Jewish Immigration

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Jewish Immigration

• Why did so many Jewish Immigrants settle in NY
  and NJ?

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Background Information

• Early 19th century very little emigration
• 1840 Jewish population in the US was 15,000
• 1880 Jewish population in the US was 250,000

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Wave of Immigration

• 2 million Jews immigrate to the United States
  between 1880 and 1920
• 1/3 the European population of Jews emigrated to
  the US during this time

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Why did they leave?

• Pogroms
• Discrimination
• Economic Opportunity
• Religious Freedom
• Prior Jewish Immigration

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Pogroms

• Russian term for devastation
• 1881 assassination of Alexander II led to a
  wave of Pogroms in Southern Russia against the
  Jewish community
• ¾ of the 2 million Jews who left Europe between
  1881 and 1914 came from the Russian Empire

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Pogroms
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Discrimination - Russia

• Jewish children had limited educational
  opportunities
• Jewish children were subject to special
  examinations for admission (think literacy tests
  for African Americans)
• Jewish students were rejected based on physical
  characteristics

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Economic Opportunity/Religious Freedom

• How happy I was when I reached the promised land
  of freedom, where laws, at least, are the same
  for Jews as for non-Jews. At that time the
  stigma of inequality burned in me like a fiery
  coal, because I felt its sting and suffered its
  pangs
• -Leopold Mayer

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Why did they stay in NY?

• Economic reasons
• Religious Reasons
• Social Reasons

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Economic Reasons

• Two main fields of employment finance/retail
  trade and the garment industry
• Many Jews found employment in the garment
  industry of NYs Lower East Side (40 according
  to immigration stats.)

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Economic Reasons

• Others worked as peddlers, eventually graduating
  to store ownership
• Some estimate that 1/3 of the immigrants during
  this wave of immigration worked in retail sales
  at some point.

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Economic Reasons

• Within the Tenth Ward (Lower East Side) alone in
  1899 there 140 groceries, 131 butcher shops, 36
  bakeries, 14 butter and egg stores, 62 candy
  stores, 21 fruit stands, 10 delicatessens...

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Religious Reasons

• Jewish religious infrastructure already in place
  in NYs Lower East Side by 1880
• Enabled immigrants to pray at temple, observe the
  Sabbath, provide Jewish education, and keep
  Kosher

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Religious Reasons

• NYs Lower East Side offered proximity to
  synagogue, school, and Kosher food.
• This was especially important in observing
  Sabbath and Holy days, and worked well for
  immigrants who labored long hours.

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Social Reasons

• Jewish Communities were self-contained and
  uniform in language and culture
• Example the main language of the Lower East
  Side was Yiddish.
• Newspapers were published in Yiddish and there
  were Yiddish movie theatres

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Social Reasons

• The existing Jewish community went to great
  lengths to welcome newcomers, help them adapt and
  assimilate.
• Jewish Aid Societies Landsmanschaften groups
  of immigrants who came from the same communities
  in the Old World

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Why did they move to NJ?

• Improve living conditions
• Advances in transportation
• Suburbs as making it
• Proximity to NYC
• Infrastructure in place in surrounding communities