They don't actually know about menorahs or Hanukkah. Into this comes secular Jew Stephen Bloom, a professor at the University of Iowa. By the time he arrived in Postville, the town was riven along religious lines. One of the townspeople was running for mayor on the sole platform of annexation of the land on which the plant stood. Rubashkin was threatening that he'd shut the plant and leave if that came to pass.
Bloom closely considers both sides, and the result is a wonderful book.
It is a book about identity and community and what it means to be American. And it is also Bloom's exploration of his own sense of belonging. I was very disappointed with this book. Clearly, the story is a compelling one, which is undoubtedly why the author was drawn to chronicle it. Unfortunately, Stephen Bloom is unable to tell the story effectively because of his romance with traditional stereotypes of the people involved, as well as his personal myopia about being Jewish.