Eli Evans, author of the indispensable book on Jews in the South, The Provincials, once told an interviewer:

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“Unfortunately,
anti-Semitism is the most extensively written about aspect in much of the
literature about Jewish life in the South. But the history of Jews in the South
lies not in cross burnings, bombing, acts of overt anti-Semitism and violence.
It is a story animated by hope, reflected in the indomitable spirit of
immigrants who worked for pennies to bring over their families in the faith
they could build a life in America.
Jews have prospered in the South despite their religious differences and the
spasms of violence and demagoguery that mar its history. One of the reasons
lies in an emotional and psychological reality at work in the psyche of the
Christian community. I call it a ‘reverence for Jews’ and it has not been
deeply explored or understood. To many Southerners, Jews were the chosen
people, and had a Biblical dimension to them.”