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Kimberly Gianturco, Chris Moy, Elias Samaha, Jiwon Seo

Ms. Astley

AP U.S. History

12 January 2011-01-16

The Jewish People

The Jews that migrated to America from Eastern and Southern Europe were of the

poor class but soon became prominent as they took on more powerful positions in society

with the expense of leaving their Jewish traditions. During 1882, approximately 20,000

Jews came to the U.S. and by 1914 2.5 million Jews had arrived.

The Jews were mostly from Germany and parts of Eastern Europe. The main

reason they came from there was because of anti-Semitism, religious persecution, and

overpopulation in their homelands. Although many Jews favored to immigrate to

America some of them felt that it was necessary to stay in their Eastern Europe homeland

for the fear of Russian pogroms or that they could not stay as Jews in the US. Russian

pogroms were sudden, violent attack on second class Jews in which it could mean death

and destruction. The total percentage of American Jews is 2.2%. The majority of Jews are

in New York totaling 8.4%. This was because Jews usually migrated to populous and

well-developed cities such as New York or Chicago. The large Jewish community that

was in New York was well-developed along with the dressing industry, the Jews most

preferred line of work, which motivated Jews to stay in New York as well. Jews also

preferred to stay in New York because they had nowhere to go yet due to financial
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problems. Lastly, Jews were initially dropped off at New York making it the most

concentrated Jewish population during the early 1900’s. Usually migrations were family

migrations as opposed to single males. Jews generally wanted to stay in America

permanently either assimilating to American culture or sticking with traditional values

and beliefs. The characteristics of Jews that were immigrated to America were very

educated and many were already skilled workers. Only a few numbers of Jews were

unskilled workers. Russian anti-Semitism was the main cause of Jewish immigration and

made most Jews stay in bustling cities such as New York due to the strong community of

Jews and economic opportunities.

The Jews that immigrated to America were typically poor class like immigrants

from other countries. Many of the Jews lived in small, cramped tenements. Most of their

occupations were factory workers, construction workers, and bakers. They worked for

low wages mostly in all areas of hands-on work. The dressing and textile industry proved

to be the most popular occupations for Jews. The dressing industry was popular because

it was fairly revolutionary and there were many job spaces open for them along with

Jewish expertise in the dressing industry already. The conditions in the factories were

dangerous and restless and many of the Jews supported and protested for better working

conditions. Although they were poor, a good amount of them were well-educated and

became reputable in the banking industry later becoming middle-class or even wealthy.

One reason that Jewish immigrants were relatively poor when they came to America was

due to the oppression of Germany and Russia and the lure of American opportunities

attracting them. Despite taking on laborious jobs, the Jews were notable for their social

organization amongst themselves. Jews would usually help each other within the Jewish
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community and set up organizations for the poor and Jewish newspapers to increase the

sense of community.

When the Jews had arrived in America they wanted to assimilate Jewish culture

relatively fast because of how religiously devote they were. The Jews practiced many

traditions within Judaism that interfered with the Christian community of America but

overtime Judaism slowly assimilated into American culture. There were three types of

Judaism, Orthodox, Reformist, and Conservative. Orthodox Jews strictly followed the

Torah, Reformists rejected certain commandments that were not suitable for the 20th

century, and Conservatives were in between the two groups. Due to the large number of

Jewish immigration, Judaism became more easily accessible and influential. Native-born

Americans accepted Judaism with ease due to the sudden rise in Jewish population and

how Jews would start taking jobs and how they would need to cooperate better. Since

Jews were very strict in their religious beliefs, the Sabbath became an important day still

in America. Because of this, Jewish families all tried to take on the same jobs and

schedules so they could work around the Sabbath day. Despite the easiness of

assimilation into New York, some Jews that were already in America for while disproved

of Jewish immigration because of how it would make it harder to tell the difference

between Native-Jews and foreign Jews. Native-Americans also belittled Jews because

they felt that they could not become true Americans. They wrote in Hebrew, observed the

Sabbath on Saturday, and were of a different religion. This hatred showed in job and

tenement restrictions but didn’t have a major impact because as the number of Jews

increased, the reliance on their skilled trade and intellect became higher as well.
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Traditional customs for Jews including eating only kosher food made assimilation more

difficult for Jews and some Jews also did not immigrate for that sole reason. Judaism

eventually assimilated into the American culture but was challenged by native Jews and

Americans alike. The assimilation of Jews into America was one of relative easiness in

certain parts of America as their close-knit communities and strong communication

between themselves, allowed them to exchange ideas and acquire more jobs.

Jews came to America to for economic opportunities and escape of persecution

and also contributed a great number of skilled workers, ideas, and culture. Although they

took on low-paid jobs, their emphasis on hard work and knowledge allowed them to take

over powerful positions of American trade such as banking. The difficulty of assimilation

was mixed based on the region but around America, Jews faced light opposition from

Jews and Americans due to their foreign background. The Jews, through hardships, have

come to be an influential force in America back then and today.

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Works Cited

Jenna Weissman Joselit. In the Promised Land: The Jewish Immigrant

Experience. Oxford University Press, 2001. eLibrary. Web. 11 Jan. 2011.

Berman, Lila Corwin. "Sociology, Jews, and Intermarriage in

Twentieth-Century America." Jewish Social Studies. 01 Jan. 2008: 32. eLibrary.

Web. 11 Jan. 2011.

Daniels, Roger. Jews. Oxford University Press, 2001. eLibrary. Web. 11

Jan. 2011.

Falk, Gerhald. "Jewish Immigration." Jewish Buffalo on the Web. Web. 11 Jan.

2011. <http://jbuff.com/c121400.htm>.