PS 
 112 
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 UC-NRLF 
 
THE WORKINGMAN 
 
 AND THE 
 
 SYNAGOGUE 
 
 RABBI SOLOMON FOSTER 
 
 NEWARK, N. J. 
 
f -U 
 
 GIFT 
 
3 
 
 THE WORKINGMAN AND THE SYNAGOGUE. 
 
 BY RABBI SOLOMON FOSTER, NEWARK, N. J. 
 
 "As you walk through the swelling and ever-swelling and 
 sweltering Xew York Ghetto of a summer evening, the truth 
 of it becomes verified within your innermost feelings. . . . 
 Wherever you turn you see your own, your own; so many, so 
 many of them. You are glad; you are proud. . . . You 
 may have nothing in common with them in your outlook and 
 aspirations, nothing in your daily life and conduct; still you 
 love your people, you love them well; in spite of yourself you 
 love them. You love them also in spite of themselves. They 
 are full of faults, big and little; they grate and jar upon your 
 senses in every one of their daily doings; a thousand times a 
 day they offend your highly strung sensibilities; still you love 
 them; you know you love them." (Jew. Chronicle, September 
 18, 1908, p. 14.) 
 
 In these words "Halitvack" gives us a sympathetic glimpse 
 into the seething, suffering, struggling mass; the indifferent, 
 yet religious and idealistic populace; the aspiring, fighting, laugh- 
 ing, toiling, studying, peaceful human beings who make up New 
 York's East Side. Every road of my investigation into the 
 conditions of the Jewish workingman led to this place. It is 
 here that the Jewish immigrant gets his first knowledge of 
 America; it is here he finds the means of a livelihood; here 
 he meets his relatives, friends and countrymen; here he makes 
 or finds himself at home with his people, in the midst of a 
 great city, yet apart from it. 
 
 The road to the East Side proved to be a short road to my 
 goal, the investigation of the Jewish workingman in his rela- 
 tionship to the Synagogue, for within a comparatively narrow 
 area live some 750,000 Jewish souls, as it is estimated, the 
 
 321398 
 
4 
 
 largest settlement of Jews in one city that the world has ever 
 known. In this district are to be found some of the largest 
 industrial plants in the country, which explains the presence of 
 an enormous laboring class. Almost every conceivable object is 
 manufactured in this section, and all kinds of labor can be 
 secured, from the skilled diamond cutter and steel engraver to 
 "the hewer of wood and the drawer of water." Here men, 
 women and children early and late hear the busy whirr of the 
 machines as they earn their daily bread, or long to hear it, 
 when loss of employment or a slack season make them feel more 
 keenly the pinch of poverty. On the East Side all the glory 
 and the grandeur of an industrial age are to be seen; the almost 
 human sensitiveness and efficiency of machinery; the organization 
 and equipment of great factories; the nice calculations of human 
 and machine capacity; the great buildings for mercantile, indus- 
 trial, educational and philanthropic purposes, the fruits of the 
 splendid risks and bold adventures of progressive capitalists. 
 
 Here also flourish and multiply all the degradation and vice 
 of an industrial age. Here are exhibited on all sides the rem- 
 nants of spiritual beings turned to tools. Machines answer the 
 anguish and sorrow of the workmen with a meaningless roar, 
 and reply to their cry for sympathy and help with an inces- 
 sant, unremitting cruel clamor. The diseases of occupation 
 are here taken from the realm of the theoretical into that of 
 such accurate prediction as to make it possible for the scientist 
 to compute by age and number the percentage of deaths in the 
 various trades. Here we see youths lashed to machines when 
 society should have guaranteed them sunshine and play. Also 
 "immorality is in the streets, now in the broad places and lieth 
 in wait at every corner." (Prov. vii, 12.) On the one hand 
 men and women are forced to live in homes which, because of 
 the congestion, are like hovels. Loss of honor and self-respect 
 are not unknown guests. Lack of leisure prevents the pursuit 
 of self-culture through study and reflection. At the same time 
 we find the records of such wonderful heroism in the battle 
 for truth, honor and righteousness as to excite the admiration 
 
5 
 
 of all. Here we are introduced to men and women who know 
 what it means to make sacrifices, who know how to toil faith- 
 fully and die heroically. 
 
 The road through the East Side proved to be a short road in 
 my investigation, for it led to a scene of such diversified in- 
 terests, such far reaching influences, such different customs and 
 ideas, such an endless array of institutions, as fairly to reflect 
 the world-wide Jewish problem. The East Side forms a unique 
 community, most wonderfully organized in all that concerns the 
 welfare of Israel, in spite of the seeming disorganization and 
 disintegration; most peaceful, happy and self-reliant in spite 
 of the seeming conflicting purposes, the squalid homes, and the 
 helplessness of the people; a community thoroughly Jewish and 
 thoroughly American, without the slightest hint of any pos- 
 sible incompatibility. 
 
 But the very vastness of the problem, though concentrated 
 -in a narrow area, made my road a very long and tortuous one 
 in the end. A commission of experts, thoroughly familiar with 
 the whole industrial problem, could hardly expect without un- 
 divided attention for many months, to cover the whole field 
 of industrial conditions among the Jews. In the first place, 
 there is no census of Jewish working people in this country. 
 Workingmen are not enumerated according to their religion. 
 The unions, in which this fact would be readily ascertainable, 
 comprise only a comparatively small number of the working- 
 men. (Out of about 'twenty millions of working people, only 
 three millions are affiliated with the unions in the United 
 States.) The Jewish workingmen are, as a rule, not organized 
 as such, preferring to enlist in the National or State bodies on 
 nonreligious lines. 
 
 The difficulty of determining the limitations of the subject 
 soon presented itself, for it was found that men who might 
 properly be recorded as workingmen one day would be raised 
 from a low estate and transformed over night into merchant 
 princes and great manufacturers. Because it was impossible to 
 differentiate between the body of permanent workers and the 
 
- 6 
 
 larger body of workers, many of whom are in the transitional 
 stage of preparation for positions as merchants and professional 
 men, it seemed best to follow a good old Jewish practice of 
 leaving indefinite what can not be defined. 
 
 The study of the Jewish workingman disclosed the further 
 fact that the workingmen are almost exclusively recruited from 
 the recent immigrants, for with an almost negligible exception, 
 it is stated that the Jewish immigrants of a past generation 
 are themselves employers of labor, a fact which is not a fruit- 
 less cause of much bitterness on the part of the employe, who 
 in the native town in Russia was recognized as far superior to 
 the man who, by the change of fortune, is the employer in 
 America. 
 
 It was a matter of both practical and philosophic perplexity 
 to determine to what extent our people were affiliated with the 
 Synagogue, as well as to establish a standard to measure the 
 degree of religiosity of our people. The records of Synagogue 
 affiliation in this country, as compiled by official and private 
 statisticians, as will be shown, are imperfect, and largely un- 
 derestimate the actual number of Synagogue supporters. But 
 still this does not measure Jewish loyalty. The old command, 
 "Do not separate yourself from the congregation" (Aboth) 
 (Al tifrosh min hazibur) has been interpreted by some of 
 our people as applying to the community of Israel, a command 
 which the fewest will not scrupulously obey. Orthodoxy is not 
 the final test, Eeform is not the last standard, Zionism is not 
 the criterion of Jewish loyalty. Let the partisans of these 
 movements in Israel shout themselves hoarse, let them hurl at 
 each other imprecation and proscription to their heart's con- 
 tent; let them misunderstand and misrepresent one another as 
 they choose; it will still be true that the Jewish people and the 
 people alone will be the final arbiters of their religion. And 
 this peculiar people has shown itself in possession of a heart 
 and soul great and good enough to say to everyone who sub- 
 scribes himself by the name of Israel, "Come and nestle close 
 to my bosom." 
 
7 
 
 This view is re-enforced, moreover, by the observation that 
 from the religious standpoint, there is very little, in fact, there 
 is nothing to differentiate the workingman from the employer. 
 The Synagogue knows no laborer nor the employer of labor as 
 such. It holds all men equal. The rich and the poor all 
 form a brotherhood. Leviticus (xix, 15), has proclaimed to the 
 Synagogue its duty: "Thou shalt not respect the person of 
 the poor, nor honor the person of the great." Simeon of Sichnin, 
 the digger of wells, was adjudged as important to the com- 
 munity as Jochanan ben Zakkai the scholar. (Midrash to Kohe- 
 leth iv, 17.) 
 
 The Rabbis have emphasized that the terms, Yisroel "Israel," 
 and Adam "man," being never used in the plural are signifi- 
 cant as teaching the unity of all men. Phillips Brooks echoed 
 this thought when he said, "I like workingmen very much, and 
 care for their good, but I have nothing distinct or separate to 
 say to them about religion; nor do I see how it will do any 
 good to treat them as a separate class in this matter, in which 
 their needs and duties are just like other men's." 
 
 It is the glory of religion that it lifts the individual out of 
 his narrow isolation to see himself as a member of the human 
 family. It is the glory of religion that it ignores the national 
 variations, the social disagreements, the industrial differences 
 which divide men and nations into groups, and speaks in behalf 
 of humanity, to plead in the name of truth for the eternal 
 welfare of mankind. So it will be found that the same causes 
 that operate to make the workingman indifferent to the Syna- 
 gogue will apply to the employers of labor. 
 
 And yet the Synagogue in directing men to a consideration 
 of the world problem, and stimulating them with the hope of 
 the attainment of justice and righteousness, can not afford to 
 dissociate itself from the local problems nor ignore the present 
 injustice, social and economic. 
 
 In attempting to define the attitude of the modern Synagogue 
 to the workingman, the writer has labored under the difficulty 
 which confronts the timorous pioneer. There is no treatise on 
 
8 
 
 the subject from the Jewish point of view. Information had 
 to be gathered from interviews with working people and labor 
 leaders, from discussions with social workers, from pamphlets 
 on various phases of the subjects, from newspaper reports and 
 articles, and personal observation. 
 
 "Under such circumstances it can not be expected that one 
 shall be able to do more than open the subject for discussion. 
 With such limitation, however, one is comforted by the words 
 of Rabbi Tarphon, "It is not thy duty to complete the work, 
 but neither art thou free to desist from it." Lo 'olecho ligmor 
 welo attoh ben Jiorin lehMotel mimmenu. (Aboth ii, 21.) 
 
 But the workingmen themselves now knock at our doors. 
 Let us open to them and bid them enter in the name of the 
 Lord. Let us question them as to the reasons which have 
 estranged many of them from the Synagogue. (For brief state- 
 ments on the general conditions prevailing among our working 
 people and their families, see Appendices on (a) Occupations; 
 (b) Trades Unionism; (c) Disease; (d) Criminality; (e) 
 Standard of Living; (f) Amusements; (g) Politics, and (h) 
 Religion.) 
 
 Estrangement from the Synagogue. 
 
 Influence of the Christian fellow-workman. 
 
 Living as we do in a Christian environment, it is not possible 
 without the highest degree of % intelligence, most careful watch- 
 fulness and the staunchest loyalty, to avoid the influences of 
 press, stage, and platform so universally the vehicles of 
 istian ideas and principles. How can it be expected that 
 the Jewish workman would remain impervious to the impressions 
 which he is constantly receiving of Christian ideas when it is 
 remembered that the day of rest recognized by law, the annual 
 festivals on which cessation from labor is enjoined, are Christian 
 holidays? Besides, the children of Jewish parents are frequently 
 asked to join in the singing of Christian hymns, to recite 
 Christian prayers, to hear the expression of Christian sentiments, 
 in the public schools. The literature of the day, with the ex- 
 
9 
 
 ception of the important books of science, art and philosophy, 
 is largely of the religious views, directly or implied, of our 
 neighbors. It is not easy to remain a loyal Jew when one 
 stands alone and isolated in an environment not entirely sym- 
 pathetic. 
 
 The influence of the environment is no doubt to be reckoned 
 with in determining the attitude of the Jews to the Synagogue. 
 What obtains in the Church, to a degree, will be reflected in 
 the Synagogue. 
 
 The interdenominational strife among the Christian Churches 
 has estranged many of the Christian workingmen. 'It has begun 
 to appear unseemly that the various churches instead of work- 
 ing in harmony for the welfare of humanity are continually 
 clashing in their interests, each one seeking to advance its own 
 denominational interest. The working people are thinking that 
 if the various churches would unite their forces, they would be 
 able materially to help mitigate the evils of the industrial world. 
 Because they are not at peace, the churches fail to appeal to 
 many working people who so greatly feel the need of peace. 
 
 Then again the churches today insist on putting the question, 
 "Do you believe? That staggers any broadminded man who 
 feels that what he believes is of little consequence compared 
 with what he lives." (Stelzle, Workingman and Social Problems, 
 p. 102.) Working people have become class-conscious and rec- 
 ognize their part in our industrial progress, and not receiving 
 their just share of the profits, as they feel, they consider that 
 the professions of a faith which has not helped them, and the 
 anticipations of a future world which totally ignore the actual 
 state of things here and now, are senseless and valueless prompt- 
 ings of the imagination. 
 
