User:Rebecca7702020/sandbox/The influence of Jews on the US history

According to various sources and different authors, American Jewish history is characterized by three waves of immigrants from three different parts of Europe. The economic, social and cultural impact of these three groups on America differs from each other (Kamp, Jeffrey, Gurock, Dimont, Hertzberg, Zollman). The first Jews came to America after the Inquisition was distributed to the New World, to Brazil, which was administered by Portugal. More than 5 different sources indicate the same information and date. In 1654, twenty-three Spanish-Portuguese (Sephardic) Jews arrived in New Amsterdam (later known as New York). The city did not meet them hospitably. This group of men, women and children from Brazil initially encountered the resistance of Governor Peter Stuyvesant. They were allowed to settle after the Jews in Amsterdam put pressure on the Dutch company West India, the employer of Stuyvesant (Kamp, Jeffrey, Gurock, Dimont, Hertzberg, Zollman).

In 1655 more Jews came from Holland. In those days, the Jews settled along the Atlantic coast, across several states. Sephardic Jews came not only from Spain, but from different countries of the Mediterranean, as well as from England, Holland and the Balkans. The number of Jews in colonial America grew slowly, by 1776 there were about 2500 Jews in America. The Jewish population in America was so small that it had no impact on the country's economy and culture (Kamp, Jeffrey, Gurock, Dimont, Hertzberg, Zollman).

The second period of immigration was associated with German Jews. The wave of German Jewish immigrants in the mid-nineteenth century was the first major Jewish demographic explosion in America. German Jews were invited to emigrate to America because of a shortage of land, rural poverty and state restrictions on marriage, domicile and employment in their home country (Kamp, Jeffrey, Gurock, Dimont, Foner, Hertzberg, Zollman).

The first German Jews who emigrated were mostly young people. The second group fell on the unsuccessful German revolution (1848). They were somewhat older than the first and more educated. These German Jews often engaged in trade and petty trade, seeking small capital outlays. From small start-ups, many continued to build significant businesses and became part of the American middle class (Foner, Sachar).

These immigrants came to America searching for democracy. They cared about Jewish communities and community conditions. Religious, philanthropic and fraternal organizations were established. Many Jews from Germany organized the Movement for the Reform of Religious Life. In Hamburg, reformist Judaism was founded, aimed at winning civil equality and social recognition in the modern world. (Kamp, Jeffrey, Gurock, Dimont, Foner, Hertzberg, Sachar, Howard)

In 1826, there were only 6,000 Jews in the United States. By 1860, the number of American Jews had grown to 150,000. German Jews became part of the Developing West. Communities were established in Chicago, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and St. Paul. German Jews became the predominant Jewish cultural group, even though they appeared in America only in the early 19th century (Kamp, Jeffrey, Gurock, Dimont, Foner, Hertzberg, Sachar, Howard).

The third wave of Jewish immigrants in the US was the largest. The murder of the Russian Tsar Alexander II in 1881 led to a new era of violence and anti-Jewish sentiments. Pogroms or massacres on the part of the Slavs against Jews have been occurring since the middle of the 17th century, but the pogroms of 1881 and 1882 were particularly numerous and intense, destroying whole villages and killing hundreds of Jews. As a result, there was a massive exodus of Jews from Eastern Europe, with approximately 90 percent of it coming to America. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, dozens, and sometimes hundreds of thousands of Jews came to America every year. The immigration of about 2.4 million Eastern European Jews increased the number of Jewish population in America from about a quarter of a million in 1881 to 4.5 million by 1924 (Kamp, Jeffrey, Gurock, Dimont, Foner, Hertzberg, Sachar, Howard).

This stream of Jews was very different from the second wave in its profile. In the Russian Jewish masses who came to America, there were groups of Hasidic Jews. Most of the Hasidim who immigrated to the United States at this time maintained a strict, Orthodox way of life (Kamp, Jeffrey, Gurock, Dimont, Foner, Hertzberg, Sachar, Howard).

