And the Only US State Without a Chabad Is...

“They give us a call and say, ‘Can we come over?’ and they come to our home and visit with us,” Bea Premack said of the roving rabbis. “They want to know if we need anything — books? a kosher mezuzah?”

Chabad may be well aware of the Jewish presence in the Dakotas. But other Jews the Premacks meet when traveling out of state are often surprised to hear where they are from.

“They usually say things like, ‘South Dakota, are there Jews there?” Bea Premack said. “They think it’s at the end of the world.”