American Experience JWST235 I Demographics unlike the German immigration because these Jews will live in the industrialized northeast and there are opportunities to work they cluster Between 1877 1925 Jews gather in sizes that they are recognized as political and cultural clusters largest Jewish concentrations that have ever existed anywhere a 1776 2 000 b 1825 6 000 c 1840 15 000 the push factor becomes the revolutions that spread throughout Europe 1848 was the time when Europe exploded and springtime of nations What happens is the exit of educated highly regarded Jews from Central Europe and they migrate to America d 1861 150 000 e 1877 280 000 f 1900 1 000 000 g 1915 3 000 000 h 1925 4 500 000 after the war Jews were able to send tickets to family stuck in Europe again and thus another population explosion II Rates of Growth country a Till 1925 the rate of growth is far faster than any other group in the b After 1925 the rate of growth is lower c Follows general patterns of urbanization and metropolitanization but significant small town settlement now abandoned d Opportunity and challenge to cultural growth III Present Pattern a 5 to 6 million b Problems of definition and affiliation ORTHODOX if your mother is born Jewish if you converted in an orthodox conversion rather look at it as how people choose to define themselves Jewish history in America is written as a story of institutional growth and group cultural legitimacy c d Alternative stories IV Colonial Period a Sephardic groups dominate b Tidewater merchants c Peddlers and petty tradesmen V Pre Civil War a 1826 defeats of Napoleon dashes the hope of people that emancipation will come in Germany b Come from the backwards areas of Germany c They spread along the river system Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and California d Part of the German American world e Religious institutions are reform radical version religion and morality equated i Move Sabbath services to Sunday stores were open on Sunday and they needed to make money VI Eras of Mass Immigration a 1881 pogroms and May Laws i The pogroms convinced the Jews that whatever they had in Europe was not going to last Moving to America was an act of desperation b Push me and pull me effects i Galician vs Russian Jews ii Population growth iii Rising expectations iv Snowball effect 1 Localization VII The Jewish Problem a Attracts world attention Jewish agencies mobilize b c Politicization of Jewish communities struggling to keep the doors open about restriction of immigration trying to solve their social problems d Range of solutions i Training ii Agriculture e Local objections NIMBY Not in my backyard f Impact of Kishniev 1903