to let the facts speak for themselves. I have no doubt that he's editing the facts to support his story, but that's the task of any decent journalist. If he allows the Postville Lubavitchers to hang themselves with their "anti-everyone else" sentiments, they've certainly provided him with enough fodder to do so. And as for the inevitable questions about whether Jews ought to air "dirty laundry" for a non-Jewish reading public, Bloom is honest enough about his motivations, and shares enough of himself, poignantly depicting the clash between his suspicion of the "very Jewish Jews" of Postville and the kinship he (at times) desparately wants to feel with them. It's clear from his personal angle that he's not writing merely for sensationalism. This book doesn't offer concrete closure, either in terms of the Postville situation or Bloom's own life. Politically, the "native" Iowans vote against the Jews, but they stay anyway (despite having threatened to leave). The palpable tension still hangs in the air, but nobody's backing down. As for Bloom, at the end of the book, he's left with a Hebrew name and a Jewish son and little awareness of where he needs to go with either one. Alienated from the Postville Jews by his unwillingness to become Orthodox, and alienated even more from his superficial cultural Judaism by the physical distance to New York, Bloom's situation in the end mirrors that of many American Jews. The fact that he's able to write about it eloquently -- though he may not be able to draw any immediate conclusions -- makes this book worthwhile reading for Jews in the heartland, and anyone else who hopes to understand the current exile.
Rating:
Summary: Clash of Cultures and Self-Examination
Review: This is a powerful book for several reasons. First, through the eyes of its highly assimilated Jewish author, we see intensely the intra-cultural biases, prejudices and misconceptions amongst American Jews. There are several good books on the market that take a look at this (see Jew v. Jew, for example) in a scholarly way, but few that use the approach of personal discovery as Mr. Bloom has done. Secondly, we take a step outside the intracultural struggle of Mr. Bloom to the resistance of a small Iowa town to the injection of a substantial, and relatively wealthy group of Chasidic Jews. What happens to the reader is a tumbling of allegiances. There are no good guys and bad guys. I found myself irritated with Bloom's white-bread Judaism, but then doubly frustrated by the intransigence and rigidity of some of the Chasids. The Iowans at first glance are easy to dismiss as simple WASPS who venture not far from a church basement, but we are not allowed to let them remain caricatures. The real estate agent whose pocket has filled finds acceptance in his heart in the way that the local merchants who have been shunned cannot. The economic drivers of prejudice and tolerance are stripped naked, making even the characters displaying a capacity to change and grow seem more complicated and less progressive than strategic. This is not a book of moral simplicity. This is a complex story of a town facing difficult change and evoking normal human resistance to change. I like Bloom as a narrator because he struggles with the harsh reality of bigotry and prejudice -- that we all have it, and not necessarily in ways that are simple, convenient, or consistent with our view of ourselves.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent analysis of Extreme Fundamentalism
Review: As I read the protests from those who feel Bloom is unfair in his portrayal of the Hasidic Jews, I thought how strange that the only group that can ever be assailed without protest is the middle-of-the-road American. If Bloom's conclusion had been that those Iowa farm folk were all to blame and totally anti-sematic, I doubt there would have been any objection. Bloom wrote what he saw and was courageous in coming up with conclusions that he knew would cause others to accuse him of being biased. What I got from this book is a fundamental question of when is the protection the rights of individual fundamental sects more important than the cultural values of a country. As we deal with extreme Muslims, extreme Christians, any extreme religious group, is there never a time when there are basic values of the greater culure that deserve to be protected and perserved?
Rating: 
Summary: Cultural warfare in America's heartland.
