THE JEWISH POPULATION OP THE

UNITED STATES

BY SAMSON D. OPPENHEIM, J. D.

DIRECTOR OF THE BUREAU OF JEWISH STATISTICS AND RESEARCH

When the American Jewish Year Book for 5678 went to

press in August, 1917, the returns for the enumeration of

Jews in the United States, which the Bureau of Statistics and

Eesearch of the American Jewish Committee had been engaged

in making, were by no means complete. As a matter of fact

the work continued to extend well into the current year. This

article must consequently be regarded both as a sequel and, in

some measure, as a revised edition of that portion of the division of statistics treating of the number of the Jews of the

United States, which appeared in the Year Book for 1917-1918.

All statistics regarding the number of Jews in the United

States have, of course, been estimates. The earliest approximation seems to have been made in 1818, by Mordecai M.

Noah, who put the number at 3,000. Other noteworthy estimates have been the following:

Year Jewish Population Authority

1824 6,000 Solomon Etting

1840 15,000 American Almanac

1848 50,000 M. A. Berk

1880 230,000 • William B. Hackenburg

1888 400,000 Isaac Markens

1897 937,800 David Sulzberger

1905 1,508,435 Jewish Encyclopedia

1907 1,777,185 Henrietta Szold

1914 2,933,374 Joseph Jacobs.

The 1917 inquiry into the number of Jews in this country

naturally divided itself into two parts: the one covering New

2
32 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

York City, and the other concerning the cities and towns outside of the metropolis.

The following are the principal important estimates that

were made of the Jews of New York City, prior to 1917:

New York City

Year Population Authority

1790 385 U. S. Census Bureau (for New

York State)

1812 400 Gershom Mendes Seixas

1S26 950 S. Gilman (for New York

State)

1846 10,000 Isaac Leeser

1848 12,000 to 13,000 M. A. Berk

1880 60,000 William B. Hackenburg

1888 125,000 Isaac Markens

1891 225,250 Charles Prank

1892 250,000 Richard Wheatley

1897 350,000 Jacob H. Schiff

1905 672,000 Joseph Jacobs

1907 850,000 Henrietta Szold

1910 861,980 V. S. Census Bureau (for Yiddish-speaking only)

1911 9G£,000 Joseph Jacobs

1912 975,000 Joseph Jacobs

1912 1,250,000 Bureau of Education (New

York Kehillah)

1913 1,330,000 Professor Chalmers of Cornell

University

Judging by the two foregoing sets of figures, it was to be expected that the number of Jews in New York City would, four

years later, be found to amount to something in the neighborhood of one and one-half millions, or almost fifty per cent of

the total Jewish population of the United States. Hence, in

view of the fact that half of the subject matter of the entire

inquiry was concentrated within a few square miles, it was considered highly desirable to attack, in as intensive a manner as

possible, the problem of ascertaining the number of Jewish

inhabitants of the country's largest city. On account of the

enormous size of the New York community, individual esti-
THE JEWISH POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES 33

mates, no matter how expert, could not be safely relied upon.

Accordingly, arrangements were made, by which the co-operation of the New York Kehillah, and especially that of Dr.

Alexander Dushkin, of the Bureau of Education, were secured

in approaching the problem from a different angle, a new

method of approximation being invented and tried.

It is a well-known fact that, whatever differences of belief

or of religious attitude may exist among Jews, they are almost

unanimous in observing the High Holidays (New Year, the Day

of Atonement, and the Passover), practically all Jewish children refraining from attending school on these days. So, if the

attendance in the public schools on these holidays were ascertained and were then compared with the attendance on normal

days, we should get a fairly accurate estimate of the number of

Jewish children in the public schools of New York. If we

could then find the proportion of Jewish children to the total

Jewish population, we should be furnished with an excellent

means of determining the Jewish population of the entire city.

It was possible to obtain from the New York City Board of

Education reliable data concerning the attendance in the New

York public schools on the Jewish High Holidays in the years

1913 and 1914, the information for 1915 and 1916 not being

used, because in 1915 some of the Jewish holidays occurred

during the registration week of the public schools, and in the

early fall of 1916 the epidemic of infantile paralysis was still

raging. The average school attendance for 1915-1916 was,

however, used in computing the number of children of school

age in that school year, after the general percentage co-efficient

had been ascertained by the help of the 1913 and 1914 figures.

When the 1913 and 1914 holiday figures were compared with

the attendance on normal days during the same years, it was dis-
34 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

covered that about 40.5$ of the public school children stayed

away from their studies on the Jewish holidays. Now no doubt

a modicum of Jewish children attend school on the most

important holidays, but on the other hand a number of nonJewish children, especially in schools containing a large proportion of Jewish scholars, absent themselves on such days,

because they know that the school work will have to be reviewed

for the benefit of the large absentee contingent. The proportion of Jewish public school children in the entire city was

for the purposes of this discussion, therefore, ultimately

reduced to, or set at 38,r/, by boroughs, the percentages being

fixed as follows:

Manhattan 48$

Bronx 40$

Brooklyn 38$

Queens 7$

Richmond 5$

A significant check on these estimates is furnished by the

data obtained in the investigation of the United States Congress Immigration Commission of 1910, whose method of

inquiry consisted mainly in questioning children of the public

schools concerning the nationality of their fathers. The percentage of New York public school children designating their

fathers as Hebrews, in 1910, was, as to the city's five boroughs,

as follows:

Manhattan 46.1$

Bronx 20.2$

Brooklyn 29.9$

Queens 3.5$

Richmond 2.8$

Considering that the figures of the Immigration Commission

do not include such Jewish children as may have designated

their fathers as of American, Russian, German, or other origins
THE JEWISH POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES 35

or races, the similarity here exhibited is, as Dr. Dushkin points

out in his splendid monograph in the Jewish Communal

Register for 1917-1918, very striking.

The largest discrepancy between these figures and those of

the estimate made a few years later is discovered in the case of

the Bronx, where, it is a matter of common knowledge, there

has been a very large influx of Jews within the past half-dozen

years. It was ascertained, then, that there were nearly 280,000

Jewish children in 1915-1916 in the elementary public schools,

as appears more particularly set forth below.

But in order to further corroborate the proportion-figure of

Jewish children of school age obtained through the study of

school attendance on Jewish holidays, another method of estimation was resorted to. The Bureau of Attendance of the

Board of Education keeps a continuous school census of the

population of New York. Some million and a half cards are

filed in the census division of the Bureau, each of which represents a complete family, parents as well as children, these cards

covering all schools, both public and private. From these cards

over 4200 families were selected, practically at random, representing a total of 10,332 children of school age, i. e., at intervals

of about 350 cards, two cards were selected, the first cards of

each pair forming Set I, and the second cards forming Set II.

The names were judged by experts (Dr. Alexander Dushkin and Mr. Meir Isaacs) as to whether they were Jewish or

non-Jewish, the examiners being greatly aided in their decisions

by the details noted upon the cards, which included the first

names of the father and mother and of all the children, the

nativity of the parents and of the children, the length of their

stay in America, the year of their immigration, the country of

their emigration, and the occupation of the father. It will be
36 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

readily seen that these data furnished good clues for determining as to whether a family is Jewish or not. Even when German

names, such as Bamberger, or Anglicized names, such as Brown,

were encountered, the data on the cards, while not as helpful as

in less puzzling cases, proved quite significant. Thus, if a

child attended a Catholic parochial school, it would certainly be

safe to assume that the family was non-Jewish. Or if in an immigrant family living on Canal Street the son's first name was

the same as his father's, it would be reasonable to assume the

family to be non-Jewish, because it is not customary among

East-European Jews to name any of their children after a living

father.

The data furnished by the cards themselves were so helpful in deciding the judgments in question, that only 196,

or 4.6$ of the names considered, were included in the questionable category; while to guard against the temptation to call

doubtful items Jewish, all cases about which there was any

uncertainty were unhesitatingly counted as non-Jewish. For

greater accuracy, the judgments were made in two sets, and the

average was used in computing the proportion of Jewish school

children.

About thirty-three per cent of all the children of school age,

in the public, parochial, and private schools of New York City

were by this " card " system adjudged to be Jews. The results

thus arrived at are in close agreement with those obtained by

the public school attendance method above described. Since

the thirty-three per cent represent not only the public school

children, but also the children in private and parochial schools,

there were added to the 730,755, in the elementary public school

register of New York City for 1915-1916, the 200,000 children

attending, according to the estimate of the Statistical Division
THE JEWISH POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES 37

of the New York State Department of Education, the elementary parochial and private schools of the city. This made

a total of 930,755 children, in 1915, between the ages of five and

fourteen, of whom 307,149 would appear to have been Jewish.

931,000 children would mean a total population for New York

City of 5,172,000, and that is just about what that city's population was in 1915.

By the holiday school attendance method it was computed

that in 1915-1916, there were ,277,687 Jewish children in the

elementary public schools of New York City. To this number

should be added at least the aggregate of the 20,000 Jewish

children in private schools, making a total of 297,687 New

York City Jewish children of elementary school age. The

difference between the two approximating methods used is seen

to be only about 9450, or a variation of three per cent. The

agreement between the two computations is very striking, considering the fact that actually not all of the Jewish children

between the ages of five and fourteen can have been at school in

the early fall of the year, some obtaining their working certificates at the age of thirteen, and others being temporarily

absent. In accordance with these calculations, the number of

Jewish children of elementary school age, (i. e., five to fourteen

years) in this city, in 1917, was found to be 300,000, or very

close to that number, if anything a little greater.

We must now proceed to investigate what bearing these

results have upon the total population. According to the

United States Census of 1910, the proportion of children

between the ages of five and fourteen to the total population

is approximately eighteen per cent, i. e., for every eighteen

school children the existence of eighty-two other persons may

be assumed, or one hundred individuals-in all; or where there
38 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

are one thousand children of school age, there are 5555 individuals altogether. But it is difficult to say off-hand whether

the proportion of children to adults among the Jews is lower

or higher than it is in the case of the general population.

From a study of over four thousand families selected at random from the census cards of the Bureau of Attendance of the

Board of Education, referred to above, it was found that the

average Jewish family has 2.5 children at school, whereas

the average non-Jewish family has 2.35 children at school.

This would imply a difference of fifteen children per hundred

families. Assuming five to six individuals per family, this

would mean a difference of 2.5/c to 3$ in the proportion of

children as between Jews and non-Jews. On the other hand,

the fact that New York's Jewish community is so largely composed of immigrants would tend to make the proportion of

Jewish children lower than that of the children of the general

population. In the "United States Census of 1910, Population,

Vol. 3, the proportion of children between five and fourteen

years in the native population is given as twenty-six per cent,

whereas among the foreign-born whites it runs as,low as seven

per cent. But as the Jewish immigration is largely a " family

immigration," the proportion of children among Jewish immigrants is probably twice as great as among other immigrants.

Thus Samuel Joseph, in Jewish Immigration to the United

States, shows that, whereas the age group " under 14 " (which

includes also children below five) is 12.3$ for all European

immigrants, it is twice as large, 24.8<£, among Jewish immigrants. One would therefore not be far wrong in assuming

that the proportion of school children among Jews is little, if

anything, above eighteen per cent. It is certainly not greater

than twenty per cent. Allowing that every twenty Jewish
THE JEWISH POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES 39

children represent only one hundred individuals, or that every

thousand such children represent only five thousand Jews

instead of five thousand five hundred and fifty-five, then, upon

the basis of its 300,000 Jewish children of elementary school

age, we should have in New York City a Jewish population of

1,500,000, or over 45 per cent of the total Jewish population

of the country, and in Few York State approximately a half

of the Jewish population of America. Or if we include,

with New York City, Newark, Passaic, Paterson, Jersey City,

Hoboken, New Eochelle, Mt. Vernon, Elizabeth, Bayonne, and

one or two other near-by towns, as all within the New York

metropolitan district, then there will be found within that district, equivalent in size about to an area of thirty miles square,

fully one-half of all the Jews living in the United States. The

second largest Jewish community in the world, before the outbreak of the war, it may be mentioned in passing, existed in

Warsaw, which, in 1914, housed between 300,000 and 330,000

Jews.

As to the boroughs of New York, their Jewish quotas would

seem to be as follows:

Manhattan .' 695,000

The Bronx 210,000

Brooklyn 567,000

Queens 23,000

Richmond 5,000

To revert to the question of the Jewish population of New

York City. The number of public school children in this city

was in the autumn of 1917 almost exactly 750,000. Even if

we assume that the proportion of Jewish public school children was then only 35,^ instead of 38$ of all the public

school attendants, we should have, as the Jewish public school

population, 262,500, which, with the 20,000 private school
40 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

Jewish pupils, would give for Greater New York 282,500 Jewish school children, or over 280,000 Jewish persons between

the ages of five and fourteen years. Let us now take for

granted, what is not at all true, that one such Jewish person

out of five, instead of 5.5, is a school child, between the ages

of 5 and 14 years, and we have, as the Jewish population of

New York City, in September, 1917, 1,412,500 souls, or by

January 1, 1918, 1,422,000, a too conservative maximum

it would seem, in view of the facts as they have been actually

ascertained and of the drastic reductions that have been

assumed. For the New York City population was estimated

by the Bureau of Education of the New York Community to

be, sis years ago, 1,250,000; and while this is considerably

greater than was Dr. Joseph Jacobs' enumeration of 1912, the

Kehillah's figures are upheld by Professor Chalmer's calculations made in 1913, even though these may have been a little

too liberal. Certainly it would be fair to presume that the correct number of New York City Jews was, in 1912, very close

to 1,200,000. This approximation is supported by data to be

found in the 1910 United States Census reports. In that

census the number of persons speaking Yiddish together with

their progeny, in New York City, was given as nearly 862,000,

to be exact, 861,980. But there must have been more than this

number of Jews in the city at that time, as will be seen from

the following:

In 1880, before the last great immigrational influx began,

there were sixty thousand Jews in New York City, not including Brooklyn, which at that time had at least twenty-five

thousand. By 1910, all these with their descendants would

have amounted, through natural increase (births over deaths)

to about 150,000; and it is safe to say that in that year a very
THE JEWISH POPULATION OP THE UNITED STATES 41

small part of this group would have given Yiddish as their

mother tongue, considering how many English, " Portuguese," and " Bavarian " Jews there were among the original

eighty-five thousand cited above, not to mention that among

the immigrants arriving between 1881 and 1910 there were

undoubtedly quotas from Germany, France, England, and

Turkey, who also would not have given Yiddish as their

mother-tongue. We may, therefore, confidently add at least

one hundred and thirty-five thousand to the 863,000 in question, thus bringing the Jewish population of New York City in

1910 up to 997,000, so that Dr. Jacobs' 1912 estimate would

seem to have been too modest, especially in view of the immigration figures for the years 1910-1912. These show that

between July 1, 1910, and December 31, 1912, 220,000 Jewish

immigrants entered the United States, 128,000 intending to

go to New York, of whom it is safe to say that 110,000 came

to, and remained in, or soon returned to, New York City. If

we add this 110,000 to the 997,000 referred to above, and

allow only 43,000 for natural increases during the two years in

question, we arrive at an aggregate of nearly 1,150,000 as the

Jewish population of New York City in 1912.

Support is provided for the assumption of a slightly larger

total, however, by the following: The Jewish population of

the state of New York was, in 1907, estimated as 905,000.

Probably this figure was too low, but let us assume that it was

not. By 1910, if there had been no immigration at all, the

state's Jewish population would have, by natural increase,

amounted to 960,000. But it could have gained not less than

120,000 through immigration during those three years, since

the total Jewish immigration into the country during the same

period was only a trifle under 250,000. (See Annual Reports
42 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

of Commissioner General of Immigration, 1908, 1909, and

1910). Hence the Jewish population of Few York State, in

1910, must have been at least 1,080,000. It was probably

more. Yet, based on the number of persons who reported their

mother-tongue as Yiddish, it is given in the 1910 MotherTongue Census as 912,692, which would indicate that only

eighty-five per cent of the New York Jews reported their

mother-tongue as being Yiddish. Assuming likewise that

fifteen per cent of the New York City Jews failed to so report

their mother-tongue, then the 862,000 Jews of this city, who,

according to the 1910 census figures, did so report, can have

constituted only about eighty-five per cent of all the Jews in

New York City; and so, in 1910, the total New York City

Jewish population would have been at least a million, especially

since the city had, back in 1907, already over 800,000 Jews.

(See table above.) Support is lent to this conclusion by the

survey made in 1911 by Dr. Joseph Brill for the New York

City Board of Health, his estimate being then 1,100,000.

Taking the city's Jewish increase during the. next two

years as being at the rate of 80,000 per annum, we should

have, as the Jewish population of the city in 1912, 1,160,000.

In all these calculations no allowance has been made for what

we may call domestic immigration, that is to say, persons coming from other parts of the country into the metropolis. There

is no doubt that the aggregate of these, drawn as they would be,

on account of the commercial and industrial opportunities

afforded, to this immense financial, manufacturing, and

shippping focus, cannot have been negligible. Surely their

numbers can hardly have amounted to less than ten thousand

in two years. Certainly five thousand in that time would be

a reasonable expectation. Thus we get a total of 1,165,000.
THE JEWISH POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES 43

Dr. Jacobs himself confirms the opinion that he was too conservative in 1912, for later, in the American Jewish Year Book

5675, he calculates that by January 1, 1915, there should be

3,000,000 Jews in the country, in which prophecy he was fully

justified by the event. And as New York City was even then

rapidly approaching the point when it should come to contain

nearly half of the Jewish population of the country, it must

at the beginning of 1915 have contained very close to 1,300,000

Jews.

Starting then with a New York City Jewish contingent of

1,165,000, in 1912, let us once more glance at the immigration

figures. Jewish immigrants into the United States aggregated,

for 1913 and 1914, 239,381, of this number 137,604 giving

New York State as their destination. It is safe to say that a

preponderating proportion of these came to, and remained in,

or speedily returned to, New York City. Thus that municipality may well be considered to have gained in population,

through immigration, about 130,000 Jews, during the two

years ending July 30, 1914. Certainly 120,000 would be for

these two years a judicious estimate; since New York City's

population had been just prior to 1912 forging ahead at the

rate of about 80,000 additional Jewish inhabitants annually,

of whom 20,000, on an average each year, were attributable to

excess of births over deaths, and the balance to influxes, mainly

immigrational, from without. Hence by July, 1914, the Jewish population of the city can hardly have been less than

1,335,000. Since that time, there has been a total Jewish

immigration into the United States of approximately 60,000,

of whom 31,000 gave New York State as their destination,

probably at least 25,000 remaining in New York City.
44 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

Totalling now, we shall have something like the following

for the Jewish population of New York City on January 1,

1918:

Population in 1912 1,165,000

Foreign immigration 1912-1918 145,000

Domestic immigration 1912-1918 25,000

Natural increases 150,000

Total 1,485,000

In all of these considerations it has been assumed that the

general Jewish increase rate in this country has been no more

than two per cent per annum; but as a matter of fact there

is a strong probability that it lias been somewhat greater,

especially in New York City. In the first place it is well

known that the death rate of a given Jewish community is

always lower than the general local death rate. This is probably accounted for by the lower infant mortality rate found

among Jews and by their greater tendency toward longevity.

Now the death rate of New York City has averaged during the

last ten years in the neighborhood of fifteen per thousand, while

the Jewish death rate, according to information furnished by

the actuaries of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., would

seem to be about eleven per thousand. Again, speaking in

general terms, the Jews in the large American cities have

shared fully in the great prosperity which the country has

enjoyed during the past decade. It is also a well-known fact

that there is a strong tendency among Jews to translate increasing prosperity into matrimonial terms. Hence it is very

probable that the increase rate among Jews has been for a

number of years greater than the traditional two per cent, and

during the last half-dozen years, at least, probably nearer two

and one-half per cent than two per cent in New York City.
THE JEWISH POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES 45

On the other hand, there is nothing to show that the birth rate

among Jews in our cities is markedly less than it is among

their non-Jewish neighbors.

If we are to hold that they have more than the average

number of children at school, that fact would tend to support

the foregoing contentions, and the apparent discrepancy between the very large number of Jewish children, on the one

hand, which would make it appear that there were more than

1,500,000 Jews in New York City, and the diminished figure

arrived at by the strict application of the two per cent rule of

increase, and the twenty per cent assumption concerning

school attendance among Jews, which would make it seem that

there were less than 1,500,000 in this city, on the other hand,

would tend to vanish.

To conclude with New York City, which contains the largest

Jewish community that has ever existed within the confines

of a single municipality: It has over 2200 congregations and

one hundred and eighty-one religious schools with 41,403

pupils, exclusive of about 14,000 who attend private hedarim.

It has over a hundred recreational and cultural agencies, more

than one thousand mutual aid societies, nine hundred and

sixty-five lodges, one hundred and ninety-three economic

agencies, and one hundred and sixty-four philanthropic and

correctional agencies.

Over.$17,000,000 was expended in 1917 by all these activities, of which amount the two great philanthropic federations, that of Manhattan and the Bronx and that of Brooklyn,

expended during the past year $2,500,000. In these figures

are not included the $6,000,000 raised in the year 1917-1918 for

Jewish War Relief abroad. AVithin the confines of the metrop-
46 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

olis are printed and published fifty-seven Jewish journals: five

dailies; twenty-eight weeklies; eleven monthlies; one bimonthly; one quarterly; one annual; ten occasional publications. Of these twenty-three are published in English, three in

Hebrew, two in Judeo-Spanish, and twenty-nine in Yiddish.

