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AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORY.   Term Paper ID:28572 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Discusses immigrant period, 1881-1914; reasons for migration; difficulties faced by immigrants; effects of mass migration; post WWII era & move to suburbs. Anti-Semitism; process of assimilation.... More...

10 Pages / 2250 Words 3 sources, 55 Citations, TURABIAN Format $40.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Discusses immigrant period, 1881-1914; reasons for migration; difficulties faced by immigrants; effects of mass migration; post WWII era & move to suburbs. Anti-Semitism; process of assimilation. Paper Introduction: American Jewish History in the 20th Century The Immigrant Period Between 1881 and 1914 approximately two and a half million Jews crossed national borders. Generally, Jews migrated in search of economic betterment and escape from political oppression and they immigrated primarily to liberal countries undergoing large-scale economic development. Once there, Jewish communities were able to use the lessons they had learned under the political and economic oppression of their native lands to employ basic entrepreneurial activities that would eventually bring many of them economic success. However, this period would also begin the process of Jewish assimilation and acculturation that would force the Jewish community to later take deliberate steps to ensure the continuity of its Jewish ethnicity. The majori Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Forexample, Russian and Romanian Jews were restricted by the state in theirchoice of residence. It was also easier to get to the U.S.with the event of the steamship. as a place free of the restrictive classstructures of their native lands. Many husbands and wives had to endure long and painfulseparations and many marriages were disrupted.[29] Immigrant parents whowere more attached to the traditional culture found themselves in conflictwith their children who were rapidly assimilating into their newenvironment. placedno restrictions on the admission of European immigrants. He alsoemphasized the need to keep one's value of Judaism over the value of makingmoney.[16] Despite all the warnings against it however, the period from 19 4until the start of World War I in 1914 was the greatest period of migrationin Jewish history.[17] A total of 1,195, Jews entered the UnitedStates,[18] including revolutionists, Russified Jews, Hegraists andYiddishists. The warnings tended to emphasize thatan immigrant would be unable to earn a living or maintain his Judaism, andwould encounter an anti-Semitic atmosphere.[13] For example, R. Thus, Heilman argues that Jews no longer wanted asynagogue that was an insular environment.[46] Instead, even this mostrepresentative symbol of Jewish culture had to transform itself to attractsuburban Jews. [49] Ibid. [17] Ibid., 35. University of Washington Press: Seattle, 1995. The 195 s was characterized by the underlying theme of the landmarkBrown v. Portrait of American Jews: The Last Half of the 2 thCentury. The flood also included rabbis, who would play a significantrole in establishing Jewish community and ethnicity in their adoptedlands.[19] However, the diversity among the Jewish ethnicities in thisgreat wave of immigration and their need to assimilate in their adoptedlands to ensure economic success would, as Jewish officials feared, lead toa diminishing Jewish identification that would become an issue throughoutJewish American history in the twentieth century. (WayneState University: Detroit, 1987): 25. [6] Ibid. Thus, theirposition became more diffuse and relevant than it could have been in theirnative lands.[28] Jewish economic behavior in the United States also represented aloosening of ties to the traditional economic structure. American Jews were experiencing a minimum ofanti-Semitism and so almost all domains of life were open to them.[43]However, this upward mobility also introduced an era in American Jewishhistory of extraordinary assimilation, including burgeoning rates ofintermarriage and increasing numbers of Jews who simply ignored theirJewishness completely.[44] The suburban synagogue in the 195 s and 196 s serves as a perfectillustration of the ambivalence and acculturation of American Jews.[45]The synagogue was built as a sign of Jewish consciousness and religious andethnic identity, but surveys showed only about 18 percent of Jews actuallyattended synagogue. [18] Ibid. [25] Ibid., 37. (University of Washington Press: Seattle, 1995): 1 . [2] Ibid. Bibliography Gartner, Lloyd. [24] Ibid. [44] Ibid., 5-6. HarvardUniversity Press: Cambridge, 1977.