Quote #38800
Can it be
I am the only Jew residing in Danville, Kentucky,
looking for matzoh in the Safeway and the A & P?
I am the only Jew residing in Danville, Kentucky,
looking for matzoh in the Safeway and the A & P?
Maxine Kumin
About This Quote
This quote needs no introduction—at least for now. We're working on adding more context soon.
Interpretation
In three quick lines, the speaker frames a moment of cultural dislocation: a Jewish person in a small Kentucky town, searching for Passover matzoh in mainstream American supermarkets (Safeway, A&P). The rhetorical question conveys isolation—being possibly “the only Jew”—while the mundane errand underscores how minority identity is often negotiated through everyday logistics rather than grand declarations. The humor is edged with loneliness: the sacred (a ritual food tied to communal memory) meets the ordinary (chain-store aisles), highlighting assimilation’s pressures and the longing for a community that would make such a search unremarkable.