The following table, which is taken from the New York

Jewish Communal Register, published by the New York

" Kehillah," in 1918, affords details of the foregoing summary:

TABLE GIVING ESTIMATE OF MONET EXPENDED FOB JEWISH PURPOSES

BY JEWISH COMMUNAL AGENCIES IN' NEW YORK CITY

AGENCIES SUB-TOTALS TOTALS

Religious Agencies:

Permanent Congregations $2,700,000

Temporary Congregations 250,000

Kashruth 3,000,000

Burial Societies 50,000

$6,000,000

Religious Educational Agencies:

Week-day Religious Schools 740,000

Sunday Schools 50,000

Parochial Schools 70,000

Hedarim and Private Instruction 500,000

1,360,000

Cultural and Recreational Agencies:

Young Men's Hebrew and Kindred Ass'ns.. 435,000

Yiddish Press 2,000,000

2,435,000

 1

Economic Agencies:

Immigrant Aid Societies 250,000

Employment Bureaus (not in Institutions). 15,000

Technical Schools 195,000

Clara de Hirsch Home 42,000

Loan Societies 60,000

Mutual Aid Societies 1,000,000

Lodges 1,900,000

3,462,000

1

 This does not include the amount of money spent on the

Jewish theatre and in Jewish social clubs, both of which are of a

distinctly Jewish recreational and cultural character.
THE JEWISH POPULATION OP THE UNITED STATES 47

Philanthropic Agencies:

Relief Societies 725,000

Day Nurseries 50,000

Child Caring Agencies 975,000

Hospitals and Convalescent Homes 2,090,000

Old Age Homes 150,000

Institutions for Defectives 150,000

4,140,000

Correctional Agencies 160,000

Co-ordinating and Research Agencies 100,000

The great majority of American Jews live in cities or towns,

there being only about 20,000 Jewish farmers and other agriculturists in the United States; and even most of these twenty

thousand reside in little centers. Accordingly, to find the sum

of the Jewish communities in all urban places would be to find

practically the Jewish population of the nation. It was unfortunately not feasible to make a survey of the Jewish public

school population in any of the major cities outside of New

York. Therefore another method was adopted to ascertain, in

the case of each town or city, how many Jews it contained. The

Bureau of Jewish Statistics and Eesearch has a list of nearly

four thousand congregations, rabbis, etc. To every rabbi or

other head of a congregation (in some cases to lay officials),

was sent a questionnaire, asking the recipient to give, among

other things, a careful and conservative estimate of the number

of Jews in the city in which he resided.

The thousands of resulting returns were carefully compared

with one another, as well as with other data obtained through

the reports of various charitable organizations in each city,

and additional information furnished by Young Men's Hebrew

Associations, the Industrial Eemoval Office, and certain

analogous organizations; and thus, finally, what is believed to

have been a fairly accurate estimate in the case of each city
48 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

having a general population of more than twenty thousand was

arrived at, the more conservative averages being generally given

the preference in all computations, deductions, etc. Whenever

an estimate seemed unduly large, further inquiries were made,

and statements from new correspondents were asked, the

estimate conforming most nearly to the total called for by the

" rale " mentioned below being preferred.

As to towns with a general population of at least one

thousand and less than twenty thousand, it was not invariably

possible to get a reliable estimate of their Jewish contingents.

Sometimes, indeed, no response at all was received to the

repeated inquires sent out. But so many replies were obtained

from the numerous smaller places, as well as from practically

all cities of larger size, that it became after a while possible to

formulate a sort of law or rule governing the percentages of

Jews in localities of various proportions. Indeed it was

eventually found practicable in the case of smaller places, from

which no adequate reply was to be procured, to estimate very

closely their Jewish population by the aid of the " rule " in

question. Quite frequently, after an estimate had been made,

a return would come in from some little town, and in hardly

any instance did the detailed report vary materially in its

total of the Jews of that town from the estimate that had

been made.

To explain more particularly, it appears that between

twenty-five per cent and twenty-seven per cent of the population of New York City are Jews, this city being with regard

to its Jewish community unique. Next, in the group comprising Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Cleveland, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Newark, and Detroit, nine large manufacturing centers, on an average a trifle under ten per cent of the

population are Jews, as will be seen from the following:
THE JEWISH POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES 49

TABLE A1

SHOWING 9 CITIES CONTAINING AN AGGBEGATE

INHABITANTS OF WHOM NEARLY 900,000

General Population

(Estimated as of

City Doc. 31, 1917)

Chicago 2,572,000

Philadelphia 1,785,000

Cleveland 782,000

Boston 765,000

Baltimore 607,000

St. Louis 867,000

Pittsburgh 601,000

Newark 409,000

Detroit 841,500

OF OVER 9,200,000

ARE JEWS

Jewish Population

225,000

200,000

100,000

77,500

60,000

60,000

60,000

55,000

50,000

Total 9,229,500 887,500

In the remaining sixty-two American Cities of the first

order, namely such as have a general population of at least

100,000, the percentage of Jewish residents averages a little

under 4.5$, as will be seen by the following:'

TABLE B

SHOWING SIXTY-ONE CITIES OF THE UNITED STATES, EACH HAVIXG

A POPULATION, IN 1917, OF 100,000 OR MORE, AKD A TOTAL

POPULATION OF 12,640,000, WITH JEWISH

POPULATION OF EACH

Jewish

City Population

Birmingham, Ala 3,500

Los Angeles, Cal 18,000

Oakland, Cal 5,000

San Francisco, Cal 30,000

Denver, Colo 11,000

Bridgeport, Conn 12,000

Hartford, Conn 16,000

New Haven, Conn 18,000

Waterbury, Conn 6,000

Wilmington, Del 3,500

Washington, D. C 10,000

Atlanta, Ga 10,000

Indianapolis, Ind 10,000

Des Moines, la 3,200

Jewish

City Population

Kansas City, Kan 3,500

Louisville, Ky 9,000

New Orleans, La 8,000

Cambridge, Mass 8,000

Fall River, Mass 7,500

Lawrence, Mass 2,000

Lowell, Mass 6,000

New Bedford, Mass. .. . 3,500

Springfield, Mass 6,000

Worcester, Mass 10,000

Grand Rapids, Mich. . .. 1,000

Duluth, Minn 2,300

Minneapolis, Minn 15,000

St. Paul, Minn 10,000

1

 In this and all other tables the Jewish population given is that

of 1917.
50 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

TABLE B (CONTINUED)

Jewish Jewish

City Population City Population

Kansas City, Mo 12,000 Reading, Pa 1,750

Butte, Mont 1,000 Scranton, Pa 7,500

Omaha, Neb 10.000 Providence, R. 1 15,000

Camden, N. J 2,000 Memphis, Tenn 7,000

Jersey City, N. J. 12,500 Nashville, Tenn 3,000

Paterson, N. J 15,000 Dallas, Tex 8,000

Trenton, N. J 7,000 Fort Worth, Tex 2,250

Albany, N. Y 7,000 Houston, Tex 5,000

Buffalo, N. Y 20,000 San Antonio, Tex 3,000

Rochester, N. Y 20,000 Salt Lake City, Utah... 2,500

Syracuse, N. Y 12,000 Richmond, Va 4,000

Akron, 0 2,000 Seattle, Wash 5,000

Cincinnati, 0 25,000 Spokane, Wash 1,100

Columbus, 0 9,000 Tacoma, Wash 900

Dayton, 0 4,000 Milwaukee, Wis 20,000

Toledo, 0 7,500

Youngstown, 0 5,000 Total 513,000

Portland, Ore 8,000 or about 4.1$

As to cities of the second class, namely, those having a

general population of between 50,000 and 100,000, their percentage of Jews averages about three per cent. Generally speaking, with regard to both classes mentioned above, it may here

be noted that the proportion of Jewish residents is greater than

the mean in the East, and less than the average in the West.

The tables given below are peculiarly instructive as exhibiting

how the percentage of Jewish residents tends to become

gradually lower as the total number of citizens decreases.

TABLE C

SHOWING JEWISH POPULATION OF THE CITIES OP THE UNITED STATES

HAVING IN 1917 A POPULATION OP 50,000, OR MORE, AND LESS

THAN 100,000

(a) Cities Having a General Population of 90,000-100,000 each,

and a Combined Population of 1,035,100, With Jewish

Population of Each City

Jewish Jewish

City Population City Population

San Diego, Cal 600 Evansville, Ind 1,500

Jacksonville, Pla 2,000 Lynn, Mass 7,500

Savannah, Ga 5,000 Somerville, Mass 2^000
THE JEWISH POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES 51

TABLE C (CONTINUED)

Jewish Jewish

City . Population City Population

Schenectady, N. Y 3,500 Norfolk, Va 5,000

Yonkers, N. Y 5,000

Oklahoma City, Okla.... 1,000 Total 34,600

Erie, Pa 1,500 or 3.3^

(b) Cities Having a General Population of 80,000-90,000 Each,

and a Combined Population of 591,570, With Jewish

Population of Each City

Jewish Jewish

City Population City Population

Fort Wayne, Ind 1,650 Utica, N. Y 1,600

St. Joseph, Mo 3,300 Harrisburg, Pa 4,000

Manchester, N. H 600 —•

Elizabeth, N. J 5,000 Total 19,150

Troy, N. Y 3,000 or 3.2£

(c) Cities Having a General Population of 70,000-80,000 Each,

and a Combined Population of 884,590, With Jewish

Population of Each City

Jewish Jewish

City Population City Population

Sacramento, Cal 900 Bayonne, N. J 10,000

Tampa, Fla 1,000 Hoboken, N. J 5,000

East St. Louis, 111 1,000 Canton, Ohio 1,000

Peoria, 111 1,750 Johnstown, Pa 400

South Bend, Ind 2,000 Wilkes-Barre, Pa 3,000

Terre Haute, Ind 500

Wichita, Kan 300 Total 26,850

or 3M

(d) Cities Having a General Population of 60,000-70,000 Each,

and a Combined Population of 1,149,060, With Jewish

Population of Each City

Jewish Jewish

City Population City Population

Mobile, Ala 2,200 Saginaw, Mich 1,000

Little Rock, Ark 1,500 Passaic, N. J 6,000

Pueblo, Colo 1,000 Springfield, 0 400

Rockford, 111 900 Allentown, Pa 1,200

Springfield, 111 700 Altoona, Pa 1,000

Sioux City, la 2,500 Charleston, S. C 1,900

Covington, Ky 350 Chattanooga, Tenn 1,400

Portland, Me 2,500 El Paso, Tex 1,800

Brockton, Mass 1,500

Holyoke, Mass 1,000 Total 28,850

or 2.5*
AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

TABLE C (CONTINUED)

(e) Cities Having a General Population of 50,000-60,000 Each,

and a Combined Population of 1,022,145, With Jewish

Population of Each City

Jewish

City Population

Montgomery, Ala 1,650

Berkeley, Cal 300

New Britain, Conn 2,500

Augusta, Ga 2,500

Macon, Ga 550

Davenport, la 600

Topeka, Kan 1,000

Haverhill, Mass 3,500

Bay City, Mich 1,000

Lansing, Mich 450

Springfield, Mo 165

Jewish

City Population

Lincoln, Neb 1,200

Atlantic City, N. J 4.000

Binghamton, N. Y 1,500

Lancaster, Pa 1,400

York, Pa 700

Pawtucket, R. 1 500

Galveston, Tex 1,100

Superior, Wis 800

Total 25,415

or 2.4*

As to towns of the next degree, namely, those having a

general population of between 20,000 and 50,000, the Jewish

population in such places averages a trifle over two per cent

of the total population, as indicated in Table D, while in still

smaller localities it falls to a little over one per cent, and in

places with less than one thousand inhabitants to £~J of one

per cent.

TABLE D

SHOWING JEWISH POPULATION OF ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SEVEN

CITIES, EACH HAVING A GENERAL POPULATION OF BETWEEN 20,000

AND 50,000, WITH JEWISH POPULATION OF EACH CITY

Jewish

Population

... . 300

... . 200

... . 400

City

Fort Smith, Ark

Alameda, Cal

Fresno, Cal

Pasadena, Cal 350

San Jose, Cal 200

Stockton, Cal 1,000

Colorado Springs, Colo... 660

Danbury, Conn 300

Meriden, Conn 1,000

New London, Conn 1,000

Norwalk, Conn 550

Norwich, Conn 1,500

Jewish

City Population

Stamford, Conn 1,500

Key West, Fla 200

1'tnsacola, Fla 1,000

Columbus, Ga 300

Aurora, 111 300

Belleville, 111 150

Bloomington, 111 275

Danville, 111 625

Decatur, 111 200

Elgin, 111 500

Evanston, 111 250

Galesburg, 111 220
THE JEWISH POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES 53

TABLE D

Jewish

City Population,

Joliet, 111 1,100

Moline, 111 60

Quincy, 111 400

Rock Island, 111 412

Anderson, Ind 150

Hammond, Ind 600

Lafayette, Ind 300

Muncie, Ind 200

New Albany, Ind 125

Richmond, Ind 155

Burlington, la 225

Cedar Rapids, la 700

Clinton, la 65

Council Bluffs, la 1,000

Dubuque, la 450

Ottumwa, la 412

Waterloo, la 325

Leavenworth, Kan 600

Lexington, Ky 385

Newport, Ky 300

Paducah, Ky 250

Shreveport, La 1,500

Bangor, Me 1,000

Lewiston, Me 275

Cumberland, Md 600

Brookline, Mass 200

Chelsea, Mass 13,000

Chicopee, Mass 250

Everett, Mass 334

Fitchburg, Mass 528

Gloucester, Mass 243

Maiden, Mass 9,000

Medford, Mass 250

Newton, Mass 400

North Adams, Mass 500

Northampton, Mass 400

Pittsfield, Mass 1,500

Quincy, Mass 1,250

Salem, Mass 1,500

Taunton, Mass 750

Waltham, Mass 300

Battle Creek, Mich 244

Calumet, Mich 110

Flint, Mich 385

Jackson, Mich 300

(CONTINUED)

Jewish

City Population

Kalamazoo, Mich 900

Muskegon, Mich 300

Jackson, Miss 126

Meridian, Miss '. 400

Vicksburg, Miss 532

Joplin, Mo 250

Butte, Mont 1,000

South Omaha, Neb 262

Concord, N. H 158

Nashua, N. H 350

East Orange, N. J 300

Montclair, N. J 75

New Brunswick, N. J.. .. 3,000

Orange, N. J 210

Perth Amboy, N. J 5,000

Plainfield, N. J 1,500

Union, N. J 400

West Hoboken, N. J 350

Amsterdam, N. Y 300

Auburn, N. Y 250

Cohoes, N. Y 200

Elmira, N. Y 1,200

Gloversville, N. Y 600

Jamestown, N. Y 125

Kingston, N. Y 800

Mt. Vernon, N. Y 3,000

New Rochelle, N. Y 3,000

Newburgh, N. Y 400

Niagara Falls, N. Y 300

Oswego, N. Y 300

Poughkeepsie, N. Y 1,600

Rome, N. Y 250

Watertown, N. Y 230

Charlotte, N. C 350

Wilmington, N. C 400

Winston Salem, N. C 116

East Liverpool, Ohio 300

Hamilton, Ohio 260

Lima, Ohio 300

Lorain, Ohio 300

Mansfield, Ohio 50

Newark, Ohio 100

Portsmouth, Ohio 128

Sandusky, Ohio 143

Steubenville, Ohio 400
54 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

TABLE D (CONTINUED)

Jewish

City Population

Zanesville, Ohio 250

Muskogee, Okla 225

Butler, Pa 150

Chester, Pa 1,000

Easton, Pa 800

Hazleton, Pa 950

McKeesport, Pa 3,000

New Castle, Pa 610

Norristown, Pa 220

Pottsville, Pa 400

Shamokin, Pa 235

Shenandoah, Pa 550

South Bethlehem, Pa. .. . 1,300

Williamsport, Pa 350

Central Falls, R. 1 250

Cranston, R. 1 400

Newport, R. 1 500

Warwick, R. 1 500

Woonsocket, R. 1 900

Columbia, S. C 281

Knoxville, Tenn . 350

Austin, Tex 300

Jewish

City Population

Beaumont, Tex 400

Waco, Tex 1,500

Ogden, Utah 125

Burlington, Vt 850

Lynchburg, Va 300

Newport News, Va 2,000

Petersburg, Va 400

Portsmouth, Va 1,000

Roanoke, Va 300

Bellingham, Wash 250

Everett, Wash 150

Huntington, W. Va 310

Charleston, W. Va 1,000

Wheeling, W. Va 1,000

Green Bay, Wis 300

Kenosha, Wis 200

La Crosse, Wis 235

Madison, Wis 500

Oshkosh, Wis 100

Racine, Wis 700

Sheboygan, Wis 852

Total 112,521

The general population of these one hundred and fifty-seven

cities was, according to the 1910 census, 4,278,000. It is now

doubtless over 4,910,000. The Jewish population percentage

is consequently 2.3$.

The following table shows the Jewish population of fifteen

cities in the United States, whose combined general population

is 17,210,000, and which contain over 2,500,000 Jews:

TABLE E

SHOWING FIFTEEN CITIES CONTAINING OVER SEVENTY-FIVE PER CENT

or THE JEWS OF THE UNITED STATES

Jewish Jewish

City Population City Population

New York 1,500,000 Boston 77,500

Chicago 225,000 Baltimore 60,000

Philadelphia 200,000 St. Louis 60,000

Cleveland 100,000 Pittsburgh 60,000
THE JEWISH POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES 55

TABLE E (CONTINUED)

Jewish

City Population

Newark 55,000

Detroit 50,000

San Francisco 30,000

Cincinnati 25,000

Milwaukee 20,000

Jewish

City Population

Buffalo 20,000

Rochester 20,000

Total 2,502,500

or 14.5)6

On pages 342-344 will be found a list of one hundred and

sixty-one cities in the United States, each containing one

thousand or more Jews. The following cities have at least five

hundred and less than one thousand Jews:

TABLE F

SHOWING SIXTY-ONE CITIES WHOSE JEWISH POPULATION IS FIVE

HUNDRED, OK MORE, AND LESS THAN ONE THOUSAND

Jewish

City Popul tion'

Sacramento, Cal 900

San Diego, Cal 600

Colorado Springs, Colo 660

Norwalk, Conn 550

Macon, Ga 550

Danville, 111 625

Elgin, 111 500

Maywood, 111 700

Oak Park, 111 750

Rockford, 111 900

Springfield, 111 700

Hammond, Ind 600

Indiana Harbor, Ind 650

Terre Haute, Ind 500

Cedar Rapids, la 700

Davenport, la 600

Leavenworth, Kan 600

Cumberland, Md 600

Attleboro, Mass 530

Beverly, Mass 550

Fitchburg, Mass 528

Lexington, Mass 540

North Adams, Mass 500

Peabody, Mass 750

Plymouth, Mass 510

South Framingham, Mass. 500

Jewish

City Population

Taunton, Mass 750

Benton Harbor, Mich 580

Kalamazoo, Mich 900

Port Huron, Mich 500

Vicksburg, Miss 532

Manchester, N. H 600

Portsmouth, N. H 550

Red Bank, N. J 500

Glen Falls, N. Y 500

Gloversville, N. Y 650

Kingston, N. Y 800

Patchogue, N. Y 500

Peekskill, N. Y 500

Durham, N. C 500

Fargo, N. D 600

Tulsa, Okla 500

Bradford, Pa 560

Easton, Pa 800

Farrell, Pa 550

Hazleton, Pa 950

Homestead, Pa 650

Mount Carmel, Pa 550

New Castle, Pa 610

Sharon, Pa 500

Shenandoah, Pa 550

Uniontown, Pa 600
56 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

TABLE P (CONTINUED)

Jewish Jewish

City Population Town Population

York, Pa 700 Burlington, Vt 850

Newport, R. 1 500 Tacoma, Wash 900

Pawtucket, R. 1 500 Sheboygan, Wis 852

Warwick, R. 1 500 Superior, Wis 800

Woonsocket, R. 1 900

It must not be imagined from this exhibit that no Jews are

found in the smallest communities. As a matter of fact, of the

thousands of minor towns, villages, or hamlets in the entire

country, there are very few in which is not to be discovered

a nucleus of Jews, sometimes, indeed, amounting to only one

or two families, but still a potential Jewish community. The

following list of villages, each containing less than one

thousand inhabitants (those marked with an asterisk contain

less than five hundred), indicates that even in the smallest of

our American communities, there is probably to be found a

small Jewish admixture:

TABLE G

SHOWING JEWISH POPULATION OF TWENTY-NINE TOWNS EACH HAVING

A GENBEAL POPULATION OF LESS THAN ONE THOUSAND

Jewish Jewish

Town Population Town Population

Panama, 111 5 *Lehr, N. D 14

*Denham, Ind 9 *Laura, 0 4

Earl Park, Ind 2 *Jacksonville, 0 4

Milan, Ind 10 *Pittsburg, Okla 5

Alberton, Md 14 Hopewell, Pa 125

Kitzmiller, Md 1 *Lane, S. C 6

*Boyne Falls, Mich 7 *Ehrhardt, S. C 17

Shelby, Miss 24 Chapel Hill, Tex 13

*Sunflower, Miss 14 *Birdsnest, Va 5

*Warrenville, N. J 5 *Cheritan, Va 10

Rosenhayn, N. J 300 *Weirton, W. Va 69

Carmel, N. J 450 *Caso, W. Va 10

*Ruidoso, N. Mex 4 *Genesee, Wis 11

*Hunter, N. Y 200 *Fenwood, Wis 2

*Bloomingdale, N. Y 14
THE JEWISH POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES 57

While lack of space prevents the listing here of every town

in the United States having a general population of more than

1000, and less than 20,000, the following, which may be

described as fairly typical, are given at this point, together

with their Jewish populations, the figure printed after the

name of each town indicating how many thousands of individuals the town contained according to the 1910 census,

except as to those places situated in the states of Kansas,

Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ehode

Island, South Dakota, or Wyoming, whose general population

is given as of the year 1915. The total number of persons

residing in these 500 small cities and villages is a little under

4,200,000, while the total number of Jews living in them is a

trifle less than 80,000. In this connection it must be recalled

that the aggregate population of these municipalities has

greatly increased since 1910, while the Jewish quotas are those

of the present time. Making due allowances, therefore, it will

be seen that the Jewish percentage averages between Vf, and 2/e

of the general population in cities of this magnitude.

