Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1888-03-14
NEW YORK'S POLISH JEWS.
People Whose Rules Of Life Rssem-
bic Those of Bible Times.

On Sunday is the best time to see tLis
colony, because then it offers the
strangest and strongest contrast with
the life that surrounds it. East Broad
way IS the main thoroughfare In this
colony. The once grand avenue of the
rich Quakers of forty years ago-the
street that led to the houses of the
progenltors of Henry Bergh and Berry
Wall and the now aristocratic Roose-
velts. The solid big houses are there
yet, with their high stoops and broad
fronts and mansion-like appearance,
| but how changed, how sadly changed.
Pillows and carpets hang from their
upper windows, what were once the
dining rooms and parlOrs are packed
thick with workmen and workwomen
making clothing, and the windows and
walls are lined with bales Of the cheap
est coats and trousers Imaginable.
queer, blousy wemen in greasy wigs
| and very old-looking men in their long
boards are running hither and thlther
The roadway and cutters are full of
refuse and waste, the air is heavy with
bad odors, the breath on all the window
panes IS the breath OF sQualor, neglect,
| and Indifference to appearance and
comfort. Very strange signs are over
the doors. The characters are Hebrew
The only words we can read are the
proper names, nearly all ending in the
letters ''sky' or "ski." Sunday TO
these folks, as TO all but the liberal He
brew, is as Monday Is to US. There IS
only one way Ia which they observe
| our Sabbath. This is by closing their
| theaters. They do tits because our
laws forbid their being opened.
| By mounting any nna pf a dnyap
| flights Of steps we can step from New
York TO Modern Asia Minor, almost TO
ancient Judea. 1t is in the synagogues
that this change cOnfronts US. They
are bare, fOTlOrn places-meTe rooms
| full of benches-but they are highly
important to this strange community.
| Here the rabbis preside, and the rabbi
| is. as he used to be, the chief source
of authority and wisdom. lie breaches
here on Saturdays, teaches school all
the week, holds court perpetually as a
| Judge before whom all discussions and
disputes are brought, marries, christ
| ems, confirms, blesses, advises, eXhorts,
chastlses, and, in word, guides and
| controls his flock. Like nearly al the
| men he wears a velvet cap, and like
| all lie Tefrains from shaving his beard,
| His language is sometimes Hebrew,
but IN most cases he uses the tongue of
bis people, simular mixture of He
brew and Polish. or Hebrew and the
tongue of whatever other Slave race he
belongs to. All about the neighbor-
hood are bookstores, and the books are
all printed ia one polyglot or another
corresponding with the talk OF the peo-
! pie.
The young girls are more or less fair
and pleasing to the eye. The majority
are swart, but some are very fair
\ blondes with COLDER tresses. AL the
married women look alike, however,
for all hsve shaved their heads and
! wear wIga-of black hair, pToceeding
4 n their looks from little stems OF cord
or horsehair. 1t is said that this me-
| chanism of the wig does not show
| when they are new, but 1 never saw
! one that did not show its secrets any
| more than i ever SAW a Cuinaman's
queue that was not heightened with
black thread or hOrselair. These mar
ried women are made 10 loOK less at
| tTactive by their fashion Of wearing
| their waist bands almost under their
aTmpits. The strongest prediction is
of red dresses, and their next strongest
Is for wearing them for lengths of time
exceeding human belief. Their wigs
serve instead of other head covering, 80
| that one is next To never seen in "A hat
or bonnet, no matter where or how far
she goes. Even on railroad journeys
they go bare headed. They are not
allowed to cover while in church.
where they sit apart from the men,
and l have heard that among the
strictest of the orthodox the women
may not cover iu the presence of their
husbands. However, a perusal of
Deuteronomy and Leviticus (Which
| beg leave to state are books in the
Bible) VIII show exactly what the
strictest rules of the race were, and in
the main, remain to-day