----------------------- [1] Gartner, Lloyd. Wayne StateUniversity Press: Detroit, 1987. In fact, steam lines hired agents toencourage people to buy tickets. Israel MeirKahan wrote Nidhey Yisrael ("Dispersed of Israel") in Hebrew and Yiddish in1897 as an immigrant guide to pious observance.[14] In the book, Kahancautioned immigrants to maintain a life of rigorous religiousobservance.[15] He also warned against personal habits that would loosen aJew's ties to his ethnicity. Life for the Jewish populations in European countries in the latterhalf of the nineteenth century was undesirable for several reasons. [16] Ibid., 34. There were, undoubtedly, many negative effects to the massimmigration, not the least of which would be a continuing crisis in themaintenance of the Jewish identity in a diverse society. Tenement abuses arose in theLower East Side until the further construction of dumbbell tenements wasprohibited in 19 1.[31] Labor issues reached a peak in 19 9 with a generalstrike in the garment industry by workers in three of the largestfactories. And in the initial stages, the U.S. [32] Ibid. [36] Heilman, Samuel C. Further, many of the working classJews who emigrated were used to making the best of a difficult situationand were not above peddling and other basic entrepreneurial activities.While these activities were considered to be unproductive and encouragingof immortality in their native lands, they allowed their purveyors toestablish economic stability for the first time in their lives. [26] Ibid. [22] Ibid. [54] Ibid., 1 1. Portrait of American Jews: The Last Half of the 2 th Century. With increasing regularity, anagreement began to emerge between the young Jews coming of age during thesixties and the older generation that their successful amalgamation intoAmerica should not eclipse the fact that they were Jews.[5 ] However, the most significant event of the 197 s was the emergence ofextreme Jewish sects who were committed to public identification with theirJewish identity.[51] These sects emphasized their Jewishness and focused onensuring Jewish survival, growth, education, and development.[52] The mostextreme group was the Orthodox, who by the latter half of the sixties hadbegun to emphasize its uniquely Jewish customs and practices in ways thatappeared to be purposefully "contra-acculturative."[53] The process of Jewish assimilation during the twentieth century haslargely followed the theories of Americanization throughout the decades,such as the homogenization of the 195 s and the pluralism of the 197 s.Heilman notes that in the 198 s and 199 s, Jewish officials and leadershipare less concerned about the nature of Jewish life in America.[54] This isso because by the late seventies, the country had moved away from itsmelting pot ideal in favor of a view that legitimated an increasinglypluralist national character. [5 ] Ibid., 57. They were restricted in their ability to settle inrural areas and, except for a privileged few, they were forbidden to settlein the growing Russian cities.[3] Gartner argues that by preventing Jewsfrom participating in Russian economic growth and hobbling their efforts todevelop an economic structure adequate to their increasing numbers, theRussian regime effectively forced the Jews to emigrate.[4] Romanian andother European Jews also faced similar restrictions and could be expelledfrom their trades and livelihood at the will of the government.[5]Nonetheless, Gartner notes that political oppression, more than economicprivation, caused emigration from Romania.[6] Russian pogroms[7] were a symbol of the determination of the Russianregime to degrade Jews and to use them as scapegoats for the regime's ownproblems.[8] Such pogroms reached a climax beginning with the Kishinevpogrom of 19 3 and the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese war in 19 4.[9] Jewswho fled the pogrom were followed by tens of thousands of Jewish militaryreservists who feared the prospect of military service in Siberia. [5] Pogrom is a Russian word for a violent anti-Jewish riot, wherebythe government effectively sanctioned the pillage and murder of hundreds ofJewish communities. [45] Ibid., 3 . Thus, symbols of Jewishness were no longercontrary to symbols of Americaness. Nonetheless, Jewish movement into the suburbs was movementaway from the Jewish cultural core both geographically and in terms ofethnic identification. [31] Moses, R. [4 ] Ibid., 15. Board of Education of Topeka Supreme Court decision, which revokedan earlier opinion that separate could be equal in matters of civil andminority rights.