TABLE H

SHOWING JEWISH POPULATION OF FIVE HUNDRED TOWNS WHOSE

GENERAL POPULATION IS BETWEEN 1000 AND 20,000

Jewish Jewish

City Population City Population

ALABAMA Selma (14) 340

Anniston (13) 220 Sheffield (5) 50

Atmore (1) 8 Thomas (2) 15

Bessemer (11) 110 Tuscaloosa (8) 55

Decatur (4) 170 Uniontown (2) 22

Demopolis (2) 107

Dothan (7) 40 A1?T7OW4

Eufaula (4) 110 ARIZONA

Florence (7) 197 Douglas (6) 100

Gadsden (11) 107 Morenci (5) 3

Huntsville (8) 60 Phoenix (11) 150

Jasper (3) 29 Tucson (13) 40
58 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

TABLE H

Jewish

City Population

AE KANSAS

Cotton Plant (1) 32

Helena (9) 250

Hot Springs (14) 309

Jonesboro (7) 100

Osceola (2) 67

Paragould (5) 25

Pine Bluff (15) 400

Texarkana (6) 200

CALIFORNIA

Bakersfield (13) 125

El Centro (2) 12

Huntington Park (1) 88

Long Beach (18) 200

Marysville (5) 55

Redlands (10) ". .. . 70

San Bernardino (13) 250

Santa Ana (8) 87

Santa Cruz (11) 64

Santa Rosa (8) 26

Sawtelle (2) 15

Tulare (3) 2

Tuolumne (1) 10

COLORADO

Boulder (10) 100

Cripple Creek (6) 110

Leadville (8) 79

Trinidad (10) 250

CONNECTICUT

Ansonia (15) 150

Branford (3) 60

Colchester (1) 480

Derby (9) 250

East Hampton (1) 9

Ellington (2) 225

Moosup (2) 90

South Norwalk (9) 1,000

Wallingford (9) 200

Willimantic (11) 250

(CONTINUED)

Jewish

City Population

DELAWARE

Middletown (1) 34

FLORIDA

Fernandina (3) 17

Miami (5) 175

Ocala (4) 62

GEORGIA

Albany (8) 265

Athens (15) 340

Bainbridge (4) 103

Brunswick (10) 138

Cornelia (1) 2

Dalton (5) 18

Hazlehurst (1) 8

Lumber City (1) 4

Marietta (6) 1

Rome (12) 250

West Point (2) 84

IDAHO

Boise (17) 200

ILLINOIS

Abingdon (2) 20

Alton (18) 90

Beardstown (6) 3

Cairo (15) 375

Centralia (10) 50

Champaign (12) 150

Clinton (5) 30

Fort Sheridan (2) 20

Kankakee (14) 260

Lincoln (11) 73

Maywood (8) 700

Metropolis (5) 12

Mount Vernon (8) 72

Oak Park (19) 750

Taylorville (5) 49

Waukegan (16) 400
THE JEWISH POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES 59

TABLE H

Jewish

City Population

INDIANA

Alexandria (5) 5

Attica (3) 33

Bedford (9) 20

Columbus (9) 95

Crawfordsville (9) 28

Elwood (11) 57

Frankfort (9) 26

Gary (17) 1,200

Goshen (9) 78

Greensburg (5) 34

Howell (2) 5

Indiana Harbor (5) 650

Kokomo (17) 130

Ligonier (2) 100

Madison (7) 70

Marion (19) 400

Michigan City (19) 450

Mount Vernon (6) 85

Peru (11) 100

Rockville (2) 20

Union City (3) 3

Vincennes (15) 50

Wabash (9) 150

Washington (8) 17

Whiting (7) 44

IOWA

Centerville (8) 130

Dows (1) 10

Fort Madison (10) 65

Keokuk (15) 143

Mason City (17) 260

Muscatine (16) 429

Osage (3) 52

Webster City (6) 45

KANSAS

Atchison (15) 84

Coffeyville (15) 43

Galena (6) 73

Hutchinson (19) 200

(CONTINUED)

Jewish

City Population

Junction City (6) 15

Manhattan (7) 12

Pittsburg (18) 65

Wellington (6) 18

KENTUCKY

Henderson (11) 275

Hopkinsville (9) 150

Owensboro (16) 230

Shelbyville (3) 39

LOUISIANA

Alexandria (11) 450

Baton Rouge (15) 165

Bogalusa (2) 65

Crowley (5) 66

Donaldsonville (4) 100

Lake Charles (11) 286

Lecompte (1) 83

Monroe (10) 350

Morgan City (5) 220

New Iberia (7) 105

Plaquemine (5) 55

MAINE

Auburn (15) 300

Caribou (5) 25

Ft. Fairneld (2) 4

Gardiner (5) 70

Houlton (6) 53

Old Town (6) 194

Presque Isle (3) 24

Rockland (8) 150

Rumford (5) 50

MARYLAND

Annapolis (9) 240

Eastport (2) 10

Frederick (10) 144

Hagerstown (17) 250
60 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

TABLE H

Jewish

City Population!

MAS S ACHUSETTS

Attleboro (18) 530

Abington (6) 60

Clinton (13) 185

Leominster (18) 210

Lexington (6) 540

Maryborough (15) 125

Medway (3) 250

Melrose (17) 200

Middleborough (8) 40

Millis (1) 110

Montague (8) 51

Peabody (19) 750

Plymouth (13) 510

South Framingham (9). . 500

Stoneham (7) 85

Watertown (17) "... 60

Westborough (6) 12

Winthrop (13) 1,500

MICHIGAN

Alpena (13) 50

Ann Arbor (15) 300

Benton Harbor (9) 580

Cadillac (8) 72

Crystal Falls (4) 165

Esoanaba (13) 83

Hancock (9) 83

Holland (10) 12

Houghton (5) 165

Iron River (2) 100

Laurium (9) 75

Manistee (12) 33

Marquette (12) 95

Monroe (7) 30

Negaunee (8) 90

Petoskey (5) 89

Port Huron (19) 500

Sault Sainte Marie (13).. 206

MINNESOTA

Austin (7) 40

Chisholm. (8) 83

(CONTINUED)

Jewish

City Population

Eveleth (7) 110

Hibbing (9) 165

Little Falls (6) ...". 30

Mankato (10) 115

Stillwater (10) 25

Virginia (10) 250

MISSISSIPPI

Canton (4) 75

Clarksdale (4) 220

Columbus (9) 52

Greenville (10) 350

Hattiesburg (12) 125

Laurel (8) 80

Lexington (2) 83

Natchez (12) 261

Okolona (3) 24

Port Gibson (2) 53

Rolling Fork (1) 22

Starkville (3) 38

Summit (1) 27

West Point (5) 14

Yazoo City (7) 78

MISSOURI

Brookfield (6) 2

Carthage (9) 69

Columbia (10) 175

Hannibal (18) 92

Independence (10) 85

Jefferson City (12) 155

Lexington (5) 8

Louisiana (4) 88

MONTANA

Anaconda (10) 60

Billings (10) 260

Helena (13) 347

Livingston (5) 15

Missoula (13) 75
THE JEWISH POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES (31

TABLE H

Jewish

City Population:

NEBRASKA

Fremont (9) 100

Nebraska City (5) 49

NEVADA

Goldfield (5) 15

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Derry (3) 42

Portsmouth (11) 550

NEW JERSEY

Allendale (1) 10

Alpha (2) 15

Asbury Park (11) 1,250

Bernardsville (1) 30

Bloomfleld (17) 1,000

Boonton (5) 50

Carteret (4) 150

Dover (9) 300

Gloucester City (11) 62

Hackensack (14) 200

Harrison (15) 1,000

Keyport (4) 166

Lakewood (4) 375

Long Branch (16) 1,300

Maywood (1) 49

Millville (13) 170

Morristown (13) 200

Oxford (3) 18

Red Bank (9) 500

Somerville (6) 250

South River (7) 250

Westfield (8) 80

Woodbine (2) 1,900

NEW MEXICO

Albuquerque (11) 220

Roswell (6) 20

San Marcial (1) 10

Santa Rita (2) 2

Tome (1) 10

(CONTINUED)

Jewish

City Population

NEW YOEK

Bainbridge (1) 12

Batavia (13) 141

Cold Spring (3) 17

Dunkirk (18) 164

Ellenville (3) 330

Fonda (1) 11

Freeport (7) 300

Friendship (1) 12

Fulton (11) 60

Glen Cove (5) 281

Glens Falls (16) 500

Haverstraw (5) 220

Hempstead (6) 88

Hoosick Falls (5) 87

Hudson (12) 450

Huntington (5) 300

Ithaca (17) 221

Johnstown (11) 45

Lindenhurst (2) 200

Little Falls (13) 150

Malone (7) 20

Mechanicsville (8) 52

Medina (6) 60

Newark (6) 18

New York Mills (3) 326

Ogdensburg (14) 55

Olean (18) 150

Oneida (9) 60

Oneonta (10) 35

Oriskany Falls (1) 10

Patchogue (5) 500

Peekskill (16) 500

Phelps (1) , 13

Piermont (1) 5

Plattsburg (10) 205

Port Chester (15) 1,000

Port Jervis (9) 150

Potsdam (4) 40

Riverhead (3) 77

Rouses Pt. (2) 6

Tarry town (6) 400

Tonawanda (8) 100
62 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

TABLE H

Jewish

City Population

Tupper Lake (4) 150

Woodhull (1) 13

NORTH CAROLINA

Asheville (19) 250

Durham (18) 500

Gastonia (6) 39

Goldsboro (6) 165

Greensboro (16) 187

Raleigh (19) 120

Ramseur (1) 1

Rocky Mount (8) 43

Statesville (5) 55

Tarboro (4) 55

NORTH DAKOTA

Bismarck (6) 22

Dickinson (4) 51

OHIO

Alliance (15) 100

Amsterdam (1) 11

Eellaire (13) 440

Bucyrus (8) 43

Cambridge (11) 62

Chillicothe (15) 51

Fremont (10) 55

Glendale (2) 10

Ironton (13) 90

Lancaster (13) 107

Marietta (13) 80

Marion (18) 100

Middletown (13) 225

Murray (1) 15

Piqua (13) : 60

St. Marys (6) 33

Sekitan (2) 18

Shadyside (1) 20

Troy (6) 19

Van Wert (17) 17

Wellsville (8) 23

(CONTINUED)

Jewish

City Population

OKLAHOMA

Ardmore (9) 150

Chickasha (10) 125

Enid (14) 50

Guthrie (12) 35

Hartshorne (3) 18

Lawton (8) 46

McAlester (13) 37

Tulsa (18) 500

PENNSYLVANIA

Aliquippa (2) 300

Berwick (5) 157

Bethlehem (13) 130

Braddock (19) 1,600

Bradford (15) 560

California (2) 117

Carbondale (17) 1,000

Carnegie (10) 320

Catasauqua (5) 50

Chambersburg (12) 90

Charleroi (10) 75

Coatesville (11) 300

Connells-ville (13) 383

Conshohocken (7) 63

Corry (6) 34

Coudersport (3) 8

Danville (8) 104

Dickson City (9) 174

Du Bois (13) 186

Dunmore (18) 109

Duquesne (16) 350

Edgewood (3) 11

Exeter Bor. (3) 198

Farrell (10) 550

Freedom (3) 11

Glasaport (6) 120

Homestead (19) 650

Kittanning (4) 145

Lebanon (19) 100

Lock Haven (8) 200

Lyndora (2) 53
THE JEWISH POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES (33

TABLE H

Jewish

City Population

McKees Rocks (15) 220

Mahanoy City (16) 244

Meadville (13) 75

Middleto'wn (5) 85

Midland (1) 94

Mount Carmel (18) 550

Nanticoke (19) 150

New Kensington (8) 375

Northampton (9) 100

Northumberland (4) 88

Oil City (16) 380

Old Forge (11) 263

Olyphant (9) 280

Phoenixville (11) 220

Pittston (16) 320

Pottstown (16) 328

Punxsutawney (9) 275

Sharon (15) 500

Southwest (2) 5

Steelton (14) 250

Sunbury (14) 150

Swissvale (7) 375

Titusville (9) 205

Trafford (2) 14

Uniontown (13) 600

Warren (11) 102

Washington (19) 400

Wilkinsburg (19) 125

Windber (8) 95

RHODE ISLAND

Bristol (10) . . 300

Westerly (10) 212

SOUTH CAROLINA

Aiken (4) 76

Beaufort (2) • 105

Blackville (1) 39

Camden (4) 75

Darlington (4) 83

Florence (7) 49

Georgetown (6) 60

3

(CONTINUED)

Jewish

City Population

Greer (2) 17

Spartanburg (IS) 120

Sumter (8) 300

Union (6) 40

SOUTH DAKOTA

Aberdeen (12) 150

TENNESSEE

Binghamton (2) 40

Bristol (7) 125

Clarksville (9) 90

Columbia (6) 55

Dyersburg (4) 46

Goodlettsville (1) 8

Jackson (16) 160

Johnson City (9) 45

TEXAS

Abilene (9) 5

Arlington (2) 28

Brenham (5) 150

Brownsville (31) 65

Brownwood (7) 9

Bryan (4) 59

Columbus (2) 22

Corpus Christi (8) 110

Corsicana (10) 200

Denison (14) 36

Denton (5) 17

Ennis (6) 38

Gainesville (8) 40

Greenville (9) 32

Hallettsville (1) 27

Hempstead (3) 50

Hillsboro (6) 34

Jefferson (3) 44

Laredo (15) 93

Marshall (11) 135

Orange (6) 69

Palestine (10) 95
AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

TABLE H (CONTINUED)

Jewish

City Population

Paris (11) 110

Port Arthur (3) HO

San Angelo 00 ) 22

Sherman (Vi) '11

Taylor (5) 57

Temple (11) 55

Texarkana (10) 150

Tyler (10) 350

Victoria (4) 120

Waxahachie (6) 29

UTAH

Logan (8) 75

Bennington (6) 103

Montpelier (8) 100

Newport (3) 22

West Rutland (2) 33

Alexandria (15) 72

Berkley (6) 88

Charlottesville (7) 50

Cliftonforge (6) 26

Danville (19) 150

Fredericksburg (6) 66

Hampton (6) 80

Harrisonburg' (5) 102

Pocahontas (2) 81

Staunton (11) 85

Jewish

City Population

WASHINGTON

Aberdeen (14) 40

Centralia (7) 35

Ellensburg (4) 21

Walla Walla (19) 100

WEST VIRGINIA

Bluefield (11) ... . 152

Eramwell (1)

Clarksburg (9) 245

Elkins (5)

Fairmont (10)

Gary (1)

Kimball (2)

12

95

6

45

Morgantown (9) 120

Parkersburg (18) 440

WISCONSIN

Appleton (17) 140

Ashland (12) 22

Beaverdam (7) 55

Beloit (15) 167

Fond du Lac (19) 125

Hurley (3) 300

Janesville (14) 83

Marinette (15) 275

Neenah (6) 33

Stevens Point (9) 100

Wausau (17) 225

WYOMING

Rock Springs (6) 28

The following table shows the Jewish population of the

country, by states:

TABLE I

SHOWING THIS JEWISH POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES, BY STATES

Jewish Jewish

State Population • State Population

Alabama 11,086 California 63,652

Arizona 1,013 Colorado 14,565

Arkansas 5,012 Connecticut 66,862
THE JEWISH POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES 65

TABLE I

Jewish

State Population

Delaware 3,806

District of Columbia.. 10,000

Florida 6,451

Georgia 22,414

Idaho 1,078

Illinois 246,637

Indiana 25,833

Iowa 15,555

Kansas 9,450

Kentucky 13,362

Louisiana 12,723

Maine 7,387

Maryland 62,642

Massachusetts 189,671

Michigan 63,254

Minnesota 31,462

Mississippi 3,881

Missouri 80,807

Montana 2,518

Nebraska 13,547

Nevada 503

New Hampshire 3,257

New Jersey 149,476

New Mexico 858

New York 1,603,923

North Carolina 4,915

(CONTINUED)

Jewish

State Population

North Dakota 1,492

Ohio 166,361

Oklahoma 5,186

Oregon 9,767

Pennsylvania 322,406

Rhode Island 20,502

South Carolina 4,816

South Dakota 1,262

Tennessee 14,034

Texas 30,839

Utah

Vermont

3,737

2,221

Virginia 15.403

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

Porto Rico

Alaska"

Canal Zone

Philippine Islands

Virgin Islands

Guam

Hawaii

9,117

5,129

28,581

498

200

500

200

500

70

1

150

Total 3,390,572

From the above table it would appear that the Jewish population of the United States approaches a total of nearly

3,400,000. But it is probably not quite so great. In a mass

of computations, such as those here set forth, based from the

beginning largely on estimates, however carefully such estimates may have been pared down, it is entirely possible that

an aggregation of errors amounting to two or three per cent

may have, in one way or another, crept in, no matter how

vigilantly the labors of the collators may have been supervised.

It is therefore considered advisable by the writer, in order that

the figures here exhibited may not become liable to any charge
66 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

of having been padded or inflated, to assume some such percentage of inaccuracy as that mentioned above, and there has

consequently been allowed 2c/> for such potential errors, making

the final estimate of the Jews of the United States 3,320,000,

as of the beginning of the year 1918.

In the following table there is presented, in each case, the

Jewish population of each state in the United States, as well

as the Jewish population of each of the state's larger cities or

towns, together with the combined Jewish population of all of

the state's small towns. By a larger city is here meant any

municipality having a general population of more than 20,000,

and by a small town is meant any town with a general population of less than 20,000 and more than 1000, the general

population figures being in all instances taken from the 1910

census, with the exception of the eight states of Iowa, Kansas,

Massachusetts, Few Jersey, New York, North Dakota, South

Dakota, and Wyoming, where the 1915 census returns have

been relied upon.

TABLE J

. SHOWING THE JEWISH POPULATION or EACH STATE, BY CITIES

Jewish Jewish

City Population City Popula ion

ALABAMA Texarkana 200

Birmingham 3,500 91 small towns 3,012

Mobile 2,200

Montgomery 1,650 Total 5,012

117 small towns 3,736

CALIFOENIA

Total 11,086 Alameda 200

Berkeley 300

ARIZONA Fresno 400

on Kmaii tnwT1« i ni« Los Angeles 18,000

... small towns l,01o Oaklan d bM0

AEKANSAS Sacramento. 900

ARKANSAS Pasadena 350

Port Smith 300 San Diego 600

Little Rock 1,500 San Francisco 30,000
THE JEWISH POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES 67

TABLE J

Jewish

City Population

San Jose 200

Stockton 1,000

218 small towns 6,702

Total 63,652

COLORADO

Colorado Springs 660

Denver 11,000

Pueblo 1,000

54 small towns 1,905

Total 14,565

CONNECTICUT

Bridgeport 12,000

Danbury 300

Hartford 16,000

Meriden 1,000

New Britain 2,500

New Haven 18,000

New London 1,000

Norwalk 550

Norwich 1,500

Stamford 1,500

Waterbury 6,000

114 small towns 6,512

Total 6o,S62

DELAWARE

Wilmington 3,500

15 small towns 306

Total 3,806

IHSTKICT OF COLUMBIA

Washington 10,000

FLORIDA

Jacksonville 2,000

Key West 200

Pensacola 1,000

(CONTINUED)

Jewish

City Population

Tampa 1,000

62 small towns 2,251

Total 6,451

GEORGIA

Atlanta 10,000

Augusta 2,500

Columbus 300

Macon 550

Savannah 5,000

117 small towns 4,064

Total 22,414

IDAHO

Boise 200

35 small towns 878

Total 1,078

ILLINOIS

Alton 90

Aurora 300

Belleville 150

Bloomington 275

Chicago 225,000

Danville 625

Decatur 200

East St. Louis 1,000

Elgin 500

Evanston 250

Galesburg 220

Joliet 1,100

Moline 60

Oak Park 750

Peoria 1,750

Quincy 400

Rockford 900

Rock Island 412

Springfield 700

361 small towns 11,955

Total 246,637
68

AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

TABLE J (CONTINUED)

City

Jewish

Population

INDIANA

Anderson 150

Evansville 1,500

Fort Wayne 1,650

Hammond 600

Indianapolis 10,000

Lafayette 300

Muncie 200

New Albany 125

Richmond 155

South Bend 2,000

Terre Haute 500

191 small towns 8,653

City

KENTUCKY

Covington

Lexington^

Louisville

Paducah

97 small towns

Jewish

Population

350

385

9,000

250

3,377

Total 13,362

LOUISIANA

New Orleans 8,000

Shreveport 1,500

76 small towns 3,223

Total 25,833 Total 12,723

MAINE

IOWA

Burlington

Cedar Rapids

Council Bluffs

Clinton

Davenport

Des Moines

Dubuque

Ottumwa

Sioux City

Waterloo

205 small towns...

