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LESS than 1% of the South’s population is Jewish, and southern Jews account for only 7% of American Jewry. This has not always been the case. In 1800 there were more Jews in Charleston, South Carolina than in any other American city—more than 500, or one-fifth of all American Jewry. Around 40,000 Jews moved south between the end of the American civil war and the beginning of the first world war, many of them working as small-town merchants.

不到%1的南方人口数量是犹太人，南方犹太人只占美国犹太人数量的7%。这并不是总是如此。南卡罗莱纳州的查尔斯顿有着1800名或更多的犹太人， 比其他任何一个美国城市都多500人以上或占了美国所有犹太人总数的5分之一。大约4万犹太人在美国内战和第一次世界大战开始前迁往南部，他们中许多人成了小镇的商人。

That legacy remains in congregations dotted throughout the South, many of which are too small to afford a full-time rabbi. Which is where Marshal Klaven comes in. As director of rabbinical services at the Institute of Southern Jewish Life in Jackson, Mississippi, Mr Klaven, a 31-year-old former military chaplain, presides over 133 such congregations throughout the south, from Odessa, Texas in the west to Brunswick, Georgia in the east, and north as far as Leesburg, Virginia. He spends three or four weekends each month on the road.

集会遗留的遗产遍布南方，很多遗产却太小而不能雇佣起一个全职犹太教祭司。这就是Marshal Klaven诞生的地方。Klaven是一名31岁的前军队牧师，在密西西比，杰克逊的南部犹太人生活协会担任犹太教服务的总管，他统辖超过133个这样的协会，这些协会覆盖了南部，从奥德萨市，得克萨斯州西部到不伦瑞克，格鲁吉亚东部和北部远至利斯堡，弗吉尼亚州。他在那每个月在公路上的时间就要3，4个星期。

On a recent Friday evening Mr Klaven led Shabbat services in Auburn, Alabama, near the Georgia border. The small temple, which was a Christian Science reading room until the congregation bought it in the spring of 1992, is tucked back on a winding residential street in the northern part of the city, not far from the university that shares its name with the town. Mr Klaven has a genial and easy manner, which helps when leading congregations he may only see once or twice each year.

在最近的一个周五晚上，Klaven在格鲁吉亚边境附近的亚拉巴马州的奥本市主持安息日活动。直到教会在1992年春天买了下来，那个小寺院曾经一直是基督教的科学阅览室。小寺院在离大学不远的一个在蜿蜒的住宅街道里的一个城市中，和这个城市拥有相同的名字。Klaven有着亲切，融洽的举止，这帮助他领导教会，可能每年只能看到他一到两次。

By big-city standards, Auburn’s congregation is small—around 30 families—but by small-town southern standards it is thriving, with a broad age-range and enough children to sustain Sunday-school classes. During Passover Mr Klaven went to Vicksburg, Mississippi; Bowling Green, Kentucky; Rome and Dahlonega, Georgia; and to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he encouraged a full-time rabbi there to volunteer his time to nearby congregations.

以大城市标准看，奥本的教会是很小的，聚集了大约30个家庭，但是从小镇南部标准来看它是繁荣的，它有着广阔的年龄范围而且主日学校课程可以足够满足孩子。在逾越节Klaven去了密西西比州的维克斯堡，肯塔基州的博林格林市，罗马和达洛尼加，格鲁吉亚，而且还去了田纳西州的查塔努加。在那里他鼓励一个全职犹太教祭司贡献他的一部分时间去附近的教会。更多信息请访问：http://www.24en.com/

Rabbis are not uncommon in larger cities of the south. Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis and the Research Triangle area of North Carolina all have sizeable Jewish populations, even as those in smaller towns are ageing and dwindling. The community in Dothan, Alabama may have hit on a solution: they are offering Jewish families with children up to $50,000 to move there. That may not only help revive a century-old community but, if even more Jews were drawn south, it might help Mr Klaven with one of his most pressing concerns. He loves the South and hopes to remain in this post for a while. But, he says, finding a nice Jewish girl in Mississippi isn’t easy.

犹太教祭司在南方大城市并不罕见。亚特兰大，纳什维尔，孟菲斯和北卡罗来纳州的三角研究科技园都有相当大的犹太人群体，甚至是在老龄化和衰弱的小城镇。在阿拉巴马州的多坍社区可能已经正在酝酿一个解决方案： 他们现正提供给有孩子的犹太人家庭达 50000 元用来搬迁到那。这可能不仅帮助恢复一个百年的老社区，但如果更多的犹太人被转移到南部，它可能会帮助Klaven最迫切关注的问题之一。他热爱南部地区而且希望在这停留一段时间，但是他也说了在密西西比河找到一个漂亮的犹太女孩并不容易。