Reasons for Leaving

From The Peopling of NYC

One in three Eastern European Jews immigrated to the United States between 1880-1920. There were two waves of an explosion of Jewish immigration: the first between 1881 and 1883 and the second between 1903 and 1906.

The first large wave of Russian Jewish immigration in 1881-1883 occurred after the assassination of Alexander II. During this time, anti-Semitism grew rapidly and planned campaigns of persecutions, called pogroms, were created. The Russian government did not hesitate to promote the Jews preeminence as middlemen. By 1884, pogroms were temporarily halted, but there were restrictive educational quotas. Between 1903 and 1906 the number of pogroms against the Jews exploded, resulting in a major wave of several hundreds of thousands of Jews emigrating.

Jews also left for economic reasons as well. During this time period, fewer and fewer Jews had marketable skills or capital. Jews were also excluded from many branches of the economy. The small Jewish proletariat found it difficult to compete with the factories or the handcraft enterprises of emancipated presents.