225

700

1,000

65

600

3,200

450

412

2,500

325

6,078

Bangor

Lewiston

Portland

113 small towns.

1,000

275

2,500

3,612

Total

MARYLAND

Baltimore

Cumberland

67 small towns.

7,387

60,000

600

2,042

Total 15,555

Total 62,642

MASSACHUSETTS

KANSAS

Kansas City

Leavenworth

Topeka

Wichita

131 small towns...

3,500

600

1,000

300

4,050

Total 9,450

Beverly .. .

Boston ... .

Brockton .

Brookline .

Cambridge

Chelsea .. .

Chicopee ..

Everett .. .

Fall River

550

77,500

1,500-

200

S.OUO

13,000

300

500

7,500
THE JEWISH POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES 69

TABLE J

Jewish

City Population

Gloucester 243

Haverhill 3,500

Holyoke 1,000

Lawrence 2,000

Lowell 6,000

Lynn 7,500

Maiden 9,000

Medford 250

New Bedford 3,500

Newton 400

North Adams 500

Northampton 330

Pittsfield 1,500

. Quincy 1,250

Revere 6,000

Salem 1,500

Somerville 2,000

Springfield 6,000

Taunton 750

Waltham 300

Worcester 10,000

268 small towns 17,098

Total 189,671

MICHIGAN

Battle Creek 244

Bay City 1,000

Calumet 110

Detroit 50,000

Flint 385

Grand Rapids 1,000

Jackson 300

Kalamazoo 900

Lansing 450

Muskegon 300

Saginaw 1,000

199 small towns 7,565

Total 63,254

(CONTINUED)

Jewish

City Population

MINNESOTA

Duluth 2,300

Minneapolis 15,000

St. Paul 10,000

145 small towns 4,162

Total 31,462

MISSISSIPPI

Jackson 126

Meridian 400

Vicksburg 532

74 small towns 2,823

Total 3,881

MISSOURI

Joplin 250

Kansas City ...." 12,000

St. Joseph 3,300

St. Louis 60,000

Springfield 165

216 small towns 5,092

Total 80,807

MONTANA

Butte 1,000

34 small towns 1,518

Total 2,518

NEBRASKA

Lincoln 1,200

Omaha 10,000

South Omaha 262

88 small towns 2,085

Total 13,547'

NEVADA

22 small towns 503
AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

TABLE J

Jewish

City Population

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Concord

Manchester

Nashua

58 small towns

Total

NEW JERSEY

Atlantic City

Bayonne

Camden

East Orange ... .

Elizabeth

Hoboken

Irvington

Jersey City

Kearny

Montclair

Newark

New Brunswick .

Orange

Passaic

Paterson

Perth Amboy .. .

Plainfleld

Trenton

Union

West Hoboken ..

West New York..

190 small towns.

(CONTINUED)

Jewish

City Population

Buffalo 20,000

158

600

350

2,149

3,257

4,000

10,000

2,000

300

5,000

5,000

200

12,500

400

75

55,000

3,000

210

6,000

15,000

5,000

1,500

7,000

400

350

1,500

15,041

Total 149,476

NEW MEXICO

35 small towns

NEW YORK

Albany

Amsterdam

Auburn

Binghamton

7,000

300

250

1,500

Cohoes 200

Elmira 1,200

Gloversville 650

Jamestown 125

Kingston 800

Mt. Vernon 3,000

Newburgh 400

New Rochelle 3,000

New York 1,500,000

Niagara Falls 400

Oswego 300

Poughkeepsie 1,600

Rochester 20,000

Rome 250.

Schenectady 3,500

Syracuse 12,000

Troy 3,000

Utica 1,600

Watertown 230

Yonkers 5,000

356 small towns 17,618

Total l,b0d,923

NORTH CAROLINA

Charlotte

Wilmington

Winston Salem . .

110 small towns.

350

400

116

4,049

Total

NORTH DAKOTA

Fargo

858 34 small towns.

4,915

600

892

Total

OHIO

Akron

Ashtabula

1,492

2,000

209
THE JEWISH POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES 71

TABLE J

Jewish

City Population

Canton 1,000

Cincinnati 25,000

Cleveland 100,000

Columbus 9,000

Dayton 4,000

East Liverpool 300

Hamilton 260

Lima 300

Lorain 350

Mansfield 50

Marion 100

Newark 100

Norwood 161

Portsmouth 128

Sandusky 143

Springfield 400

Steubenville 400

Toledo 7,500

Youngstown 5,000

Zanesville 250

287 small towns 9,710

Total 166,361

OKLAHOMA

Muskogee 225

Oklahoma City 1,000

Tulsa 500

131 small towns 3,461

Total 5,186

OKEQON

Portland 8,000

50 small towns 1,767

Total 9,767

PENNSYLVANIA

Allentown 1,200

Altoona 1,000

Braddock 1,600

(CONTINUED)

Jewish

City Population

Butler 150

Chester 1,000

Baston 800

Erie 1,500

Harrisburg 4,000

Hazleton 950

Homestead 650

Johnstown 400

Lancaster 1,400

Lebanon 100

McKeesport 3,000

Nanticoke 150

New Castle 610

Norristown 220

Philadelphia 200,000

Pittsburgh 60,000

Pottsville 400

Reading 1,750

Scranton 7,500

Shamokin 235

Shenandoah 550

South Bethlehem 1,300

Washington 400

Wilkes-Barre 3,000

Wilkinsburg 125

Williamsport 350

York 700

593 small towns 27,366

Total 322,406

RHODE ISLAND

Central Falls 250

Cranston 400

Newport 500

Pawtucket 500

Providence 15,000

Woonsocket 900

32 small towns 2,952

Total 20,502
AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

TABLE J (CONTINUED)

Jewish Jewish

City Population cit y Population

SOUTH CAKOUNA VERMONT

Charleston 1,900 Burlington 850

Columbia 281 51 small towns 1,371

77 small towns 2.635

Total 2,221

Total 4,816

SOUTH DAKOTA

Sioux City 200

38 small towns 1,062

Total

TENNESSEE

Chattanooga ..

Knoxville

Memphis

Nashville

90 small towns.

1,262

1,400

350

7,000

3,000

2,284

Total 14,034

TEXAS

Austin

Beaumont

Dallas

El Paso

Fort worth

Galveston

Houston.

San Antonio

Waco

286 small towns. ..

300

400

8,000

1,800

2.250

1,100

5,000

3,000

1,500

7,489

Total 30,839

Ogden

Salt Lake City..

34 small towns.

125

2,500

1,112

VIRGINIA

Lynchburg

Newport News

Norfolk

Petersburg ... .

Portsmouth .. .

Richmond

Roanoke

87 small towns.

300

2,000

5,000

400

1,000

4,000

300

2,403

Total 15,403

WASHINGTON

Bellingham .. .

Everett

Seattle

Spokane

Tacoma

67 small towns.

250

150

5,000

1,100

900

1,717

Total

WEST VIBGINIA

Charleston

Huntington

Wheeling

92 small towns

9,117

1,000

310

1,000

2,819

Total

WISCONSIN

Total 3,737

Green Bay

Kenosha ..

5,129

300

200
THE JEWISH POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES 73

TABLE J (CONTINUED)

Jewish Jewish

City Population City Population

La Crosse 235 Superior 800

Madison 250 151 small towns 5,444

Milwaukee 20,000 „„ ,„,

Oshkosh 100

 Tota l 28 '5 8 1

Racine 400 WYOMING

Sheboygan 852 18 small towns 498

Grand total 3,388,951

The total Jewish population of the United States amounted,

therefore, in 1917 to over 3,300,000. If to these be added the

Jews of Canada and Latin America, it will be found that there

are now in the Western Continent over three and a half million

Jews. Twelve states of the Union, namely, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, as shown by Table K, contain nine-tenths of all the

Jews in the country.

TABLE K

SHOWING TWELVE STATES WHICH CONTAIN NINETY PER CENT OP THE

JEWS IN THE UNITED STATES

Jewish Jewish

State Population State Population

California 63,652 Missouri 80,807

Connecticut 66,862 New Jersey 149,476

Illinois 246,637 New York 1,603,923

Indiana 25,833 Ohio 166,361

Maryland 63,642 Pennsylvania 322,406

Massachusetts 189,671

Michigan 63,254 Total 3,041,524

The single state of New York, with a Jewish population of

over 1,600,000, holds, it will be seen, nearly half of all the Jews

in the United States. Wyoming and Nevada have less Jews
74 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

than any other state, namely, five hundred each, about the

same number as there are in the Philippines. Alaska also has

approximately five hundred. There are two hundred in the

Canal Zone, and as many in Porto Eico, seventy in the Virgin

Islands, and one in Guam.

In making all the computations for the purposes of this

census, no attention has been paid to places with a generalpopulation of less than one thousand. Thus if here or there

some slight exaggerations have crept into our census, they will

be, in a measure, neutralized through the omission of the Jewish

quotas in the numerous townlets that have been disregarded.

It may be of interest to note here that New York is not percentage-wise the most Jewish city. Chelsea, Mass., has a

general population of forty-six thousand, and contains thirteen

thousand Jews, or a Jewish population of twenty-eight per

cent. Kosenhayn, N. J. has a general population of six

hundred, and contains three hundred Jews, or a Jewish population of fifty per cent, while Carmel, N. J. lias a general

population of seven hundred and fifty, and contains four

hundred and fifty Jews, or a Jewish population of sixty per

cent. Woodbine, N. J., is practically entirely Jewish in

population.
THE JEWS OP SERBIA 75

THE JEWS OF SERBIA

BY I. ALCALAY, CHIEF KABBI OF SERBIA

The Jews of Serbia represent a branch of a large group of

what is known as Oriental Jewry, who left Spain in 1492 or

thereabouts, and settled in Turkey. Until the middle of the

last century they were, in the main, living under the political

protection of the Turkish Government. All their religious

and social concepts were identical with those of the Oriental

Jews. When, in course of time, the portion of Europe now

known as Serbia freed itself from the yoke of the Turkish rule,

an entirely new position was created for the Jews residing in

the liberated portion of the Balkans. At first they spoke

Ladino and a little Turkish; but with the formation of the

Serbian Government, the Jews naturally found it very difficult to respond to the new environment and conditions, owing

to the fact that they had to learn the Serbian language and

to adapt themselves to a regime that belonged to the GreekOrthodox Church, whereas formerly the Mohammedan faith

had been predominant. As the Serbians at first considered

the Jews loyal adherents of their former oppressors, they

naturally made the Jews conscious of a civic or patriotic

inferiority. In consequence, the first years under the new

regime were not free from strife and struggle. But at no time

did the Serbians openly display their antagonism or hatred

towards the Jews, or accuse them of forming a distinct group

which was not loyal to Serbia. For the Serbian Government, the rulers, and the princes not only found that the Jew
76 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

was in no way disloyal, but on the contrary discovered him to

be most patriotic in every respect.

This process of readjustment lasted nearly a whole generation. During this time the Jew living in Serbia under Serbian

rule had every opportunity to adapt himself to the new conditions. He learned to understand the manners and customs

of his Serbian neighbors, and, what is most important, he

learned the Serbian language. Thus the Jew of Serbia until

the present war began had full opportunity to develop himself, and he became one of the important factors in the life of

the State. It was not long before he proved his patriotism

and loyalty by valor on the battlefield and by participating in

the intellectual and economic progress of the State.

Before entering upon details, I wish to quote some figures

of statistical interest. When the war broke out, there were

from thirty-five to forty thousand Jews in Serbia. More than

half of them were late arrivals, who, after the Balkan war,

had been attracted to Serbia from the Turkish empire. These

newcomers constituted an important addition to the Sephardic

community of Serbia. They had enjoyed the freedom of

Serbia for a period of ten months, when the present war broke

out and their further development was thereby interrupted.

They had been and were still undergoing a transformation.

In the main they lived like their coreligionists in Turkey.

When, therefore, the Jews of Serbia are spoken of, that expression is limited to the fifteen thousand Jews, who were in that

country for many, many years prior to the outbreak of the

Balkan war. Of these fifteen thousand Jews fully ten thousand were residents of Belgrade, the rest being scattered

throughout the smaller towns of Serbia, such as Nish, Shabatz,

Leskovotz, Pirot, Pojarevatz, Smederevo, and Kraguyevatz.
THE JEWS OF SERBIA 7?

They were mainly occupied with commerce, although, of

course, they were also to be found among the various crafts.

Not the least important was the position many of them occupied in the various liberal professions, in which fields they

made themselves especially valuable, so much st», that they

reflected great honor upon the rest of Jewry.

In consequence of the advantageous political position occupied by the Serbian Jews, which position they had earned for

themselves, it was possible for every Jew to be proud of his

religion and, at the same time, gain the respect of his neighbors. It was his chief pride to make his life an open book,

especially in relation to his non-Jewish neighbors, for he

noticed that in governmental affairs, as well as in social intercourse, no attempt had ever been made to belittle him on

account of his religion. On the contrary, he noticed a

genuine interest displayed ou the part of his neighbors in his

religious practices. The king attended Jewish services; and

on certain occasions the leading ministers and diplomats of

other faiths came to pay homage and respect to the ancient

religion of the Jews. All this made such a deep impression

upon the Jew, that he developed a high regard and loyal love

for the traditional, as well as for the ceremonial phases of the

Jewish faith, thus becoming a better Jew and a better Serbian.

The Serbian Jew is by nature deeply religious, and he is

ever ready to make all personal sacrifices for the sake of

Judaism, though he is far from being narrow-minded. He

does not know the meaning of Eeform in contra-distinction

to Orthodoxy; but he happens to have developed a type of

Judaism in which the two are very happily blended. As far

as the spirit of the times permits, the Jews of Serbia stand fast

by Jewish traditions; but in their daily lives and in their
78 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

social relations they are absolutely up-to-date and modern in

every sense. Their homes are thoroughly Jewish in spirit, as

well as in practice. Every Jewish festival is strictly observed

in accordance with the ritual. The most important phase of

Jewish life, however, is brought out in the ceremonials of the

synagogue, to which the Jews come dressed in their best and

in which they deport themselves with all the dignity and

respect that a house of worship should command. The liturgy

has not changed from the accepted traditional form. In all

the synagogues there are choirs. In Belgrade there is one

synagogue with a mixed choir, which, in quality and in artistic

merit, compares favorably with the best choirs to be heard in

any Jewish house of worship. Of course, all the singers are

Jews and Jewesses. Many of the melodies rendered in the

Serbian synagogues have come down to us from the time when

our ancestors resided in Spain, and are the same as in Holland,

New York, Montreal, and the West Indies, although these are

separated from the Serbian Jews by four hundred years

of history and by many thousand miles. In addition, however, the latter have adopted some Hebrew melodies written

by Sulzer, Lewandowski, and other modern Jewish religious

composers. The organ is never played on Sabbath or on

festival days. It is only at patriotic and private festivities, occurring on week-days, that the peal of the organ

ever resounds. The prayers are mainly read in Hebrew,

but some are translated into old Castilian or Serbian.

In addition to festival sermons, special sermons are delivered on Sabbaths, once a month, dealing invariably with

ethics, history, and other subjects, including every modern

question of Jewish interest. The sermons are delivered in the

Serbian language, and attract not only Jews, but also many
THE JEWS OF SERBIA 79

persons belonging to other denominations, who come to hear

the addresses and appear to be moved by the music. On

Saturday afternoons services are arranged for the young folks,

especially for the students of the Hebrew classes, which are

attended by young men and young women, by boys and girls.

These take an active interest in the services. The boys and

young men render some of the prayers. Special sermons for

the young people are delivered, calculated to develop in the

young folks a sense of pride in matters Jewish. The services

held on the king's birthday are made so attractive that the

leading dignitaries attend the synagogue and display a feeling

of friendship and respect made stronger because of the wholehearted spirit in which services of this type are conducted.

The education which the Jewish youth of Serbia receive in

the city schools is of a fairly high standard, and it may be

asserted that these schools compare well with educational

institutions in the most enlightened countries. Education in

Serbia is compulsory. The Jewish children, however, are not

satisfied with the public school education alone; they continue their studies in high schools and other advanced institutions. Even children whose parents wish to have them take up

a business career enter special commercial schools. Accordingly, the mercantile class contains men of high intellectual

attainments. Apart from the young men who attend the

Belgrade University, which, by the way, offers courses also to

women, several Serbian Jews take courses at leading universities of other countries. During the ten years of attendance in the public, elementary, and high schools, every Serbian

child is compelled to take up religious instruction as well. The

Jewish boy must furnish proof that he is receiving religious

instruction, and unless he brings a certificate of special merit
80 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

in that respect, he is not allowed to be promoted. This has

helped the Serbian Jews to perfect their religious schools to

such an extent that they really constitute the foundation of

Jewish life. Every Jewish community has its religious school

which is in charge of men who, in addition to their knowledge

of Hebrew, have a thorough modern education. The Jewish

children, during the first four years of attendance at public

school, are expected to take eighteen hours of Hebrew instruction a week. While at the high school, they must necessarily

curtail their Hebrew studies, so that they can devote only six

hours to them. The hours for religious instruction never conflict with those for secular education, and that is why the

scholars are able to take advantage of both to the fullest extent. The children acquire a correct Hebrew pronunciation, a

thorough knowledge of the Bible, both in the original language

and in a Serbian translation, and a familiarity with Jewish

history from the beginning down to modern times, including

modern social movements. All of the traditional and ritual

observances are explained to the child, so that he does not

follow them blindly, bu,t practises them intelligently and

sincerely. The provincial schools have from one to two

Hebrew teachers, but in, Belgrade, where the number of

Jewish children in the public, elementary, and high schools

amounts to seven hundred, there are seven male teachers and

one female teacher for Hebrew; the principal, who is usually

a university graduate, also presides over certain classes which

receive his personal instruction. The teachers are for the

most part graduates of the Belgrade Jewish Seminary, which

was supported by all of the Jewish communities of Serbia.

Many of these teachers also taught in the regular public schools.

However, since this Seminary has been closed, due to the
THE JEWS OF SERBIA 81

inability to attract candidates for this special field, it has been

necessary to draw upon Palestine for teachers. The Bible is

taught in Hebrew. Every other subject of Jewish instruction

is imparted in Serbian.

The manner in which these religious schools are conducted

has greatly helped to make the Jews of Serbia a highly

cultured element in the country. There is a very large group

of Jewish young men who occupy splendid positions in the

political as well as in social life. For example, there are over

thirty-five Jewish physicians in Serbia, though the Jewish

population amounts to only fifteen thousand. This compares

favorably with the general community, for in the entire population of Serbia "which, before the war, amounted to three

millions, there was but one physician for every seven thousand

souls. In every other branch of the professions the quota of

Jews is in the same proportion. Three Jews have occupied

positions as under-secretaries in the State Department, one of

them having been appointed consul-general in one of the leading European cities. There is a Jewish officer in the army who

has worked his way up to the position of colonel, and considering that he is only thirty-six years old, there is every reason

to hope that a still higher military rank will be reached by him.

The same is the case in the field of literature; the Serbian

Jews have made their mark in prose as well as in poetry. The

very same consul-general, alluded to above, Mr. Chaim

Davitcho, was a writer of distinction, whose original contributions and translations of foreign dramas, principally from

the Spanish, have made him one of the most prominent figures

in the National Theatre and in the leading literary circles of

Serbia. But apart from having devoted himself to general

literature, he has also written on subjects of Jewish interest.
82 AMERICAN JEIWISH YEAR BOOK

For example, he has produced a series of novels dealing with

the life of the Belgrade Jews, beginning with the period when

Serbia was under Turkish rule and bringing his material up

to date. Throughout all of these novels, his special object was

to bring out very forcibly the loyalty of the Jew to his God

and the love that he bears his fellow-men. The incidents

in congregational and home life are treated by him with such

grace and elegance as to make them stand out like gems

beautifully set. The brother of Chaim Davitcho, Mr. Benko

Davitcho, who fell in action during the Balkan war, has also

earned for himself a reputation as a litterateur. A score of

others whose contributions to modern literature are most valuable might be mentioned. All these prominent men are not

only conscientious Jews, but are ever ready to give up their

time in facilitating the progress of Jewish communal affairs,

in their respective towns, in the fields which have a particular

attraction for them.

The rabbis of Serbia have various functions. They are not

bound to the synagogue alone, but also devote part of their

time to the Jewish social life. It often happens that some

families owe their social and economic well-being to the

active endeavors and the practical aid rendered them by their

spiritual leaders. These diversified labors are greatly facilitated by the recognition, aid, confidence, and authority that

the rabbi enjoys on the part of the Government, as well as his

community. A rabbi in Serbia, in addition to a diploma from

a seminary, must, of necessity, have a university education, or

must give proof of his Hebrew and talmudic learning by a

document signed by one of the recognized spiritual leaders

of Europe. He is elected by a committee consisting of the

Executives of the community and of twenty-five delegates
THE JEWS OP SERBIA 83

elected by the Jews who hold a special meeting for their

election. The Government is always advised of the appointment of a rabbi, and it usually sanctions the choice of the

Jewish community. This sanction carries with it the privileges accorded the rabbi. Then follows the installation of the

rabbi with all due pomp and ceremony. Three days are

devoted to this special celebration, in which non-Jews also

participate as a mark of their respect to the newly elected

religious leader. The celebration begins with services in the

synagogue, and a prayer is offered for the well-being and the

success of the rabbi. Banquets, receptions, and concerts are

included in the three days of festivity. The rabbi is in more

senses than one a state official, for, apart from performing

religious and social duties, he has to discharge state functions

according to the demands of the constitution.