[39] But Heilman argues that while the Brown decision wouldeventually move America away from the notion that only white Christians ofEuropean ancestry were entitled to full civil and social rights, manyunderstood the theme of the era to mean that diversity had to be resolvedinto homogeneity.[4 ] Consequently, the open space of the new suburbiaseemed a place where group distinctions were irrelevant although, in fact,suburbia merely hid these distinctions because almost everyone in the earlyyears of suburban development was in fact white and middle class, or elsethey made themselves to appear that way.[41] Nonetheless, in the 195 s, Jewish social integration into Americanculture was still a highly valued goal.[42] The rapid prosperity of thepostwar era, particularly in industries such as retail, clothing, andentertainment, which had high Jewish concentrations, meant Jews werebecoming solidly middle class. The Promised City: New York Jews, 187 -1914. "Jewish Migrants en Route from Europe to NorthAmerica: Traditions and Realities." The Jews of North America. Heilman argues that before the postwar era, thebasic culture patterns of America had not fundamentally changed since theindustrial revolution and the rise of urban American.[36] Thus, as regionsof new beginnings, the suburbs were places without history. Eventually, synagogues would become institutions thatmirrored successful acculturation to the American suburb.[47] Heilman notesthat suburban synagogues now reflected American Jewish ambivalence in twoways: first in their blend of traditional and assimilated Jewishness, andsecond in the fact that Jewish participation in them was minimal and eventhen, largely symbolic.[48] Thus, the Jewish relationship to the suburbansynagogue in the 195 s demonstrated how the Jews of the fifties were stillcaught in the competing but assimilating relationship between two or morecultures.[49] Jewish assimilation into the larger culture only increased during the196 s. [41] Ibid. [9] Ibid. It shepherded in an era of new forms of Jewish identity underconditions that allowed for greater personal freedom and voluntary communalassociation.[32] It also introduced a constant shift in Jewish religiousand economic elites because most persons in a position of high status wouldremain in the old area while those seeking economic betterment wouldemigrate.[33] Thus, new elites were generally established among theimmigrants based largely on the acquisition of wealth and recognition inthe new Jewish community.[34] Traditional values such as piety andlearning tended to play almost no role in the formation of the new elites,which meant that the maintenance of a unique Jewish ethnic and religiousidentity often suffered.[35]Post World War II America in the postwar era was largely characterized by the shift fromthe city to the suburb. Eventhen, the 19 5 Russian revolution was followed by the greatest wave ofpogroms to date.[1 ] Consequently, when Russia fell into an economicdepression in 19 7, many Jews were unlikely to wait for any sort ofemancipation.[11] Despite the restrictions on economic opportunities and residence, manyJewish officials warned against Jewish emigration.[12] Such officialsfeared that emigration would loosen Jewish people's ties to theircommunity, ethnicity and religion. Unfortunately, the geographic and economic mobilityrepresented by a move to the suburbs would again raise the issues of Jewishethnic community of the earlier immigrant period. [15] Ibid. [43] Ibid. [29] Ibid. Thus Gartner argues that Jewish migration was agenuine people's movement.[2 ] He notes, for example, that although manyGerman Jewish newspapers encouraged emigration, organizations like theColonization Association did not.[21] Rather, Gartner points out that inthe countries that Jews left en masse, the ideologists and publicistsfocused instead on issues of anti-Semitism and government policies towardthe Jews, Zionism, socialism and revolution.[22] Gartner argues that one reason Jewish officials neglected emigrationwas because many of the emigrants were leaving the small cities andvillages, which had little effect on the public discussion going on in thelarge, growing cities.[23] He argues that the economic and politicalpressures that fueled emigration seemed to hold little interest for theideologues and officials.[24] Further, the emigrants came from the obscuremasses, precisely the people whom the ideological programs were intended toserve, rather than from the middle class or the intelligentsia, which didthe speaking, writing and agitating.[25] Thus, he argues the leadershipwas blind to the massive wave of emigration.