CHAPTER XXX

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COMMUNAL AND RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES AMONG THE NEW COMERS.

Congregational and social activities among the new comers―― Ephemeral organizations――The striving after professional education――Synagogues as the most stable of the new establishments――“Landsleut” congregations――The first efforts to consolidate the Orthodox community of New York――The Federation of Synagogues――Chief Rabbi Jacob Joseph――Other “chief rabbis” in Chicago and Boston――Prominent Orthodox rabbis in many cities――Dr. Philip Klein――The short period in which the cantor was the most important functionary in the Orthodox synagogue―― Synagogues change hands, but are rarely abandoned.

A large majority of the Russian immigrants, like the overwhelming majority of the Jews in Russia, were Orthodox Jews, and the younger men who were temporarily attracted by the radical movements which were, in Russian fashion, mostly anti-religious, began drifting back into the synagogues as soon as they grew older and became more settled and more Americanized. The older and the middle-aged needed congregational life from the moment of their arrival, and this gave rise to the establishment of a surprisingly large number of new synagogues in all places where the new arrivals settled. The situation in New York is again typical; the twenty-nine congregations in 1872 increased more than tenfold in about sixteen years, which far exceeds the growth of charitable institutions, of labor-organizations and of fraternal or self-education societies, all of which were springing up at that time in large numbers. The legal restrictions which make the organization of any form of societies a difficult matter in Russia, were to some extent responsible for the formation of numerous organizations here for the most variegated number of purposes. The ease with which a charter or papers of incorporation could be obtained, tempted many to form themselves into organizations to enjoy that privilege; while the equally novel experience of being permitted to form organizations without obtaining charters, to hold meetings and elect officers without fear of interference by the authorities, was another strong inducement to overdo things in the matter of organizations. But that same lack of experience was also the cause of unfamiliarity with voluntary corporate existence and of inability to hold the organization together after it was formed. A large percentage of the societies formed existed only a short time: the same was true of all forms of organizations, especially of labor unions. Only those which were subject to the discipline of a central body――notably lodges which form part of the larger and better conducted orders――showed a better proportion of survivals.

The conditions prevailing in Russia were also largely the cause of the disproportionately large number of young people who attempted, by their own efforts or assisted by their often hard pressed parents, to study for the professions. Under the educational restrictions in Russia only the highly gifted or the children of the wealthy could hope to enter the higher institutions of learning; here the same opportunities were open to all alike, with free education up to the universities. It was natural for the poor to strive to make use of those opportunities, and to spare no efforts to enter the ranks of the college graduates, who are looked upon by the Russian populace as superior beings.

But in the course of years, as the proportion of those who are more Americanized became larger, and the newer arrivals, though they kept on coming in increasing numbers, were in a constantly diminishing minority as compared with the entire mass of immigrants, there was a decrease in the number of hastily conceived and immature organizations, and a larger proportion of those which were formed had sufficient strength to survive. Of late years there has been even a slackening of the rush for higher or professional education among the children of the poorer classes; which is also partly due to the more exacting requirements for entrance into the better class of colleges and universities.

All these economic, fraternal and educational activities――the last, of course, only as far as it concerns adults who could not benefit by the public school system――and the agitation about political and economic questions, and, to some extent, even the occupation of the immigrants, were novel experiences and largely temporary. The only activity which might be considered as normal, and to which there was a constant reversion even among those who abandoned it abruptly――one may almost say, violently――was that relating to the synagogue. As compared with other institutions, a surprisingly small number of congregations formed by the immigrants succumbed; and the steady increase in the number and solidity of these religious establishments, as well as of the Talmud Torahs, or religious schools, and later of the Yeshibot or strictly Orthodox Talmudical academies, are the best proof of Israel’s taking root in the United States. Most of the work of a public or semi-public character in the new Jewish settlements or communities, including even the work of numerous charitable institutions ministering to wants which are due to the exigencies of immigration, cannot in the nature of things be otherwise than temporary, even if they last for decades. It is only the building of synagogues which represents that continuity of Jewish existence throughout the centuries, which unites us with the Jews of other countries and other times, and demonstrates the ability and the willingness of the Jewish masses to support the old faith under all circumstances.