 The unbending and fixed character of the Christian Church 
 is responsible also for the defection of many people. Its claim 
 to have spoken the final words on every phase of truth, which 
 are registered in its creeds and ceremonies, is being analyzed 
 by thinking men today with the result that the creeds and in- 
 stitutions are subjected to such severe attacks and sweeping 
 
10 
 
 denials as to indicate impending disaster. In the meantime, 
 the doubts and fears of the people are marked by their indiffer- 
 ence, if not positive disloyalty, to the church. 
 
 The people, too, are not ignorant of the inconsistency of 
 many churches which, as corporations, own unsanitary tene- 
 ments and exact exorbitant rents. Yet these strongholds of 
 the faith resound with denunciations against these very evils. 
 The people, moreover, are not unconscious of the extent to 
 which members of the churches offend against justice and 
 morality in the conduct of their business in evading the laws 
 framed to protect the poor and helpless. Then again, the 
 Church wastes its energy in the solution of secondary prob- 
 lems, such as: 
 
 Total abstinence. 
 
 Closing of public places on Sunday, art galleries, recreation 
 centers, etc. 
 
 Amusement on Sunday. 
 
 Small wonder that the people lose patience with the Church, 
 which aims so often to deny the workingman the only pleasure 
 possible for him by an open Sunday. At the same time the 
 workingman can not fa.il to notice the opening of golf clubs in 
 the country, the automobile trips, etc., etc., which are attractions 
 to the rich, Sunday after Sunday, with scarcely a word of con- 
 demnation from the churches. It is impossible for the people 
 not to get the impression that the churches are more interested 
 practically in the welfare of the rich than in that of the poor. 
 
 Then again, the working people have concluded that the 
 evils which they suffer in the industrial world could in a mo- 
 ment be removed if the captains of industry were disposed to 
 treat them justly, to give them a more equitable share of the 
 profits of their labor. But these same captains of industry, 
 week after week in their various churches, give expression to 
 their belief in the brotherhood of man, and pray that God's 
 blessings shall rest upon His children. Yet these same men 
 nullify in their conduct on the market place and in the factory, 
 the teachings of the religion which theoretically recognizes 
 
11 
 
 neither rich nor poor. Since the churches are so largely main- 
 tained by the rich, who are regarded by the workingmen as 
 their oppressors, they can not be induced to identify themselves 
 with the rich man's institutions. This attitude of the working- 
 men is well described in a statement of one of them, "How 
 can we pray with him on Sunday when he preys upon us during 
 the week?" (Workingman and the Social Problem, by Stelzle, 
 p. 95.) 
 
 Although the Synagogue is free from strife that rages in the 
 Church, for not even the differences between the various wings 
 of Judaism rest upon a more solid foundation than social, tem- 
 peramental or accidental causes; although the Synagogue lays 
 less stress upon belief than upon practice expressed in cere- 
 monials, which are regarded at best as valuable shields, or fences 
 to the laws; although the Synagogue has shown itself wonder- 
 fully adaptable to the needs of every age ; although the Synagogue 
 has never wasted its energy on the solution of problems which 
 its devotees could better handle by themselves; although the 
 Synagogue never assuming that it has brought all the good to 
 mankind, does not hold itself responsible for the evil, it happens, 
 nevertheless, that many of our people under the influence of the 
 environment, having little knowledge of their own religion, 
 imagine that the same conditions that prevail in the Church 
 are duplicated in the Synagogue. They think that the criti- 
 cisms which are leveled at the Church apply also to the Syna- 
 gogue, and they acquire the easy habit of antagonism toward 
 the Synagogue. It is not to be denied that to a certain extent 
 some Synagogues are amenable to the same criticism that is 
 aimed at the Christian Church, but wherever the causes of in- 
 difference as indicated above apply, the determining factor in 
 their origin and continuance is the influence of the Christian 
 environment. 
 
 The Synagogue itself, however, has been responsible for the 
 indifference of some of our people to Judaism. In a number 
 of instances it has refused to permit the Rabbi to serve the 
 Jewish people unless they were affiliated with a Synagogue. 
 
12 
 
 Rabbis have been known to refuse to officiate at a funeral or 
 marriage service where the parties had not been, or the mem- 
 bers of their families would not be, identified with the Synagogue, 
 unless a special payment be made to the congregation. It is 
 true that anyone who is able, in refraining from supporting a 
 Synagogue, offends against a primary duty to his people, but 
 it is a policy shortsighted and weak which would restrict such 
 a one to the benefits of' Judaism at a time when he does feel 
 the influence of his faith. It is not to be denied that the burden 
 is harder upon the faithful, but the open door policy is the 
 only one most likely to succeed in finally winning to the sup- 
 port of the Synagogue all our people. At any rate, the "closed 
 door" has had influence upon many to confirm their indifference 
 to the Synagogue. 
 
 The tragedy which is being enacted in many Jewish homes is 
 a fruitful cause of estrangement from the Synagogue. In the 
 New World, the children have become impatient with certain 
 of the religious ceremonies of their parents, and the many 
 attractions of t!ie new life make rather irksome the old duty 
 which each child was required to perform, to study the Torah. 
 The parents find it difficult to exact obedience and reverence 
 from their children. Many children of the immigrants have 
 become ashamed of their own parents and their ways of life. 
 This sad condition of the house divided against itself is suffi- 
 cient to account for the temporary indifference of many of the 
 rising generation to the duties imposed by religion. 
 
 Another potent cause of indifference to the Synagogue on 
 the part of many of our immigrants is the radical difference 
 between the Synagogue in America and the Synagogue as es- 
 tablished in the old country. I refer now simply to the external 
 arrangements. Dr. Blaustein, speaking of Jews in Russia before 
 emigration, has said that the "entire life of the Jews, intellectual, 
 social and even commercial, centers around their religion and 
 around the Synagogue the seat of religion. In addition to 
 being the house of worship, the Synagogue is to them the school, 
 the lecture hall, the club, the political arena, and even the 
 
-13- 
 
 produce exchange. The Synagogue is furthermore the only place 
 where Jews can apply and utilize their talent. ... 'In other 
 words, having no opportunities outside the pale of Jewish set- 
 tlement, the Jew must confine himself to the limited circle of 
 his own people. The old Jews still use ancient Hebrew as 
 their literary language. All books, be they religious or secular, 
 are written in Hebrew 7 ; newspapers, daily and weekly, are pub- 
 lished in Hebrew, and business correspondence is likewise car- 
 ried on in Hebrew/' (University Settlement Studies, July, 1905, 
 p. 75.) From such a condition our people have come to an 
 environment in which the Synagogue has been divorced prac- 
 tically from every phase of Jewish life except purely the religious 
 worship. Outside the precinct of the Synagogue flourish the 
 Jewish societies, clubs, guilds ; the newspapers and periodicals 
 are not under the direction and supervision of the Eabbis; groups 
 of Jews from various cities are independently organized, some- 
 times as rival institutions; indeed, a seemingly disorganized mass 
 without head or tail, which is sufficient to shake the confidence 
 in the Synagogue of many of those who had looked to it as to 
 a supreme seat of authority in all things that concerned the 
 'Jewish people. 
 
 It is no doubt true that some of the working people are not 
 drawn to the Synagogue because it is almost wholly under the 
 control of the wealthy classes. If profession is to be balanced 
 by practice, the working people fail to understand why they 
 are excluded from the Board of Directors of the Synagogues 
 with which they are expected to affiliate. Very few of the Boards 
 of Directors of our Synagogues, not excepting a well known 
 organization which claims to be positively free in its cham- 
 pionship of all kinds of policies, have a representative of the 
 poorer classes as a member. If our democratic ideal will be 
 logically applied, there is little doubt but that the working 
 people will flock to the Synagogue, which shall welcome their 
 representation. 
 
 The method of Synagogue support is also a bar to the par- 
 ticipation of the poor in public worship. Our Synagogues charge 
 
-14 
 
 an exorbitant rate, comparatively speaking, for the ownership 
 of pews. It is an expense hard to meet by our working people 
 to associate themselves with many of our Synagogues. In their 
 pride, they refrain from attending the service they are unable 
 to support. It must not be overlooked, however, that there are 
 numerous Synagogues among the working people themselves, 
 which charge as low as two or three dollars a year for mem- 
 bership. 
 
 No doubt the most determining reason for the neglect of the 
 Sabbath is the necessity which rests upon the vast majority of 
 our workingmen to labor on the six recognized working days 
 in the week. It is simply impossible for more than a very in- 
 significant number to secure such positions as will enable them 
 to rest on the Sabbath. They are compelled to report for work 
 on Saturday as on the other days of the week. On the subject 
 the Chief Rabbi of England has said: "I believe that this dis- 
 regard is due not so much to a relaxation of religious sentiment 
 as to the fierce struggle for existence which now prevails, and 
 the keen competition that pervades every walk of life." (Jew 
 in London, p. 122.) 
 
 Because of their exhausted condition from a week of hard toil, 
 the workers are frequently unable to enjoy the Sabbath in peace. 
 "Even in those instances where there has been a cessation of 
 work, how is the Sabbath kept? They that know the terribly 
 long hours during which the presser and machinist, the cap 
 maker and laster and factory workers have toiled during the 
 week will readily forgive their keeping in bed till a late hour 
 on the Sabbath morn." (Jewish Chronicle, January 5, 1906.) 
 And so accustomed do they become to absence from the Syna- 
 gogue, that they soon lose the habit of attending service, and in 
 their helpless condition grow up in ignorance of all that makes 
 life worth living. 
 
 Many workingmen are estranged from the Synagogue because 
 the strict orthodox wing of Judaism no longer appeals to them, 
 for it overemphasises the ceremonial and officially endorses ideas 
 which are positively no longer accepted by the people at large, 
 
15 
 
 Buch as the "Resurrection of the dead/'' the Bible as the literal 
 word of God, the inferior position of woman, etc., etc. The 
 Reform wing of Judaism has not yet won large numbers of 
 our working people because Reform is not known by our work- 
 ingmen. This is due, to the greatest extent, to the misrepre- 
 sentation, the unjust criticism, the passionate denunciation, 
 which it has suffered at the hands of those who wilfully and 
 ignorantly condemn it. In a spirit of blind partisanship, many 
 so-called orthodox Jews permit themselves the most unbridled 
 license in their characterization of Reform Judaism. With 
 oratorical flourishes, which are successful in their appeal ac- 
 cording to the measure of passion exhibited by the speaker, 
 many leaders and preachers misrepresent it to our working people 
 and foster the spirit of group prejudice and hatred. Certain 
 Jewish papers pour out column after column of misrepresenta- 
 tion of our cause. It is worthy of note that the editor of one 
 of the leading Eastern Jewish papers, upon receiving a signed 
 letter protesting against certain unfair and misleading repre- 
 sentations against the Hebrew Union College, at the very mo- 
 ment that the Eastern Jewish public was receiving only one 
 side of a bitter controversy, wrote as follows: "To my very 
 great regret I find myself unable to print the accompanying 
 [letter], interesting as it is, and putting most forcibly a view 
 which has not been adequately presented. But it comes rather 
 late, the interest in the matter having somewhat waned, and 
 for personal reasons I have not given much space to the con- 
 troversy, since it would be rather unsuitable for a person so 
 closely connected as I am with the Seminary to seem to inter- 
 fere in the affairs of the Hebrew Union College." 
 
 And again, very recently some prominence was given in one 
 of our Jewish periodicals to a scurrilous article on the Reform 
 Jew. Subsequently, the writer said: "I believe then that if 
 I should be writing the article now, I should criticise the Ger- 
 man and Reform Jew much less severely, and I should be less 
 optimistic as to the Russian Jew. ... I shall, however, 
 study up the subject at the first opportunity; and if I find 
 
16- 
 
 anything worth saying on the other side, I shall say it in print." 
 Just think of the absurdity of the situation ! A man doing a 
 responsible work in a community permitting himself to deliver 
 a philippic against a movement before he takes the opportunity 
 to study it! Can we wonder that our Russian brethren enter- 
 tain the most absurd notions of our position, are distrustful of 
 our loyalty to Judaism, are unacquainted with our eager concern 
 for the welfare of our brethren all over the world? 
 
 Although we have considered the alleged causes of indiffer- 
 ence to the Synagogue on the part of many Jews, we can not 
 begin to analyze the extent of the devotion of the people at 
 large. To the institution they might have objection based upon 
 a fancied or real grievance, but against Judaism the very fewest 
 will rebel. It is impossible to measure the loyalty of a people 
 to their faith by the standard of attendance at Synagogue. 
 "God says to Israel: I bade thee read thy prayers unto me 
 in thy Synagogues; but if thou canst not, pray in thy house; 
 and if thou art unable to do this, pray when thou art in thy 
 field; and if this be inconvenient to thee, pray on thy bed; and 
 if thou canst not do even this, think of me in thy heart." 
 ("Some Aspects of Rabbinic Theology," by Schechter, p. 156.) 
 Workmen were, moreover, permitted to recite the Shema while 
 in a tree or upon a wall if they were engaged in their labor; 
 they were not compelled to descend to the ground or to go to 
 the Synagogue. (Ber. ii, 4.) If one should be riding on a 
 donkey, and could not conveniently dismount to recite the Shema, 
 he was permitted to turn his face toward the Sanctuary and recite 
 it. And in the event of his being unable even to turn himself to 
 the Sanctuary, it was permitted him to direct his heart to it, 
 and it was accounted as fulfilling his duty. (Ber. iv, 5.) The 
 law permitted one who happened to be on a ship, or a wagon 
 or upon a raft to direct his thoughts to God, and it was sufficient. 
 (Ber. iv, 6.) 
 
