The true Democrat., 1856-11-11
From the Baltimore American. Isrealites in the United States.

Among the multitudinous peoples that make up the American public, there is none more sur rounded with Interests than that portion con- prlslng the children of Isreal In very few years the insignificant part which they once constituted has increased to perhaps over a quarter or million, mostly, 1t is believed, of 1 herman birth. and at the present time they 1 nave synagogues Tn all of our larger cities. to whlch, Tn obedience to their ancient laws the devout throng at festive seasons such as that which they have just celebrated. They are
 among the most frugal of our city population,
 and Tn most instances exhibit a capacity and
 emulation for good citizenship unexceled by l any class among us. In the city of Baltimore
 they have four synagogues, and large num- | Der of those who adhere to the ancient cus-
 toms are scattered through our midst. Ad-
 herring rigidly to the land marks of faith that
 was founded in holiness when the Chaldean
 worshipped the host of heaven' in the allu-
 vial plains of Mesopotamia, and Egypt gro- ! yelled Tn It's infancy around the muddy idols 1 ot the Nile, they possess bond of union which while It exempts them from degenerating into faction to be used politically or socially by the designing or other organizations, facilitates that united and intelligent action in matters of thelr own welfare which has been taught them oy the prosecutions of the past ages, resulting alike from the lawlessness of camoring mobs ana the harsh hand of avaricious despotism' In this Is possibly to be found the reason why the children of Isreal have so truthfullv dis cerned and firmly resisted the blandishments oi any political party which tended to bring them, as class, into conflict of national pre- ludlces. We can bear cheerful testimony that they avoid any such alliances in our midst, and Ii we may be allowed to argue from Iheir conduct here, what, by parity of reason lng It must be elsewhere, there is no class of our people, comprising so large proportion of adopted citizens, who exercise the franchise legally vested in them with more singlr aim 1 to the welfare of the country which has open- ed its doors to their persecuted race. and which they have chosen as the home of their adop- ton.
 but our object in pursuing these reflections was not to utter a panegyric on our Hebrew fellow-cltlzens, but to place before the reader a orlef glimpse of their condition in the United otates from cetemporary jourRa the New
 York Express. That paper remarks: Hidden away, as it were behind the great mass ot cur Christian inhabitants, there is a very large population of Jews; people shut up almost Tn themselves, preserving their own GUS toms, practising their own sublime and glorious religion, and keeping up quietly, but faithfully the ceremonies and traditions that have come down to them from their forefathers Obsery Ing thelr Sabbath, when all the rest of our po- pulatlon Is buslly engaged in traffic and busi- ness, the Jews have but few visitors to their places Of worship; and the synagogues remain Ing closed upon Sunday, when people so dis posed usually investigate the religious ceremo- nles Of their neighbors, but small portion of our citizens, comparatively, know anything about the very interesting Jewish ceremonial law and practices.
 "The number of Jews in the United States exceeds quarter of a million, and in the State of New York there are about 10000, of whom nearly seven-eighths reside in the Empire City. This estimate is arrived at not by cenSuS-the taking of which is forbidden by the Jewish aw--but bv the amount of un- leavened bread consumed at the season of the Passover. At that time, for one week. no Jew Is permitted to eat leavened bread The Pass over bread is baked in large public ovens, and is dealt out to all applying families at the rate of hve pounds tor every man, woman, and | child. By the law they are obliged to eat it. 1 and we understand that but very few-perhaps
 not five hundred in the whole countrv-neg-
 ect to fulfil their obligations in this particular. 1 Therfore, by the amount of Passover bread
 consumed, it is very easy to compute the num- Der of the faithful children of Isreal in the 1 country.
 "In New York city the Jews possess twenty synagogues besides one in Williamsburg and
 one in Brooklyn. Several of these synagogues,
 for size and architectural beauty, will bear
 comparason with the churches of the Christian
 denominations. The principal ones are situa-
 ted in Crosby, Green, Norfolk, Wooster, Clinton
 and East Twelfth streets. In West Twenty
 eighth street there is large and well conduct
 ed Jewish Hospital, and ably taught schools
 are attached to several of the synagogues"