The Greek-Orthodox Church is related to the State to such

an extent that it plays an important role in the life of the

Government. The State is, therefore, compelled, in a sense,

to allow the Jewish religious community to play a similar role.

For example, marriages and divorces in Serbia are recognized

mainly and chiefly as Church or religious functions. The laws

of the State recognize only such marriages and divorces as

have had the sanction of a religious authority, and do not

require any separate license. Further, in all Government

functions, such as taking the oath of office for military or civil

service, or in legal proceedings, a religious leader must be

present, in accordance with the provision of the law. The

Jews have naturally developed the laws regulating marriages

and domestic relations in such a way that they enjoy not only

the religious sanctity and privileges accorded them by the

State authorities, but also executive power to carry out
84 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

decisions. They are even able to invoke the aid of the police.

As a mark of the cultural development of Serbian JewTy, it

is perhaps well to dwell upon the excellent work achieved by

several organizations. First among these organizations, and

perhaps the most important one, is the one devoted to the

spreading of the knowledge'of Judaism and Jewish history

among the Serbian Jews. The second in importance is a Fund

Organization, which has for its aim the grant of fellowships to

Jewish young men who are desirous of pursuing higher studies

in foreign universities but are economically unable to do so.

Due to the efforts of this organization, many young men have

returned to Serbia, and have repaid the sums spent on them

not alone with actual money, but with the manifold services

they are rendering. Then there is the Zionist organization in

Serbia which has succeeded in uniting the various elements

of Jewry. The Serbian Jews have always made it a point to

send their delegates to the Jewish National Congress, have

paid their shekels, and in every other respect have shared in

all undertakings of the National Fund Organization. All this

has been done despite the fact that in Serbia the Zionist movement has never been very strong; but one thing must be remembered : we have never had an anti-Zionist movement.

The leading social organization in Serbia is known as the

Serbian Lodge of the I. 0. B. B. at Belgrade. That organization practically shapes the policy of social relations among

Jews. This Lodge has been able, in the course of three years,

to perfect its functions in such a manner as to play a part in

the social and economic welfare of Serbian Jewry and to

shape the political opinions of the Jewish community. Every

member of the I. 0. B. B. considers it a privilege and an honor

to belong to it, and only such are admitted as are deemed
THE JEWS OF SERBIA 85

satisfactory in every respect. The sessions of the Lodge are

strictly formal, and the order of business is very carefully

worked out.

It is hardly necessary to point out that the Serbian Jews, as

all other Jewish communities, take care of their poor, who are

mostly strangers that have come to Serbia because of unfavorable conditions in other parts of Europe. Whenever special

collections are made in order to provide Matzoth, clothing, or

other articles for the poor, the amount gathered is always in

excess of the need. The surplus money thus raised is not laid

aside as a permanent fund, but is at once transmitted either to

Palestine, or to neighboring Balkan states, toward which a

special kinship is naturally felt. The Jew of Serbia has never

sought aid from his coreligionists outside of his country.

When the Balkan war was declared, a special commission,

under the leadership of Dr. Paul Nathan and Dr. Kahn of

Berlin, and of Mr. Elkan N. Adler of London, who also represented the American philanthropic organizations, asked

what could be done for the Jews of Serbia by the Jews of

America, England, and Germany. The reply was: " We accept

your greetings and kindly offer, and you may return with the

satisfaction of knowing that we always have looked after our

own and will continue to do so." But apart from the charitable

aid rendered, the Jewish leaders in Serbia made it a point to

afford help to their coreligionists, who were temporarily in

need, in a most dignified and honorable manner, by having

founded for them what is known as the Jewish Bank. This

institution is maintained by a membership, and also enjoys

bequests specially left to it. It is not a free-loan society, because all transactions are based on strictly commercial lines;

it differs from other banks only in the fact that the rate of
86 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

interest is lower than in other financial institutions, and that

credit is extended to many who could not secure a loan from

any other source.

The relationship between the Jew and non-Jew in Serbia is

most amicable, and this is manifested not only between the

hours of nine in the morning and five in the evening, bu,t also

in private gatherings. Many of the larger concerns in Belgrade have Jewish and non-Jewish partners, and when it is

remembered that many of these firms have carried on business

for over thirty years and that the partnerships have never been

dissolved because of disputes or through legal proceedings, one

may well realize how harmonious the relationship is. The

question of religion never enters into the ranks of society.

During all Jewish holidays and festivals the leading church

dignitaries make it a point not only to visit the synagogue, but

also to offer their congratulations in private by calling at the

home of the rabbi and conveying their personal, as well as

their church's congratulations. Whenever the king holds a

reception, many Jews are specially invited.

Although Jew and non-Jew live very harmoniously together,

cases of intermarriage or conversion are extremely rare. Either

act would be severely criticised on all sides, and the party, guilty

of such a misdeed would be boycotted by society at large. The

Serbian Jew is eminently proud of his Judaism, and feels

especially dignified by virtue of the fact that he, coming from

Spain, can trace his ancestors without admixture for many,

many generations, during which time they have happily been

subjected to less cruelty and oppression than have been many

of the Jews who have settled elsewhere.

Because the Jews of Serbia have strictly observed their

religious practices, they have been able to retain many customs
THE JEWS OF SERBIA 87

that the Jews in other parts of the Orient have perhaps abandoned to a large degree. For example, during the seven days

of Shiva the friends and relatives who visit the house of

mourning concern themselves with all of the needs of the

mourners. All food required is brought from without, and the

mou,rners are spared the trouble of providing any. On the

Sabbath following a wedding the groom has a special seat of

honor in the synagogue, which is usually decorated with

flowers, and during the reading of the Torah he is given the

honor of holding another scroll in his arms. As a final mark

of honor, the entire congregation rises, and sings a chant,

inviting him to read Genesis 24, 1-7. As he steps forward from

his seat to the Tebah, flowers and candies are thrown from

the ladies' galleries by young and old. As he returns to his

seat, a similar ovation is accorded him.

This is but a brief outline of the religious, cultural, and

social life of the Serbian Jews. Naturally, because of the

terrible results of the present great war, all these facts, recollections, and associations come to the writer like the memory

of a dream. The Serbian Jews have lost all they possessed, and

will be compelled to begin anew when the time comes to reestablish themselves. Their only consolation in their sorrow

is that Serbia has been able to come into closer contact with

America, and is better known by the Americans. They firmly

believe that the Allies, Serbia among them, will be victorious

in this war. They believe that Serbia will be restored to her

independence and her place of honor among the nations. They

are certain that, when the Serbian nation is restored and united,

the Jews will again resume their happy life of the past, the

horrors of the present will be forgotten, and, with the blessing

of God, a yet brighter future will be opened up for all the

Jews.
88 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

THE JEWISH WELFAEE BOARD

BY CHESTER JACOB TELLER

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, JEWISH WELFARE BOAED

Primarily the purpose of the Jewish Welfare Board is to

help America win the war. Despite the basic American principle of a separate Church and State, or, to he more exact,

because of it, the American Government in the first days of the

war perceived the necessity of calling upon certain religious

welfare agencies to co-operate with it. It sought this cooperation because it recognized the value of morale in warfare,

and knew how close was the relationship between morale and

modern community ways of life. With a breadth of view and

a degree of foresight, perhaps never before equalled by a war

administration of any other country, the United States Government set itself to thinking out the war problems not only

in terms of ships, guns, munitions, and supplies, but also in

health, decency, personal improvement of the men, contentment, esprit. In short, all those elements that go to make up

the concept of morale in its broadest implications received the

closest study and the most thorough-going application.

A special Commission on Training Camp Activities was

created, as a branch of the War Department, charged with the

specific duties of making life in the new American camps and

in the communities adjoining the camps as normal as conditions of actual war and the problems of an unprecedented

national emergency would permit. This commission sought

to utilize the potential social resources of the country, and it

early brought to bear on the problem the whole strength of the
THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 89

Young Men's Christian Association, with its nation-wide

organization, so thoroughly alive to the needs of young men,

and so excellently adapted to the nation's new work.

In the same spirit and for the same purposes the War

Department through this special Training Camp Commission—the Fosdick Commission, as it has come to be known—

invited the large Catholic group in America to participate in

the national welfare program, with the result that the Knights

of Columbus was nominated by the Catholic Church and

accepted by the American Government as the authoritative

Catholic agency for war purposes.

The selection of the third agency to represent what might

be considered the third largest religious group in America,

namely, the Jewish group, was fraught with difficulties. It is

a commentary upon Jewish life in America, and particularly

upon its work of national organization and management, that

with 260 years of history behind it, and with literally thousands

of organizations, no single agency could be selected as representative of the Jewry of America. True, one or two of them

seemed to have some special claim to such recognition, but by

reason of their limited constitution or platform, or for some

other reason, they failed to secure the endorsement of the Jews

as a whole. The result was a meeting of representatives of

some ten or more national Jewish organizations, at which it

was decided that each organization present should delegate

certain powers to a new agency. This was the beginning of the

organization which has since become known as the Jewish

Welfare Board, and which has obtained the official recognition

of the Government and, indeed, its mandate to contribute on

behalf of the Jews of America to the national work of welfare

among the nation's uniformed men.
90 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

As the officially recognized agency of the War Department

and of the Commission on Training Camp Activities, the

Jewish Welfare Board has been called to undertake high tasks

and responsibilities. It has been charged with the nomination

and selection of the Jewish welfare workers in the camps and

cantonments of this country and in the hospitals and rest

camps abroad. In these increasingly critical times, no task

could be more exacting. The initial selection of men, however,

is but part of it. It is necessary that they be carefully

apprised of their duties as quasi-pu,blic officials, that they

know thoroughly their relation to the Government, to its military establishment, to the Commission on Training Camp

Activities, and to the welfare agencies with which we have

joined hands, namely, the Y. M. C. A. and the K. of C. They

must know the meaning of democracy in the American camp.

They should understand what Americanization denotes and

what it does not. They must be inspired with the ideal of an

army and navy, selected from all races and creeds, to fight for

the liberties of all peoples and for the rights of all religions,

under our flag and under the flags of the Allies. And our welfare workers must be trained to interpret these things to the soldiers and sailors, to bring group closer to group and all men

into clearer understanding of America's ideals and aims in this

war. The welfare agencies are not invited to do separatist

work; they are asked to join hands in fostering and promoting

a joint welfare program.

As its contribution to this program, the Jewish Welfare

Board has placed one hundred and ninety-eight workers in

the American camps, and has sent, in addition, countless

others—volunteers who, as occasional or regular visitors in the

camps, have preached the message of religion, have assisted
THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 91

in other ways at religious services, visited the sick in the hospitals, the men in difficulty in the guard-houses, or entertained men in groups and cheered and comforted them individually. As its contribution to the physical resources of the

camps, the Welfare Board is erecting thirty buildings, not to

overlap, not to duplicate, but to supplement the facilities

created by other agencies, where such facilities; were needed,

either for the housing of our workers and the administration of

their work, or for the general welfare needs of Jews and nonJews alike. At Camp Upton, near New York, the Jewish

Welfare Building, recently completed, is used for services by

soldiers of every faith. On the other hand, the Welfare Board

makes use of a general church headquarters, erected by the

General War-Time Commission on the Churches, to the upkeep of which it contributes a substantial amount of money.

Again, we have assisted the American Library Association

in its nation-wide campaign for books. We have encouraged

the giving of comforts and gifts to the soldiers and sailors,

regardless of creed, for to draw distinctions between creeds

would be to violate the very ethics of the democracy we cherish.

As official representatives of the Government, we are called to

minister to all men.

This by no means implies that religious work has no place

in the American welfare program, or that the welfare agencies

must reduce their efforts to that colorless, meaningless something which frequently goes by the name of non-sectarianism.

On the contrary, the Jewish Welfare Board would not truly

represent the American Government, unless it also represented

the organized Jewry which created it. Indeed, specialized

ministrations of each group to its own men in the camps are

implied in the very organization which the War Department
92 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

created with the help of the Commission on Training Camp

Activities and the welfare agencies.

Thanks to this large view on the part of the Government, we

have in the Welfare Board, for the first time in the history of

America, an organization which not only has the official endorsement of the Government, but likewise that of organized

American Jewry. The board to-day counts among its societies

no less than fourteeen prominent Jewish associations, among

which are the Agudath ha-Rabbonim, Central Conference of

American Rabbis, Council of Jewish Women, Council of

Young Men's Hebrew and Kindred Associations, Independent

Order B'nai B'rith, Independent Order B'rith Abraham, Jewish Chautauqua Society, Jewish Publication Society of

America, National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, New

York Board of Jewish Ministers, Order B'rith Abraham,

Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, and the United Synagogue of

America.

The relationship between the Board and its parent bodies is

for the most part steady and constructive. The rabbinical

bodies have co-operated in the arrangement of an abridged

prayer book for the use of soldiers and sailors of our faith.

The Jewish Publication Society of America acts as the publishing agency of the board, which has thus far placed orders

with it for the publication of no less than one hundred and

eighty thousand copies of the Abridged Prayer Book and one

hundred and sixty thousand copies of the Readings from the

Holy Scripture, arranged with the help of the Society's editor.

With the Agudath ha-Rabbonim (the Federation of Orthodox Rabbis) the Welfare Board has been active in an inquiry

as to the demand for Kosher food on the part of the Jewish
THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 93

men in the camps, governmental sanction having been secured

for the sale of Kosher non-perishable food products in the

camps and cantonments wherever such supply is warranted by

the demand therefor.

A series of circuits for the conduct of lecture courses to soldiers and sailors throughout the spring and summer months

is being arranged under the joint auspices of the Welfare Board

and the Jewish Chautauqua Society.

To the town or community program of the Welfare Board

substantial contributions have been made by the Independent

Order B'nai B'rith, which has organized some eight or nine

community centers now operating as I. 0. B. B. branches of

the Welfare Board. While these branches of themselves constitute a material donation to our total assets, the I. 0. B. B.

and the Independent Order B'rith Abraham, as well as other

national Jewish fraternities, are rendering large services of

another kind through the campaigns for funds which they have

furthered throughout their lodges and the moral backing and

encouragement which they have from the beginning lent in

unstinted measure.

The Council of Young Men's Hebrew and Kindred Associations has acted as our special advisory body wherever we have

needed the viewpoint of the specialist in the inauguration of

soldier activities in conjunction with Y. M. C. A. work.

The American Jewish Belief Committee, though in no way

a constituent or affiliated organization, has rendered our work

an immeasurable service by relieving us almost entirely from

the labor and responsibility of fund-raising. Of the million

or more dollars that have been contributed to welfare work to

date, a very large part was secured in the special campaign of
94 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

the American Jewish Relief Committee in New York City in

December last, which brought together a fund of about five million dollars for the war sufferers and the Welfare Board conjointly, and a large part of the balance of our total income to

date has likewise been secured under the friendly auspices of

this committee.

To the American Jewish Committee, under the leadership

of Mr. Louis Marshall, we look for the adjudication of cases

involving religious or other rights of Jewish men, and, in turn,

we are helping the Bureau of Statistics of the American Jewish

Committee in its special work of securing a list of the names

of all Jews participating in the present war in the American

military and naval forces, by sending to that bureau all the

statistical data which it becomes possible for our agents to

secure.

We are also extending assistance and hospitality to the Jewish Legionaries enlisting in America for service in Palestine

under the British flag, for which purposes we have made con- .

tributions through the Zionist organizations.

Further mention might be made of several other groups of

organized Jewry, both national and local, that are aiding the

welfare work in its library collections and in other ways, and

still the list of our co-operating agencies would not be exhausted; but for the present purposes of illustrating our

attachment and responsibility to the organized Jewry of

America, it is probably not necessary to multiply examples.

From the foregoing it will be seen that it is probably but fair

to say the Jewish Welfare Board truly represents both the

American Government and American Jewry—at least so far as

the organizations of the latter are concerned. Unprecedented
THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 95

as this is in the entire history of Jewish life in America, the

Welfare Board lays no claim to any special distinction for this

achievement. It is the crisis which confronts America, the

crisis of the World War, that has brought about this result, and

if it may be accounted an advantage from the point of view of

Jewish group life, it is an advantage for which we as Jews can

assume no merit or distinction. We shall, on the other hand,

merit rebuke and censure if, to the accomplishment created

by these unlooked-for world conditions, we shall make no

contribution of our own. We can neither truly speak for our

Government nor for the organized Jewry of America, unless we

also represent the unorganized Jewish people of America, and

by this unorganized Jewish people we must understand the

eighty thousand American soldiers and sailors of Jewish faith

and the hundreds of thousands more whose interests are bound

up with theirs.

Difficult as it is to be true to the thoughts and sentiments of

the Jewish people, the Welfare Board ardently desires so to be.

With this general attitude toward its work, it assumes to preach

no special -ism (except Judaism), and it permits none to be

preached. In its religious work in the camps it attempts to

meet the needs of the men as these needs are there ascertained.

For Jews desiring an orthodox service it promotes orthodox

services. For sons of Keform Jews it supplies reform services

with the Union Prayer Book. For the preponderating group

of soldiers of orthodox Jewish families, whose requirements

are best met by what is called Conservative Judaism, appropriate services are conducted accordingly. Without standardizing any doctrine of its own, the Welfare Board endorses all

degrees of doctrine, if soldiers of Jewish faith uphold them,

4
96 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

Without seeking to impose any ready-made program of its own,

it gives encouragement to whatever the self-expression of the

Jewish men demands.

With the American Library Association the Board is

co-operating in supplying Yiddish books and other reading

matter to Yiddish-speaking men. It has prepared to date, for

distribution in the camps, three pamphlets in Yiddish, one on

Government benefits and two on problems of social hygiene,

and it has at the present time in contemplation several additional pamphlets in this language. For those who desire to

conduct Jewish discussion circles it has now in preparation

several subject outlines for guidance and instruction in the

conduct of such circles. With a donation from the Jewish

Publication Society of a library of Jewish books in each of the

camps and cantonments, foundations have been laid for a Jewish library, to which the Board is making additions from week

to week.

In addition to these group activities along religious or educational lines, the welfare workers specialize in what has been

called personal welfare work, and it may be said without exaggeration that no personal welfare work that is being carried

on in the American camps is more intensive or constructive

than that of the representatives of the Jewish Welfare Board.

The personal problems that come before the welfare workers

have a vast variety of phases, including certain military and

non-military problems of the men themselves, as well as questions involving the men and their families. Our workers are

regular visitors at the hospitals and guard-houses; they assist

and advise men in matters of transfer, leave, and real or fancied discrimination; they advise them as to money and business

matters, many of our representatives giving legal advice.
THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 97

Others who are rabbis perform individual religious ministrations of various kinds, particularly at the embarkation camps.

In cases involving the families of men, it is our policy to refer

largely to the American Bed Cross, to whom the Government

has delegated these functions. A basis of co-operation has

been established.with the Red Cross, but of necessity it is still

tentative. The family difficulties of men in the service constitute a developing problem. It is a dynamic rather than a static

situation that we are here dealing with, and the basis of

co-operation between the welfare agencies and the Eed Cross

must of necessity be progressive rather than fixed, depending

upon developing problems and experience, as well as upon

changes in formulation of policy in the Red Cross itself and

as between the Red Cross and the War Department. The problem of the welfare worker is not confined to the camp, however.

He follows the soldiers wherever they go. In the near-by communities, the welfare worker makes the community welfare

program, co-ordinating the hospitality activities, collecting and

dispatching the comforts and gifts, managing the entertainments at the community center, and assisting soldiers and

sailors in utilizing the religious or other facilities of the town

or city.

For the men overseas, a special group has been assigned. It

comprises a commission of two workers, one of whom will

remain in Paris to direct the overseas work, while the other

will return with a report based upon his survey of existing conditions. A supplementary group will comprise some six or

eight workers, trained in our American service, whose function

it will be to initiate similar activities in the important posts in

France, and to this group additions will be made from month

to month, until an adequate force shall have been sent abroad.
98 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

In addition to the welfare workers, the Government contemplates sending army chaplains of the various faiths, to the

extent of one for each twelve hundred men. The Jewish chaplains will be selected by the Government after endorsement by

the Committee on Chaplains of the Welfare Board, which since

the beginning of the war has acted as the Government's advisory agency, with reference to all Jewish chaplains.

Though ostensibly limited in its work to the men of the

United States Army and Navy, the Welfare Board conceives its

task broadly. Under the latest military rulings, American soldiers abroad are members of the army of the Allies, and with

this breaking down of national distinctions, the scope of our

work is correspondingly enlarged. Thus the Welfare Board has

purchased ten thousand copies of the books for soldiers published by Dr. J. H. Hertz, chief rabbi of Great Britain, for

distribution among the English-speaking Jewish soldiers of

the Allies, five thousand copies of Psalms and five thousand

copies entitled Jewish Thoughts. These are being distributed

through Dr. Levy, chief rabbi of Paris, and Eabbi Voorsanger,

chaplain with the American Expeditionary Forces.

We have likewise made a subvention to the Jewish Community of Washington for welfare work among civilian workers,

including women as well as men, and we are making a study

of conditions among Jewish girls in New York as a result of

revelations recently made with respect to places largely frequented by soldiers and sailors.

Whether in all this work we, represent the sentiments and

viewpoints of the Jewish people, or whether we fail to represent

it, would be difficult to say. Indeed, our Jewry of America is of

such a composite nature, and the forces that play upon it are so

varied and deep-rooted in their origin, that it is hard even to
THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 99

ascertain what these sentiments and viewpoints are. So far as

the articulate groups are concerned, we know that we have been

criticized now for being too Jewish, and again for not being

Jewish enough; for advocating what has been called " segregation ", and again for being exponents of what has been called

the melting-pot theory; on the one hand, for making martyrs

of the Jewish men with the colors, because we have failed to

furnish them with Kosher food, and, on the other, for making

martyrs of them in our sympathy with those who desire such

dietary restrictions. Fault is found with us for permitting

Yiddish books to be circulated in the camps, and again we are

blamed for not providing enough of this literature.