 Even with the regular ritual, much leniency was permitted 
 under stress of necessity. With reference to the Mussaph 
 Prayer the sages reversed the opinion of Rabbi Eleazar ben Aza- 
 
- 17 
 
 riah, who said that the Mussapli must be recited in the Syna- 
 gogue, by stating that it might be recited without, as well as 
 within, the Synagogue. Indeed, Rabbi Jehuda held that if the 
 Mussapli were recited in the Synagogue, the individual was free 
 from reciting it altogether. 
 
 Judged by such standards which are reasonable, it becomes 
 impossible for us to say to what extent our working people are 
 religious or irreligious. There is no method by which we can 
 register the amount of a man's devotion to God, his love of 
 Israel. While at his task, the ordinary workman may pray 
 more devoutly to God than the most faithful of Synagogue at- 
 tendants. With every stroke of the hammer, he might gather 
 strength and determination to split sin and corruption to frag- 
 ments. With every stitch of the machine, the worker may 
 fashion in his imagination a garment of such rare intellectual 
 and spiritual beauty as to be fit to clothe a poet. Who can tell 
 how many of the working people unable to attend the Synagogue 
 during the week as well as on the Sabbath, never fail to oiler 
 their prayers to God morning, noon and night, and make the 
 earnest effort to live in accordance with the laws of Israel. 
 Many doubtless fail; but the dark pictures of the religious life 
 of the poor, painted by many investigators, are more than 
 checked and offset by the bright scenes depicted by others. It 
 is a phase of the subject impossible of analysis without a house 
 to house, indeed, person to person, canvass, conducted not by 
 paid agents, but by trustworthy friends of the poor, and cover- 
 ing a period of years. The hasty generalizations so freely of- 
 fered as to the religious condition of the poor "are not a de- 
 scription of the state of the slums. They are only a dark and 
 dreadful description of the state of the slummers." 
 
 Those who are students of the subject know how great an 
 influence the Jewish religion exercises upon the Jewish people. 
 In their heart of hearts they love its beautiful and noble ideas; 
 they are attached to its poetic and appealing symbolism; they 
 feel themselves a part of that sweeping current of God's holy 
 spirit coursing through the centuries, causing hope to revive 
 
18- 
 
 in the desolate heart, peace to thrive in barren places, and 
 making "the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose." 
 
 Because it is impossible, utterly impossible, for us to esti- 
 mate with any degree of precision the undoubted loyalty to 
 Judaism of the vast majority of our people, and because formal 
 attachment to the Synagogue has never been established as the 
 final test of a Jew's devotion to his faith, must we be ever on 
 our guard to resent to the bitter end the false accusations made 
 by the press and on the platform of our day. 
 
 The "muckrakers" in our own midst are doing us an injury 
 by going up and down the land proclaiming that the Synagogue 
 is doomed because it muzzles its Rabbis, gets its support in 
 ways unaesthetic and commercial. Wild statements are made 
 about the intolerable conditions that surround the Jewish pulpit, 
 necessitating, as it was claimed, the withdrawal in the course 
 of a year of a number of prominent Rabbis who in self-respect 
 would have to give up their posts of duty. When these state- 
 ments are subjected to the keen analysis of perfect truth, we 
 are forced to the conclusion that they are half-cooked prepara- 
 tions of oratorical mush. The "legitimate" Synagogue has not 
 been guilty of raising insignificant matters of practical admin- 
 istration to issues of philosophic import. Is a case made against 
 the Synagogue which does succeed in spite of tremendous ob- 
 stacles in holding our people true to the Sabbath and Holy 
 Days, when critics of the Synagogue surrender the Sabbath, 
 change the Holy Days and boast of an emancipation, which is 
 nothing but unbridled and reckless license? Do the people 
 actually muzzle their Rabbi when they plead with him to give 
 them spiritual food that falls from heaven, instead of the chaff 
 which every noisy convention blows his way? Is it a sign of 
 progress to have all kinds of contradictory ideas presented in 
 the same pulpit, instead of a consistent, well-developed philosophy 
 to which the Rabbi stands pledged and which he is ready to 
 defend ? 
 
 We do not want to be understood as crying "peace, peace," 
 when there is much need of correcting certain temporary de- 
 
19 
 
 fects of our modern Jewish life, but at the same time we are 
 sure that many who come in the name of the Lord are nothing 
 more than false prophets. 
 
 "Even the unrest apparent in many quarters is a healthier 
 sign than the spiritual stagnation of a generation back. In 
 the past, when communal life was more compact and Jews were 
 solely dependent on each other for social intercourse, a mechanical 
 conformity was preserved without there necessarily being any 
 sense of conviction. That censorship which one Jew exercised 
 over another has become impossible, and he has now to be 
 guided in his religious observance by conviction rather than by 
 the dictation of others. This is a much healthier state of things, 
 and although it involves more heterodoxy, it is calculated to 
 produce worthier religious life." (H. S. Lewis, "Jew in Lon- 
 don," p. 235-f.) 
 
 One of the clearest indications of the strength of the Jewish 
 religion among the working people is the absolute failure of 
 the missionaries, who work on so elaborate a scale to convert 
 our men, women and children to Christianity. From all reports 
 of these movements, that come to us through the secular and 
 religious press, it is gratifying to learn that our people, with 
 an almost negligible exception, are unalterably loyal to the faith 
 of our fathers. From a Christian source, the following state- 
 ment is noteworthy: "So far from the problem of the effective 
 evangelization of these Jewish millions having been solved, it 
 is to be feared that the magnitude of the undertaking has not 
 even yet been realized." (Jewish Chronicle, October 2, 1908. 
 Report of the London Society for Promoting Christianity Among 
 Jews.) 
 
 The Strength of the Synagogue. 
 
 It is well nigh impossible at the present time to give an 
 accurate number of Synagogues and members of Synagogues 
 in the United States. In a recent report issued by the United 
 States Government, it was stated that the total number of 
 
20 
 
 Synagogues in the United States in 1906 was 1769, with a 
 membership of 101,457 heads of families. But this figure is 
 too small according to the records of the Jewish Publication 
 Society, which had enumerated up to 1906 nearly one hundred 
 more Synagogues. From the reports of the Society I have counted 
 as many as 2,114 Synagogues in the United States. 1,169 of 
 these Synagogues, consisting of large and small congregations in 
 the great as well as in the small towns, give a membership of over 
 100,640 members, or an average of 86 members to a congregation. 
 At this rate, the other 945 congregations would aggregate a 
 membership of 81,270, or a grand total of 181,910 members. 
 If every member on the average is the head of a family repre- 
 senting three persons, we have a population of 545,730, under the 
 guidance of the Synagogue. These figures tell only part of the 
 story, for the statistics exact as far as they go, are not com- 
 plete, as my study of Newark conditions reveals. The Year 
 Books of the Publication Society record twelve congregations 
 for Newark, with a membership of 1,069, while I have found 
 twenty congregations with membership of more than 1,800 per- 
 sons. This number is not large enough to cover the many 
 smaller congregations which flourish in the various Talmud 
 Torah halls, in private houses and lodges. Assuming that this 
 condition is duplicated in the country at large, attachment of 
 our people to the Synagogue is by far more extensive than we 
 had imagined. With a Jewish population of 1,777,185 in the 
 United States, as it is estimated, by whom 2,114 Synagogues 
 are supported, we find that there is on the average one Syna- 
 gogue for every 840 Jews. This does not include the many 
 Synagogues that are not recorded, but of whose existence there 
 is little doubt. At the same time, it must be noted that some of 
 the Synagogues included in my computation are open for ser- 
 vices only on the High Holidays. The affiliation of Jews with 
 the Synagogues in the country at large is on the whole not 
 unsatisfactory, and by far not as bad as some of our friends, 
 as well as our foes, would have us believe. 
 
 Even in New York City conditions are not, can not be, as 
 
21 
 
 I Kid as pictured. The Year Books report something like 563 
 Synagogues in Greater New York. 259 of these Synagogues in 
 1906 reported a membership of 26,804 persons, or 103 persons 
 to a Synagogue. At this rate Jewry in New York is 58.607 
 strong as far as membership in Synagogues is concerned. This 
 is really a conservative estimate. Now, allowing that each 
 member represents three persons at least, we have a total of 
 175,821 Jews under the influence of the Synagogue. Estimating 
 the Jewish population of New York City at 750,000 persons, 
 we have 20.9 percentage of Jews belonging to congregations, 
 liemembering that there are innumerable halls and homes which 
 are regularly thrown into Synagogues on the Sabbath and Holy 
 Days, we might expect to find the estimate above referred to 
 considerably increased. 
 
 In the light of these facts, we have the right to question the 
 rather startling announcements made by Dr. Walter A. Laidlaw 
 and others as to the loyalty of Jews to the Synagogue, in his 
 " Study of the Jews of New York as Observed in Ten Years' 
 Investigation/' But until we know how the statistics were 
 compiled, we can not but doubt their accuracy, especially in 
 view of the statement made by Dr. Laidlaw himself in 1905 : 
 "In that whole section of Manhattan, south of 14th Street, 
 east of Broadway, there are more Synagogues than there are 
 Protestant Churches in the whole Island. . . . There are, 
 to my knowledge, less than 350 Protestant Churches on Man- 
 hattan Island." (Amer. Heb., May 19, 1905.) Is not this 
 an exceptionally good showing for our people, who form less 
 than one-third the general population of New York City? 
 
 What Synagogue Does. 
 
 The most convincing appeal which the Synagogue can make 
 to the working people for their allegiance and support is a 
 record of its labor in their behalf. It is often overlooked even 
 by those who represent the Synagogue, that it is -the influence 
 of the Synagogue, directly or indirectly, that is gradually im- 
 proving the lot of the working people. 
 
22 
 
 In the first place, the very ideals which have become the 
 property of the masses were conceived, formulated and promul- 
 gated by the Synagogue. As the people today agitate and labor 
 for more equitable conditions, better standards of justice, they 
 do not know, or will not admit, that it is due to the success 
 which has attended the efforts of the Synagogue in spreading 
 its teachings broadcast that they cherish these ideas at all. The 
 ideas of justice, righteousness and charity were formulated by 
 the prophets, it is true; but they have been preserved by the 
 Eabbis in the Synagogues of Israel all through the ages. 
 
 It is, moreover directly traceable to the influence of the Syna- 
 gogue that so many institutions of every description devoted 
 to the amelioration of the poor, are founded and supported in 
 our day. A merely cursory glance over the list of contributors 
 to our various charitable and educational institutions in any 
 community will reveal a very noteworthy fact, that the very 
 largest percentage of the supporters are identified with the 
 Synagogue. In large cities where a large percentage of Jews 
 are not affiliated directly with the Synagogue, it is observable 
 that only a small percentage of contributors to our institutions 
 is found outside of the Synagogue. These institutions with 
 scarcely an exception are devoted to the work of improving the 
 general conditions of our people through hospitals, nurseries, 
 asylums, relief societies, educational institutions, social centers, 
 religious classes and houses of worship, all of which in all our 
 cities are most largely supported by men and women connected 
 with the Synagogue. To the credit of the Synagogue, in all 
 fairness, must be recorded the great work done largely for 
 the poor, by these many institutions. 
 
 What is true of the institutions applies to the men and women 
 doing the work that is telling in its influence for good upon 
 the lives of our poor. The consecration which the Synagogue 
 gave them, the inspiration to a life of service imparted to them 
 in its name, have aroused devoted servants of the people to 
 go forth and labor for their welfare. Very few, indeed, are 
 
23 
 
 they who are eyes to the blind and feet to the lame, who have 
 not been inspired to their work by the religious spirit. 
 
 On many occasions, too, the Rabbis have raised their voices 
 in defense of the workingman; they have served on arbitration 
 committees, championed their cause and brought about settle- 
 ments between them and their employers. 
 
 It is time for the Synagogue, especially when put on the de- 
 fensive, as in our day, to speak out clearly as to its unremitting 
 toil in behalf of the poor, its unswerving fidelity to the cause 
 of justice, its courageous stand in the presence of the powerful 
 and mighty to plead for peace and righteousness. 
 
