| Show THE JEWS IN AMERICA the traveler abroad who is at all familiar with history wib find sad associations connected with the jews throughout europe there is scarcely a city of note from which in olden days they were not expelled after being first plundered and outraged hardly a king or prince of any prominence who regarded his jews in any other light than that of chattels not a land whose statute books did not abound with the cruellest cruel lest and most odious discriminations diacri mi nations against the jewish people the mediaeval media medi eval seval atmosphere it would almost appear judging from russia and roumania Roun iania that the dark ages have not wholly passed has left its impress upon the jew and his surroundings up to recent decades proscribed proscribed as an alien and restricted strict ed in his choice of trade and profession save at the cost of his traditional faith the amoun amount t of social anti and political disability lie he has to endure has not paralyzed his energies it is true but it has K checked his development to a large V 16 degree the new light that has dawned after a century of patient waiting gives him more hope even in lands where his fathers were religiously tapped by rulers and statesmen to provide coin for the realm but the possession of equal rights righta cannot make him forget the past the little cemetery often seen within I 1 n the heart of a german town which contains the remains of his martyred marty red sires the old synagogue with its low windows and quaint architecture that served as a fortress as well avell as a house of worship when the mob stormed at its gates the hymns recited on certain occasions which were written in those cent ceni 41 A V t r 1 t alm lj ia of martyrdom these recall the past if every musty chronicle with its fatal record of crimes against his race were blotter blotted from existence he knows that only a few centuries ago the bell that strikes the hour from the dom was the signal for onslaught the stream flo flowing wing I 1 so smoothly sm boothly the sloping hills the peaceful valley each had bad a different tale to tell when the jew was hunted from town to town and the ivy clad castle so picturesque in the moonlight which seems to breathe of love and romance ah it sounds a harsher note to those who know the practice of robber barons and their associates when the jewish home and private sanctity were never secure from knightly violence the jew in america has a different environment he looks ahead and around he cannot look back there is little jewish history to record in connection with hebrews in the united states and that little is uneventful spiritless uninteresting contrasted with the history of the jews in a german principality which can point to tile the stake the cell the harsh statute the sentence of banishment the american Ameri cn record will be but a chain of successive emigrations emig rations from the west indies and from england holland and other nations ot of the world wona it win will tell of the gradual growth of the community with that of its adopted country it will reveal no peculiar features its statistics will keep pace with those of other denominations catholics and protestants which flourish on the american soil at the first glance then the history of the jews in america is disappointing there is not a single massacre to recount not one instance of jews being led to the stake on the charge of slaughtering christian children for the passover no diverting incidents like jews having their teeth pulled out to gratify a president their scrolls of the law burnton burn tor an entire congregation being ordered to dance to death as happened at peaceful nordhausen only a few years ago what an absurd state of aff affairs lairs for an amateur historian how can he describe the subject with any pre tence to dignity where are his flo wring periods pt rhods his wealth of illustrations lite lift historic parallels his pen pictures of noted men his sketches of stirring events wreathed in battle smoke the real growth of the jews in the united states is of recent date the german revolution of 1848 9 was the pivotal point almost contemporaneous bous with the irish famine of POM 18 1846 7 which landed hundreds of thousands of irish emigrants on these shores in the german laud landslide to america the hebrew shared and soon those of german nationality outnumbered the small but select body of co religionists who could point with pardonable pride to a family faintly residence here of nearly two centuries the original jewish settlers belonged to the branch of spanish and portuguese lineage they rapidly americanized themselves tn in 4 alk t 1 l mannara man manners nars dress and character W chife remaining inflexible in their attach c ment to the tra traditional Monal forms form and sUid usages of the BYla synagogue gogue they aou took an active part in the affairs of their time hampered somewhat by local restrictions flourish flourishing ing communities muni ties sprang up in the south and east new york savannah newport iq div philadelphia rich richmond charleston can point int to theror their m congregations irhe the early pt pioneers 0 feori among the jews of america numbered men and women of note in ilk their day but their influx influence a n ce was wait limited and certainly the names of no great scholars poets scientists ete etc have come down thence na they counted however mere merc ants of of wealth and probity some of new ports jt wish inhabitants in stately 47 colonial days left their permanent impress upon upon the town and them the k name of touro will always be re carded with pride like julius hallgarten who when h he died dieda few years ago in his bequests 