Of one other important department of the welfare work scam

mention has as yet been made—the work of our local Jewries.

We hold that our purpose is unfulfilled, that we cannot truly

represent either the Government or nationally organized

Jewry, unless and until we also represent the locally organized

Jewry, that is, the local Jewish communities. It is from these

local communities that the Jewish soldiers have come. It is to

these communities that they will return. Indeed, in ten or

a score of years from now, the eighty or hundred thousand,

or possibly one hundred and fifty thousand Jews of our

National Army and Navy will be the prominent Jewish citizens, the upholders of our Jewish communities, the leaders

and workers of our local Jewries. If we would have them

remain steadfast to these communities throughout all the

tragic days through which they must presently pass, they must

be made to feel the spiritual forces of the communities behind

them. They must know that these forces are with them wherever they may go. Apart from this, the national Jewish Welfare Board is in the truest sense the child of the local commu-
jOO AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

nities, as well as of the national Jewish organizations. It is

to the local communities that we turn for hoth moral and financial support. We look to them, moreover, for definite service.

We expect each community to send its Jewish boys into the

service with a formal expression of its belief in them, so that

each man may feel the power and strength of his community

behind him. We expect each community to follow its soldierp

with gifts, by correspondence and other aid, as well as by

visitation to their families. We expect each community, meanwhile, to prepare for the return of these young men, for their

readjustment to civil life, for the rehabilitation of their

families, and for the new adjustments in the work of the social

agencies of each town.

It was with all these ideals in mind that the Welfare Board,

unlike the Knights of Columbus and the Y. M. C. A., incorporated into its platform a program of town as well as of camp

work. For the past six months it has worked incessantly in the

organization of what it calls local branches. At the present day

eighty-five Jewish communities have organized themselves as

J. W. B. branches. Twenty more are in process of organization. Before the end of this year the Welfare Board plans to

have organized no less than two hundred local Jewries as Welfare Board subsidiaries. The results of this policy have already

proven the wisdom thereof. It has stimulated wide-spread

interest in soldier and sailor work. This is particularly true

of those centers of Jewish life which are somewhat remote from

large encampments. In the camp cities or camp towns the

presence of uniformed men has of itself stimulated this interest, and it may be truly said that the real welfare workers

are the Jews and Jewesses of these camp cities. In the very

first days and months of the war, they were contributing their
THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD 101

time and energies and giving of their means to the entertainment of men on leave, to visiting the sick, and to affording

comfort to the lonely and dejected. Bu,t in the towns more

remote from the camps this stimulation of interest has been

provided by the organization of the J. W. B. branches.

The fiscal policy of the Welfare Board was determined several months ago when its Executive Committee voted in favor

of a central collection and disbursement of funds under which

all moneys raised for and in behalf of the Welfare Board

became payable to the national treasurer, the national body

making itself responsible in turn for promoting and financingwelfare work in the towns and cities as well as in the American

and overseas camps. It was felt that, though this fund was

procured from the local Jewries of the country, authority to

spend it should proceed from the central office, which, by

reason of its national and international perspective, could best

decide as to the wisdom of expenditures, and thus guarantee

to the local Jewries the best possible administration of the

funds that they themselves had created. Any other policy

would have been fatal, and would have made each community

the collector and dispenser of its own welfare fund, thus leading to excessive outlays for town hospitality, much of which

is not only of no positive social value, but of a decided negative

social value, while leaving without adequate resources the more

immediately important work in the camps. Indeed to have

adopted a less centralized system would have made impossible

a truly responsible administration of the fund, such as the War

Department justly expects of the agency which it has nominated as the authoritative functioning body for its Jewish

group of soldiers. The National Jewish Welfare Board desires

to be in the truest sense the representative of local Jewries. It
]02 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

is the local communities organized, combined, and raised to

national self-consciousness. In this view of the case, the

national office is but the visible expression of a covenant or

pact between all the local communities of America, each of

which desires to serve the most by serving all the rest.

The national office furnishes to each community under this

pact the advantages of a broad perspective. It provides a

means of contact with the Federal Government to which it is

accredited by the Jews of America. It has to-day an' organization of nearly 200 workers associated for the purpose of

carrying on the welfare work of the correlated communities of

the country. It provides to these communities a school in

which each month a new group of some twenty-five or more

men from various sections are trained as community servants—men who now give themselves to Jewish war work and

will not fail the community when later called upon to help solve

the even more trying problems of the post-war period. It

places at the disposition of all local communities a Eesearch

Department for the study of the war aspects of community

problems as they change and develop under the impact of the

world struggle.

• Has not then an organization like this, created in an emergency—representing the American Government, organized

Jewry, the plain Jewish people, and the local communities of

America—a unique opportunity? And shall not American

Jews avail themselves of it by rising now as never before to a

true consciousness of the character, the scope, and the mean

ing of their entire community ?
THE COLLECTION OF JEWISH WAR STATISTICS 103

THE COLLECTION OF JEWISH WAR STATISTICS

BY JULIAN LI-AVITT,

IX CHARGE OF THE DIVISION OF WAR STATISTICS OF THE BUREAU OF

JEWISH STATISTICS AND RESEARCH

From the first days of the entry of the United States into the

World War the American Jewish Committee felt the need of,

and recognized the opportunity for, a complete record of Jewish

service in the common cause. For reasons too well known to

be enumerated here, statistics of an entirely reliable nature

bearing upon Jewish service in the wars of the United States

had never before been gathered. The work of Simon Wolf,

The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier, and Citizen (1895), is

obviously a bio-historical rather than a statistical record. The

Preliminary List of Jews Serving in the Spanish-American

War, compiled by Dr. Cyrus Adler and published in the Year

Book 5661 (1900-1901), is, as its title implies, a tentative

effort; while the article on Jews in the United States Army and

Navy, prepared by Captain Landes for the Year Book 5677

(1916-17), is admittedly a rough approximation rather than a

scientific census. The present moment, it was therefore felt,

presented, for the first time in the history of American Jewry,

an opportunity for the preparation of a contemporary record

that should prove of service to the Jews of America for all time.

To this end the American Jewish Committee assigned to its

Bureau of Statistics and Research, as a major function, the

task of collecting data bearing upon all Jews in the military

and naval services of the United States, at home or abroad,
104 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

in the regular civilian service at Washington, in the newly

established War Bureaus, and in the various auxiliary services

where Jews are known to be rendering valuable aid—in short,

to establish at this time, and later to render possible the publication of, a comprehensive historical and statistical record of

Jewish contributions to the success of the United States in the

greatest world war.

But while the many advantages of such an undertaking were

generally recognized, its difficulties were by no means underestimated. It was known that the official records of the army

and navy make no note of religious affiliations, so that a bare

examination of the millions of names on the rolls, even if permission were granted to make such search, would in itself

be an enterprise of considerable magnitude. It was also recognized that the Jewish quotas, coming as they would from

widely scattered parts of the country, would contain thousands

of men who had naturally drifted away from Jewish affiliations,

other thousands who had, in the process of Americanization,

changed their names, and some who would, for reasons of their

own, even seek to conceal their racial or religious identity. In

view of this, it was decided to approach the problem from as

many angles as possible, in order to reduce to a minimum that

percentage of error always inherent in a work of this nature.

Three main channels of information are thus being explored:

(1) Jewish sources; (2) official records at Washington; (3)

other records of a public and private nature.

Prom the very inception of this war statistics work, the

closest possible co-operation has been fostered and maintained

between the Bureau of Statistics and the agents of the Jewish

Welfare Board stationed at various camps and ships and

also at the front. These representatives are under instructions
THE COLLECTION OF JEWISH WAR STATISTICS 105

to send in to the Bureau or to the Board or both all information

of a statistical character gathered by, or known to, them,

including individual registration cards signed by the Jewish

soldiers, religious censuses taken by the Board or by other

agencies in the camps, holiday furlough records, recipients

of Bibles, etc. The Board has also posted conspicuous notices

in the camps, advertising the work in question, and has enclosed the proper material, such as blanks and registration

cards, in the vast number of Bibles and Prayer Books which it

has issued to the Jewish soldiers and sailors, as well as in the

other literature which it is spreading broadcast. In short, it

has lent its co-operation systematically and efficiently, thereby

assuring to the Bureau of Statistics a steady flow of the most

valuable information possible direct from camps, ships, and

trenches. All other Jewish organizations, local and national,

throughout the country—religious, fraternal, trade and labor,

Zionist organizations, etc.—have likewise been circularized

by the Bureau of Statistics with requests for lists of members

who have been called to the colors.

The response to date has been tremendously gratifying. To

the rabbis of the country the Bureau of Statistics is particularly

indebted for a great volume of information respecting the men

in service belonging to their congregations, invaluable in quality and quantity. All Jewish dailies and weeklies have been

carefully searched and clipped for reports of enlistments, for

group and local honor rolls, for news of service flag dedications,

etc., and news items that suggest clues to other sources of information have been diligently followed up. Thus, a casual press

clipping one day reported the organization of a Jewish Soldiers'

Club at Camp Gordon. The secretary of the club was at once
106 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

communicated with, and he responded in due course with

a remarkably painstaking list of the club's members.

In addition, every effort is being made to reach all Jewish

agencies likely to possess information of value—parents' associations, or other next-of-kin groups that are in touch with

the men at the front; Jewish publicists and communal workers;

Jewish newspaper men on the staffs of Jewish or non-Jewish

papers; employers' and employes' associations in trades and

industries wholly or preponderantly Jewish; lodges, clubs, and

the like.

Eecognizing, however, that, because of the limitations

already referred to, purely Jewish sources of information would

be inadequate for the purposes in view, a determined effort has

been made to gain access to departmental records in Washington and at the various state capitals, in order to gather at the

best original source whatever data might be secured as to

Jewish enlistments, with the idea that the two inquiries—one

into Jewish, and the other into non-Jewish channels of information—should serve to supplement and correct each other.

For this purpose an office was opened, at the beginning of the

present year, in Washington, in charge of the present writer.

It was hoped that access might be secured either to the files of

the War Risk Insurance Bureau, where are kept the original

applications of all soldiers and sailors who have taken out

insurance policies with the Government, as well as the allotment and allowance records, or to the files of the AdjutantGeneral's Office, the Statistical Division of which collects and

tabulates all " service records " of the men in the army, including the invaluable " holiday furlough " records, or else to the

files of the Provost Marshal General's Office, where all the draft

records are to be found. Every assurance of co-operation was
THE COLLECTION OP JEWISH WAR STATISTICS 107

given by the officers in charge of these various records, but it

was soon found that, because of the tremendous burdens which

recent war developments have imposed upon all these bureaus,

it would be advisable to wait with the actual procedure of search

until the archives were in better order, since, in the present

state of these records, the work of examination would be unduly

complicated for all concerned. These searches have, therefore,

been suspended for the present, with the exception of two

bureaus: the Marine Corps, where, through the courtesy of

Brigadier-General Laucheimer, permission to examine the files

was freely granted, and where the files themselves were found

to be in such perfect condition as to make the quest comparatively simple, and the Office of the Surgeon-General, where

searches are now under way.

Outside of Washington, a great body of information respecting the National Guard and the Federalized Militia of the

states is to be found in the offices of the Adjutants-General at

the various state capitals. Arrangements have consequently

been made to have their records systematically examined. The

files at Albany have already been thoroughly searched by a

representative of the Bureau of Statistics, Miss Ruth Hessberg,

who has, with extraordinary skill and diligence, located thousands of names of Jewish soldiers. The search at Harrisburg

and at a number of other leading capitals is now under way.

In addition, the Army Orders and Assignments, Casualty

Lists, etc., issued by the United States Adjutant-General's

Office and published in the Congressional Record, the Official

Bulletin, and in part in the metropolitan dailies, constitute

a rich source of official information which is closely examined

for Jewish data. Finally, there remain the records of the local

draft and exemption boards, particularly in the districts
108 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

notably Jewish, or in leading centers of Jewish population.

These records, although inferior to the others in certain

respects, in so far as they supply data only as to the induction

of the men and none at all as to their later service history, will

nevertheless be of great value in complementing and correcting

the other particulars available.

Numerous subsidiary sources of information in non-Jewish

quarters occasionally supply most valuable data and supplement the two main avenues of information, the strictly Jewish

and the strictly official. Among these are the Eed Cross,

whose Home Service Divisions maintain at their local offices

records of dependency and cases requiring other home relief;

the War Service Eosters of the leading colleges and universities

of the country; the records of local historical societies; the

forthcoming edition of the various professional directories,

and so forth. Arrangements have recently been entered into,

providing for an exchange of information with most of these

agencies.

From these various sources, some 60,000 records have at

present (July 30, 1918) been collected, and are now being

verified, classified, and tabulated. And since it is apparent

that the value of the work as a whole will depend almost

entirely upon the accuracy of the methods adopted to avoid

duplication and confusion, it may be desirable, at this point,

to present a brief description of the technique involved. First,

as to the methods adopted for the identification of Jewish

names. It is recognized, at the outset, that no perfect method

has as yet been developed. To identify, with unerring certainty,

Jewish names in a bare list of mixed names is utterly impossible. But a reasonable degree of accuracy is entirely feasible.

To begin with, there is the great mass of information supplied
THE COLLECTION OF JEWISH WAR STATISTICS 109

by the Jewish Welfare Board and other organizations and individuals, to whom the Jewish registrants are personally known.

These names are accepted without question, as they are

virtually certified. As to the remainder, there are names so

unmistakably Jewish that, when taken in connection with their

home addresses, next-of-kin, or branch of service—as, for example, in the case of officers in the medical or dental corps

bearing distinctly Jewish cognomens—they may be accepted

without further question. Where names have been anglicized

or adapted in any way, the names of next-of-kin frequently

remain unchanged, or perhaps the very form of the change

may to a trained mind suggest the original. Other clues of like

nature will at once occur to the reader—registration districts,

if distinctively Jewish, birthplace or nativity of parents, the

use of certain forenames or certain abbreviations of surnames—

all these and other characteristics too numerous to mention,

while not conclusive in themselves, tend nevertheless to furnish

broad indications which, followed up by the skilled investigator,

generally lead to satisfactory proof, positive or negative.

Finally, it frequently happens that names coming from a nonJewish source will be automatically checked, at the moment of

filing, by a source unmistakably Jewish. Moreover, it is contemplated that, as soon as the local lists are reasonably complete, check lists will be made up by towns and cities, copies

thereof to be sent to the local press and to the leading Jews in

each community for revision and verification. Altogether,

therefore, it may be confidently stated that, from present indications, the final residuum of doubtful, uncertified names will

be practically negligible.

The cataloguing methods adopted will also serve, in a considerable degree, as a check against duplication and inclusion
HO AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

of improper material. As the records are received they are

copied, in triplicate, on cards having blanks for full name,

home address, age, nativity of self and parents, branch of

service, rank, regiment and company, camp or station, source

of information received, and service record. These three cards,

one original and two carbons!, ar e filed in three separate

catalogues, one arranged alphabetically and so devised as to

bring together automatically all variant forms of names which

are especially liable to misplacements because of common errors

in reporting, copying, or transliterating; another catalogue

arranged by branches of the service, with officers and honormen

" signalled " ; and a third arranged by states, cities, and towns.

By this means it will be possible to report not only as to the

service records of any individual, but also as the aggregate of

enlistments, local quotas, distribution by branches of the service and by localities, number and proportion of officers, and

similar data of general interest. Analyses and studies of this

material may be made and published from time to time, as

occasion may demand, before, the completion of the entire work.

Although the collection of military and naval statistics constitutes, of necessity, the major problem before the Bureau of

Statistics at present, the record of civilian war service is by

no means to be neglected. The Washington office has gathered

all data available as to Jews in the Federal Civil Service and

in the new War Bureaus, numbering to date some two thousand

names and also much information as to Jews in the various auxiliary services, such as four-minute men, Liberty-Bond salesmen, members of Draft Boards, and War Service committees

throughout the country, while all other information obtainable

as to Jewish contributions to the Red Cross, Hospital and
THK COLLECTION OF JEWISH WAR STATISTICS m

Ambulance Units, Bond Subscriptions, and other war service

is being systematically collected and classified.

From this brief account of the work undertaken so far

it will be apparent that the measure of success which may

ultimately attend the venture will depend in large part upon

the co-operation of all elements in Jewish life. Tribute has

already been paid to the service of the Jewish Welfare Board

and to the magnificent co-operation of the spiritual and

secular leaders of American Jewry. All the readers of this

article can help definitely and notably by sending to the Bureau

of Jewish Statistics and Research any data that comes within

the scope of this work. At present this means any information

whatsoever concerning the Jews in the present war. Concretely, the individual or organization desiring to assist in this

most important work can do so in the following manner:

(1) By sending in names of individual soldiers and sailors,

particularly those that do not ordinarily suggest a Jewish

origin, and renewing the record from time to time with such

fresh information as may develop, in the way of honors, promotions, or casualties; (2) by locating and notifying the

Bureau of sources at which a considerable mass of information

may be traced; (3) by interesting any agencies of publicity that

may be reached so as to enlist the widest possible number of

people in the work; (4) by sending to the Bureau, either for

immediate perusal or for permanent preservation in its archives, letters from soldiers and sailors at the front, or other

material of historical value.

It would have been extremely desirable to conclude this

article with a brief summary of the statistical results obtained

thus far in the course of this inquiry. The vast material still

remaining to be collated and digested, however, makes it ad-
112 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

visable to defer the presentation of actual figures until such a

time as it may be possible to present them with that degree of

fulness and accuracy which the importance of the subject

demands.

From indications already at hand, however, it may be confidently promised that the evidence, when fully developed, will

show conclusively that the Jews of America are acquitting

themselves magnificently, as soldiers and citizens, in this war;

that their contributions of men and means tend to exceed, by

a generous margin, their due quotas; that the Jewish soldiers

at the front fight with no less valor than their comrades; that

their losses are as great—and their rewards no less.
JEWISH FEDERATION OF NEW YORK CITY H 3

FEDERATION FOR THE SUPPORT OF JEWISH

PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETIES OF

NEW YORK CITY*

BY I. EDWIN GOLDWASSER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

In the American Jewish Year Book for the year 5676 there

appears a significant article on the Federation movement in

American Jewish philanthropy by Dr. Joseph Jacobs. In

describing the attempts that had been made to apply the

methods of a Federation to the largest Jewish community in

the world, the writer says: " The number of institutions with

fairly large incomes was so considerable that one board representing all might be of an unwieldy character. There are also

in Manhattan several hospitals, many orphanages and generally

a larger number of separate institutions of the same class than

is found in other cities. To these and other arguments was

added the consideration which had been urged in other cities,

that Federation would destroy the personal interest in individual charities which led to such large endowments, donations and bequests."

These difficulties created what the author called " an unfortunate deadlock," when, spurred on by the Heinsheimer

bequest, a large number of the institutions conferred with

the view of determining whether Federation would be practicable.

* In preparing this article, passages have been frequently quoted

from the following pamphlets: Plan of Federation, adopted June

6, 1916; Report of Special Committee of Seven, March 12, 1917;

By-Laws of Federation, adopted June 24, 1917.
114 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

It was left to Felix M. Warburg to re-open the consideration

of the problem in 1916. After a long period devoted to

personal conferences with leaders of the various institutions,

it was decided to form a Committee to consider the organization of a Federation in New York City, with the view of formulating, if possible, a plan of Federation which might be acceptable to the institutions.

This Committee on Federation consisted of the following:

Samuel Greenbaum, Chairman; Leo Arnstein; Emil Baerwald; Julius Ballin; George Blumenthal; Joseph L. Buttenwieser; Joseph H. Cohen; William JST. Cohen; Abram I. Elkus;

William Goldman, Secretary; Sol Kohn; Lee Kohns; Arthur

Lehman; Samuel D. Levy; Adolph Lewisohn; Morton H.

Meinhard; Joseph E. JSTewburger; Leopold Plaut; Jacob H.

Schiff; Mortimer L. Schiff; Louis Stern; Felix M. Warburg;

Jacob Wertheim.

On February 26, 1916, it appointed a Special Committee

consisting of Abram I. ELkus, Chairman; Leo Arnstein;

Joseph H. Cohen; Samuel Greenbaum; William Goldman;

Jesse I. Straus; Felix M. Warburg; H. G. Friedman, Secretary.

The Special Committee submitted its report pursuant to

the resolution of the Committee on Federation, dated February

26, 1916, " to consider all plans of Federation which have been

proposed, and all criticisms and suggestions thereon, and also

to act as Committee on Conciliation of all suggestions with

reference to the conditions under which a plan shall be put

in operation."

In accordance with these instructions, the Committee

devoted twelve meetings during a period of nearly three months

to the problems presented to Federation. It studied various
JEWISH FEDERATION OF NEW YORK CITY H5

plans proposed, including those of Mr. Nathaniel Myers, of

Messrs. Chester J. Teller, and Morris D. Waldman, the plan

formulated by the Advisory Committee of the Bureau of

Philanthropic Research and the suggestions of Mr. Cyrus L.

Sulzberger, and the Constitutions of Federations of other

cities. Criticisms and suggestions from societies and persons

interested were invited. Every effort was made to keep the public informed of the various steps in the development of the plan

to be presented. More important than this, however, was the

fact that the Committee was ready at all times to give careful

consideration to any definite suggestion for modification of the

plan, so that a substantial agreement might be reached.