 Let not the Synagogue in appealing to the masses for their 
 support, pamper and patronize them by a false confession of 
 its weakness. The Synagogue need not apologize to the Jewish 
 people, for it has never forsaken them. The Synagogue need 
 not change any of its fundamental pronouncements in order to 
 please any class in modern Jewry, for it has never failed to 
 represent all members of the household of Israel at all times. 
 Here and there abuses may have flourished, disregard of the 
 unity and peace of the whole community go unchecked, but 
 these were individual outbreaks of men connected with, not the 
 official expression of, the Synagogue. And while the institution 
 largely reflects the individuals that compose it, the recognition 
 of their ultimate independence in Jewry has enabled the Syna- 
 gogue, to a marked degree, to keep free from the compromises 
 and changes which characterize the growth of the Christian 
 Church. The Synagogue need not admit to the Jewish working- 
 man today that he has been neglected by it. On the contrary, 
 the Synagogue can with full justice demand an explanation 
 from the workingman for his indifference to its honor and wel- 
 fare. The Synagogue has reason to resent to the point of de- 
 fiance, the insinuations of some of its representatives that in 
 its teachings the cause of justice to all classes and conditions 
 of men has not been safeguarded. They are the false prophets 
 who read the book of God's secrets by the glare of the street 
 lamp, in the blaze of the banquet hall and the public place 
 
24 
 
 instead of by the subdued, steady and soft gleam of the holy 
 incense of the Sanctuary. 
 
 Besides, the Synagogue in its sanity and poise is not prepared 
 to say that present conditions in every sphere of life are 
 worse than former days. It has never said that the former 
 days are better than these days. On the contrary, it is not 
 unlikely that if the Synagogue felt it necessary to speak at all, 
 in no uncertain terms, it would be prepared to say and to prove 
 that these days are far better than the former days when slavery 
 flourished, when the poor were sold for debt, when man's toil 
 was unrelieved by the help of machines, when his leisure was 
 fearfully circumscribed by his environment, out of touch with 
 the centers of learning, distant from his fellows, all in all a 
 life without the charms of our enlightened times. And as for 
 abuses and outrages, exploitation and deception, the ancient 
 days can reveal to us a more harrowing scene than our imag- 
 ination can conjure up. But let us not raise the curtain upon 
 the evils of the past. We surely have enough of them in our 
 day. And to their solution the Synagogue, as well as the 
 Church, must devote its full strength and most earnest service. 
 But the Synagogue in working for the Kingdom of Heaven on 
 earth will not assume that the Kingdom of Heaven has already 
 arrived. It keeps ever in mind that men may hasten or hinder 
 its coming according as they obey God's laws. But here and 
 now men are not angelic; they manifest traits which merit God's 
 disfavor. It can not, therefore, hold itself responsible for evil 
 conditions which are inherent in the social body. If these 
 evils were not here, there would be no need of Synagogue and 
 Church to correct them. 
 
 The attitude of the Synagogue has been unequivocally friendly 
 to the workers. In fact, the Synagogue has not looked upon 
 them as a separate class whatsoever. The employers have not 
 been more welcome than the laborers; in all ages the Synagogue 
 has regarded them as equal before God, and has defended and 
 protected the one as readily as the other. The Rabbis point 
 out how God Himself is pictured as a workman who with a 
 
25 
 
 divine plan and with infinite wisdom creates a world in which 
 everything is beautiful and good. The Bible is replete with 
 illustrations drawn from the life of workingmen. On almost 
 every page the place of the workingman "who goes forth to 
 his labor until the evening" is idealized. The Fourth Command- 
 ment with its wise injunction to man to rest is really an ex- 
 altation of labor which is crowned by Sabbath rest. 
 
 "Hate not toilsome labor, nor husbandry which the Most High 
 has created." (Eccles. vii, 16.) 
 
 Saul was taken from the plow to become the first king in 
 Israel. David was summoned from the field where he had 
 tended the sheep to assume the responsibility of ruler in Israel. 
 
 "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." (Gen. iii;, 19.) 
 The word 'ebed servant applied to prophets in Israel was the 
 designation of the workman also. 
 
 "Sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or 
 much; but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to 
 sleep." (Eccles. 5, 12.) 
 
 RABBINICAL. 
 
 Importance of Work. "Man can not be brought under the 
 yoke of work too soon." (Midrash Echa, chap, iii.) 
 
 "Every father must instruct his son in some kind of occu- 
 pation." (Berachoth, 65.) 
 
 "A parent who fails to teach his son a trade teaches him to 
 steal." (Kiddushin, 29.) 
 
 "Four things should become a habit to man and practiced 
 regularly: the study of God's word, charity, piety and work." 
 (Berachoth, 32.) 
 
 "Because of the importance of work, idleness is assigned by 
 the Eabbis as the cause of death, and the loss of Paradise." 
 (Mid. to Gen. ii, chap. 17.) 
 
 Dignity of Work. "No man shall say, I am too high for 
 this or that work: I am the son of a great man or the offspring 
 of a noble family." (Aboth de R. N., chap, xi.) 
 
-26 
 
 "God has arranged that each individual should find his work 
 agreeable and prefer it to any other work, no matter how bur- 
 densome." (Berachoth, 43b.) 
 
 "An honest workingman stands higher than a man of noble 
 birth." (Mid. to Gen., chap, xxiii.) 
 
 "Flay a carcass on the street, and say not, I am a priest, 
 or a great man. Any kind of work is more honorable than 
 idleness and being supported by others." (B. B., llOa.) 
 
 Work Superior to Prayer. "One is not allowed to say, 'I 
 shall pray and worship continually and God will provide for 
 me all that I need." : (Tanchuma to Gen. xxxi.) 
 
 "He is a pious man who expects least of God and does most 
 for himself." (Mid. Tehillim, chap. Ixxix.) 
 
 "An excellent thing is the study of the Tor ah combined with 
 some worldly occupation, for the labor demanded by them both 
 makes sin to be forgotten. All study of the Torah without 
 work must in the end be futile and become the cause of sin." 
 (Aboth ii, 2 Singer's Translation.) 
 
 Justice to Laborer. "The agreement between employer and 
 emplo3 r ee must specify as to the kind of work, the time of its 
 beginning, and the compensation for it." (B. M., 83a.) 
 
 "The laborer is not to be compelled to do such work that 
 might impair his health." (B. M., 77a.) 
 
 "No laborer could be compelled to work overtime even though 
 the master permitted him special pay." (B. M., 83a.) 
 
 "Laborer could bring suit if he failed to receive his hire 
 within twelve hours after his pay became due." (B. M., 3a.) 
 
 "Employer who failed to make all the necessary provisions 
 for the safety and welfare of his employees was held responsible 
 by the law." (B. K., 33a.) 
 
 In practice, too, the Rabbis indicated their appreciation of 
 the honor of labor. The early teachers in Israel did not re- 
 ceive a compensation. They earned their livelihood in the trades 
 and professions of their day as did the people at large. Rabbi 
 Joseph turned a mill ; Rabbi Chanina was a shoemaker ; Rabbi 
 Abba was a tailor; Abba Saul was a gravedigger; Jose a leather- 
 
27 
 
 dresser; Jochanan was a sandal-maker; Simeon an embroiderer; 
 Nehemiah a potter; Abba Oshaja a dyer; Abin a carpenter; 
 Joshua ben Chananja a clasp-maker; Joshua ben Illai a cooper 
 by trade, et al. 
 
 What the Synagogue can do. 
 
 Because of its friendliness to both parties, the Synagogue in 
 its official capacity can do little, and should attempt to do little, 
 directly to champion the interests of the workingman against 
 the employer. Indeed, it is clear that whatever affects one 
 class surely affects the other. The Synagogue knows no laborer, 
 recognizes no employer; in its sacred precincts, to all workers, 
 be they rich or poor, native or foreign born, one law applies, 
 and that law the strict law of justice. 
 
 If the Synagogue in its official capacity were to turn to 
 champion the cause of the laboring man against his employer, 
 simply by reason of its inability to speak with authority on any 
 subject outside of religion, it would be not at all unlikely that 
 a temporary victory gained by the Synagogue would become 
 ultimately of grave peril and danger to the interests of the 
 very class it had sought to help. It is impossible for the 
 Synagogue to master the necessary details of a great economic 
 problem to warrant the attempt to solve it. The problem did 
 not grow over night, nor will be untangled in a day. The, 
 Synagogue will do sufficient towards its final settlement when 
 it thunders in the presence of both classes who are equally dear, 
 that there are rules which must be obeyed by both parties as 
 they enter the contest. The Synagogue must stand near to 
 insist as far as possible that the rules of the contest, justice, 
 righteousness, and kindliness shall not be ignored by either 
 party. 
 
 It* is a noteworthy fact that the Christian Church which, 
 with a laudable zeal and devoted interest, has set to herself 
 nothing short of the task of solving this vexing problem, has 
 actually done little else than appoint committees, delegate rep- 
 
28- 
 
 resentatives to the labor unions and formulate plans of attack. 
 A great agitation on the subject in pulpit> press and platform 
 has aroused the public almost to the conclusion that the labor 
 problem is solved, whereas, it has just begun to be recognized 
 at all. And we are as far from a solution of it as we are dis- 
 tant from the Messianic Era. The Church as a Church has 
 not recorded a single triumph of consequence in its work among 
 the wage earners. Preaching in factories, sitting in labor con- 
 ventions, signing petitions of industrial reforms, agitating for 
 sanitary factories, protected machinery, better housing condi- 
 tions, and the like, the ministers of the various denominations 
 have been instrumental in effecting many needed improvements. 
 But mark you ! The work they have done and are doing, strictly 
 speaking, is not denominational. Presbyterianism, as such, has 
 not advanced because one of> the active workers in the field 
 of labor happens to be a member of that church. Episcopalian- 
 ism, as such, has not profited as a church because it has added 
 to its church activities a labor bureau. A well-known worker 
 has said, "There have been various efforts on the part of the 
 Churches here in New England to identify themselves with 
 labor movements, or rather with the labor people, but I do not 
 believe that they have made any substantial progress." Edward 
 T. Hartman. 
 
 It is true, the inspiration to the work of industrial reform 
 was imparted by the Synagogue or the Church either directly 
 or indirectly, not as pledged to this or that particular reform 
 or in advocacy of the cause of either party in the industrial 
 conflict, but simply through the emphasis and interpretation of 
 the old principles of justice and righteousness which change 
 not, though conditions in which they are to be applied continu- 
 ally change. The inspiration to the work came from the relig- 
 ious institution, but the actual work is to be credited to the 
 individuals who labored, not directly as churchmen, but as men. 
 
 If the church undertakes as a church to speak with authority 
 upon any phase of the labor problem, it will not only fail, but 
 endanger its very existence. In the first place, it can not make 
 
29 
 
 any one of life's many interests and activities its chief concern, 
 nor, again, has it the training for leadership in the direct field 
 of labor, it can not afford to lose for one instant the guardian- 
 ship of the very highest and most inclusive influence of life, 
 the religious consciousness; nor can the Church without harm 
 to the future bring all its strength to bear upon the solution 
 of a problem which at best is only a passing phase of the larger 
 problem of life itself. 
 
 This attitude does not exclude consideration of modern prob- 
 lems in the Synagogue. We can not live in the world and not 
 be influenced by the world. It is the duty of the Synagogue 
 to grapple in a courageous spirit even with the mightest of our 
 modern giants, the Industrial Evil. This is the attitude as- 
 sumed by a great teacher in Israel, who, though he takes an 
 occasional fling at those who introduce questions of sociological 
 import into their sermons, includes among Some Aspects of 
 Rabbinic Theology a consideration of certain phases of the labor 
 problem. 
 
 The Bible abounds in similes drawn from the life of an agri- 
 cultural people. It will be the duty of the modern Synagogue 
 to show that the teachings of Judaism as bearing on modern 
 industrialism are clear and pertinent. Judaism with its peren- 
 nial freshness and vigor has its message also for these days. 
 
 To make our teachings intelligible to our people, to impress 
 them with the unchanging character of our God amidst an ever 
 changing environment, it is our duty to speak in a language 
 that our people understand, to draw illustrations and instances 
 from the industrial life of our day. We need not busy our- 
 selves to discover new ideas to replace the eternal principles of 
 our faith; it is sufficient if, by apt illustration, we make the 
 old ones intelligible to our people in an industrial age. 
 
 The experiment has been tried in Philadelphia, New York, 
 Chicago and Cleveland to provide a free Synagogue for the 
 people, and so successful has it proved to be that it seems most 
 worthy of repetition. Ought not our wealthier Jews in our 
 
-30 
 
 various cities equip and maintain Synagogues for the people 
 in the midst of the people? 
 
 It is questionable whether the plan of the Mikveh Israel Con- 
 gregation of Philadelphia to open its old building to the poor 
 for worship without any cost is altogether wise. The poorest 
 Israelite would take a keener interest in the Synagogue if he 
 were permitted, according to his ability to pay something towards 
 its maintenance, even though the sum be insignificant. His 
 sense of ownership or partnership in a Sanctuary of God ought 
 to be aroused. Instead of gratitude to the rich congregation 
 for the privilege of worship, he would feel it his right and duty 
 by reason of his sacrifice to give it his attention. It is not 
 altogether clear, moreover, whether it is the best policy to seg- 
 regate the workingmen as such, although in ancient Alexandria 
 it is reported that the various guilds had their separate sections 
 in the Synagogue (Succa, 51). The Philadelphia experiment 
 should be watched with interest as to the effect of giving to 
 our poor a Synagogue over which they shall have no control. 
 It must be remembered that "while workingmen are poor, they 
 are also proud, and they would be slow to connect themselves 
 with an exclusive institution which might possibly be dubbed 
 'a poor man's church.' >; ( Stelzle, "Workingman and Social 
 Problems," p. 144.) 
 