Review: "Postville," by Stephen Bloom, is about a small town in Iowa that experiences culture shock when a group of Lubavitcher Chasidim move in. In 1987, Aaron Rubashkin, a Brooklyn butcher, buys the town's abandoned slaughterhouse and turns it into a kosher meatpacking plant. The new enterprise is a financial success and it generates hundreds of new jobs. Thanks to the Chasidim, the faltering town comes to life. Theoretically, everyone should be happy. However, all is not well in Postville. The Iowans are, by nature, suspicious of non-Christians and of outsiders in general, and the Chasidim in Postville are the quintessential outsiders. They keep to themselves, and they dress and act differently from everyone else. As time passes, the Iowans begin to resent the Chasidim, believing them to be arrogant, selfish, and money-hungry. By 1997, the townspeople decide to hold a referendum that, if passed, may drive the Jews out of Postville. Although Bloom is a professional journalist, he makes no effort to remain objective in his account of Postville's problems. It is apparent that Bloom, who is a secular Jew, resents and dislikes the Chasidim almost as much as the locals do. Although Bloom spends time eating and praying with the Chasidim during the Sabbath, he never warms up to their way of life, and he resents their aggressive efforts to turn him into an observant Jew. Because of Bloom's lack of objectivity, "Postville" does not succeed as a balanced sociological study of two groups on a collision course. Time and again, Bloom points out the flaws of the Chasidim and he makes almost no effort to find anything positive to say about them. Bloom's bias throws the entire book off balance. Therefore, "Postville" ends up being more divisive than illuminating.
Rating:
Summary: A true -- and truly fascinating -- story
Review: You could slog through a stack of dry, boring sociology books to understand the push and pull between diverse cultures in the United States -- or you could simply pick up "Postville" and enter a fascinating microcosm of American multiculturalism. In elegant style, Stephen G. Bloom masterfully tells the story of this tiny Iowa farm town and the influx of ultra-Orthodox Jews who simultaneously save it and turn it upside down. The book reads like a good mystery as Bloom, a secular Jew, makes his way through Postville, trying to figure out why the people who opened a kosher slaughterhouse there have so alienated their neighbors. His surprising discoveries and conclusions illuminate what every homogenous population endures when differences intrude. "Postville" speaks eloquently to the issues of assimilation, cultural integrity, exclusivity and what it really means to be a community. On top of that, it's just plain fun to read!
Rating:
Summary: Utterly fascinating and educational
Review: I give this book 5 stars because it so beautifully explains a huge part of the problem of Christian-Jewish relations without even meaning to. While Christians have been slurred incessantly and erroneously for being "anti-semites," the reasons why there is true friction between Christians and Jews are never truly explained. The problems are chalked up to "Jew-hatred" rooted in Christianity itself, or to a sort of "virus" that renders "Gentiles" completely irrational and prone to violence. Never are the actions and behaviors of the Jewish people examined, never is rabbinical Judaism examined for anti-Christianism, and never are Jewish attitudes toward Christians explored. Only rarely are the reasons for the animosity actually examined (perhaps because to speak of them and to accuse a certain group of people of bearing some responsibility for their fate is to be labelled an "anti-semite"), but this book explains a lot by describing what happens when a large group of Chassidim move into a small town in Iowa. If you read this fascinating book, and I hope you do, consider how the events shed light on certain historical phenomena, such as, for example, the expulsions of Jews from Spain, France, and England. If you are new to honestly (and I emphasize that word) examining Christian-Jewish relations, this book is an easy-to-read and unintended but solid introduction to the sociological issues involved.
Rating:
Summary: It's Jew vs. Jew and Jew vs. Gentile
Review: I had mixed feelings while reading Postville. I heard Stephen Bloom speak about his book before I read it and understood his point of view about his ultimate negative impression of the Hasidim and their culture juxtaposed to that of the Postville townies. He objected to his introduction by a Rabbi at another of his speaking engagements in calling him a "bagel and lox Jew". I can also be put into that category yet when reading Bloom's account of how and why the Hasidim live the way they do, I came away with a better understanding of their lifestyle. I certainly can't say that I agree with their obnoxious behavior towards the local Postville people but they are living in a culture that their sect has devoutly observed for many many years. They ask nothing of anyone except to be left alone. Unfortunately, as business people in a town where you have to interact with others, it is not too much to expect common courtesy, which many of the Hasids in Postville did not apply. Bloom did say that they do not necessarily represent the general Hasidic population because they are basically butchers without any social graces and it shows. It is also understandable for the local Postville residents to resent the Jews and their strange life style who just pop into their town and virtually alter their culture. In the real world there will always be some anti-semitism just as their will always be some racism. To be angry with the Jews behavior toward them does not make them all anti-semitic. The book clearly demonstrates a real clash of cultures.
