The Port Gibson reveille. (Port Gibson, Miss.) 185?-1857, 1854-05-03
The Jews IN New York.

The jews are a peculiar people. though
their exercises at :heir inauguration dinner
last evening were not so peculiar but that
Christians present thought il very excellent
and Christian-like entertainment There
are said to be some 1900 Of tho Jewish
faith in the United States. Their churches
number 81. aud their church Accommodations
perhaps mas be Justly taken as an index to
dleir strength. Probably 5000 jews are to
be found in the city Of New York. Their
children attend the same schools with our
children. and, until we reach their religious
peculiaritics, there is little to distinguish
them from others Of our citizens. And yet
they have some pcculiarities. We seldom
find one in our prisons or penitentiaries.-
When one Is seen in prison. be is there for
some petty offence. the charges being seldom
graver than of false protences Of receiving
stolen goods. Some years ago, We remember
one was sentenced to the State Prison for ar
sou but it is true that. to a remarkable ex-
tent, Israelites are seldom offenders against
society. They are not frequently found in
our hospitals. and never III our poorhouses.
At Wards Island, where so many hundreds
Of the poor. drifting across from the shores Of
the Old World. are continually gathering, We
find all classes Of Christians-Quskers. per-
haps, exceptcd-and all shades OF inhdels
represented, but never a jew. When the
Jewish emigrant arrives, be does not commit
himself though poverty has chased him from
bis old home, and met him on our wharf, to
the Commissioners of Emigration for the re-
ceipt Of that assistance to which his commu-
tation fee entities him; but he queries FIRST,
Where is there a Jew? His brother, found,
leads him to the man who, by appointment of
the synagogue or otherwise, assumes the spe-
cifc task Of caring for such.
Aid for the stranger Is solicited from his
own people. and by contributions within their
circle, all his immediate wants are relieved,
and he is put In the way Of obtaining a live
lihood for himself. From the extraordinary
amount Of Jewish emigration TO and through
this city. We judge that there must be large
disbursements made by some Of them in char
ify. Thirteen hundred tons of coal, we are
told have been given to the poor by one So
ciety Of Israeliies in New York. during the
past winter. This early and unfailing atien-
ton Of those who arc able to the wants Of the
poor, must greatly tend to prevent the CON-
mission Of crime. since crime stalks in no
where 80 surely as when hunger and naked
ness opens the door. and want perpetually
bcckons on.
Here is a fact from which Christians may
proftably accept hint Meet poverty while
it is innocent, relieve it, and you remove the
temptations to vice for h@uger has 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 Christ
ians. too. might learn from the Israelites
some noble lessons as TO the policy of supply
ing the wants of those who hold the same
faith.
Much that is objected to the Jewish char
acter seems to have been impaired to it by
the hard lot in which its lines have been cast.
Prosecuted for centuries. driven into corners
Of the earth. their natural acquisitiveness has
been sharpened, and the angles and points Of
their character strongly brought out. We
have often thought that their faith must be
stronger than that Of most men. Their strict
observance of tie Jewish Sabbath, none the
less strict where stringent legal enactments
and their duties as good citizens, restrain
them from business avocations UPON the
Christian Sabbath. has peculiarly impressed
us and it is curious too, that with five only
of the seven days devoted to business, they SO
generally prove successful business men,
" Y. Times