Chapter 5 of Binder’s All Nations Under Heaven. An Ethnic and Racial History of New York City analyzed the aspects of Eastern European Jewish culture that was introduced to NYC in the 1880s. Though New York City had seen Jewish immigration since colonial times the most massive period of Jewish immigration that it experienced was from 1881-1914. During this time, around two million Jews immigrated from eastern Europe, with a majority coming from Russia. They primarily came from small towns as many rejected emigration because they viewed the United states as an unreligious land. Eventually, due to worsening economic conditions, more and more were forced to emigrate. A bulk of them were urban dwellers and were skilled workers, educated, and politically and culturally active. They lived in the lower east side tenements, and while there were other ethnic groups in the area, Yiddish was the dominant language. According to one historian it was, “the focus of intellectual, cultural, and political life of American Jewry,” (p 118). Eventually that area became the most populated area of the city, known as the Tenth Ward. With the turn of the century came new bridges and subways which presented opportunities for the Jews to move into Brooklyn and Queens in places such as Williamsburg and Rego Park. Although they would move out of the crowded tenements, they still lived in slum conditions in these new neighborhoods as well.
Earlier German- Jewish immigrants who were more Americanized weren’t accepting of the new Jewish immigrants. They didn’t want to be associated with them so they established an Educational Alliance in order to offer training to the new Jews on how to act more Americanized. Though these classes were first resented by the new Jews, eventually the alliance’s cooperation by offering classes in Yiddish, and other useful facilities such as a library and gym, increased the participation. And if new problems aroused from the new Jews, other organizations were started by the German Jews to help. One major problem that the immigrant Jews faced in their community was crime. While it wasn’t violent, there was crimes such as stealing, arson, as well as prostitution, present within these poor Jewish communities. In order to counter this embarrassing issue, the German- Jewish leaders created the New York City Kehillah. The Kehllah brought together smaller organizations to deal with Jewish relationships and mainly crime. Unfortunately, it lost popularity as many didn’t trust the organization.
Another aspect of the eastern European Jews was their respect of the community. Coming into a foreign land, they really respected meeting others from their place of origin. This sense of nationality led to the creations of landsmanshaft organizations. These were organizations of aid which linked fellow countrymen together, offering social services such as synagogues, trade unions, and hospitals such as Beth Israel. Another aspect of Eastern European Jewish culture was their experience in commerce and manufacturing. Jewish immigrants in America would likely be involved in peddling, push carting, or owning their own shops. Other skills Jewish workers possessed was tailoring and factory work. Jewish women especially were the main source of work for garment factories, usually owned by the German Jews. Unfortunately, they experienced bad working conditions such as long hours, low salaries, and even seasonal layoffs. This poor treatment led to new labor union organizations for needle workers. By 1914, Jews dominated garment factory unions.
The socialists who organized these unions were respected individuals who brought together 1/3 of Jews in the Workmen’s Circle unions to join the Socialist party. But clearly, a majority of the Jewish population chose not to. The Jews weren’t very political, and those that decided to vote would just vote for the candidate who supported Jews the most. Usually this meant the Republicans. The most progress politics made amongst the lower East siders was the win of Ukrainian born Meyer London who won a seat in Congress on his third attempt. Socialism and Zionism wasn’t appealing to the mass of Jews anymore.
Likewise, Orthodox Judaism lost its popularity as well. More and more Jews were becoming secular, and realizing that they needed to work in order to live rather than spend that time being faithful to their religion. Many would work during Sabbath and only hold their sense of Jewish identity by attending synagogues for religious holidays. Children grew more and more unattracted to the religion because they were attending school where no religious instructions were taught. Schools gave them other things to get excited about, and parents accepted it because an education was the only way to economic success in the future. Schools meant Americanizing the kids so that they could speak better English, have proper manners and hygiene, and this would effectively produce better citizens. This hype over education and school was more popular among Jews than any other immigrant group. By 1910, 80% of CCNY’s graduating class was Jewish. Education was the ladder of success.
