Despite the hardships and oppression that came with being restricted to certain communities, certain living spaces, and certain professions with the intended goal of “socializing” and “normalizing” this population, the Jews were somehow able to defy these active efforts and assert their identities instead. They did this through independent organizations and representation rights within their local governments. The same was true for clothing ordinances, which were widely ignored with spite. These restrictions had the opposite effect of what was intended by the imperial authorities,  breeding a characteristic:

• autonomy
• self-consciousness
• solidarity

And, finally, we leave you with a quote that largely explains the origins of these qualities. It is one that can reveal a lot about how Jews have maintained their unique way of life through shared settlement and residence experience.

“Where Jews reside, and the Jewishness of those neighborhoods within the broader community, are major aspects of Jewish cohesion. In particular, the greater the density of Jewish settlement, the more likely it is that Jews will interact with other Jews in schools, as neighbors, and as friends. Moreover, residential concentration maintains the visibility of Jewish community for Jews as well as for society as a whole and, thus, may be viewed as a critical factor in fostering and strengthening ethnic bonds. The ethnic factor is likely to be most pronounced when ethnics are clustered residentially. In turn, residential clustering represents a core mechanism for the continuity of the community.”

— Calvin Goldscheider, Jewish Continuity and Change

Source: The Vanished Worlds of the Jews