These thousands of small synagogues all over the country, of which there are now about eight hundred in New York, bear also strong marks of Slavic, especially Russian, influence. The only place where it was safe for Jews to gather and have intercourse in that country was the synagogue, which for that reason served not only as a house of worship, but also as a meeting room, and, to some degree, as a club house. Here it served all these purposes for the old-fashioned Jew, to whom the new social organizations which grew up here remained strange or became repugnant after a short contact. In addition to this, the――exceedingly unchurchlike――small synagogue is usually composed of members who come from the same town in the Old Country, or from the same district. The “♦landsleut” meet there, receive the newest arrivals and the latest news from home; it is not unfrequently made the headquarters for extraordinary charitable activity when the home town is visited by a conflagration or a “Pogrom.”

The tendency is to break away from those little synagogues and to join larger ones in the more comfortable neighborhoods, as well as to enlarge them by admitting members who hail from other towns and even from other countries. But the changes are mainly accomplished by slow transition, the gaps which are left by departures are easily filled up by new arrivals; so that the transformation is much nearer to a slow process of evolution than to the “decay of Judaism in this country” of which many are complaining. The earliest manifestation of this new development was the first effort which was made, less than a decade after the beginning of the new immigration, to consolidate the Orthodox Jewish community of New York under the leadership of a great rabbinical authority, and to raise the expense of the new institution by the same method by which the Jewish communities of Russia are financed――by an income from the Kosher-meat business.

In Russian-Poland, as in Germany or Austria, members of the Jewish community pay a direct tax for the support of the rabbinate and the communal institutions, and while the Jewish taxpayers elect the officers who assess them, the tax or “etat” is collectible by force, i. e., with the aid of the police authorities, if it is not paid voluntarily. Only those members of the community who pay comparatively larger sums are entitled to vote for communal officers, so that the poorer classes are taxed without being represented in the governing body of the community, and the very poor are not taxed at all. In Russia proper, including Lithuania and the balance of the “pale of settlement,” where the masses of the Jews dwell, the “Korobka” or tax on Kosher meat (more correctly a tax on the slaughtering of animals for Kosher food) takes the place of the “etat” of Poland and the “Kultussteuer” of some western countries. This indirect tax, which rests more heavily on the poor, is less felt and therefore considered less burdensome, though it is and always has been hated by the Jewish masses in Russia. The absolute separation of Church and State in this country made any form of enforced taxation out of the question. And when the want of a recognized religious authority for the large mass of Orthodox Jews of New York began to be seriously felt, and the question of providing for his salary and for other communal needs of a general nature, for which the individual synagogues did not feel themselves bound to provide, became a subject for discussion among the public spirited Jews in the community, the plan of a control over the business of Kosher meat, over which the new rabbi should have complete religious supervision, suggested itself as the only practicable solution of the problem.

Illustration: Chief Rabbi Jacob Joseph.

A Federation of Congregations, comprising about fifteen of the more important Orthodox synagogues, was consequently formed in 1888, and one of the greatest rabbinical authorities of Russia, Rabbi Jacob Joseph (b. in Krozh, government of Kovno, Russia, 1840; a. 1888; d. in New York, July 28, 1902), who was at that time the preacher of the old Jewish community of Wilna, was brought over as Chief Rabbi of the Federation. He was received with great honor by the Orthodox masses, and was recognized by them as the greatest rabbi that ever came to this country. But the federation of synagogues soon fell to pieces; the scheme of controlling the supervision of the Kosher meat supply failed almost from the beginning. There was too much prejudice against a form of “Korobka” even among the Orthodox masses, despite the fact that they continued to pay, as they still do, a higher price for Kosher meat, and a systematization of the business could produce a large revenue for communal purposes without a further increase in the price. Many independent Orthodox rabbis did not submit to the authority of the great rabbi; his influence was weakened, and several years afterward he fell the victim of a severe illness, which incapacitated him for hard work or for leadership. But the failure of the system was due to the impossibility of conducting Jewish affairs in America after patterns designed in and for Russia. The chief rabbi personally was revered by the multitudes of religious Jews, and when he died after a lingering illness, his funeral (July 30, 1902), though it was marred by a disturbance in which a number of persons were injured, was one of the most imposing ever seen in New York.

