The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-05-04
PASSOVER in THE GHETTO
AN UNUSUAL PRIVILEGE ALLOWED
TO HEBREWS OF NEW ORR
Crowds on the Streets on the Eve of
the Great Jewish Fcast-indiRer-
ence of Young jews.

New York Evening Post.
At a quarter to 6 last evening, when the
sun was still an hour high, the usual army
of Hebrews tramped east on Canal street,
overlooking the sidewalks, filling the thor
oughfare from curb to curb in places, seeth-
ing in masses that became too thick TO
move around the corners OF important side
streets, and pouring at last into the more
open space about Seward Park. All the
network of streets in this region, that
forms the Jewish quarter, was filled with
an inconceivable noise and confusion. 1t
was the last hour before the Passover. and
the last hour in two days of such liberty
as few Jews in the Ghetto have ever
known.
1t was the wish of his administration
that these people. who believe in Saturday
as the holy day, should be left undisturbed
last Sunday. The hand of the gentle was
to be lifted from them. The result is eX-
ceedingly significant. A few years ago this
wish would have been but vaguely felt. 1t
might have caused more than
usual. but thousands of the more tlmld and
cautious would not have Ventured to cry
their wares upon the street. There would
have been an air of watchfulness, of sus-
picion, and the eye of cunning or OF dread
would have scanned the corners closely.
Last Sunday there was none of this. The
mayor had given them the day. and every
body knew it.
Any one watching this horde of people
homeward bound on Canal street, up Park
row. along Madison and Division streets
would know the reason why. Three-fourthS
Of these seemingly endless professions were
boys and girls and young men and women.
The great majority were not twenty-five,
and fully half of them were not eighteen.
A few years ago they were but the chill
dren of a hunted race. so long accustomed
to oppression that they could not be rid OF
the fear of il. And besides. the manner of
the uniformed Irishmen who ruled them
did not differ much from that or the ofhcerS
of the Car.
CHILDREN ARE AMERICANS.
But these children of theirs were also
children OF the public school. and thousands
of them passed in and out of the Educa-
tional Alliance. They learned ~stenography
or a trade. They went to business school,
they knew little Hebrew. and spoke Eng
lish better than Russian or Polish. They
went far away from the Ghetto. They
worked on Broadway. They spent the day
in the Offices of the great world, rising in
elevators 70 the heights of those giant
buildings in the distance. They stood be-
hind the counters in the department stores
on Fourteenth and Twenty-third streets
and Sixth avenue. All this has happened in
the last few years. and the result was seen
in dramatic fashion these last few days.
The freedom offered the Ghetto on the Sum
DAY preceding the PASSOVER. dItnOugn COM
ing on the heels of an unusual enforcement
of the law. was accepted freely and at
once. There was no uncertainty about it.
TIL streets were packed with buyers and
sellers. And the noise over all was as shrill
and unchecked as the piping of a strong
wind. The effect did not pass. All day yes
terday the impetus OF a greater sense OF
But what of the Passover, the eight holy
days in which no buying or selling should
be. but only praise and prayer and thanks
giving I WAS this the maVOr considered
when he gave them the liberty of Sunday.
At 6:45 the sun went down. II was then
that the expected hush should have fallen
over the swarming streets, the puSh-carts
have been removed from the curbs, and the
people have passed quietly TO their homes.
AS night fell, however, there was no less
activity and confusion. The same Shrill
sound arose. Wind-blown wicks fared at
every pushcart. Light streamed from the
open doors of all the shops. Women sat on
the steps or on the walk leaning against
overlooking garbage cans. Children rolled
and ran i'm the streets, or piled uD heaps of
paper and refuse to scatter them again.
I The cutters were filled with the rubbish
dumped there in two hours, since the last
round of the sweepers.
ELDERS AT THE SYNAGOGUE.
At Z o'clock a number of extremely SOL
emn men with heavy boards. dressed in
long black coats and. in most cases. high
silk hats. pushed through the crowds. They
were bound for the synagogue.
The largest congregation i'm that region
last night gathered at the Educational Ali
ance. There were about eleven hundred
people there who remained through a serv-
ice of hale an hour and were lost again in
the multitude outside. One Of the largest
of the syuagogues is the Chebrah Talmud,
at No. 80 Rutgers street. 1t IS a narrow
two-story building. The lower chapel will
hold, perhaps, two hundred people and the
upper one about three hundred. They were
both filled by men and boys. Before the
service began. the rabbi was found sitting
in a corner. talking in low tones with one
of his people. His ancient silk hat was
set ~sQUarely on his head and just reached
TO the top of the high back OF the bench.
He was a short. thick man with stopping
shoulders. a short. full beard. and dun
black eyes. He could not speak English,
but the man beside him could and volun-
teered as an Interpreter.
AS soon as the questioning began the con-
gregaton crowded into the aisles and in
closed the corner I'm a circle. One pleasant
faced. black-bearded man who wore a silk
hat much better than that of the rabbi.
leaned over the back of the bench ana
Joined eagerly in the interview. The first
question was concerning the nature Of the
! Passover. II was repeated to the rabbi. but