Russian Jews settled in urban centers. Basically, it was the industrial proletariat. Many of them attracted capital and began to engage in business. They brought with them a rich Yiddish culture, expressed through journalism, fiction, poetry and theater. Russian Jews formed cohesive communities. They strongly supported the sense of religiosity that permeated their way of life. Their development and maintenance of Yiddish culture (idishkeit) also helped to defend their cultural differences (Kamp, Jeffrey, Gurock, Dimont, Foner, Hertzberg, Sachar, Howard).

Until the end of the nineteenth century, Jewish settlers were relatively easily assimilated into American society. Jews left Europe because of poor social and economic conditions and sought to establish themselves in an open, expanding society. Sometimes Jews had to fight anti-Semitism and negative stereotypes of "dirty Jews", but most Americans valued the goods and services provided by Jewish traders. Religious freedom guaranteed by the US Constitution and the growing prosperity of nineteenth-century German Jews allowed Jews to gain wide recognition in American society. (Kamp, Jeffrey, Gurock, Dimont, Foner, Hertzberg, Sachar, Howard).

Since 1881, the immigration of Eastern European Jews has brought the first significant resistance to acculturation. These immigrants, in majority, were poor, and they settled in close-knit communities, where they preserved the traditions and customs of the old world. They deliberately avoided assimilation in American culture and continued to speak Yiddish, a mixture of Hebrew and medieval German, which further separated them from other Americans. Increasingly, rapid assimilation into American culture was considered unnecessary and harmful to Jewish identity. Between the Jews of the young and the older generation the conflict developed. The younger generation wanted Americanization. (Kamp, Jeffrey, Gurock, Dimont, Foner, Hertzberg, Sachar, Howard).

The arrival of East European immigrants caused the first significant influx of anti-Semitism in America. In the 1880s, clubs and resorts that once welcomed Jews began to exclude them. To mitigate these sentiments, Americanized Jews have developed aid societies to provide jobs and aid funds to help East European Jews fit into American society. In addition, American German Jews fought against restrictive legislation and formed philanthropic societies that funded schools, hospitals and libraries for Eastern European Jews. The hope was that if hundreds of thousands of newly arrived Russian Jews had access to housing, jobs and health care, this reduces the burden on US government and ease ethnic tensions. (Kamp, Jeffrey, Gurock, Dimont, Foner, Hertzberg, Sachar, Howard).

The Jewish philanthropic tradition dates to ancient times when Israeli Jews practiced tzedakah or "just correction of social inequality" as one of their main duties in their lives. One of the most common forms of tzedakah was the allocation of a portion of the harvest to the poor, who could freely sow the crop from certain parts of the farm. In the Middle Ages, Jewish self-governing communities, called kehillahs, ensured that poor communities had basic life needs. The spirit of the kehillah was also preserved in the 19th century in the form of separate societies existing in congregations in cities such as New York. Societies consisted of citizens who pooled resources to provide benefits such as insurance, cemetery rights, free loans and sickness benefits. (Kamp, Jeffrey, Gurock, Dimont, Foner, Hertzberg, Sachar, Howard).

The tradition of lending assistance began in the synagogue. Gradually appeared charitable organizations like the Order of B'nai B'rith and the Youth Jewish Association. These and other charitable societies were responsible for the creation of Jewish orphanages, hospitals and nursing homes in major cities throughout the United States throughout the 19th century. (Gurock, Sachar, Zollman)

In America, the Jews have reached a high level of economic prosperity due to the acute business mind and hard work. Jews became associated with the world of finance and commerce. Since they were not allowed to hire pagans and were excluded from craft guilds, the Jews accepted a job that Christians found disgusting, such as commerce and investment. Over time, Jews began to engage in trade and clothing. By the time Sephardic Jews began to settle in America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the majority earned their living as independent retailers; they were bakers, tailors, traders and small business owners. (Gurock, Sachar, Zollman)

Jews in the middle of the nineteenth century were mostly tailors or traders. Many of those who worked in the city were involved in the sewing business. Those who lived outside the city, usually were traders who played a key role in the delivery of goods from the city to the village. The loan was at the heart of the growing network of these retailers. German Jews were the main creditors at the time. The close connection between the creditor and the entrepreneur led to the emergence of the Jewish business elite between 1860 and 1880, which created profitable enterprises in such areas as investment banking, clothing, footwear and meat processing. (Sachar, Howard M; Sachar, Howard, M. Jewish Immigrants in the Garment Industry).