The book also reveals Bloom's own clash of cultures within himself as he tries to relate to his own Jewishness which seems to be based only on his favorite Jewish foods, not any form of religous observance, with his assimilation into the secular midwestern, gentile culture.
Rating: 
Summary: Biased & Unfair
Review: While I was initially intrigued by the prospect of this book, after about 100 pages I saw where it was going: another analysis of religious Jewish life written by a non-religious Jew. While I am not a Lubavitcher Chassid, I am an Orthodox Jew, and so maybe I understand a little more of their world than, say, someone who rejects most parts of the written and oral Law. Or maybe I'm just biased because I have more in common with the Lubavitchers than Mr. Bloom, even though I attend a secular university and am not as insular as the Chassidim. The book is filled with stereotypes and incomplete assessments. It paints a poor picture of religious Jews in general, not to mention city life. If you want to read it, take it out of the library, but don't spend your money on it.
Rating: 
Summary: poor
Review: With everything I saw that the author got wrong about Jews and Judaism in general, I don't feel that I can trust what he says about the Christian Iowans either. Which is probably good, because the author portrays most of them as being ignorant backwards racist fans of Hitler, though the author seems to like them anyway simply because they act polite and pleasant to him (he had kept secret that he was a Jew).
Of books of this type (such as Holy Days by Lis Harris) where a secular Jewish journalist visits and writes about a religious community, this is one of the worse in terms of mistakes and overwhelming personal bias against the populations (both Jews and gentiles) being covered. Something also seems odd, artificial and forced with how the author tries to work in Yiddish words regularly, even when they do not exactly fit or are unnecessary.
This was perhaps an interesting book for some Iowans who were flattered by the attention and recognition, but has little to offer otherwise for any real understanding of Postville.
Rating:
Summary: Written by an ultimate 'outsider'
Review: This is a really interesting book. Mr. Bloom writes from the standpoint of not only an outsider to Iowa, but also as an outsider to his own heritage. While he does begin to see the beauty of Iowa, its seasons & landscape, there is inaccurate information about both communities, such as; describing going to Chicago via "the interstate through downtown Davenport" where his son exclaims about tall building passing by "an historic eight floor hotel." I just have to be picky about this, being from Davenport. There's no 'interstate' through downtown Davenport. The Davenport Bank building dominates that skyline, and it is well over eight stories. I can only think they took I-74 and it was the old LeClaire hotel in *Moline*, IL that they saw. Mr. Bloom also doesn't get the 4-H motto correct.
But I was more disturbed by the lack of either understanding of or appreciation for his own heritage. While his outlook may be similar to some Iowa secular Jews, and past communities, there is a Jewish revival going on in the communities, especially Des Moines & the Quad-Cities. At any rate, he (& in one instance, his wife) seem to go out of their way to try & shock as guests of a Lubavitcher family. Would it have been so hard, knowing at least some of the behavioral standards, to temporarily accomodate their hosts? Anyway, the 'sheet' thing I found ridiculous, Shabbat actually lasts *25* hours, etc., etc. Mr. Bloom appears to be enjoying rather excessively violating various mitzvot without even understanding, or simply viewing them as 'irrelevent.' In doing so, he is stranded between both communities, looking into both, but never *belongs* to any. While Mr. Bloom waxes eloquent about how important his 'heritage' is to him, he is always pushing away ANY Jew who may attempt to discuss becoming more observant. And so what is he left with? Bagels, pastrami, and hand-cut lox. While food is an important part of any community, Jewish life is so much MORE. I worry about people who end up knowing 'what' they are, but not *who* they are, & Mr. Bloom seems a good example of that issue.
The reviewer who has spoken with Aaron Goldstein is, I feel, is probably more correct in describing another view of the Hasidic community of Postville.
A good read, however.
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