[26] However, this blindnesswould in some ways be responsible for the loss of Jewish identification andthe loss of influence of these leadership elites. Again, this problem would resurface throughout American Jewishhistory. This early period of Jewish emigration would introduce many issuesthat would accompany American Jewish mobility throughout the twentiethcentury. When Jews first began moving into the suburbs in the 195 s and early196 s, they tended to cluster with other Jews in suburban areas closest todense urban Jewish communities. The strikers were eventually successful in gaining most of theirdemands, which included higher pay and shorter working hours, by March191 . [3] Ibid., 26. [38] Ibid., 21. Despite the production of such guides as Kahan's, most Jews in theearly stages of immigration lacked any comprehensive guidance about theprocess of immigration. [51] Ibid., 61 [52] Ibid., 61 [53] Ibid., 61-62. In fact, he notes, some Jewish symbolshave become American symbols, too.[55] Thus, to be Jewish no longer meansto be un-American. Rather, manystates published brochures to encourage emigration. Generally, almost all Jewish emigrantssettled in English-speaking countries and began a process of large-scaleassimilation in their new societies and cultures.[27] Because the majorityof the emigrants were not the leadership in their native lands, world Jewrybecame more homogeneous than it had ever been. [42] Ibid., 16. Gartner's argument is supported by the activities of Jewish immigrantsin the United States, in particular. Their success demonstrated the emergence of new leadership elitesamong the Jewish population. American Jewish History in the 2 th CenturyThe Immigrant Period Between 1881 and 1914 approximately two and a half million Jewscrossed national borders.[1] Generally, Jews migrated in search ofeconomic betterment and escape from political oppression and theyimmigrated primarily to liberal countries undergoing large-scale economicdevelopment.[2] Once there, Jewish communities were able to use the lessonsthey had learned under the political and economic oppression of theirnative lands to employ basic entrepreneurial activities that wouldeventually bring many of them economic success. [19] Ibid. [4] Ibid. [35] Ibid. [12] Ibid. Heilman, Samuel. In addition, crime became an issue, including an internationalJewish traffic in prostitution.[3 ] There were also labor and residential issues caused by theaccumulation of so many people in urban areas. In fact, until the Jewish Colonization Associationand Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden entered the scene, a prospectiveemigrant usually relied on information from family and friends and Jewishnarratives for guidance. [11] Ibid. [34] Ibid. Immigrant economicbehavior reflected a blend of traditional modes as well as innovationaccording to the place of settlement. In the 195 s,the suburbs had not as yet become as stratified by class and ethnicity ashad the urban neighborhoods.[37] They thus represented to American Jewry inthe 195 s a similar space as did the United States to the Jewish immigrantsin the early 19 s. "Jewish Migrants en Route from Europe to NorthAmerica: Traditions and Realities." The Jews of North America. The majority of Jews leaving Europe migrated to the United States.They envisioned the U.S. But there wereother problems. Heilman maintains that in following this"modified residential drift," Jews were reflecting the general Americandesire to start over after the war while also reflecting their lingeringattachment to Jewish tribal ties.[38] Also, however, lingering anti-Semitism on the part of homesellers and real-estate agents pushed Jews intocertain areas. [7] Ibid., 27. The Promised City: New York Jews, 187 -1914.Publication information unavailable: 85. Moses, Rischin. [37] Ibid. For example, mass migrationemphasized the minority position of groups such the as Sefardi and OrientalJewry because although these groups only constituted 1 per cent of worldJewry, they constituted a large portion of the emigrants. [2 ] Ibid. [13] Ibid., 33. [47] Ibid. [23] Ibid. [1 ] Ibid. [27] Ibid. [48] Ibid., 31. However, this period wouldalso begin the process of Jewish assimilation and acculturation that wouldforce the Jewish community to later take deliberate steps to ensure thecontinuity of its Jewish ethnicity. [55] Ibid. [8] Ibid. [28] Ibid. [39] Ibid., 27. For instance, he warned against eatingforbidden foods, neglecting one's children, and shaving beards. [3 ] Ibid. [14] Ibid. [33] Gartner, 38. [21] Ibid., 35. [46] Ibid. However, the increasing acceptance of pluralism rather thanhomogenization that was sweeping the nation would also affect Jewishacculturation during the next decades. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.