By the end of the century, American Jews were no longer mostly tailors or traders (these professions were only three percent and one percent, respectively, of American Jews in the 1890 census). Instead, Jews reached a significant level of wealth, becoming traders, bankers, brokers, wholesalers, accountants, and clerks; Together these activities accounted for 67 percent of all American Jews in the 1890 census. (Sachar, Howard M; Sachar, Howard, M. Jewish Immigrants in the Garment Industry).

The immigration of Russian Jews in the early twentieth century led to a huge number of workers in the garment industry in major cities. New arriving immigrants worked in factories often 70 or more hours a week, honing skills and developing their own abilities. Like the German Jews before them, Russian Jews for many years made their way to richer positions, becoming business owners and professionals. While German Jews constituted the majority of 1,000 clothing manufacturers in the late nineteenth century, by the eve of the First World War, Russian Jews owned more than 16,000 garment factories and hired more than 200,000 Russian Jews. (Sachar, Howard M; Sachar, Howard, M. Jewish Immigrants in the Garment Industry).

Already in 1890, more than 90 percent of the clothing industry in New York belonged to the German Jews. Therefore, New York was a powerful magnet for East Europeans during the period of mass immigration. Immigrants were attracted to jobs and Jewish employers who could provide a familiar environment, as well as the opportunity to observe Shabbat. By 1897, about 60 percent of the New York Jewish workforce was used in the garment industry, and 75 percent of the workers in this industry were Jews. (Sachar, Howard M; Sachar, Howard, M. Jewish Immigrants in the Garment Industry).

In the American garment industry, work was divided between family members and conducted at home. In the 1870s, domestic production declined, as factories - the second mode of production - became dominant. But with the advent of Eastern European Jews, a third form of production arose-a contractual or sweatshop system, a variant of the family system. Operation in this system was more intensive than in factories and workshops. The sweatshop required extremely long hours of operation in terribly cramped conditions. (Sachar, Howard M; Sachar, Howard, M. Jewish Immigrants in the Garment Industry).

Nevertheless, for the newly arrived immigrants the system had its advantages. Workers could communicate in their native language. Work, albeit difficult, did not interfere with the performance of religious duties, the observance of the Sabbath or the celebration of religious holidays. Moreover, working together in small units, immigrants believed that they could preserve the integrity of their families. (Gurock, Sachar, Zollman)

Qualified and semi-skilled Jewish workers continued to arrive in the United States at the end of the 19th century. Almost 67 percent of able-bodied Jewish immigrants possessed industrial skills - much higher than any other incoming national group. (Gurock, Sachar, Zollman)

In 1880, 10 percent of the garment factories in the United States were in New York; By 1910, the total number had increased by 47 percent, with Jews accounting for 80 percent of hat and cap producers, 75 percent of furriers, 68 percent of tailors, and 60 percent of millionaires. (Sachar, Howard M; Sachar, Howard, M. Jewish Immigrants in the Garment Industry).

Jews have always paid much attention to the importance of education. In the nineteenth century, the ability to read and write English gave German Jewish immigrants a competitive advantage over other German immigrants. Later, Jews born in America used education as a means of obtaining such professions as a lawyer and a doctor. Although Jews currently make up less than three percent of the American population, the proportion of Jews in academia is significantly higher. Jews constitute ten percent of the teaching staff in American universities. Approximately 20-30 percent of the leading scientists who taught at such universities were Jews. (Gurock, Sachar, Zollman)

The Jewish theater became a major cultural institution in which all the problems, hopes and dreams of immigrant Jews were demonstrated. The Yiddish theater broadcast the collective experience of the whole community. It was also a powerful tool for raising funds. Philanthropic mutual aid organizations often sponsored plays. By 1900, New York had three large Yiddish theaters and numerous small troupes in other Jewish settlements (Sorin, Gerald).

