Postville, IA – After rabbinical training in Israel and a two-year stint as rabbi in Long Beach, CA, Aaron Goldsmith has played a key role in revitalizing the small town of Pottsville, Iowa, serving as business owner, city council member, and co-author of a book aimed at promoting the “positives” in the town.
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WCFCOURIER.com (http://bit.ly/11BKY7Z) reports that Goldsmith, who has owned Transfer Master Products Inc.—a specialized maker of customized hospital beds—for 20 years, and says he owes much of his continued success to the fact that he’s an Orthodox Jew, and that Pottsville has a “built-in,” “top quality” Orthodox Jewish workforce with a good “work ethic.”
Pottsville made headlines five years ago in the infamous “Pottsville Raid” conducted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the Department of Homeland Security at the Agriprocessors Inc. kosher meat packing plant, during which over 400 immigrant workers were arrested.
In the aftermath, Goldsmith collaborated on a book with UNI professors Mark Grey and Michelle Devlin titled “Pottsville, U.S.A.: Surviving Diversity in Small-Town America,” which Goldstein says helped “deflect” some of the negativity aimed at the town.
Kol hakovod to Rav Goldsmith for helping to erase the terrible image left by the collapse of Agriprocessors and the conviction of Rubashkin and others for federal crimes. Hopefully, his efforts will remind mid-westerners that not all yidden are focused on money and engage in fraud but instead as the article points out are hard working Americans struggling to support their families and contribute to the community.
Good luck to him and the people of Pottsville.
Aaron Goldsmith was the “sometime” pr flack for Rubashkin serving as his personal public excuse maker. At one time he was on the town council. After the raid he called several non-Jewish community leaders pleading that he had no idea how bad things were at the plant, but changed his tune a week or two later when Chabad decided to try and defend Rubashkin. His business is quite small and employees only a few people – mostly family. It is not and has never been a mainstay of the economy of Postville. The biggest income generators in Posrtville are Norplex, a specialty plastics firm, Agristar and the myriad of small firms that service the surrounding agriculture businesses.
How far is it between Pottsville & Postville? I seem to recall that there’s a Jewish community in Postville. Not sure about Pottsville, though – perhaps if the 2 Iowa towns are in close proximity, there’s a “spillover” from Postville. Either way, it’s very confusing – I’m sure the mail must get mixed up.