 If it is not possible for all of our congregations to open 
 branch Synagogues for the poor in our cities, it may be prac- 
 ticable for them to devote the vestry rooms to additional services 
 for the poor. It is worthy of careful study, also, how we might 
 utilize our Synagogues for more than one service on Sabbaths 
 in order that we might accommodate the working people. What 
 would prevent our holding a very early morning service or an 
 afternoon service for the benefit of our working people? 
 
 As of old, our greatest safeguard and bulwark of strength 
 is our religious school. While our children recite with joy the 
 principles of Judaism and learn with delight its laws and cere- 
 monies, it will be impossible for evil to overtake us. For in 
 the religious schools our children will imbibe those teachings 
 
-31 
 
 which will enable them to overcome temptations and keep far 
 from them the spirit of evil which, according to the Rabbis, dare 
 not cross the threshold of the school. 
 
 If we desire to perpetuate our faith, our most zealous labor, 
 our greatest sacrifices must be given to the work of our schools. 
 No matter how great the obstacles to a religious life in the 
 industrial world may be, the proper religious training of the 
 youth will most likely prove the most potent factor in over- 
 coming them. In every city, the loyal men and women of 
 Israel ought to stir themselves to build, equip and maintain 
 religious schools not only for the children of those affiliated 
 with the Synagogue but for children of the poor as well. Unless 
 the poor receive this help from their brethren more fortunately 
 placed, they will not be in a position to found schools of a 
 higher standard and efficiency than the Chedarim which, while 
 serving the needs of a past generation not altogether inade- 
 quately, are positively a hindrance and a detriment today. 
 
 As an example of what a community can do toward the re- 
 ligious instruction of the children of the poor, the Plaut Memorial 
 Hebrew Free School, of Xewark, X. J., might be cited. The 
 school is supported by the Jewish community of Xewark, regard- 
 less of congregational affiliation. Some nine hundred children 
 receive instruction in Hebrew and Jewish history during the 
 week. For over twenty years this school has been a center in the 
 religious life of the Jewish people of the city. The personality 
 and ability of the late Superintendent, Myer S. Hood, have been 
 influences of great benefit to the children and grandchildren of the 
 immigrants from Eussia. His success lay in the wisdom which 
 prompted him to choose as his assistants loyal Jews and Jewesses 
 who had been instructed in the modern principles of pedagogy. 
 His attitude was that a child need not be less a Jew because 
 American, nor less American because a Jew. 
 
 The school was not a growth from within the Jewish section 
 which has been benefited by it. The school was conceived, built 
 and maintained by Jews outside the pale of Jewish Settlement. 
 
32 
 
 The trustees of the orthodox Synagogues did not "realize their 
 duty and open their houses of worship to the young. . . . 
 They do not understand conditions, or will not understand 
 them," wrote Dr. Julius H. Greenstone with reference to similar 
 conditions in New York City. "To expect them to come to the 
 rescue, and to realize the danger in their policy, is time wasted, 
 danger thrice threatening. . . . 
 
 "Anyone acquainted with conditions must admit that the 
 future of American Judaism is with the generation now growing 
 up on the East Side, and it is here that our rich and influential 
 Jews must come to the rescue as liberally and magnanimously 
 as they did when the economic question was most perplexing. 
 Religion as well as cleanliness and fresh air must be forced upon 
 the down-town Jew. . . . The permanent help must come 
 from without; until that comes we can expect but little im- 
 provement in the religious status of the growing generation of 
 our down-town Jewry." (American Hebrew, September 4, 1903, 
 p. 503.) 
 
 It is now being admitted that all social work to be thoroughly 
 satisfactory must be permeated with the spirit of religion, and 
 the most helpful workers are those who are guided by religion. 
 The charity organizations among our own people as well as 
 among our neighbors are mechanical in their administration, 
 unfeeling in their assistance to the needy, except when under 
 the direction of workers who are filled with the joy of the re- 
 ligious consciousness. The settlements which are divorced from 
 the guidance of religious men and women, are failing to reach 
 the heart of the problem which they have been expected to solve 
 because they touch only the superficial things of life. Men and 
 women need something more than cold, formal ethics as motives 
 to noble conduct. They require a sense of a "divine relation- 
 ship," the submission to authority over and above themselves, a 
 belief that humanity in its age-long experience and constant 
 search for God has formulated better laws and devised better 
 ceremonies to support those laws than any individual or set of 
 individuals who trust to their own limited powers and experi- 
 
-33- 
 
 as sufficient guides to eternal truth, can conceive. There- 
 fore, our institutions which are conducted by men and women 
 of a negative religious outlook, and administered without regard 
 to the religious views of the people whom the institutions serve, 
 are at best but makeshifts and compromises. 
 
 It is now the duty of the Synagogue, which is responsible 
 in largest measure for the very -existence of most of our Jewish 
 institutions, and from which to the greatest degree the money 
 for their maintenance is drawn, to arise and to claim her own. 
 While she need not assume direct supervision over them, she 
 has not only the right but the duty to dictate their policy, that 
 they shall be conducted as Jewish institutions, reaffirming the 
 principle that their leaders shall be loyal Israelites, so that the 
 need of religion in the development of the individual and 
 communal life of Jews shall be properly emphasized. 
 
 There is a great opportunity as well as grave responsibility 
 resting upon the Rabbi in our day. As an individual he can 
 perform in the name of the Synagogue a tremendous task of 
 such importance as to be well nigh indescribable. 
 
 While the Synagogue can not be accommodated to the needs 
 of the working people any more than to the wants of the em- 
 ployers of labor, the Rabbi as its messenger can bring to both 
 classes the essential teachings of the Synagogue that bear upon 
 the question of justice in the industrial world. The Rabbi as 
 the representative of the Synagogue has the right to bring to- 
 gether for friendly discussion the representatives of capital and 
 labor in order that by exchange of views each side may have 
 greater regard for the justice of each other's attitude, and by 
 mutual concession put themselves in the way of ultimate peace. 
 The Rabbi is the logical person in our Jewish world to do most 
 toward the improvement of the lot of the workingman. If he 
 has thoroughly understood his function and has been jealous 
 of the dignity and purpose of the Synagogue, he has surely won 
 in whatever community he lives the respect of the employer 
 and the confidence and esteem of the wage earner. This posi- 
 tion of trust imposes upon him a great duty and offers him a 
 
- 34 
 
 splendid advantage. As an individual he must keep himself 
 thoroughly informed of conditions in the industrial world. 
 From time to time he would do well to consult labor leaders, 
 seek conferences with employers, visit among the worldngmen, 
 simply for the purpose of knowing men and learning the 
 issues of the day. And when the outbreaks threaten, if he 
 does not actually succeed in preventing them, he will be in 
 a position to recommend methods of procedure and reforms in 
 practice which will be beneficial to both classes. 
 
 While the Eabbi as an individual can do much to bring 
 together the representatives of capital and labor, let him be 
 careful not to attempt to do more than his knowledge of the 
 claims of both parties in the conflict warrants. Unless the 
 Eabbi happens to be an expert on industrial issues, let him be 
 sure that he gets complete knowledge of all the principles in- 
 volved lest his oratorical panaceas make him the laughing- 
 stock of those who intelligently and earnestly struggle to 
 bring peace among the forces of capital and labor. 
 
 If the great Moses was forced to confess that he could not 
 bear alone the whole burden of the people of Israel (Ex. 
 xviii), and chose out able leaders, must we not admit that we 
 Eabbis can not hope to carry the whole burden of our people? 
 All we can do is to keep alive the eternal principles, to pro- 
 mulgate the laws which enable the men of understanding and 
 of wisdom, of counsel and strength, to apply them to the 
 affairs of life. We should not do less, we can not hope to do 
 more, than to point the way over which our people must pass 
 if they love justice and seek it sincerely in the industrial world. 
 
 Success not infrequently attends the efforts of the Eabbi to 
 influence the Jewish merchants in a city to allow their Jewish 
 employees to be absent from business on the holy days. It is 
 known that many merchants today not only fail to comply with the 
 old law that commands every one to refrain from all business 
 dealings on the holy days, but also refuse to permit their em- 
 ployees to enjoy the sanctity of the service and the rest on the 
 holy days. By keeping this important matter in mind, and by 
 
35 
 
 planning to do earnest and persistent work in behalf of the 
 sanctification of Sabbath and holy days, the Rabbis may be able 
 to persuade our merchants themselves to observe and to permit 
 their employees to observe the religious feasts. Every Jew owes 
 it to himself to take the opportunity to satisfy and develop 
 his spiritual nature. No difficulty is ever found in accommodat- 
 ing ourselves to the rest enjoined by the State or by the re- 
 ligious festivals of our Christian neighbors. We owe it to our 
 self-respect to do something for our own good in the name of 
 God and Israel. Whenever the laws of justice are offended 
 by employer or by employee the Rabbi again with courage and 
 confidence should boldly challenge the wrongdoer and proclaim 
 fearlessly "Thou art the man" 
 
 Towards this end this Conference can be of great assistance 
 as a representative body of Jewish teachers. Through its in- 
 fluence and direction the following recommendations, when 
 properly endorsed and adopted, might prove to be effective 
 agencies of the Synagogue in its relation to the labor problem: 
 
 RECOMMENDATIONS. 
 I. 
 
 There is a real need of a modern leader among our immigrant 
 brethren. A very large element of the East Side is utterly 
 without religious stimulus. "The Synagogues as at present 
 conducted/' writes one of the submerged, "do not attract them, 
 yes, actually repel them. The influence of the Rabbis and 
 'Magiddim' is less than nil. ... In all the great Ghetto 
 of New York there is not one English speaking Rabbi to whom 
 the young can look up and follow. There is not a solitary 
 one in a position to satisfy that spiritual hunger which some 
 of us know to exist. . . . Immortality awaits . . . the 
 Rabbi who can see his life-work down here among the most 
 intelligent, intense, serious and well-intentioned community 
 in God's earth. The opportunity is here. Where's the man?" 
 (American Heb., June 16, 1905, p. 68.) The situation de- 
 
36 
 
 mands the foresight of a statesman and the self -sacrifice of 
 a prophet. The gratitude of our people will be the reward, 
 and a commending conscience the sure recompense for earnest 
 work undertaken among the poor of our people who are ex- 
 ploited by friend almost as much as foe. It seems possible 
 to provide for the right leader by recommending to the Union 
 of American Hebrew Congregations the advisability of placing 
 in this section a Rabbi who shall limit the sphere of his activity 
 to the several large Jewish centers in and near New York. 
 An earnest, able leader can be of inestimable value to the 
 people in these centers. 
 
 II. 
 
 If it be true, as I have attempted to prove, that the Rabbi 
 acting in his individual capacity can exercise a great influence 
 upon the rich and poor, the employer and the employee to the 
 ond that a better industrial era be inaugurated, then it is in- 
 dispensable that he be kept well informed of the situation. It 
 is not enough that he know the leaders of the two classes, 
 represented by capital and labor in his own city, he ought to 
 know their aims and acts from a national and international 
 point of view. His comprehension of the situation in the 
 industrial world ought to be clear and extensive. Manifestly,, 
 it is impossible for any Rabbi to take sufficient time from 
 his regular studies and duties to enable him to become familiar 
 with the many phases of the labor problem, and to gather to- 
 gether from many sources and to study the statistics compiled 
 by our various organizations. Such work can not properly 
 be done by any one man. But a Standing Committee in Jewish 
 statistics might be of great service to the Conference. Such a 
 committee shall collect from every available source statistics 
 of the Jewish people in all phases of industrialism as they 
 affect the . Synagogue. Monthly and quarterly bulletins might 
 be issued to all members of the Conference Thus the members 
 would be kept in touch with matters of greatest concern to the 
 welfare of our people. 
 
-37 
 
 III. 
 
 Inasmuch as our working people know so little of our aims 
 and purposes, and have been led to believe through misrepre- 
 sentation of our cause that liberal Judaism is disloyalty to and 
 compromise with our faith, it would seem to be advisable from 
 time to time to publish certain of our proceedings, lectures and 
 tracts in the Yiddish language for distribution among them. 
 A tract on Judaism and labor would seem to be most timely 
 and appropriate. It should not be done with any secret desire 
 to convert our truly orthodox brethren to the Reform Jewish 
 party, but to give them information which will enable them 
 to get at the truth of our movement. 
 
 It is not unlikely that the opinion often expressed will be 
 verified in fact, that many thousands of our brethren who now 
 so thoroughly misunderstand us, will recognize that they stand 
 on precisely the same platform as we do in the earnest desire to 
 retain all the fundamental principles and preserve as much of 
 the formal side of Judaism as we have found after a reverent 
 search reluctantly undertaken to be not absolutely incompatible 
 with the highest and best in modern culture. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The Jewish press might be made a more potent influence in 
 bringing together the wage earners and the employers. At 
 present they are practically divided into the same classes that 
 characterize the secular newspapers and periodicals of the 
 country according as they are supported by the forces of labor 
 or capital. If the main desideratum in the amelioration of 
 present conditions is a full knowledge of the situation on the 
 part of both parties, then it ought to be the duty of all Jewish 
 newspapers and periodicals which record the affairs of the 
 world to publish information about both. Let this Conference 
 suggest to all Jewish papers the advisability of including in 
 the items of interest about the capitalists the records of the 
 struggles, achievements and purposes of the wage earners. It 
 
00 
 
 oo 
 
 would tend, perhaps, to amalgamate more closely the common 
 interests of -our people. 
 