The Yiddish theater helped the audience to feel connected with both the American and Jewish worlds. The audience felt pride in their Jewishness, as Jewish playwrights and actors vividly expressed Jewish life. At the same time, Jewish actors shared the patriotic enthusiasm of the wider American public when they greeted Boris Thomashefsky at Der Yidisher Yenki Dudl or applauded the song "Three Cheers for Yankee Doodle." (Sorin, Gerald).

By combining aspects of Jewish and American cultures, as well as dealing with many immigrant dilemmas, the Yiddish theater has become a mirror for its viewers. This helped them to better understand their role in the historical process of resettlement and gave a more complete picture of the problems for creating their own identification in the New World. (Sorin, Gerald).

Conclusion American Jewish history has three waves of immigrants from three different parts of Europe. The economic, social and cultural impact of these three groups on America were differed from each other. The first Jews came to America after the Inquisition in the New World, Brazil, which was administered by Portugal. The number of Jews in colonial America grew slowly, by 1776 there were about 2500 Jews in America. The Jewish population in America was so small that it had no impact on the country's economy and culture.

The wave of German Jewish immigrants in the mid-nineteenth century was the first major Jewish demographic explosion in America. The first German Jews who emigrated were mostly young people. These German Jews often engaged in petty trade, seeking small capital outlays. German Jews became part of the developing West. They became the predominant Jewish cultural group, even though they appeared in America only in the early 19th century. In 1826, there were only 6,000 Jews in the United States, by 1860 the number of American Jews had grown to 150,000.

The third wave of Jewish immigrants to the US was the largest. They were Jews who fled from pogroms and political and economic restrictions. They came from Poland and Russia: Warsaw, Odessa, Lodz and Vilna. Most of them were traders, shopkeepers and artisans. The Russian pogroms (1881-1884 and 1903-1906) led to heavy Jewish emigration to the United States. The immigration of about 2.4 million Eastern European Jews increased the number of Jewish population in America from about a quarter of a million in 1881 to 4.5 million by 1924.

Many of them attracted capital and began to engage in business. They brought with them a rich Yiddish culture, expressed through journalism, fiction, poetry and theater. Russian Jews formed cohesive communities. They strongly supported the sense of religiosity that permeated their way of life.

The loan was in the center of a growing network of Jewish retailers. German Jews were the main creditors at the time. The close connection between the creditor and the entrepreneur led to the emergence of the Jewish business elite between 1860 and 1880, which created profitable enterprises in such areas as investment banking, clothing, footwear and meat processing. Jews have reached a significant level of wealth, becoming merchants, bankers, brokers, wholesalers, accountants, and clerks.

References

American Jewish History: The Colonial and Early National Periods, 1654-1840, edited by Jeffrey S. Gurock. New York: Routledge, 1997. Dimont, Max I. The Jews in America: The Roots, History, and Destiny of American Jews. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1978. Foner, Nancy. From Ellis Island to JFK: New York’s Two Great Waves of Immigration. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2000. Hertzberg, Arthur. The Jews in America: Four Centuries of an Uneasy Encounter. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989. Kamp, Jim. Jewish Americans. 1993 Sachar, Howard M. A History of the Jews in America. New York: Knopf, 1992. Howard M. Sachar is the author of numerous books, He serves as Professor of Modern History at George Washington University. Sachar, Howard, M. Jewish Immigrants in the Garment Industry, New York: Knopf, 1992. Sorin, Gerald. Yiddish Theater in New York. A cultural phenomenon of Jewish America in the early 20th century. 2003. Gerald Sorin won the 2003 National Jewish Book Award in History for Irving Howe: A Life of Passionate Dissent. Zollman, Joellyn. Jewish Immigration to America: Three Waves. Sephardic, German, and Eastern European immigrants each contributed to the formation of American Jewry. Joellyn Zollman holds a PhD in Jewish History from Brandeis University. She was the History and Community editor of MyJewishLearning.com.