4 w educational and benevolent institutions without regard to creed thought of the colored people teopil 80 touro gave his benefactions bene factions to an all classes jew and gentile alike the thel city of newport preserves his mem ory as well as his ashes t in 1845 the total jewish population of the united states state a did bof probably atil exceed if it a equalled equal aliw led today 0 day it has res reached sched 11 OW new streams of immigration from europe have succeeded the german contingent of thirty five years vear sago hungary russia and acuma as Z keep pon pouring ring their thousands 0 f characters and conditions the german brought with him a energy skill economy and andu endurance anne be did not long remain in th the ee A atlantic cities but pushed west H he was pioneer in california and amassed wealth in san francisco a n c 1 hel ble started a small store in the suburbs waited his opportunity increased h goods transferred his business tol city lot and prospered he did no C object to any kind of hon honest eel t aped ej adling the pack on his abo shoulders ei became a money bag in after years yead of honorable toll toil by thrift and enterprise the modest c lark clerk g grew re w into a merchant of importance the town which he entered as a lek invites him to a seat in its chamber of commerce dissatisfied with the limited field in the west he d drifter r N towards the F east ast again and won bobit T swells the list of new yorks yorka mil 1 lion aires alres the qualities made him successful were not peel peculiar to the hebrew the same story is generally repeated in ewh each tn in stance of a rise from lowly begin 1 aings to local or national fame the prominence of the germah element in american judaism was VAA maintained by importing ger man rabbis of established reputation T who preached in german which became the of the ibi synagogue the las as d decade eca d e ho however W has witnessed a gen general erld call for sermons in english even hot what were deemed german congre 1 lations gat ions the younger genin generation 1 5 american to the core and it la Is hu haro ly poa possible sible that the german gema I 1 ence will be so permanent general public will h hereafter every airy jew to be a german and ewery german ler Tuan a jew for some e years before 1882 there fiad been a gradual inar increase ease in the number of russian jews the per f emotions ecot ions in that year caused a startling exodus and since that date has s been a steady flow from sae lauds s of the czar as well veil as from ia and to the ex tont of about yearly at tom its have been made to begin ag ral work for the new comers few of the colonies started proved successful because the settlers are handicapped by want of means and the requisite preparatory fc powledge the growth of american judaism te not to be measured by mere statistics the stately synagogues in the beef bief cities which vie with the places pr worship of other creeds the in for charity and education orphan asylums hospitals homes for the aged industrial schools tell of a genuine growth new york judaism can boast of a chain of in second to none in the world the mount sinai hospital we hie hebrew lae brew orphan asylum the y home for incurables the home for aged the united hebrew charities the H hebrew abrew technical Fech rech the hebrew free school with 0 children in its classes industrial normal and kinder barten Far ten n philadelphia israel can point ut to a goodly number of well equipped aped institutions chicago has st michael rees bees iYo hospital spital cleve land its ite orphan asylum and home f for or th the le A aged ed new orleans its orphan atil and widows home san p francisco yran cisco its orphan asylum baltimore its jewish hospital cincinnati has haa its hebrew union college whose graduates fill positions 1 or trust throughout the country berish young men are on the teach ing staff of the john hopkins university ver sity the university of pennsylvania Yil vanla columbia college new york university and other afons ions of learning throughout the country it to is riot not to be rapid increase in the jewish population has its ite dangers the diverse elements particularly the infusion of emigrants fresh from european bondage add to the difficulty of the eitt git lation antion so go heterogeneous is the population pu a on english german h russian doumanian Rou manian hun bartan gar Tan n austrian and bulgarian teat at the production of an american type seems retarded pime time was when the israelite w was lua ively associated with certain trades of oppressive laws had re him in the choice of occupy tion alon he could not own land or enter the professions the charge th then that jews are traders rather than producers is not without z ma ite basis of truth happily 14 be re reproach ra ach is being rolled aw away FLY in r tierica ni erica ca and in all lands where H emancipation prevails in our g country now the jew brew follows every VU he is not only a banker t or trader he is a manufacturer m me ea p panic ka nic lawyer scientist painter college elege professor physician en farer er civil engineer architect in 10 mator tor his powers have free vent and the results compare favorably with the exhibit made by men of other denominations america is affording a broader field for the long oppressed children of srael israel than they ever witnessed since they have been driven from the land of their inheritance their pulse is quickened by the atmosphere I 1 believe that here it is the spiritual not the materialistic forces which are the more powerful under these continued influences I 1 is likely to attain a breadth and strength hitherto unknown DR DB ED ISAACSON AMERICAN FORK oct 14 |