Several other attempts to choose chief rabbis, with the hope of uniting or solidifying under them the Orthodox congregations of a large city, were not more successful. The most notable of them was the selection, by a union of congregations which was formed for that purpose in Chicago, of another great Talmudical scholar, Rabbi Jacob David Wilowski (Ridbaz, b. in Kobrin, government of Kovno, 1845), as its chief rabbi in 1903. Rabbi Wilowski, who was Rabbi Joseph’s predecessor in Wilna, first came to the United States in 1900 in the interest of his great work on the Talmud Yerushalmi. It was during his second visit to this country that the effort to detain him as the spiritual head of a united Orthodox community in the second largest city of the New World was made. But a strong opposition, which centered around Rabbi Zebi Simon Album, made his position untenable, and he resigned after holding it for ten months. After travelling for more than a year over the United States, he left (1905) for the Holy Land and settled in Safed, where he still resides. It was again seen in his case, and confirmed because it occurred fifteen years after the importation of the first and greatest chief rabbi in the greatest Jewish community, that both the rabbis and the religious laymen are too independent here to submit to a chief rabbi, regardless of his importance as a Talmudical authority. The last to assume the title was Rabbi Gabriel Zeeh Margolioth (b. in Wilna, 1848; a. 1906), who is considered the greatest rabbinical scholar among the Orthodox rabbis of the United States. Rabbi Margolioth held the office of Chief Rabbi in Boston about four years, until his removal (1911) to New York to become rabbi of the “Adat Israel.”

In most of the other large cities there are prominent Orthodox rabbis who are held in high esteem and recognized as spiritual leaders of the religious masses, although their actual jurisdiction extends only over the one or several congregations of which they are the appointed rabbis. The best known of that class in New York was the “Moscower Rab” Chayyim Jacob Vidrevitz (b. in Dobromysl, government of Mohilev, 1836; a. 1891; d. in New York, 1911). Among the living, Rabbi Moses Zebullon Margolioth (b. in Krozh, 1851; a. 1889), formerly of Boston; Rabbi Abraham Eliezer Alperstein (b. in Kobrin about 1854; a. 1881), formerly of Chicago; and Rabbi Shalom Elhanan Jaffe (b. in Wobolnik; government of Wilna, 1858; a. 1889), formerly of St. Louis, are among the better known of the numerous Orthodox rabbis of New York.

Outside of New York Rabbi Abraham Jacob Gerson Lesser (b. in Mir, government of Minsk, 1835; a. about 1880), formerly of Chicago, and for about the last ten years in Cincinnati, is considered the dean of the Orthodox rabbis in this country. He is the author of several rabbinical works, one of which was translated into English by Mr. H. Eliassof. Of about the same age is the nestor of the Chicago rabbinate, Rabbi Eliezer Anixter, who occupied the rabbinical position there for about forty years. In Philadelphia Rabbi Bernhard Louis Levinthal (b. in Kovno, 1864; a. 1891) occupies a leading position and is perhaps the most Americanized of the strictly Orthodox rabbis in the country. Rabbi Moses Simon Sivitz (b. in Zittawan, government of Kovno, 1853; a. 1886), formerly of Baltimore (1886–89), and Rabbi Aaron Mordecai Ashinsky (b. in Reygrod, Russian-Poland, 1866), formerly of Detroit, Mich., and Montreal, Canada, are the foremost representatives of the Orthodox element in Pittsburg, Pa. Rabbi Asher Lipman Zarehy (b. in Kovno, 1862; a. 1892), formerly of Brooklyn, N. Y. (1892), and of Des Moines, Ia. (1893–1903), is at the head of the United Orthodox Hebrew Congregations of Louisville, Ky.

