Page 2 - Boca ViewPointe - June '20

Page 2, Viewpointe June 2020

JICYMI

Just In Case You Missed It from 20% of the Jewish population in 1930 to 60% in 1960. first Jewish-born person to set foot on American soil was

The earlier waves of immigration and immigration Joachim Gans in 1584. Elias Legarde (a.k.a. Legardo) was
By Bob Kronish restriction were followed by the Holocaust that destroyed a Sephardic Jew who arrived at James City, Virginia, on the
most of the European Jewish community by 1945; these Abigail in 1621. According to Leon Huhner, Legarde was
Jews In Early America–– also made the United States the home for the largest Jewish from Languedoc, France, and was hired to go to the Colony
Part 1 population in the world outside of the State of Israel. In 1900 to teach people how to grow grapes for wine. Elias Legarde
The Jewish population of there were 1.5 million American Jews; in 2005 there were was living in Buckroe in Elizabeth City in February 1624.
the U.S. is the product of waves 5.3 million. Legarde was employed by Anthonie Bonall, who was
of immigration primarily On a theological level, American Jews are divided into a French silk maker and vigneron (cultivator of vineyards
from Europe; emigration a number of Jewish denominations, of which the most for winemaking), one of the men from Languedoc sent to
was initially inspired by the numerous are Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism and the colony by John Bonall, keeper of the silkworms of King
pull of American social and Orthodox Judaism. However, roughly 25% of American James I. In 1628 Legarde leased 100 acres (40 ha) on the
entrepreneurial opportunities, Jews are unaffiliated with any denomination. Conservative west side of Harris Creek in Elizabeth City.
and later was a refuge from the peril of ongoing European Judaism arose in America and Reform Judaism was founded Josef Mosse and Rebecca Isaake are documented in
antisemitism. Few ever returned to Europe, although in Germany and popularized by American Jews. Elizabeth City in 1624. John Levy patented 200 acres of land
committed advocates of Zionism have made aliyah to Israel. Luis de Carabajal y Cueva, a Spanish conquistador and
From a population of 1,000–2,000 Jewish residents in converso first set foot in what is now Texas in 1570. The JICYMI on page 3
1790, mostly Dutch Sephardic Jews, Jews from England,
and British subjects, the American Jewish community grew
to about 15,000 by 1840, and to about 250,000 by 1880.
Most of the mid-19th century Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants
to the U.S. came from German-speaking states, among the
general German migration to the U.S. They initially spoke
German, and settled across the nation, assimilating with their
new countrymen; the Jews among them commonly engaged
in trade, manufacturing, and operated dry goods (clothing)
stores in many cities.
Between 1880 and the start of World War I in 1914, about
2,000,000 Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jews immigrated
from Eastern Europe, where repeated pogroms made life
untenable. They came from Russia, the Pale of Settlement
(modern Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova),
and the Russian-controlled portions of Poland. The latter
group clustered in New York City, created the garment
industry there, which supplied the dry goods stores across
the country, and were heavily engaged in the trade unions.
They immigrated among other, non-Jewish, eastern
and southern European immigrants, which was unlike the
historically predominant American demographic from
northern and western Europe; Records indicate between
1880 and 1920 that these new immigrants rose from less than
five percent of all European immigrants to nearly 50%. This
feared change caused renewed nativist sentiment, the birth
of the Immigration Restriction League, and congressional
studies by the Dillingham Commission from 1907 to 1911.
The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 established
immigration restrictions specifically on these groups, and
the Immigration Act of 1924 further tightened and codified
these limits. With the ensuing Great Depression, and despite
worsening conditions for Jews in Europe with the rise of
Nazi Germany, these quotas remained in place with minor
alterations until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.
Jews quickly created support networks consisting of many
small synagogues and Ashkenazi Jewish Landsmannschaften
(German for “Territorial Associations”) for Jews from the
same town or village.
Leaders of the time urged assimilation and integration into
the wider American culture, and Jews quickly became part of
American life. During World War II, 500,000 American Jews,
about half of all Jewish males between 18 and 50, enlisted
for service, and after the war, Jewish families joined the new
trend of suburbanization, as they became wealthier and more
mobile. The Jewish community expanded to other major
cities, particularly around Los Angeles and Miami. Their
young people attended secular high schools and colleges and
met non-Jews, so that intermarriage rates soared to nearly
50%. Synagogue membership, however, grew considerably, AFFORDABLE & RELIABLE IN-HOME CARE

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