The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1854-04-11
Jews in New SSsE5.

Jews RI New SEaa.
The Jews are peculiar people, though their
exercises at their inauguration dinner" last
evening, were Dot So peculiar but that Chris.
tians present. thought it very excellent and
Christian,lke entertainment. There are said
to be some 1900 Of the Jewish faith in the
United States. Their churchrs number 81
and their church Recommendations perhaps may
she Justly taken rs in index 10 their strength
Probably 5000 jews arc to lie found in the city
of New York. Their children attend the same
schools with our children, and, un;il we reach
their religious recuariic$, there lis little to
distinguish them trnm ohcfS Of cur ciizeus-
And yet they have soue pcculiaritcs We
seldom lind one Ill cur prisons or penentaries.
When one is seen in prison, he is there tnr
some petty o!!tmce, the charges being seldom
gravcr than of false prctcnceS or OF receiving
stolen goods. Some years ago, we remember,
one was sentenced to the State prison for ar
son; but yet it is true that, to Il remarkable
extent, lSEaclites arc seldom uhtnderS-against
society. They are not frequently found i" Our
hospitals and never III ou!' p"o:h""ses Al
Wards Island, where so iuaHv h"idreGS "t the
poor drifting across from the shores "t the OId
World are continually gathering, we find all
classes Of Observation-Disclosures perhaps, eX
cspted-and all shades Of iulidelS represented,
bat never Jew. When the Jewish emigrant
arrives, he does not commit himself, thongh
poverty has chased him from lis Old home. aud
met him on our wharf; 10 the Commissioners
of Emigration for the receipt Of that assistance
to which his communication fee entities him, but
he queries first, Where IS there Jew? His
brother found, leads him to the man who, by
appointment OF the synagogue, or otherwise as.
sumcs the specific task Of caring for such. Aid
for the stranger is solicited from his own pco-
pie, and by contributions within !lieir circle. all
his immediate wants are relieved, and he is put
i'm the way Of obtaining livelihood for him
SELF From the extraordinary amount of Jew
ish emigration to and through this city, we
Judge that there. must be large disbursements
made bv some of them in charity. Thirteen
hundred tons of coal, we are told, have been
given to the poor by one Society Of lsratlites
in New York during the past winter. This
early and unfa;ling attention, of those who are
able, to the wants Of the poor, must greatly
tend to prevent the commission Of crime, since
crime stalks in nowhere so surely, as when
hunger and nakedness open the door, and Want
perpetually beckon on.
Here is fact from which Christians may
proftably accept hint. Meet poverty while
it is innocent, relieve it, and you remove the
temptations to vice; for hunger has a sharp
tooth, and cannot but soon gnaw through the
restraints of virtue, when that which must re.
lieve it, lies only on the other side. Christians
too, might learn from tSs lsraelites some noble
lessons as to the policy of supplying the wants
of those who hold the same faith.
Much that is objected to the Jewish charac-
ter, seems to have been impaired to it by the
hard lot in which its lines have been cast Per
secuted for centuries, driven into corners Of the
earth, their natural acquisiliveuess has been
sharpened, and the angles and points of their
character, strongly brought out. We have of.
ten thought that their faith must be stronger
than that OF most men. Their strict observance
Of the Jewish Sabbath, none the hess strict,
where stringent legal enactments, and their du-
ties as good citizens, restrain them from bust
ness avocations unQn the -Chri<tian Sabbath
has peculiarly impressed US. And lit is curious,
too, that with five only Of the seven days de-
voted to business, they so generally prove sue
cessfuI business men.-N. Y. Times.