The number of prominent Orthodox rabbis among the immigrants who came from other countries than Russia is comparatively very small. The Hungarians, who belong to an earlier period, slowly draw nearer to the German and American element in religious matters. The Austrians or Galicians, who began to arrive in larger numbers somewhat later than the Russians, took a longer time to settle down to local conditions, and being at liberty to return to their old home whenever they liked, the large number who went back, only to return again in a few years, retarded the gradual development of their communal life. They are, on the other hand, much more successful, relatively, in their social organizations, such as lodges and “landsleut” societies, on account of the larger liberty of organization which they enjoyed at home. Their leading rabbi in New York was Rabbi Naftali Reiter (born in Hungary, 1844; a. 1887; d. in New York, 1911), who officiated as rabbi of the Congregation Magen Abraham Dukler (Attorney street), the leading Galician synagogue of New York from 1893 until his death. The leading Hungarian rabbi of New York is Dr. Hillel ha-Kohen or Philip Klein (b. in Baraeska, Hungary, 1849; a. 1891), who occupies a unique position in the Jewry of New York and of the country, being recognized as a Talmudical authority, and at the same time possessing the secular learning obtained by studying at the University of Berlin. Dr. Klein was rabbi of Libau, Russia, for ten years before he came to this country to officiate as rabbi of the Hungarian Congregation Oheb Zedek of New York, which position he still holds.

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At the beginning of the period of development among the Jewish immigrants from Slavic countries it was, however, not the rabbi, but the hazzan or cantor who was considered the most important functionary of the Orthodox congregation, especially of the larger ones. The number of wealthy members was insignificant, and while the smaller congregations holding services in rented rooms could subsist on the modest contributions and donations from regular attendants and from those who came occasionally for the high holidays or on account of marriages, the naming of newborn children, “jahrzeiten,” etc., the large synagogue with a building of its own, which was usually heavily mortgaged, often had a hard struggle for existence. The rabbi, unless he was a popular preacher, was considered as a somewhat superfluous burden; he received only a small salary, or none at all, having to rely for a living on the emoluments of the rabbinical office. But a popular cantor attracted new members and also large audiences on the special occasions when a charge for admission was made. His salary was therefore considered a profitable investment, and some of the best known cantors of Russia were induced to come to America, especially to New York.

The most renowned among the synagogue singers who were brought over in that period were Israel Michalovsky (b. in Suwalki, Russian-Poland, 1831; a. 1886; d. in New York, 1911), Israel Cooper (b. in Alusenitz, government of Kamenetz-Podolsk, 1840; a. 1885; d. in New York, 1909), and Pinhas Minkovsky (b. in Byelaya Tzerkov, 1859), who, after spending a short time in New York, returned, in 1892, to Odessa, whence he came. But the circumstances under which the influence of the cantor was predominant were abnormal and could not last long. The improvement in the general material conditions, the increase in the number and proportion of wealthy members, and the growing sense of duty and responsibility in religious matters, helped to bring the rabbi nearer to the front, where he belongs. There are even now many excellent and well paid hazzanim in the large cities, and the Orthodox rabbis are yet far from the security of tenure and of income which is enjoyed by the rabbis in the Old World. But some sort of an equilibrium has been restored, and the rabbinate has gained, morally as well as materially.

In the last few years many of the larger synagogues in the older Jewish neighborhoods of the great cities have been again in a precarious financial condition, which is due to the removal of its older and ♦wealthier members to the more fashionable quarters or to the suburbs. But no one would think now, as it was thought a quarter century before, of attempting to strengthen the position of a ♦synagogue by the importation of a famous hazzan. In many cases the well-to-do older members feel it to be their religious duty to keep up the large synagogues which they built in districts which are now inhabited mostly by the poorer and later arrivals, though they themselves now live too far to reach it, and have built new synagogues in their new neighborhoods and have even engaged English-speaking rabbis to deliver sermons. In other instances the immigrants of latter years are ready and willing to take over the synagogues, sometimes by the simple method of joining as members and obtaining control by becoming the majority. It also happens that the synagogue itself is removed to a location to which most of the members have moved, and the old building is sold to a smaller or to a newly formed congregation. But, as it was stated above, the number of congregations which disbanded, and of synagogue buildings which are abandoned for other purposes, is small. The continuance of immigration and the steady increase among the earlier comers of the number who affiliate themselves with the religious community obviates the necessity of giving up old religious organizations at the time when new ones are being established all over the country.

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