Think of your favorite Jewish television shows and movies. What do “Seinfeld,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Shiva Baby” and others have in common? They all take place in New York, Los Angeles, Miami or other Jewish hotspots with thriving Orthodox, Conservative and Reform communities.

When Jews are depicted in media — either by ourselves or others — we are often shown in insular communities that have their own uniquely-Jewish problems that require little gentile input.

However, Jews only make up less than 3% of Americans, which means that most of the people surrounding them are not Jewish. Only interacting with other Jews is not a lifestyle that many lead. So, what about those Jews who live in non-traditionally Jewish places? How do they worship?

For Tomer Feldman, who lives in Harrisonburg, Virginia — about two hours south of Washington D.C. in the Shenandoah Valley — being Jewish in a non-Jewish area is a badge of pride. His identity is largely Jewish, but not completely so, he explained in a phone interview last week.

“My wife got me a belt that says, ‘Israeli by birth, Southern by the grace of Yahweh,’” he said. “I wear a Magen David, but I also listen to country music and drive a truck. But for a lot of people, the stereotype of Jews is what they see on TV shows.”

Feldman said that he enjoys the responsibility of being a representation of Jews for those who do not know many. He said that, in his experience, everyone in Harrisonburg has been politely curious.

Susan Noble is a mother of two who lives in Arnold, Maryland, a suburb of Annapolis that is about 25 miles south of Baltimore.

Baltimore has a thriving Jewish community and Annapolis has a diverse mix of races and ethnicities, but the suburbs between the two cities are not known for either of these qualities.

Noble recalled an ignorant comment made by a non-Jewish parent while she was a young mom.

“I remember sitting at a park with 12 other moms around Rosh Hashanah and one of them who I couldn’t stand said, ‘Why do we have off tomorrow? How many Jewish people even live in Annapolis?’” she said. “I told her that Jews do live here and she got super defensive. The common thread [in my experiences] is that people think there are no Jews here.”

Feldman said that the Shenandoah Valley is similar in the sense that Judaism is often an afterthought — if it’s thought of at all — by most residents. However, that means that he has the chance to teach those residents things they don’t know about Judaism.

Antisemitism has been growing in recent years, but Feldman said that he thinks the prevailing narrative of where and when Jews are at risk of hate speech and action is misconstrued.

“After last October, I walk around with my big gold Star of David necklace out. I have an Israel bumper sticker on my vehicle. I’m comfortable doing that around here, but I’m not sure I would be comfortable doing that in New York, D.C. or Baltimore,” he said. “[Big cities] are allowing abhorrent behavior to exist. People around here are mostly Christian, but they don’t have animosity towards Jews — it’s a peaceful place.”

For Noble, the lack of Jewish influence in her chosen home has resulted in some less-than-desirable situations. She said that when her daughter was in third grade, her teacher read the class a book that focused on a couple of Jews that had been separated in the Holocaust. What was an inconsequential, albeit powerful, book for the rest of the class was earth-shattering to Noble’s daughter, Sarah.

“She came downstairs crying and I thought, ‘What now?’” Noble said. “I thought maybe she had seen a cartoon with a shark. She told me, ‘I don’t want Nazis to come and get me!’”

Noble raised hell at the school, asking how a book with such terrifying content could be taught to children, especially when one of them was Jewish. What she was told by the teacher still sits with her today.

“She said, ‘Well, the book has a happy ending,’” Noble said. “There are no Holocaust books with a happy ending. I ended up taking the book to synagogue to have everyone read it, and it definitely got the yentas fired up.”

Feldman said that, ultimately, a person’s version of worship is unique to them. He belonged to a synagogue near Harrisonburg at one point, but found that his spirit was enriched not by time spent in a temple but by time spent in nature. Now, when he wants to seek out God in an especially significant way, he does so from the tops of the Shenandoah’s mountains.

He said that, as of now, his daughters aren’t very religious, but he doesn’t necessarily attribute that to growing up in central Virginia.

“When I was their age, I wasn’t very religious either,” he said.

Noble thinks that her children’s lack of interest in Judaism can be partly attributed to their hometown. Growing up in Montgomery County, Noble had many more Jewish friends than her children did. She said that it took very little time after moving in for her to realize that embracing Judaism as a family unit would be an uphill battle in Arnold.

“It was right after Thanksgiving, and people started putting up Christmas decorations in the neighborhood, and I thought that was weird. But it became very apparent very quickly [from the decorations] that there were no Jews in the neighborhood,” she said. “Then, we joined the synagogue and realized, ‘Oh my God, here are the Jews.’ We talked about how hard it was to find other Jewish people.”

Noble added that there are signs everywhere that the area she raised her family in is not a Jewish one. Even little things reveal this dynamic, she said.

“There is no good Chinese food, but why are there so many Irish restaurants? When have you ever heard someone say, ‘Let’s go out for Irish food’?” she laughed.

In Harrisonburg, Feldman feels comfortable with what the community has and doesn’t have. He said that he wishes there was a synagogue that was more in line with his version of worship, but overall sees there being more positives in the region than negatives. For one, he said, he can embrace a constitutional right that not every state embraces like Virgina does.

“I am a big believer in the First Amendment, but I’m also a big believer in the Second Amendment,” he said. “And I feel a lot more comfortable walking around here than I do in other places.”

Noble said that the unique characteristics of Arnold have given her a new appreciation of her culture even if practicing it isn’t as easy as it once was for her.

“When I found the synagogue, I felt like I was discovering Judaism for the first time — I got totally sucked in, and I met all of these amazing women who reminded me of the people I knew at home,” she said. “We all said the same thing: we found them — we found our people.”

aguckes@midatlanticmedia.com