 V. 
 
 The Board of Governors and the Faculty of the Hebrew 
 Union College would not take amiss a suggestion to consider 
 the advisability of arranging for a course of lectures to be given 
 each year at the College, on the industrial conditions of our 
 day. This will be an excellent way of introducing to the stu- 
 dents a subject which they will be required to know as soon 
 as they enter upon the work of the active ministry. 
 
 But over and above these issues of practical import, all en- 
 grossing and significant though they be, lies the sphere in which 
 the Synagogue performs its indispensable function. 
 
 Let the Synagogue continue to stand without compromise for 
 the totality of things. Let it resound with the insistence which 
 has always characterized its teachings, the Unity of Mankind. 
 Let it impart those principles which are not limited by time, 
 place or circumstance, the prophetic ideals of justice, righteous- 
 ness and kindliness which, if understood, will enable men, at 
 all, times, in all places, and under all conditions, to improve 
 their environment and amend their lives. The sanctuary in 
 the wilderness never moved with any one of the tribes of 
 Israel, nor was it ever the special protector of any class of 
 workers. It went forward with all the people and it belonged 
 to all the people. It was the medium through which peace was 
 restored in the whole encampment whenever through rebellion 
 or discord the people drifted from God or hated one another. 
 
 The question arises, to what extent can the Synagogue make 
 concession to the spirit of the times? If it rigidly excludes 
 consideration of problems that are of paramount issue in our 
 day and rests satisfied by denouncing the sins of ancient 
 Samaria and condemning the evildoers of ancient Jerusalem, 
 then it is evident that it has no service worthy of the name to 
 render its existence a blessing to mankind. If the Synagogue, 
 on the contrary, be converted into a political platform on 
 
39 
 
 which the latest utterance of some "boss-ridden" candidate 
 shall be made the subject of serious discussion in the presence 
 of men and women who hunger for the truths of religion; if 
 the Synagogue be changed into a lecture forum from which 
 learned disquisitions on every conceivable literary and scientific 
 theory be delivered at the cost of the religious discourse, then 
 the Synagogue becomes an unnecessary institution, a duplication 
 of work which can be better and more effectively done under 
 other auspices. 
 
 The Synagogue is here to do a work which no other institu- 
 tion is equipped to perform, the important work of keeping alive 
 and intensifying the religious consciousness of Jews in accord- 
 ance with the best traditions, laws and usages of Judaism. One 
 aspect of this religious consciousness is the feeling that amid 
 the changing scenes in the social, educational and industrial 
 worlds, the old principles of perfect justice, righteousness and 
 mercy are as unchangeable as God Himself. In one age men 
 may tend their sheep; another generation may witness a change 
 from shepherds to agriculturists; a later period may introduce 
 the machine and transform the whole aspect of labor, but 
 beneath all the changes are the same unalterable laws which 
 men do well to remember. This is the work of the Synagogue 
 to the Jewish people, to teach them that the God of Israel 
 alone ruleth the world in majesty and that all workers are His 
 children. It has wonderfully succeeded in the past, and if it 
 remains true to its ideals there is no reason for supposing that 
 it shall not succeed in the future. 
 
 Appendix A. 
 
 OCCUPATIONS. 
 
 "Unfortunately there is no census of occupations especially 
 directed to the classification of the Jewish people of the East 
 Side. But a study of the census of the occupations of the 
 city at large, of the report of the Commission of Immigration, 
 and of the labor movement on the East Side, probably throws 
 
- 40 
 
 all the light on the subject that a general statement requires. 
 . . . Nearly twenty percent of the Hebrew immigrants are 
 tailors, nearly five percent merchants or clerks and almost one 
 percent follow the professions. Of the remainder a very con- 
 siderable proportion, though not a majority, are skilled work- 
 men, such as bakers, tobacco workers, carpenters, painters, 
 butchers, etc." (William E. Walling, in University Studies, 
 July, 1905, p. 80.) 
 
 After an investigation of 225 families in a block of the lower 
 East Side of New York, Dr. Bernheimer stated that "eighty- 
 one or about one-third retained the same vocation as abroad. 
 It is noteworthy that the largest proportion in any one occu- 
 pation before coming here were tradesmen, viz., 66 out of 
 225 or about thirty percent." (Jewish Immigrant as an In- 
 dustrial Worker, by Dr. Charles S. Bernheimer.) 
 
 In a study of 50 out of 225 families picked out at random, 
 Dr. Bernheimer indicates the occupations in which Eussian 
 Jews are engaged. Peddlers, pressers and egg-candlers. pre- 
 dominate. In the list it is shown that some of the workers 
 who had been tradesmen were reduced to the rank of peddlers, 
 laborers, pressers, painters, skirt operators, etc. A former shop 
 foreman became a cloak presser; a real estate dealer was com- 
 pelled to work as a salesman. And worst of all, a former 
 teacher was forced to eke out a living as a peddler. These 
 instances are typical of conditions prevailing on the East Side. 
 
 Speaking of the difficulties which confront the immigrant 
 in selecting a trade in America, Dr. Blaustein says, "The 
 immigrant is not accustomed to our industrial system. He 
 can not understand our division of labor. He finds that be- 
 tween himself and his employer there is a wide gap. If he 
 works in a factory he feels that he ceases to be an individual 
 and becomes a hand, and that muscle rather than intellect 
 will insure the permanency of his employment. In order to be 
 his own master he prefers becoming a peddler, and in New 
 York City a pushcart peddler, despite the long hours, the hard- 
 ship and the uncertainty of the earnings." (University Set- 
 
41 
 
 tlement Studies, David Blaustein, July, 1905.) The small 
 capital required to purchase a stock, the independence of the 
 peddler compared with other forms of labor, and the small 
 expense to market his goods, are the reasons that incline the 
 immigrant to embark upon a mercantile career in America as 
 peddlers. 
 
 The majority of Jews in Xew York City are engaged in 
 the needle industries. While the exact number can not be 
 stated, it is probably true, as has been found in England, that 
 no less than one-third of the total number of male Russians 
 and Poles in England over ten years of age are employed in 
 the tailoring trade. "It can not be said that the Jewish tailor 
 has been convicted of any very pernicious influence upon the 
 trade. He has introduced new methods and a new type of 
 workmanship. . . . His work is confined to certain branches 
 which he may be said to monopolize. . . . But this is perhaps 
 an instance in which the process of the survival of the fittest is 
 tolerably justified in its results." (Jew in London, pp. 66-69.) 
 
 "The sons do not follow in the footsteps of the fathers. They 
 become clerks, salesmen and professional men. They add to 
 the ranks of teachers, lawyers, physicians and dentists. They 
 are becoming prosperous business men. . . . The immigrant 
 girls enter the shops and factories; the girls born on American 
 soil go into offices as clerks, bookkeepers and stenographers, 
 or they enter stores as saleswomen, buyers and the like, or 
 they become milliners and dressmakers. 
 
 "It is true that the Jewish immigrant does not become a 
 street laborer, a railroad worker or a miner, as is the case 
 with the Italian and Slav immigrant. But he does fill other 
 economic wants. Some evidence of this is shown in the record 
 of the Industrial Removal Office, whose business it is to place 
 Jewish immigrants, particularly from New York City, in other 
 sections of the country. . . . The Jews prefer those walks 
 of life that are almost universally considered to be the higher 
 walks. Many sentimental and well-meaning persons do not 
 look at the matter in this way, but it is safe to say that ninety- 
 
42 
 
 nine percent, when concerned with their own fate and that of 
 other people close to them, prefer the commercial and profes- 
 sional pursuits." (Bernheimer.) 
 
 The prospects of the future are bright for the second genera- 
 tion, the children of the poor immigrant. Few are the families 
 which have not been making great sacrifices for the education 
 of their children. Young men who are not able to purchase 
 more than the most ordinary clothing will tell you with pride 
 that they are students at Columbia or the University of New 
 York. Others who cherish ambition to enter the portals of 
 some seat of learning can be seen any day rushing hurriedly 
 through the streets importuning all they meet to purchase a 
 paper. The sympathetic ear can detect in the appeal the de- 
 termined note which means, "To enable me to go to school." 
 How many realize that the poor suspender peddler, the toy 
 vender, the pushcart man straighten their bent backs with 
 justifiable pride when in the evening they read the reports of 
 the high standing of their sons and daughters in the public 
 schools, or learn of the honors won by them at the University. 
 
 "In some of the law schools, for instance, almost nine-tenths 
 of the students are said to be Jews. In the College of the 
 City of New York, which prepares for all sorts of professional 
 studies, the proportion is not much less. . . . Even those 
 who are not born in this country go to evening schools, and a 
 great many pass this examination and enter into the professions 
 and civil service." (Walling in University Settlement Studies, 
 July, 1905, p. 85.) 
 
 Special mention must be made of the comparative absence of 
 married Jewish women from all kinds of occupations. It is com- 
 paratively rare that the woman is impelled by necessity to go 
 to the factory to work. Some male member of the family will 
 manage somehow to protect the woman from the hardship of 
 modern industrial life, and free her for the duties of the home. 
 (Jewish Chronicle, July 31, 1908.) 
 
43 
 
 Appendix B. 
 
 TRADE UNIONISM. 
 
 "The first attempts at organization among Jewish workmen 
 antedate the main influx of Jewish immigration into England 
 and America. The first union of Jewish tailors in New York 
 was organized in 1877. It had an ephemeral existence. When 
 in the eighties, Jews began to arrive in large numbers, the 
 need of organizations was soon realized. Several unions came 
 into existence, and strikes were declared, which met with varying 
 degrees of success/' (Jew. Ency., vol. xii, p. 217.) 
 
 Prof. I. A. Hourwich then describes the varying fortunes 
 of the Cloak-Makers' Union until it was broken up. "With 
 the restoration of business prosperity in 1897 it was revived, 
 and has since had a continuous existence, its paying membership 
 reaching at one time 15000; but at other times its membership 
 has sunk very close to the zero point. 
 
 "The history of other Jewish unions is similar to that of the 
 Cloak-Makers' Union, which under normal conditions has the 
 largest membership. The weakness of all Jewish Unions in 
 the tailoring trades is the fluctuating character of their mem- 
 bership." Prof. John E. Commons, in his report on Immigra- 
 tion and its Economic Effects, prepared for the Industrial 
 Commission, speaks as follows regarding the character of Jewish 
 trade unions in the United States: 
 
 "The Jew's conception of a labor organization is that of a 
 tradesman rather than that of a workman. In the clothing 
 manufacture they all come together and form a giant union 
 and at once engage in a strike. They bring in ninety-five per- 
 cent of the trade. They are energetic and determined. They 
 demand the entire and complete elimination of the abuse. The 
 demand is almost always unanimous, and is made with enthu- 
 siasm and bitterness. . . . During a strike large numbers 
 of them are to be found with almost nothing to live upon and 
 their families suffering, still insisting, on the streets and in 
 their halls, that their great cause must be won. But when 
 
44- 
 
 once the strike is settled, either in favor of or against the cause, 
 they are contented, and that usually ends the union, since 
 they do not see any practical use for a union when there is 
 no cause to fight for. Consequently, the membership of a 
 Jewish Union is wholly uncertain. The Secretary's books will 
 show 60,000 members in one month and not 5,000 within three 
 months later." 
 
 There are various causes which, in a general way, make the 
 Jew less distinguished as a labor union man than his Christian 
 fellow-worker; to a certain extent, they are to be mentioned 
 as an honor to the Jew. 
 
 First, there is the "character of the Jew, who has an inborn 
 desire to be 'his own boss;' the ambition of the Jewish worker 
 is to rise above the working class, rather than to improve his 
 own condition simultaneously with that of his class." The 
 tendency of the trades union to lower the standard of the really 
 efficient worker has estranged the Jew. "The Jewish unions 
 of New York are combined in a central body, known as the 
 United Hebrew Trades. This federation comprises the unions 
 of those working in the clothing trades, of compositors, of em- 
 ployees of the Jewish theatres, and a few minor unions. Some 
 of these unions are affiliated with the American Federation 
 of Labor." (Prof. Hourwich, Jew. Ency. xii, p. 217.) 
 
 It must be noted that many thousands of Jewish workmen 
 are affiliated with the general labor unions, the membership 
 of which is largely Christian. Mr. Alexander H. Kaminsky 
 states that "the Jewish workmen in America have given to 
 organized labor no ground of complaint in the past. They 
 have stood by their fellow-workers of other nationalities in 
 their efforts to better the condition of labor." (Federation 
 Review, June, 1908.) 
 
45 
 
 Appendix C. 
 
 DISEASE. 
 
 Frequent reference is made to the prevalence of disease 
 among Jewish workingmen by irresponsible, though prominent, 
 investigators. .The figures cited below will tend to disprove 
 the allegations. 
 