On May 25,1916, the Special Committee presented its report

to the Committee on Federation.

On June 6, 1916, the last-named Committee adopted the following resolution: " Resolved, That the Plan of Federation

formulated by the Special Committee be adopted; that the

Plan be submitted to the societies therein named, such societies

to notify the Secretary of the Committee on Federation of their

assent to the Plan and to designate their representatives on

the Organization Committee and on the Board of Delegates

on or before July 15, 1916; that the Federation be organized

as soon as the Plan shall have been assented to by societies

receiving two-thirds of the total amount collected in 1915 in

membership dues and subscriptions by the societies named in

the Plan."

In connection with this resolution, the report of the Committee was submitted, consisting of two parts, (1) a revised

draft of the Constitution for the Federation and (2) a statement in explanation of the provisions of the Plan of Federa-
116 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

tion. Since this Constitution became the basis of the By-Laws

under which the Federation is now operating, it is probable

that the clearest statement of the Federation can be found in

the explanation of the Plan as submitted by the Committee.

The Committee proposed as the name for the organization

the descriptive title of " Federation for the Support of Jewish

Philanthropic Societies of New York City."

PURPOSE

It was proposed that the scope of the Federation be limited

to the support of philanthropic societies ministering to the

needs of Jews of the boroughs of Manhattan and • the

Bronx. Brooklyn had its own organization and it was felt that

there shoiild be no intrusion in that field. It was not the intention of the committee, however, to make the location of a society

the test of eligibility for admission to the Federation, but

rather the territory from which its beneficiaries are drawn.

Institutions located, outside of New York City carrying on

work primarily for the benefit of residents of Manhattan and

the Bronx are entitled to the support of the Federation, equally

with those located within these boroughs.

MEMBERSHIP

(a) Any person who subscribes and pays to the Federation at

least ten dollars a year is entitled to be elected by the Board

to regular membership therein, with the privilege to cast one

vote in person or by proxy, and otherwise to participate in the

meetings and affairs of the Federation and to hold office therein

as hereinafter provided; (b) any group of persons, unable to

qualify as regular members, who jointly subscribe and pay to

the Federation at least fifteen dollars a year, may in the dis-
JEWISH FEDERATION OP NEW YORK CITY n ?

cretion and during the pleasure of the Board, be elected to a

group membership therein, with the right to designate one of

their group to exercise the privileges of a regular member; (c)

any person under the age of twenty-one years who subscribes

and pays to the Federation at least five dollars a year may, in

the discretion of the Board, be elected a junior member therein

during his minority, without the privileges of a regular

member.

It is planned to maintain the membership of the beneficiary

societies. For this purpose the Committee proposed that where

a member of the Federation failed to designate the beneficiaries

for his contribution, but subscribed an amount equal to or in excess of his aggregate membership payments in 1915 to the federated societies, it was to be assumed that it was his intention

to remain a member of those societies and to contribute to each

of them the same amount as in 1915. All other undesignated

subscriptions are to be assigned by the Board of Trustees to the

societies in such amounts as will enable each society to maintain

its membership at no less than the amount received in 1915.

For the convenience of members who desire to make a single

contribution to all philanthropies, including societies not part

of the Federation, Federation acts as a clearing-house, and pays

amounts designated to such outside organizations.

In other words, a subscription to the Federation may combine the following: A subscription to the General Fund, a

designated subscription to federated societies, and a designated

subscription to unaffiliated societies. No subscriptions to

unaffiliated societies are accepted, however, until the minimum

subscription of $10 to the General Fund of the Federation

or to one of the federated societies is included in the

subscription.
1 1 8 AMERICAN JEWIS H YEAR BOOK

T HE ADMISSION OF KELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL SOCIETIES

The first and most important consideration here was the

character of the activities which it is the purpose of the Federation to foster and support. The second point was : What shall

be the basis for admitting or rejecting societies engaged in

activities coming within the general purposes of the Federation ?

The purpose of the Federation is to support philanthropic

societies. No doubt exists that the Federation should take in

charitable and relief agencies, organizations for the care of

the sick, the dependent and delinquent, societies for general

educational and social activities. The question was raised

whether or not the Federation should also embrace societies

carrying on the work of religious education. The following

excerpt from the report of the Committee is of interest:

" The problem of religious education is highly complex. The

societies in this field engage in work which is in part charitable

and in part self-supporting. They provide facilities for

religious education, and give free instruction to children who

cannot afford to pay. Some of these societies conduct also

settlement activities, clubs, gymnasiums, and classes. There

are in Greater New York some eighty week-day religious

schools, known as Talmud Torahs, and Hebrew schools, etc.

These vary greatly in the character and value of their work,

their standards and methods of instruction. Their support

comes from two classes, those who themselves receive benefits

from the society by sending their children or attending the

synagogue usually connected with the school, and those who

contribute from purely philanthropic motives in order to

advance the purpose of the society.
JEWISH FEDERATION OP NEW YORK CITY H9

The problem of religious education from the standpoint of

Federation presents three phases which may here be noted:

(1) While the work of these societies is undoubtedly of the

highest value, not only from a religious standpoint, but from

a lay point of view, there is not the unanimity of opinion in the

community as regards the aims, methods, and purposes of

religious educational work which exists with reference to the

work of other charitable and social service agencies. (2) The

organization of religious education is still in its beginnings.

Its adequate development will require very large additions to

the income of such societies and appropriations increasing very

much more rapidly than the allotments for other philanthropic

work. (3) The support of such societies is to a very great

extent local rather than general. It is derived from very small

contributions and the collection of such funds, and the retention of this class of members is likely to present the greatest

difficulties."

For these reasons it seemed unwise for the Federation to

complicate its problems at the beginning by taking over the

support of institutions engaged in philanthropic religious

activities.

On January 8, 1917, however, a Committee of Twenty-five

presented to the Federation a request that the Federation consider the financial aspect of Jewish religious education in New

York City. On the same day the Chairman of the Organization Committee of the Federation appointed a Special Committee of Seven to study in all its aspects the subject of Jewish

religious education in New York City. In its report this committee submitted the following considerations:

" The application of religious schools for affiliation with

Federation presents distinctly to Federation the problem of
120 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

admitting societies carrying on religious education as distinguished from institutions engaged mainly in secular work.

When the plan of Federation was adopted, it was agreed to

be 'unwise for the Federation to complicate its problems at

the beginning by taking over the support of institutions

engaged in philanthropic-religious activities.' The Committee

which drew up the plan foresaw that the question of supporting

societies engaged in philanthropic-religious activities should

have to be considered again. The societies conducting religious schools submit that this question be taken up now

because Federation has made their present position, and,

to a greater extent, their future development precarious. As

Federation becomes more successful and allies to itself the

various elements in the community, it will become increasingly difficult for them to secure funds as independent organizations. The presidents of some of these societies stated that in

many instances contributors have retujned bills for dues with

the single word ' Federation', and that as a result some of

the schools may be obliged to close their doors.

It is further submitted by the applicant societies that if

they were to form a Federation of their own in order to finance

their activities and make an appeal to the public, the result

would be detrimental to both the religious schools and to

Federation, the community would be disorganized by the establishment of more than one Federation, and the endeavor to

unify philanthropic activities would be frustrated. There

would result a separation in the community between those now

active on behalf of secular philanthropies and those who are

interested in religious education.

The support of religious education presents grave problems

for Federation. As noted by the Committee which framed
JEWISH FEDERATION OF NEW YORK CITY 121

the plan of Federation, the community is not a unit in religious

belief, and in Federation there are represented the most divergent shades of faith. Questions of conscience and conviction

are involved, rather than those of policy and method. Grounds

for differences are thus more deeply seated. Serious attention

must, therefore, be given to objections to the inclusion in

Federation of institutions with activities in reference to which

there may be wide differences of opinion.

Your Committee, however, is of the view that these objections to the admission of religious societies to Federation are

not sufficient to counterbalance the injury which might result

from their exclusion, not merely to the cause of religious education, but also to the work of these schools as moral influences

in the community for bridging the gap between "parent and

child, and for maintaining the influence of the home and the

family.

Moreover, it is fundamental in the plan of Federation that

each society shall have autonomy in its internal management,

and so long as this principle is observed there should be no

reason why the difference of opinion or belief among subscribers

to Federation should constitute a bar to the admission of these

societies. If religious societies are admitted, Federation must

have nothing whatsoever to do with curriculum or religious

beliefs. The control of the policies of the schools must be left

to each individual institution, and there must be no grounds

for any suspicion that the Federation is in the remotest degree

seeking to influence them in the instruction which they are

to give in the matters of religion."

In November, 1917, the conditions that had been set for the

admission of the religious educational societies were properly

met by the following bodies, which were declared affiliated with
122 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

the Federation: Schools and Extension Activities of the

Bureau of Education, Central Jewish Institute, Down-Town

Talmud Torah, Salanter Talmud Torah, Machzike Talmud

Torah, and Up-Town Talmud Torah.

KESTRICTIONS UPON AFFILIATED BODIES

No beneficiary society, auxiliary society, nor any person in

their behalf, was to give entertainments for the purpose of raising funds or soliciting donations or contributions other than

permanent endowments or legacies in behalf of such societies.

Before making a special appeal to the community for building funds or other extraordinary purposes, beneficiary societies

are required to inform the Board of Trustees, and, if such

appeal is approved, the societies receive the endorsement and

support of the Federation.

Co-operation in this respect between the societies of the

Federation will undoubtedly prove of great benefit to the

societies through the avoidance of the multiplicity of appeals

of the same character at the same time. Appeals approved by

the Federation will win for the society support from the entire

community.

ORGANIZATION OF THE GOVERNING BODY

The problem of organizing a governing body for the Federation was attended by peculiar difficulties in New York. The

societies themselves differed in the extent of the support

which they received from the public, the number of their

members, and their income. In addition to these, Federation

created a new organization of contributors. Various plans

were submitted to the Committee, involving two bodies, one
JEWISH FEDERATION OF NEW YORK CITY 123

elected by the members and another by the institutions, the

one to serve as a check on the other, or one large body made

up of the delegates of the societies and of representatives of

the public electing in turn a smaller administrative body.

The Committee did not favor the plan involving two bodies,

one to exercise a veto power over the other. It was felt that

such a system would result in friction and prove cumbersome

in operation. The Committee did not approve an organization

calling for indirect election and representation such as is

involved in the selection of the Administrative Board by an

intermediate body. It held fast to the position that the

responsibility of the governing body should be direct to the

societies and to the contributors. The following quotations

from the By-Laws will show the plan of organization:

" SECTION 1. The management of the Federation shall be

vested in a Board of Trustees which shall adopt its own rules

of procedure not inconsistent with the charter or By-Laws,

by two-thirds of its total number of votes. Its action in matters

within its jurisdiction shall be final, conclusive and binding

upon all of the Beneficiary Societies. The Board of Trustees

shall be constituted of Trustees designated by Beneficiary

Societies and of ten Trustees-at-Large elected by the members

of the Federation as follows:

SECTION 2. One Trustee shall be designated by each society

receiving an income from membership dues or subscriptions

in the year 1915 of not less than $10,000 nor more than $50,-

000, and two Trustees by each society receiving an income

from membership dues or subscriptions in 1915 in excess of

$50,000.

SECTION 3. The Trustee or Trustees designated by a Beneficiary Society shall be entitled to cast a- number of votes in
124 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

accordance with the income of the society from membership

dues or subscriptions in 1915, as follows:

$10,000 and over, but not exceeding $25,000, one vote

Over $25,000, " " " 50,000, two votes

50,000, " " " 75,000, three votes

75,000, " " " 100,000, four votes

" 100,000, five votes

SECTION 4. A Trustee designated by a society entitled to

designate two Trustees may in the absence of his colleague

cast the total number of votes of both such Trustees.

SECTION 5. Societies receiving an income from membership

dues or subscriptions in 1915 of $3,000 or more, but not so

much as $10,000, may combine for the purpose of designating Trustees, and shall be entitled to designate one Trustee

for each $15,000 of income received in 1915 from membership

dues or subscriptions by the societies so combining.

SECTION 6. The number of votes of Trustees designated by

societies with an income of less than $10,000 from membership

dues or subscriptions, or allotments from the Federation, shall

not exceed twenty-five per cent of the total number of votes

of the Board of Trustees, unless the allotment to such societies

shall exceed twenty-five per cent of the total appropriations

of the Federation to all Beneficiary Societies. In case such

allotment is less than twenty-five per cent of such total appropriations, the Board shall reduce the number of Trustees to

be designated by such societies, so that their votes shall not

exceed twenty-five per cent of the total number of votes of

the Board of Trustees.

SECTION 7. Beneficiary Societies admitted after July 1,

1917, may be authorized by two-thirds of the total number of

votes of the Board of Trustees to designate Trustees on the

basis of income from membership dues or subscriptions as pre-
JEWISH FEDERATION OF NEW YORK CITY 125

scribed above, except that the income from membership dues or

subscriptions of a society so admitted shall be taken to be the

average annual amount received during a period of not less

than two years immediately before admission to the Federation.

SECTION 8. Societies organized with the consent of the

Board of Trustees may be authorized with the consent of the

total number of its votes to designate Trustees on the basis of

the amount of the appropriations allotted to them by the

Federation, such appropriations to be regarded for this

purpose as the equivalent of income from membership dues

or subscriptions.

SECTION 9. Societies shall give notice to the Federation of

persons designated by them as Trustees and such Trustees

shall serve until their successors are designated.

SECTION 10. In December, 1919, and every third year thereafter, the Board of Trustees shall reapportion the number

of trustees and the number of votes assigned to beneficiary

societies. The basis of reapportionment shall be the average oJ:

the annual amounts allotted to each society by the Federation

during the three years elapsed, such average allotment to be

regarded as the equivalent of the income from membership

dues and subscriptions for determining tb.3 number of Trustees

and the number of votes to which a society shall be entitled.

SECTION 11. The members of the Federation shall elect by

ballot ten Trustees-at-Large, each entitled to cast one vote,

from candidates nominated as follows:

SECTION 13. Nominations for such Trustees shall be submitted to the Board of Trustees and posted conspicuously in

the office of the Federation not less than forty-five days before

tlie Annual Election by a Nominating Committee, appointed

by the President of the Federation, consisting of twenty-five
126 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

members of the Federation, none of whom shall be a Trustee or

a Delegate of the Federation or a member of an Executive

Board of a Beneficiary Society. Nominations may also be

made by a petition signed by no less than one hundred members

of the Federation, and filed with the Federation twenty-five

days before the date of the Annual Election. Nominations may

be made at the meeting if the Nominating Commitee shall

fail to duly make its nominations or if its nominees shall be

or become disqualified in whole or in part or if vacancies among

the Trustees occur since the date of its report. The Nominating Committee and all nominating petitions shall designate

one or more persons to act as proxies,, without prejudice to the

right of any member to select his own proxy.

SECTION 13. No member of the Federation shall be eligible

for election as Trustee-at-Large unless he shall have served

for one year as member of the Board of Delegates. This

provision shall not apply to Trustees-at-Large elected at the

first Annual Election.

SECTION 14. The term of office for Trustees-at-Large shall

be three years, except that of the Trustees-at-Large chosen

at the first Annual Election, three shall be elected for a term

of one year, four for a term of two years, and three for a term of

three years.

SECTION 15. In the event of the resignation or death of a

Trustee-at-Large, the Board of Trustees shall elect a member

of the Board of Delegates to serve as Trustee-at-Large to the

date of the next Annual Election, when a successor shall be

elected for the unexpired term by the members of the Federation."

In forming the Board of Trustees of the Federation, the

Committee sought to meet conditions. Its aim was to appor-
JEWISH FEDERATION OF NEW YORK CITY 127

tion representation to the different societies in accordance with

their income from the public and to give recognition to the

contributors organized as a body in the Federation. In entrusting the election of the greater proportion of the Trustees to the

institutions, the Committee endeavored to secure for Federation continuity in the policies of our institutions, the interest

and support of those who have been most active in the development of Jewish philanthropic endeavor and who have had

most experience in the management of the societies. In placing on the governing board a considerable number of Trustees

to be elected directly by the members, persons not now connected with the executive boards of the societies, an opportunity was given for representation to elements in the community not at present associated with the administration of our

institutions. The Committee endeavored also to give just

representation on the governing body to small societies. The

only organizations excluded from representation are those

with incomes of less than $3,000. Such societies are none the

less eligible for admission to Federation and as their work

is extended and their allotment increases beyond $3,000, they

become entitled to representation on the same basis as other

societies.

SOLICITATION OF MEMBERSHIP AND CONTRIBUTIONS

The By-Laws provide: There shall be a Board of Delegates

of the Federation, the function of which shall be to consider

ways and means of enlisting the support of the community,

to secure memberships and solicit funds for the Federation,

and to perform such other duties as the Board of Trustees

5
128 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

may prescribe. The Board of Delegates shall be chosen in

the following manner:

Each society shall designate to the Board two Delegates for

each vote to which it is entitled in the Board of Trustees, provided that each society shall designate at least one Delegate.

Societies shall give notice to the Federation of persons

designated by them as Delegates, and such Delegates shall

serve until their successors are designated.

The members of the Federation shall elect by ballot one

hundred Delegates-at-Large to be nominated in the same

manner as Trustee-at-Large.

The term of office of Delegates-at-Large shall be three years,

except that of the Delegates chosen at the first Annual Election, thirty-three shall be elected for a term of one year, thirtyfour for a term of two years, and thirty-three for a term of three

years.

In the event of the resignation or death of a Delegate-atLarge, the President of the Federation shall appoint a member

of the Federation to serve to the date of the next Annual

Election, when a successor shall be elected for the unexpired

term by the members of the Federation.

The President of the Federation shall be President of the

Board of Delegates.

This plan aims to lend dignity and importance to membership in the soliciting body on behalf of the contributors by

making the position dependent on election and in this way

a representative one. It is noted further that one year's

service in this body is a condition of eligibility for election

as Trustee-at-Large. The number of elected members makes

possible the representation from all elements of the community,

and thereby enables the Federation to reach all classes in its
JEWISH FEDERATION OF NEW YORK CITY 129

behalf. The object in placing on this body delegates from

the institutions was to give opportunity to the societies to

designate those whom they knew to be most successful in securing funds. Directors in the various organizations acquainted

with their work and their clientele are assigned to serve on

the soliciting body. These bring to it experience and the interest which comes from a knowledge of the needs of the institutions. The advantage in this plan is that it combines with

the work of soliciting funds administrative duties in the constituent societies of the Federation.

APPORTIONMENT OF THE FUNDS OF THE FEDERATION

The following excerpts from the by-laws indicate the method

of the apportionment of the Federation funds:

" SECTION 1. Members of the Federation shall be requested

to designate and may designate the Beneficiary Societies

in which they desire membership and the amounts to

be paid to such societies out of their contributions to the

Federation; the contributions of a member to Beneficiary

Societies prior to their admission to the Federation shall be

deemed continuous designations by such members unless

affirmatively revoked or unless his contribution to the Federation shall not equal his total contributions to such Beneficiary

Societies; the Federation from among its members not so

designating may nominate to any Beneficiary Society, upon

its request, a sufficient number of members to maintain the

membership roll of such society at the number which it had

during the fiscal year next preceding its admission to the

Federation; provided, however, that members so designated

or nominated shall be elected members by such Beneficiary
130 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

Societies in accordance with their by-laws without further liability for membership dues or otherwise.

SECTION 2. Out of the undesignated funds the expenses

of Federation shall first be paid, and from the surplus there

shall be allotted to each Beneficiary Society an amount which

with the designated sums shall make the total appropriated

by the Federation to each society equal the sum collected by

it from (a) membership dues or subscriptions in the year 1915

and (b) the average amount received in the years 1911-1915 in

donations for purposes other than endowment, building, or

special funds, and (c) the average annual amount of net proceeds from entertainments received in the years 1911-1915,

and (d) the amount paid by an auxiliary society to it or

expended in its behalf in 1915.

SECTION 3. The Board of Trustees may create and maintain

out of the undesignated funds an emergency fund, which shall

at no time exceed $300,000. Appropriations from this fund

shall be made only to meet extraordinary conditions and

emergencies and upon two-thirds of the total number of votes

of the Board.

SECTION 4. The Board of Trustees may in its absolute

discretion make appropriations from the balance of any

undesignated funds to Beneficiary Societies upon two-thirds

of the votes of all trustees present, and not less than a majority

of the total number of votes of the Board. In making

appropriations from such undesignated balance, the Board

shall consider the needs of each society and its income from

all sources, but shall not consider as available income the

amount received by a society in legacies and devises.

SECTION 5. The Board of Trustees by two-thirds of the

total number of its votes may make appropriations from the
JEWISH FEDERATION OF NEW YORK CITY 131

undesignated funds to organizations other than Beneficiary

Societies, to be expended for philanthropic or philanthropicreligious purposes in behalf of the Jews of Manhattan and The

Bronx. No part of the undesignated funds shall, however,

be appropriated for activities not primarily philanthropic

or philanthropic-religious.

SECTION 6. The Federation may in its discretion receive

from members funds designated for the use of organizations

and not beneficiaries thereof, and shall pay such funds in

accordance with the wishes of the contributors; but such funds

shall not be included as a membership payment of such member.

SECTION 7. The Federation shall discourage the making

of legacies and devises to it and shall recommend that these

be made direct to the Beneficiary Societies. The Federation

shall not accept legacies or devises by which the principal is

to be held in trust by the Federation and only the income is

to be available for distribution; and all legacies and devises

received shall, within a period of three years after receipt, be

distributed to the Beneficiary Societies, or, upon two-thirds

of the total number of votes of the Board of Trustees, to new

societies to be formed."

