Across the Southern United States, Jewish communities weave together deep historical roots and dynamic evolution for the future. As more Jews of Color seek connection, leadership, and belonging in these regional contexts, the need to uplift local voices and invest in community infrastructure is clear. The Jews of Color Initiative continues to deepen its engagement in the South, supporting leaders and organizations who are shaping vibrant Jewish life—often in places where Jewish identity is powerfully thriving. One such leader is Dr. Buffie Longmire-Avital, whose story offers insight into both the challenges, and the transformative potential, of building Jewish community in the South.
From the Back Pew to the Bimah: Dr. Buffie Longmire-Avital
When Dr. Buffie Longmire-Avital and her husband Nadav moved from Brooklyn to Greensboro, North Carolina, they encountered a new rhythm of Jewish life.
“All of a sudden, we were in a place that did have, and always had, a Jewish community, but it wasn’t New York. We had to figure out how to navigate that,” she said. “In Brooklyn, we didn’t have to think about how to get food for Passover—it was just so easy.”
Raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Dr. Longmire-Avital attended boarding school through a program for high-achieving students of Color. By the time she met Nadav, she was finishing her PhD in psychology. Over the next year, she converted to Judaism, got engaged, planned a wedding, and defended her dissertation.
Two years later, the couple and their new son relocated to North Carolina for her faculty role as Assistant Professor at Elon University. A regular at Shabbat services, Dr. Longmire-Avital felt welcomed into the community, but it took some time before she was embraced as a trusted leader in her synagogue.
Her husband, a native Hebrew speaker, was often asked to recite Haftarah, but it took longer for the community to recognize Dr. Longmire-Avital’s potential.
“More than seeing me beyond someone who is just coming in to participate in services but as someone who is ready to actually engage and lead the community—it took time for that to happen. It took a while for the community to figure out what my skills were,” she said. “Eventually they were like, ‘You’ve been here all this time!’ and yes—I’ve been here. And I wasn’t hiding.”
She began sharing D’vars, joined the synagogue board, and supported strategic planning. Today, she and Nadav also serve as lay leaders for a small congregation in Martinsville, Virginia, where they lead services and organize holiday programming.
Her experience as a lay leader and Jew of Color in the South has deepened her profound understanding of what it takes to build community—particularly in a region shaped by geographic distance and small, dispersed Jewish populations.
“The Jewish community in the South is growing, and now some new data from the Jews of Color Initiative is pointing to that growth being particularly of Jews of Color, which is amazing,” she said. “But if you think of the geography in the South, people are spread out…cities nearest to you could be 30 minutes away,” she said. “Being insular doesn’t work in this environment. In the South, Jewish communities are much smaller so there’s a need to focus less on boundaries, to not think so heavily on affiliation,” such as Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, or Reconstructionist. “I think for me, a healthy Jewish community in the South is one that’s collaborative, working across these boundaries because we are so few and far between; they recognize that they would rather pull people into the tent than enforce boundaries that might keep people out.”
She also points to the long, often overlooked history of Southern Jewish communities.
“Jewish communities in the South are not just suddenly emerging,” Dr. Longmire-Avital says. “There needs to be a recognition that we’ve always been there. The history of Jews in the South has gone back to the founding of this country, and yet when we think of the Jewish story in America…we forget to acknowledge the Jewish communities of the South. That actually starts to challenge our conceptions of what Jewish looks like.” She sees her town of Greensboro as a microcosm of this phenomenon, and has learned about the steady presence of Jews in the area. “Greensboro, for example, has never known a time without Jewish families…You can’t tell the story of Greensboro without including the Jewish community in some way.”
Over generations, she notes, Southern Jewish communities have had to evolve in creative and flexible ways.
Jewish communities of the South “teach an interesting lesson around the evolution of Judaism…they had to shift with generations to just make it work. To re-focus on the foundational aspects of Judaism that we need to make sure our community survives and remains connected.”
The JoCI’s Engagement in the Region
Dr. Longmire-Avital’s story reflects a broader truth: the South is not only home to deeply rooted Jewish communities—it’s also a region where the growth of Jewish life increasingly includes Jews of Color.
To support this vibrant and growing community, the Jews of Color Initiative has increased our engagement in the South—forging strong relationships, tuning into local voices, and actively sharing our data and pedagogy in cities like Raleigh, Sarasota, and Savannah. During the second week of April, Ilana Kaufman and Arya Marvazy headed multiple events in the Baltimore and D.C. area: a BIPOC Jews and Families Community Networking event followed by a book talk with Marc Dollinger, author of Black Power, Jewish Politics: Reinventing the Alliance of the 1960s at Third Space; and a Pre-Service Community Oneg at Adas Israel, a prominent D.C. synagogue that regularly saw Ruth Bader Ginsburg in its pews before her passing.
JoCI’s engagement in the South coincides with additional powerful Jewish efforts in the region, including a recent trip to the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, led by the National Council of Jewish Women. The event brought together multiracial Jewish leaders from across the country— including JoCI Board member Deitra Reiser—to reflect on the history of the Civil Rights Movement in the South. “We continue to have work to do so that we build more points of understanding and connection between the South and other parts of the country and beyond with a clear and nuanced understanding of the past,” Reiser reflected. “This trip was a step in that direction, which I hope will be harnessed to keep bending the moral arc towards the justice that we all seek.”
Another prominent fixture of JoC community building in the mid-Atlantic region of the South is the Jews of Color Mishpacha Project’s annual Shabbaton, led by Kohenet Dr. Harriette Wimms. The “We Are Family” Shabbaton is a family-friendly, weekend-long gathering for Jews of Color, Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews to “participate in JOC-led learning, prayer and ritual, spirited singing, and connection with nature.” One of the largest national gatherings of Jews of Color, multiracial, and multiethnic Jews, the weekend retreat offers a wide diversity of prayer options and affinity spaces, with programs that cater to adults, youth, and families with children.
This year’s JOCMP “We Are Family” Shabbaton is taking place August 8-10, 2025 at the Pearlstone Retreat Center in Baltimore, Maryland. Learn more here (registration coming soon!).