 1. Tuberculosis. 
 
 "The social environment of the bulk of the Jews in Europe 
 and America is favorable for the development and spread of 
 tuberculosis. As is well known, town dwellers are more liable 
 to this disease than inhabitants of the country. Hardly one- 
 sixth of the Jews in the world live in the country, while from 
 one-half to three-fourths of the non-Jewish population of 
 Europe and America are country dwellers. This alone would 
 lead us to expect that the tuberculosis morbidity and mortality 
 should be higher among Jews than among Christians. If to 
 this be added the social factors which are inimical to the 
 health and well-being of town dwellers, such as indoor occu- 
 pations, we should not be surprised if we found that they are 
 more often affected by this disease than are people of other 
 faiths who mostly work outdoors. They often work in sweat- 
 shops, and usually live in old and unsanitary parts of cities. 
 
 "But in spite of all these unfavorable conditions, statistics, 
 wherever available, show conclusively that the mortality from 
 tuberculosis is about one-half to one-third that are observed 
 among the non-Jewish population around them. The rates 
 per 10,000 population were in Berlin, 9.81 among Jews and 
 21.66 among Christians; in Vienna, Jews 17.9, Protestants 
 32.8 and Catholics 49.6;' in Lemberg, Jews 30.64 and Christians 
 63.51; in Roumania, Jews 25.6 and Christians 38.7; in Lon- 
 don, Jews 13.3, general population 17.9; in New York City, 
 Russian Jews 17.24, general population 23.94. In fact, the 
 Jewish inhabitants of the lower East Side of New York City 
 have a lower mortality rate from tuberculosis than the rich 
 and prosperous who live in the upper west side of the city. 
 
46 
 
 This in spite of the exceptional congestion of population, un- 
 sanitary surroundings, dangerous trades in sweat-shops, mal- 
 nutrition, anemia, poverty, etc., which are rampant in the 
 lower East Side. . . . 
 
 Dr. Fishberg then declares that "The main cause of the 
 lower tuberculosis mortality of the Jews is the fact that for 
 two thousand years they have been city dwellers. They have 
 thus been thoroughly urbanized, and adapted their organism 
 to city and indoor life. Most of the terrors of urban conges- 
 tion, indoor occupations and unsanitary surroundings which 
 breed tuberculosis among people who are not adapted to such 
 a milieu have lost their significance to them." (Tuberculosis 
 among Jews, by Dr. Maurice Fishberg, in American Israelite, 
 October 15, 1908.) 
 
 2. Alcoholism. 
 
 "The part which a temperate habit of life has played in 
 the victorious progress of the Jewish workman can hardly be 
 overestimated. Of all the circumstances which tell in his favor, 
 the fact that he does not get drunk is one of the foremost. 
 And although this superiority to alcohol is doubtless in part 
 a matter of physical constitution, it must also be regarded as 
 partly the outcome of a disciplined and usually tenacious char- 
 acter. The poor Jew is not easily demoralized, and can spend 
 his life without respect to circumstances in the unflagging 
 pursuit of an end." (Jew in London, by Russell and Lewis, 
 p. 64.) 
 
 Dr. Hall, of Leeds, in investigating 2,700 children, instituted 
 a comparison between Jewish and Gentile children in the poorer 
 schools of Leeds. He states that "at eight years old the poor 
 Jewish child was on the average three pounds heavier and 
 two inches taller than his Gentile comrade. At ten years of 
 age the Jew has the advantage of six and one-fourth pounds 
 in weight and two and one-half inches in height. Fifty percent 
 of the Gentile children had rickets, and only seven percent of 
 the Jews." He attributes this to the better feeding of the 
 children of Jewish parents, and he proved his point by feedino- 
 
47 
 
 a certain number of children regularly from one of the poorest 
 schools and showed that they increased both in weight and 
 height more rapidly than those who were left to the tender 
 mercies of their parents." (English Child Life, by Percy 
 Alden, M. P., in Outlook, August 1, 1908, p. 761.) 
 
 Appendix D. 
 
 CRIMINALITY. 
 
 It is undoubtedly true that the industrial evils, such as in- 
 adequate wage and lack of leisure and unsanitary workshops, 
 causing congestion in the home and under-feeding, have been 
 conducive to the spread of criminality among Jewish working 
 people and indirectly among their sons and daughters, but the 
 subjoined statistics utterly refute the sweeping charges so fre- 
 quently made. 
 
 "The total number of indictments of Jewish persons in New 
 York County during the year 1907 was 666. Compared with 
 the Jewish population of New York County, estimated by the 
 American Jewish Committee at 750,000, as of December 31, 
 1907, the total number of indicted persons was less than one 
 in every thousand Jewish inhabitants (0.0888%). 
 
 "The total number of Gentiles indicted in the same county 
 during the same period was 3,907. The total population of 
 New York City on December 31, 1907, was estimated by the 
 Board of Health at 2,687,800 persons; this leaves for the Gen- 
 tile population 1,937,800. The number of indicted Gentiles 
 was accordingly more than two in every thousand Gentile in- 
 habitants. These figures show that criminality among the Jews 
 of New York was not one-half as high as among the Gentiles." 
 
 "It must be borne in mind, however, that an indicted person 
 is not necessarily a criminal. Of the 666 indicted Jews, 86 
 were acquitted and 460 were convicted, while 120 were dis- 
 posed of in other ways. The following table contains com- 
 parative statistics of Jews and Gentiles convicted of crime: 
 
48 
 
 "Jews with population of 750,000 showed .0613% of criminals, 
 or 450. 
 
 "Gentiles with population of i;937,800 showed .1233% of 
 criminals, or 2,388. 
 
 "This table conclusively disproves the sensational clamor 
 about alarming Jewish criminality. The majority of convicted 
 Jewish criminals are not of the violent type. 
 
 "The same tendency is likewise reflected in the penalties to 
 which the Jews were sentenced, as compared with Gentiles. 
 
 "A fact of great significance is brought to light by the age 
 statistics of convicted criminals: The highest criminality 
 among the Jews, as compared with Gentiles, is found between 
 the ages of 15 and 20, more than one-half of the convicted 
 Jewish criminals were minors. 
 
 "It is a fact familiar to everybody from personal observa- 
 tion and borne out by statistics of immigration and population, 
 that among the Jews above the age of 21 the foreign-born 
 vastly predominate whereas among the minors a large per- 
 centage are Americans. The inference is that the percentage 
 of criminals among the Jewish immigrants is lower than among 
 Jewish children who have grown up on the streets of New York. 
 
 "While the ratio of criminality among adult Jews is less 
 than one-third of the ratio among adult Gentiles, Jewish chil- 
 dren hardly differ in this respect from Gentile children. Ap- 
 parently, the moral influences which kept the Jew away from 
 the criminal path in his old home are lacking in the bringing 
 up of the youth in New York." (Statement of Prof. Isaac A. 
 Hourwich on Jewish Criminality in New York in 1907, a re- 
 view of the statistics compiled by Mr. Mark J. Katz, in Fed- 
 eration Review, June, 1908.) 
 
 3. White Slave Traffic. 
 
 Reference must be made to the most despicable of all crimes 
 from which our people are unfortunately not free. The situa- 
 tion has been well presented in an editorial in the London 
 Jewish Chronicle (October 30, 1908). "We have been brought 
 to the conclusion that it is our duty to speak out and to throw 
 
-49 
 
 the light of day upon an infamy which is growing apace in 
 our community which, day by day, is bringing deep shame upon 
 it, and to which, at all hazards and at all costs, the community 
 must seek to put an end. Of these offenses our people are by 
 no means free. It is idle to deny it; it is only making matters 
 worse to ignore it; it is cowardly not to face it. Too long have 
 we hidden almost from ourselves in very shame the whole 
 nauseous and nauseating question." 
 
 "While it is our duty to face the situation bravely and in no 
 uncertain terms to denounce the evildoers and speedily to bring 
 them to justice, we must be on the alert to answer the sweeping 
 charges which are made against our people as being chief of- 
 fenders against virtue and morality in this nefarious traffic. 
 The words of Mr. William Alexander Coote (Secretary of the 
 National Vigilance Committee of England), an international 
 authority on the evils of the White Slave Traffic, are illuminat- 
 ing on the subject. After studying the conditions in Europe, 
 America and other parts of the world, Mr. Coote has expressed 
 strong condemnation of the sweeping charges against the Jews' 
 participation in the White Slave Traffic, as follows: 
 
 "I do not, however, endorse all that you say. For instance, 
 you imply that the traffic in women is almost wholly confined 
 to a section of the Jewish people. I have been through Europe, 
 America and other parts of the world and my experience does 
 not coincide with your conclusion. I quite agree with you that 
 far too many of the Jewish race are engaged in this infamous 
 traffic, and that in England, especially, it is a growing evil. 
 . . . In the East End the Jew engaged in this traffic is very 
 poor, and not by any means so clever at it as the Germans or 
 the Frenchman, consequently he is more frequently caught and 
 prosecuted. Jews thus figure predominatingly in the police re- 
 ports, ,and hence, I think, the mistaken notion that the Jews are 
 almost entirely responsible . . . there are other quarters of 
 London worse, in my opinion, so far as this traffic is concerned. 
 In these quarters this crime is reduced to a science, and the 
 dealers are able to defy the authorities because they know how to 
 
50 
 
 evade the existing laws. There are many parts of London where 
 this traffic is carried on by wealth which has been obtained by 
 means of this traffic, and whose cunning and resourcefulness are 
 almost omnipotent. These men rarely blunder and are rarely 
 caught. We know some of them, and they are as interested in 
 our doings as we are in theirs, as I say they have reduced this 
 business to a science, and the methods they adopt leave very little 
 risk of discovery." (Jewish Chronicle, Nov. 6, 1908.) It is 
 equally true of New York City and other large cities in America, 
 if the words of careful observers are to be trusted. 
 
 Many have said that the White Slave Traffic among the Jews 
 is not to be compared with that of the other peoples. It is 
 most often "dumped," so to speak, upon the poor, from the 
 wealthier sections of the city, and the poor groaning under 
 intolerable economic burdens have not left the strength and 
 will to cut it root and branch from their lives. 
 
 But this is no consolation to us, that so dreadful a social 
 crime is to be found among non-Jews to as great, if not greater, 
 extent than among Jews; it should be our own immediate, 
 consecrated task, in the name of Heaven, to burn the evil from 
 the midst of our people and to aid in every way the efforts of 
 the State and city as well as private organization to blot out 
 this crime against society. 
 
 Appendix E. 
 
 STANDARD OF LIVING. 
 
 A very exhaustive investigation was made during the past 
 year of the standards of living among 391 poor families in 
 New York City by the Russell Sage Foundation. Of the 391 
 families closely observed, 78 were Russian. While the number 
 is not sufficiently large to afford a basis for accurate conclusions, 
 yet they are sufficient to indicate the general conditions. 
 
 On the question of overcrowding, the Russians are recorded 
 as having sixty percent of the families living 1.5 persons per 
 
51 
 
 room. This compares with other nationalities as follows 
 ("Standards of Living," by Dr. R. C. Chapin, p. 105) : 
 
 Native American 30% 
 
 Teutonic 21% 
 
 Irish 50% 
 
 Colored 57% 
 
 Italian .' 65% 
 
 Austrian 66% 
 
 Bohemian 79% 
 
 (Dr. Laidlaw reports that in 1901-1902, in the 22d Assembly 
 District, nine percent of the Jewish families (865) were crowded 
 over two persons to the room, even including the kitchen. 
 Eighty percent of the families were without bath. This com- 
 pares with ninety percent of the people at large, without bath. 
 If the whole municipal area (209,218 acres) of Greater New 
 York were peopled as densely as the lower East Side, or 383 
 to the acre, we could put within the limits of the city every 
 man, woman and child in the United States and half the 
 Filipinos. The 8th Assembly District has even a denser popu- 
 lation, namely, 735 to the acre throughout its 98 acres. If 
 New York in its whole area were peopled as densely as this 
 section, it would have over 150,000,000 persons. (Am. Heb., 
 May 19, 1905.) The lower East Side contains about 1/150 
 of the whole municipal area of Greater New York, but at the 
 same time holds 1-7 of the city's whole population. 
 
 On the matter of underfeeding, the largest number is re- 
 ported of the Russians, 26 families, or 45.5%, comparing with 
 others as follows: 
 
 Italian 5.3% 
 
 Irish 8.3% 
 
 Native Americans 14.9% 
 
 Teutonic 20.5% 
 
 Colored 28.6% 
 
 Bohemian 28.6% 
 
 Austrian 34.5% 
 
 Russian 45.5% (ibid., p. 128). 
 
52 
 
 Of the families investigated only five percent of the Bussians 
 reported receiving gifts or assistance from societies, comparing 
 with others as follows : 
 
 Italian 9% 
 
 Austrian 16% 
 
 Bohemian 21% 
 
 Teutonic 33% 
 
 Irish 46% 
 
 Native American ' .48% 
 
 Colored 54% (ibid., p. 189). 
 
 The largest number of families having membership in Benefit 
 Societies was found among the Russians, being 26, comparing 
 with others: 
 
 Irish 1 
 
 Colored 3 
 
 Italian 3 
 
 . Native American 7 
 
 Teutonic 8 
 
 Bohemian 8 
 
 Austrian 13 
 
 Russian 26 (ibid., p. 193) . 
 