Representatives of smaller societies, with expanding activities, expressed the fear that the growth of their organizations

might be hampered unless they were assured of increased funds

to enable them to meet their commitments. The situation of

the large institutions is not different from that of the smaller

societies. Both classes of organizations look forward to enlarged

activities, for which they must have additional funds. The

general experience under Federation elsewhere has been that

the income of federated societies increased thirty per cent or

more. The purpose of Federation here is to secure as great
132 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

an increase or a greater one, in order that all societies might

have adequate support for their work. The Board of Trustees

is free to use the increased funds to meet the requirements

of the societies.

EMERGENCY FUND

The Committee left the creation of an Emergency Fund

optional with the Board of Trustees. To make the establishment of such a reserve mandatory might involve the tying-up

of funds at a time when they were needed for immediate uses.

It is proposed that the maximum amount for the fund shall be

$300,000, and that, as this amount is reduced, appropriations

may be made to replenish it. This fund should be available

for use only to meet emergencies such as wide-spread business

depression and other extraordinary occurrences which might

in any year seriously reduce the income of the Federation, or

give rise tb exceptional demands. It is the intention that

this fund shall be drawn upon only to meet the needs of Manhattan and the Bronx. It should not be used to meet emergencies outside of New York City. The Committee believes it

would not be proper to make appropriation from it for emergencies elsewhere in the United States or abroad, for the reason

that the purpose of this reserve is to safeguard the work of the

Federation. Such sums as might be voted from this fund

for such other uses could doubtless be secured otherwise.

This fund is to be regarded as available for use only in

emergencies and not as a substitute for moneys which should

be secured in subscriptions from the public. The Committee,

accordingly, recommended that this reserve be safeguarded

by requiring that appropriations from it should be upon twothirds of all the votes of the Board of Trustees.
JEWIS H FEDERATION OP NEW YORK CITY 13 3

LEGACIES

The Committee believed that it is for the best interests of

the community that legacies be made to the constituent

societies of the Federation. The function of the Federation

should be to gather and distribute annual contributions and

not to accumulate trust funds. The Federation should therefore discourage legacies to itself and recommend that bequests

be made directly to the beneficiary societies. It should further

refuse to accept legacies or devises to be held in trust by the

Federation.

If legacies or devises are nevertheless left to the Federation,

the principal is to be treated as part of the income of the

Federation available for distribution to its beneficiaries.

Where large amounts are involved, it may not always be

expedient to distribute the total in one year. The budgets of

the institutions are necessarily adjusted to their regular income,

and it would not be desirable to expand activities to absorb

an increased appropriation, the recurrence of which could

not be counted upon.

Again, there may be need for new activities, or new agencies,

to the financing of which such funds could be most advantageously devoted. The Committee, accordingly, provided that

the Board of Trustees have discretion to extend the distribution

of legacies received over a period not to exceed three years,

and also that the Board be authorized, upon a two-thirds' vote,

to use the funds derived from legacies for financing new

activities.

CONDITIONS FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF FEDERATION

The Committee was of the opinion that the best method

would be to organize the Federation in accordance with the
134 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

plan proposed and to proceed with a canvass. Federation

was to be declared effective as soon as its financial success

was established.

Accordingly, in the fall of 1916, a systematic campaign was

planned, the condition being that subscriptions to the amount

of two million dollars must be secured in order to make

Federation operative. In other words, the Committee recommended that the Federation should be declared operative when

there should have been secured from subscribers to the Federation an increase of $200,000 over the amount contributed by

them in 1915 in membership dues or subscriptions and in

donations other than for permanent or building funds to the

beneficiary societies, or $700,000 in excess of the sum contributed by such subscribers in membership dues alone. The

original Organization Committee consisted of ten representatives, none of whom was a director or an officer of the

societies named; two representatives from each of the following: Montefiore Home and Hospital for Chronic Diseases,

Mount Sinai Hospital and United Hebrew Charities; one

representative from each of the following: Association for

the Improved Instruction of Deaf-Mutes, Beth Israel Hospital, Crippled Children's East Side Free School, Dispensary and

Hospital for Deformities and Joint Diseases, Educational

Alliance, Emanuel Sisterhood for Personal Service, Free

Synagogue Social Service Department, Hebrew Free Loan

Society, Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society, Hebrew Technical Institute, Hebrew Technical School for Girls, Home for

Aged and Infirm Hebrews, Home for Hebrew Infants, Jewish

Protectory and Aid Society, Joint Committee on Tuberculosis,

Lebanon Hospital Association, Sanitarium for Hebrew
JEWISH FEDERATION OF NEW YORK CITY 135

Children, Widowed Mothers' Fund Association, Young Men's

Hebrew Association, and Young Women's Hebrew Association.

On January 1, 1917, Federation was declared operative,

and the following officers were elected: Felix M. Warburg,

President; Julius Goldman, Vice-President; Lee K. Frankel,

Secretary; Harry Sachs, Treasurer; Harriet B. Lowenstein,

Comptroller and Auditor; I. Edwin Goldwasser, Executive

Director.

On April 27, 1917, under Chapter 269 of the Laws of New

York, the Federation was incorporated. The act of incorporation was as follows:

" SECTION 1. Felix M. Warburg, Leo Arnstein, Emil Baerwald, Mrs. Sidney C. Borg, Joseph L. Buttenwieser, Joseph H.

Cohen, William N. Cohen, Julius J. Dukas, Mrs. William

Einstein, Benjamin F. Feiner, Lee K. Frankel, Harry G.

Friedman, Mrs. Henry Goldman, Julius Goldman, William

Goldman, Emil Goldmark, Paul M. Herzog, Mark Hyman,

Samuel I. Hyman, Sol Kohn, Lee Kohns, Mrs. Alexander

Kohut, Edward Lauterbach,, Arthur Lehman, Irving Lehman,

Meyer London, Edwin S. Lorsh, Aaron E. Nusbaum, Leopold

Plaut, Theodore Rosenwald, Harry Sachs, Samuel Sachs,

Fred M. Stein, Maximilian Toch, Mrs. Israel Unterberg,

Jacob Wertheim, Charles A. Wimpfheimer, and Stephen S.

Wise, together with such other persons as they may associate

with them, and their successors, are hereby created a body

corporate with perpetual succession by the name of Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies of

New York City, and by that name shall possess all of the

powers which by the general corporation law are conferred

upon corporations; and in addition thereto, shall have fill

the powers and be subject to all the restrictions which now or
136 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

hereafter may pertain by law to membership corporations, so

far as the same are applicable thereto, and are not inconsistent

with the provisions of this act. It shall also have the power

to take and hold by bequest, devise, gift, purchase, lease, or

by judicial order or decree, either absolutely or in trust for

any of its purposes, or in trust for any of the corporations

formed for charitable, benevolent or educational purposes

referred to in the section thereof, any property, real or

personal, without limitation as to amount or value, except

such limitation, if any, as the legislature may hereafter

specifically impose; to sell, mortgage, lease, exchange, convey,

or otherwise dispose of or transfer such property; to invest

and re-invest the principal thereof and the surplus income

therefrom; to expend the principal and income of any trust

fund which it may take and hold as herein provided, in accordance with the terms of the trust upon which the same shall

be held, and to expend the principal and income of any

property held by it absolutely, or in trust for its general

purposes, in such manner as in the judgment of its trustees

will best promote its objects.

SECTION 2. The objects of said corporation shall be, and

it is hereby further empowered, to aid, support, and advise,

and to conduct, by itself or in co-operation with any charitable,

benevolent or educational corporation, association, committee,

or any other agency, now or hereafter existing which shall be

affiliated with the corporation hereby organized, any or all

philanthropic work which shall be carried on within the state

of New York or elsewhere, and which shall be primarily for

the benefit of the Jews of New York City, including the sustenance, shelter and relief of the needy and of such persons as

are dependent and sick, crippled, deformed, chronic invalids,
JEWISH FEDERATION OF NEW YORK CITY 137

convalescents, infants, orphans, widows, aged, infirm, forsaken,

deaf, dumb, blind, defectives or delinquents; the assistance of

immigrants and their children; the moral, religious and physical training of the young and adolescent; the securing of

employment for those in need thereof; the promotion of selfsupport and other cognate ends; but not excluding any other

charitable or benevolent purposes not herein enumerated.

SECTION 3. The objects of said corporation shall further

be, to secure for the affiliated corporations referred to in section

two hereof, heretofore or hereafter organized under any law

of this state for any of the aforesaid purposes, adequate

means of support in furtherance of the purposes for which such

corporations shall be severally formed; to provide efficient

methods for the collection and distribution of moneys or

property contributed for their maintenance in accordance with

the wishes of individual contributors, when expressed, and

in default of any designation by the contributors, in such

manner as it shall deem just and equitable; to relieve such

corporations from making separate appeals to the public and

independent collections of funds, so as to enable them the

more effectively to carry on their philanthropic activities; to

foster co-operation among them; to avoid waste in administration; to stimulate financial economy, and to encourage such

further charitable, benevolent or educational work among the

Jews of the city of New York as may not be sufficiently carried

on by any existing organization.

SECTION 4. The persons named in the first section of this

act shall constitute the first board of trustees and members

of the corporation. They, or a majority of them, shall hold

a meeting to organize the corporation, and adopt By-Laws not

inconsistent with this act, or with the laws of the state, which
138 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

shall prescribe the qualifications of members; the manner of

their selection; the amount of annual dues to be paid by them;

their voting power, the number of trustees, not less than thirtysix, by whom the business and affairs of the corporation shall

be managed; the classification of such trustees and the duration of the terms of office of each class of trustees; the qualifications, powers and manner of selection of the several of the

classes of trustees and of the officers of the corporation; the

manner in which vacancies among the trustees occurring by

death, resignation, increase in number, or in any other way,

shall be filled; the creation of an executive committee with

power to conduct the activities of the corporation between

the several meeetings of the trustees, and of a board of

delegates to represent this corporation and the philanthropic

corporations or agencies referred to in the second section

hereof, and define the powers to be exercised by or which may

be delegated to them; the method of amending the By-Laws

of the corporation, and such other provisions for its management and government, the disposition of its property and

the regulation of its affairs, as may be deemed expedient.

The by-laws may also prescribe the terms and conditions

upon which the several philanthropic corporations or agencies

specified in the second section hereof may become affiliated

with this corporation as beneficiaries of its activities; regulate

the relations between this corporation and such affiliated

corporations or agencies; make provision to carry out any

agreement with, or any terms and conditions accepted by, such

corporations or agencies or any of them which may be conferred

on members of this corporation; empower such corporations or

agencies now or hereafter affiliated with this corporation to

designate such number of trustees with such voting power
JEWISH FEDERATION OF NEW YORK CITY 139

as may be stated in the by-laws, in addition to the trustees

selected by the members of this corporation.

SECTION 5. This corporation is not established and shall

not be maintained or conducted for pecuniary profit, but

shall be and remain a charitable corporation. None of its

trustees, officers, members or employees shall receive or be

lawfully entitled to receive any pecuniary profit from the

operations thereof, except reasonable compensation for services

in effecting one or more of its corporate objects or as proper

beneficiaries of its strictly charitable purposes."

On June 24, in accordance with the Enabling Act, the

Federation was formally organized with the following societies

declared affiliated: Association for the Improved Instruction

of Deaf-Mutes, Beth Israel Hospital, Committee for the Care

of Jewish Tuberculous, Crippled Children's East Side Free

School, Educational Alliance, Emanuel Sisterhood, Free Synagogue Social Service, Hebrew Free Loan, Hebrew Orphan

Asylum, Hebrew Sheltering Guardian, Hebrew Technical Institute, Hebrew Technical School for Girls, Home for Aged

and Infirm Hebrews, Home for Hebrew Infants, Hospital for

Deformities and Joint Diseases, Jewish Protectory, Lebanon

Hospital, Montefiore.Home, Mount Sinai Hospital, Sanitarium

for Hebrew Children, United Hebrew Charities, Widowed

Mothers' Fund, Young Men's Hebrew Association, Young

Women's Hebrew Association, Ahawath Chesed Sisterhood,

Amelia Eelief Society, Beth El Sisterhood, Blythedale Home,

B'nai Jeshurun Sisterhood, Brightside Day Nursery, Ceres

Sewing Circle, Children's Haven, Columbia Religious and

Industrial School, Crippled Children's Driving Fund, Emanuel

Brotherhood, Federated Employment Bureau for Jewish Girls,

Federation Settlement, Fellowship House, Jewish Big Brother
140 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

Association, Jewish Maternity Hospital, Jewish Sabbath

Association, Jewish Working Girls' Vacation, Ladies Beneficiary, Ladies Fuel and Aid, Lakeview Home, Mount Sinai

Training School for Nurses, National Desertion Bureau,

National Hospital for Consumptives, Eecreation Kooms and

Settlement, Eodef Sholom Sisterhood, Shaaray Telfila Sisterhood, Sisterhood of Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue,

Stony Wold Auxiliary, Temple Israel Sisterhood.

When Federation was declared operative, the total of subscriptions secured was $2,000,000, and the number of

subscribers 9,500. At the end of the first year, the total

of subscriptions was $2,400,000, and the number of subscribers

had increased to 17,000.

On June 24, 1917, when Federation was incorporated, the

number of societies affiliated was fifty-five. On January 1,

1918, the number of affiliated societies had increased to eightyfour.

From the inception of Federation two vital aims have been

held steadily before the Trustees. One was the securing of

larger funds for the support of the philanthropic institutions

of the city. The other was to increase the nujnber of members,

so that it might be said that Jewish philanthropy was receiving the support of the entire Jewish community.

In the fall of 1917 an organization was developed with the

aim of canvassing every district in the city so as to reach

those who had in the past not contributed to any of the

organized philanthropies in the city. The campaign was concentrated within a period of two weeks. A novel feature was

the transformation of the regulation afternoon rallies, held

for the purpose of receiving reports from the various workers,

into meetings which were utilized for educational propaganda
JEWISH FEDERATION OF NEW YORK CITY 141

on the subject of Jewish philanthropic work in New York

City. Five-minute addresses were delivered on various topics,

all touching on the work of the Federation and its societies.

The campaign was noteworthy also in that the co-operation

was secured of the larger fraternal organizations, such as the

Independent Order Free Sons of Israel, Independent Order

B'nai Brith, Independent Order Brith Abraham, etc. In

addition to the subscriptions of the members of these orders,

the lodges themselves enrolled themselves as contributing

members to the Federation.

When the campaign was completed, over 51,000 new members

had been enrolled, making a total of upwards of 71,000 contributing members to the Federation.

The Federation guarantees to the affiliated societies certain

amounts based upon the receipts of the societies from membership dues, subscriptions, and donations in the year 1915. The

guarantee to the affiliated societies is $1,429,362.52. The

funds available for Federation purposes in 1918 are $2,600,-

000. In other words, the Federation in the second year of its

existence has raised funds over $1,100,000 in excess of what

had been raised prior to the organization of the Federation.

This is an increase of over eighty per cent.

The experience in New York has demonstrated several

things. In the first place, the deadlock has been broken. What

ten years ago was deemed to be an impossibility is now an

actuality. There is a Federation. It has been formed in

accordance with the plan that has received the approval of all

the constituent societies. The old fear that a Federation

would interfere with the autonomy of the institutions no

longer exists. In no way, directly or indirectly, has there
142 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

been any tendency to regulate the operation of the societies

or to affect the administration of their work.

As an agency for securing additional funds from the community and increasing the number of subscribers to the

General Fund, the Federation has demonstrated its success

in a magnificent way. Upwards of $3,000,000 in annual contributions pass through the office of the Federation, designated

to Federation purposes and distributed to unaffiliated societies

in accordance with the wishes of the contributors. Upwards

of nine hundred societies receive funds in accordance with

the designations of the members of the Federation—this in

addition to the eighty-four societies affiliated with the

Federation.

The entire community has been welded into a solid unit.

There is no division of up-town or down-town nor any other

sort of division within the Federation. Problems of the community are considered in the broadest possible way, and the

decisions are accepted by the constituent societies as the result

of the most careful deliberation. The various campaigns

have developed new groups of workers; men and women never

before connected with Jewish work have rallied to the cause

of the Federation, and have contributed in no small measure

to its remarkable success.

The committees of the Federation are considering the general

problems, of community welfare, and for the first time in the

history of the Jewish community in New York City opportunity is given for the full consideration of problems that affect

many institutions. The possibilities for co-ordination and

co-operation are practically unlimited. Up to the present very

little has been accomplished in a positive way to show the

results of these conferences. They carry within themselves,
JEWISH FEDERATION OF NEW YORK CITY 143

however, potentialities that are immeasurable. The citation

of some of. these problems may be of interest as indicating the

trend of thought. The following list is selected:

What are the arguments for and against a single placing-out

bureau for the two large child-caring institutions now affiliated with the Federation? Would such a bureau be more

economical and conserve the best interests of the community

and of the institutions ?

What institutions must be developed or created to care for

foundlings who may be offered for adoption ?

How can co-operation be established between the various

institutions and the Department of Education of the city with

the view of determining whether the City Department may not

more effectively take over parts of the educational work now

carried on in the institutions affiliated with the Federation ?

What plan can be formulated to co-ordinate all types of

placement and vocational guidance work now carried on in

the institutions with the view of making present work more

effective and preparing for the demands that will be made

upon employment agencies in the period of adjustment after

the war?

What plan will be most effective to care for cardiacs?

Is it possible to develop a committee for the social care

of the Jewish sick, which shall consider all constructive plans

of rehabilitating those who are temporarily or permanently

incapacitated from carrying on their regular employment?

What are the hospital needs t)f the Bronx ? To what extent

can existing institutions be reorganized and merged so as to

make adequate provision for this section of the Jewish community ?
144 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

What are the needs and what are the present facilities of

the institutions affiliated with the Federation with reference

to summer recreation, either for a period of two weeks or for

week-end holidays? What is the best method of developing

existing facilities in order adequately to provide for the

problem ?

The Federation has already achieved one definite, co-ordinated plan. The preventive and after-care work for juvenile

delinquents has been co-ordinated under a central committee,

which represents four different agencies, all affiliated with the

Federation. Adequate funds have been provided by the

Federation, and for the first time in the history of the community the problem is being properly taken care of in

accordance with a plan which is comprehensive in outline and

which has received the approval not only of the professional

workers but of the directors of the various institutions

concerned.

An Advisory Purchasing Committee has been formed which

has already effected joint purchases of goods in bulk. This

will be greatly extended in the coming year with the idea of

effecting even greater economies.

A committee has been organized to consider the problem

of the standardization of salaries paid to social workers and

of developing a plan for. providing pensions for all those in

the service of the societies affiliated with the Federation.

Under the direction of Mr. Leopold Plaut, the President

of the United Hebrew Charities^ Mr. A. Oseroff, the Executive

Director, and Mr. Morris D. Waldman, formerly Executive

Director of the United Hebrew Charities and now Executive

Director of the Boston Federation, a plan is being developed

whereby all relief work is to be co-ordinated under the direc-
JEWISH FEDERATION OP NEW YORK CITY 145

tion of the United Hebrew Charities. The work of the sisterhoods is to be standardized, while the invaluable personal

service rendered by the members of the sisterhoods will, in the

opinion of those who are furthering the plan, not be in any

sense reduced.

Such, then, is a brief record of the organization of the New

York Federation, its material growth in the first year and a

half of its existence.

One type of influence, however, which is being steadily

exercised in the Jewish community, which cannot adequately

be expressed in words nor can it be reduced to statistics is

this: For a year and a half a Board of Trustees has met to

consider the problems connected with the greatest Jewish community in the world. This Board consists for the most part

of Trustees delegated by the various institutions. With years

of tradition behind them, it was but natural that they came

strongly imbued with the feeling of institutional pride and

of institutional accomplishment. A great forward step has

been made in that the requirements of individual institutions

are now considered subordinate in the deliberations of the

Board of Trustees to the greater problems of the community as

a whole. What were before conflicting elements are gradually

coming together. Where there was in previous years a pulling

apart there is now a steady forging ahead. Through direct contact in committees and at the meetings of the Board, the Trustees are beginning to understand one another. Institutions are

coming to a better appreciation of the problems presented by

fields other than those in which they are laboring. The workers

themselves, the superintendents, are co-operating to the fullest

extent.
146 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

The problems that are still to be met are many. The

difficulties to be overcome are great. There will be many

anxious days ahead, but so firmly has the Federation planted

itself in the institutional management of the Jewish community that those who are responsible for the success of the

Federation feel that there is no problem so great but that

Federation can find its solution. The feeling is optimistic

in the highest degree.

While the size of New York City seems to render it immune,

for the time being at all events, there is discussion in certain

quarters of New York and in many cities through the United

States of a new form of Federation which is worthy of the

closest study. Many cities have already organized war chests;

joint funds are accumulated to take care of all war needs and

of local philanthropies as well. It is as yet too early to say

what the outcome of this movement will be. It must not be

forgotten that the demands for war-time activities will cease

when peace once more is with us. In the meantime, the

greatest care must be taken that the continuous and dependable support of local philanthropies shall not in any way be

placed in jeopardy by the combination of many funds into a

single war chest.

This is not to be interpreted in any sense as a questioning

of the value of the war-chest idea. It is intended merely to

serve as a note of warning indicating what should be the

attitude of those upon whom must fall the tremendous

responsibility of maintaining peace-time philanthropies in

time of war, so that their efficiency may not be impaired and

that their organization may be ready to take over at the close of

the war the added burden which the period of rehabilitation

and readjustment necessarily brings with it.