 Interesting is the following itemized account of expenditures 
 for food in a Jewish family per week. The family consists of 
 father, mother, four boys, aged six, four, two years, and six 
 months respectively: 
 
 Meats and Fish. 
 
 Weekly Expenditure 
 7 Ibs. beef $0.84 
 
 1 Ib. mutton 16 
 
 2 Ibs. fish 20 
 
 2 cans salmon 28 $1.48 
 
53 
 
 Eggs, Dairy Products, Etc. 
 
 2 Ibs. butter $0.64 
 
 2 pkgs. cheese 08 
 
 1 doz. eggs 24 
 
 6 qts. milk (at Straus depot) . -. 20 
 
 3 cans condensed milk 30 $1.4G 
 
 Cereals. 
 
 7 loaves of bread $0.56 
 
 24 rolls 20 
 
 3i/ 2 Ibs. flour 10 
 
 % Ib. cereal : 02 $0.88 
 
 Vegetables and Fruits. 
 
 6 Ibs. potatoes $0.09 
 
 2 Ibs. onions 06 
 
 Fresh vegetables 10 
 
 1 Ib. dried beans 08 
 
 1 Ib. dried peas 04 
 
 Fresh fruit 15 
 
 % Ib. dried prunes 06 $0.58 
 
 Sugar, Tea, Etc. 
 
 y 8 Ib. tea $0.05 
 
 14 Ib. coffee 05 
 
 31/2 Ibs. sugar ; 20 
 
 % Ib. spice ." 02 $0.32 
 
 Alcoholic Drinks. 
 Wine on holidays, $1.50 per year $0.03 
 
 $4.75 
 
54 
 
 "The father is a carpenter (non-union) with wages of $15.00 
 a week, but, on account of unemployment, earning only $600 a 
 year, which is the entire income of the family." (Standards 
 of Living," p. 156f.) 
 
 Dr. Lee K. Frankel has written a description of the average 
 home of the workman making $600 per year, recognized as a 
 minimum wage upon which to support a family just beyond 
 the border of abject poverty: "The furniture equipment of 
 such a family is in most instances meagre. If there are three 
 rooms, the socalled parlor is a combined parlor, sittingroom 
 and bedroom. As a rule, it contains a bed and a few chairs. 
 Occasionally a rocking chair or a sofa is found. In the corner 
 there is a sewing machine; on the walls a few cheap pictures, 
 family portraits and the like. Cheap ornaments are found here 
 and there. In some instances the floor is covered with a cheap 
 carpet. The second room, which is a combination diningroom 
 and kitchen, has a table covered with oilcloth, a few chairs, a 
 stove, and kitchen utensils which hang on the walls, owing to 
 the lack of a cupboard. Frequently an icebox is found. The 
 third room, which is a bedroom, contains an iron foldingbed, 
 chair and trunk. Clothes hang on the wall; seldom is there 
 a bureau. The washing of the family is done at the sink in 
 the kitchen, there being no washstands or washbowls in the bed- 
 room. . . . The disbursements per annum for furniture average 
 $6.00, for which the housewife declares she can purchase only 
 the necessary things. These include dishes, table linens, beds, 
 chairs, kitchen utensils and supplies for cleaning. If more 
 than this is required, for example, mirrors, sewing machines, 
 etc., resort must be made to installment purchases. . . . 
 Most of the disbursements for insurance,, which averages $13 
 per annum, are for socalled life and burial insurance. The food 
 disbursement for such a family approximates $270 per annum, 
 for five individuals, or 3.3 units. . . . Russia and Austrian 
 Jewish families have special dinners on Friday evenings or 
 on Saturday, using fish or fowl. . . . The family clothes 
 itself at a cost of $84 per annum. . . . The budget permits 
 
55 
 
 a disbursement of $14 for the preservation of the health of 
 the family or rather sickness requires this disbursement. 
 . . . Eight dollars is spent annually by this family for 
 taxes and contributions. . . . Depending upon the location 
 in which the family lives the amount spent for carfare varies. 
 The $3 that the family may spend for recreation permits of 
 almost no diversion. . . .. For educational purposes the 
 family spends $5 per . annum, most of which is used for the 
 daily newspaper. . . . This leaves a total of $25 per annum 
 for miscellaneous expenditures, including moving, payment of 
 debts," etc. ("Report of Special Committee on Standard of 
 Living.") 
 
 Appendix F. 
 
 AMUSEMENTS. 
 
 The need of recreation and diversion among the working 
 people is heightened by the strain and fatigue of the workday. 
 But unhappily, in proportion to their need are the opportunities 
 for wholesome recreation, so essential to the social and physical 
 equilibrium of the individual, denied them. The homes of the 
 people are too small to permit with any decency the reception 
 of their friends for sweet converse. For diversion, the people 
 are practically driven from their homes. In summer they 
 flock into the streets wandering aimlessly to and fro, or visit 
 the crowded recreation piers, or if they can manage to scrape 
 together enough from their earnings to warrant it, take a trip 
 to one of the many pleasure resorts in the vicinity of Xew 
 York. Many congregate in the thousand and one coffeehouses 
 in the East Side, where the demand for social expression is 
 granted to many a weary toiler. The coffeehouse to the Jew 
 is what the saloon is to many Christians. In the reeking coffee- 
 houses of Xew York many a student to fame unknown stimu- 
 lates his eager listeners with reports of the great world of 
 science and art, and debates ensue which arouse the latent 
 powers of thought and expression of the denizens of the 
 
56 
 
 Ghetto. While gambling is resorted to in many of the coffee- 
 houses, there prevails in most of them a spirit of sociability 
 and scientific inquiry. The habitues are made to feel at home; 
 no time limit is placed upon them; some stimulus to self- 
 expression granted and the society of one's fellows without 
 reserve is thoroughly enjoyed, so that the coffeehouses in New 
 York are potent factors in the social life of the Jews. 
 
 The theaters, especially during the fall and winter, mostly 
 every night in the week, attract large crowds of people who 
 are swayed now to a high pitch of joyous emotion and then 
 cast into the lowest depths of grief and pain, as they view 
 scenes depicting the life of their native Russian villages and 
 hear in the Yiddish a description of the dangers of the new 
 home. They are visibly affected as they recall by the suggestion 
 of the drama their own experiences as they started for the 
 new world with fear and trembling lest the reports be true that 
 in the new home they would be forced to forget their Judaism. 
 The Yiddish theaters in New York have been great educational 
 influences upon the Jewish poor, but there are now some fears 
 expressed that in their commercialization less regard will be 
 paid to the appeal and need of the people than to the conven- 
 ience and greed of the managers. 
 
 Among the young people in summer and winter the dance 
 halls, numbering many hundreds, supply the medium of social 
 expression. They are fraught with the gravest dangers to the 
 morals of the men and women who frequent them. Miss Julia 
 Schonfeld has performed a real service in the cause of morality 
 in making for the Committee on Amusements a thorough in- 
 vestigation into the evils of the dance halls, pointing out how 
 young girls through drink, so easily procurable in the halls, 
 and through flattery and solicitation of men, are led to their 
 ruin. 
 
 POLITICS. 
 
 In politics the Jewish poor in New York City have given 
 evidence of an independence and deliberation which are the 
 
57 
 
 virtues most applauded and most frequently offended by the 
 citizens of our Eepublic. Staid politicians confess that the 
 East Side is an unknown quantity in city, State and National 
 elections. The voters exercise a judgment in the choice of 
 their candidates which argues most strongly for their true 
 appreciation of the honor and obligation of citizenship in a 
 democratic government. 
 
 For a time the immigrant is perplexed in his estimation of 
 the vaunted American liberty and enlightenment. But soon his 
 Jewish independence and love of truth assert themselves and 
 he becomes an independent in politics. There are leaders, 
 however, who claim that the independence of the Jewish vote 
 is exaggerated. It is undoubtedly true that the tendency of 
 some of our people to organize themselves as Jewish political 
 clubs in order to command political patronage is both against 
 the principles of the American government and according to 
 our best thinkers antagonistic to the spirit of Judaism. It 
 is interesting to observe that Hillquit, a leader of the Socialist 
 party, to which it is claimed so many Jewish voters are pledged, 
 received only some 2483 votes on the whole East Side in the 
 last congressional election (1908). 
 
 Appendix G. 
 
 BELIGIOUS CONDITIONS. 
 
 Dr. Blaustein stated as his belief that out of the estimated 
 200,0(70 Jewish workmen in New York City, about twenty-five 
 percent keep the Sabbath. Sixty percent of this number work 
 in shops of contractors, while the remaining forty percent work 
 in factories where the Sabbath is observed. 
 
 Congestion is indirectly a religious problem because many a 
 Jew, purely because of his love of Judaism, "is not willing to 
 leave the large city and settle in a smaller place 'in the coun- 
 try/ as he calls it, for there he fears there are not a sufficient 
 number of Jews to form a Jewish community; he will be de- 
 
58 
 
 prived of religious service; he will be obliged to break his 
 Sabbath, violate the dietary laws, and above all, his child will 
 grow up without a religious and Hebrew education." (David 
 Blaustein, in "University Settlement Studies," p. 77f, July, 
 1905.) 
 
 On the high holy days, the vast majority of Jews are very 
 careful to visit the many temporary Synagogues which spring 
 up over night. Hundreds of dance halls, theaters, saloons and 
 dwellings are converted into Synagogues, which are thronged 
 with worshippers. The exact number of these temporary sanc- 
 tuaries is not known. Many of the projectors advertise ex- 
 tensively to attract the people by offering as a special attraction 
 some celebrated singer or cantor. It most frequently happens 
 that the only qualification which the advertised celebrity pos- 
 sesses is the ability to sing the old melodies. As to moral and 
 intellectual fitness no questions are asked. In many of the 
 dance halls on the East Side can be seen at any time the "Aron 
 Hakodesh" pushed into a corner, awaiting the return of the 
 holy days to be pressed at a moment's notice into service. 
 
 Many of the responsible leaders of New York Jewry have 
 raised their voices in protest against this evil that shames us 
 on the approach of our festivals. The New York community 
 has made an earnest attempt to control the situation. During 
 the last summer arrangements were made with a number of 
 large halls, and notably with the Educational Alliance, to hold 
 services on the holy days under more esthetic auspices. While 
 some reforms were gained, the problem is just touched, and 
 a great deal of work is before the community before it jvill be 
 free from the scandal of the temporary Synagogues. 
 
 Some Jewish employers permit their Jewish employees to 
 absent themselves from business on the holy days. Others pro- 
 hibit it on the penalty of immediate dismissal. Some workmen 
 are not interested in the matter at all, while many sincerely 
 regret the economic necessity which compels them to labor on 
 the holy days. 
 
 In September, 1907, a letter was sent from the office of the 
 
59 
 
 Adjutant General of the War Department of the United States 
 at the instance of the Union of Orthodox Congregations of 
 America, authorizing department commanders in the United 
 States "to grant the privilege to soldiers of the Jewish faith 
 to be absent from their duties for such length of time as may 
 be necessary to enable them to attend to divine services" (New 
 Year and Atonement Days). 
 
 The same privilege was secured for the employees of the Post- 
 Office Department of New York City. On the first day of 
 New Year, out of 1000 Jewish employes, 750 took advantage 
 of the privilege; on the second day, 440; on Yom Kippur, 
 900 availed themselves of the opportunity of rest. (Am. Heb., 
 November 15, 1907.) 
 
 We must remember that the difficulties in the path of loyalty 
 are tremendously heightened in a land which makes no pre- 
 tense at identifying religion with the affairs of State, so that 
 each individual* is left free to affiliate with a Synagogue or to 
 separate himself from it. For this reason Eussian Jews in 
 America, who are religious, are more to be honored for their 
 loyalty to Judaism than in Eussia, where the small communities 
 organized under a sort of ecclesiastical authority exacted of 
 them a complete adherence to all the laws whether they were 
 the essential or the unessential ordinances of our faith. But 
 here in America by their deliberate choice in a free environ- 
 ment, our people indicate their loyalty to our faith, not in 
 strict conformity to all the minute regulations of the law framed 
 in part, for a particular time, or for a particular environment, 
 but with a deep love for the essential laws, and in a true 
 appreciation of its best poetry and symbolism. As a result, we 
 may expect to find here a more intelligent and devoted people 
 than in any other land. 
 
 In addition to the worship held in the various Synagogues 
 of the city, the free religious services regularly conducted in 
 the Educational Alliance, the Emanuel Brotherhood and the 
 Young Men's Hebrew Association and other associations deserve 
 special recognition as potent influences in the deepening of 
 
60 
 
 their love for Judaism among the working people. These same 
 and other institutions have been doing excellent work in the re- 
 ligious instruction of the children of the working people. At the 
 same time it must not be forgotten that in all the Synagogues 
 up to the limit of their capacity, all who seek entrance, whether 
 working people or not, are made welcome. This is not the 
 opinion prevailing among many people, but it is based upon 
 ignorance and misrepresentation. Let anyone to convince himself 
 visit any of the Synagogues, and he will not be turned away. 
 And for the privilege he will not be asked to pay. 
 
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