New-York tribune., 1903-06-28


dox congregations, meeting in an East Slde sS n
agogue last week openly condemned the rap
binicaI divorce and recommended drastic steps
to do away with it, check was put on one ol
the most serious and at the same time pelpleA
ing evils of the Ghetto. 1t would be a surprise
to a large portion of the community TO hho"
that within the limits of Manhattan 1--we tens oL
thousands of and women in whose minus
the right of giving a divorce rests with the rAo"
and not with the court. and yet such Is the case
In Russia where the Ghetto exists as thing
apart this authority is certainly vested III tue
rabbi He marries and dissolves marriages; his
decree is final This is also the case IN Ru-
mania, in Galicia. and in fact, in most OF the
Eastern F,uropean communities from which the
New-York Jewish population is recruited When
the Russian rabbi and his people come to Amer
lea they assume that at least the liberty OF
Russia must be allowed them in this free coun-
try.
I'VE may do all we could in Russia the au-
tocratic and much more besides, here in free
America" This is their point of view 80 the
rabbi issues his divorce, the arm OF the law
intervenes and then comes pit1tul ana ire
quently a dreadfully mixed up. proceeding.
4 complete illustration of the most pathetic
and unfortunate circumstances attending the
rabbinfcal divorce was furnished in local court
and the attending lawyers were alike moved by
the pathos of the situation. The case was one
which is unfeelingIy docketed that of The
PeopIe against Eny MasIow." This unfortu-
nate woman against whom the majesty of the
law invoked had secured a get, that IS
divorce. from rabbi. In opening the case Dis
trict Attorney Jerome declared that he was con-
vinced that in remarrying on the strength of the
divorce she mad believed herself acting in ac-
cordance with the law
The unhappy woman was brought into court
and herself confirmed the words of the District
Attorney that she had believed she acting
rightly. At first Mr.. Jerome asked that SEN
tence be suspended Later he changed his mind
and said to the court:
Now it seems to me that what would be
merciful to the individual would not be justice
to the community. There are many people in
that densely filed East Side who do not under
stand the sacredness of the Office that they hold
and who are constantly divorcing men and
women and who are causing the iliegttimacy OF
children and inf1ctng great evil In many
cases where me man or woman could readily
resort to the court and secure the dissolution
of the tie and the children would not be brought
into the world suffering under this stain of
ilIegitimacy but who because of the false state
nents of some persons occupying the position
SNoA4A~
to me absolutely essential, to conserve the pub
lie interests. that even this poor unfortunate
should receive some punishment
Thus it was that poor Eny Maslow, still ig-
norant of the wrong she had committed. still
puzzled by the whole proceeding, was sentenced
to month in the TOmbs, not for her own sin,
perhaps, so much as that the majesty or the
law might be maintained and that the Ghetto
might know that the law of the free America
was not the law of the Great White Car, and
that divorce here belongs to the courts, not to
the rabbi.
With the recent case of Eny Maslow in mind.
it is not unnteresting to turn to the general
subject of the rabbinical divorce as it exists
on the lower East Side, and TO see the strange
and foreign notions that persist almost under
the shadow of the Broadway skyscrapers. OF
the growth of divorce the following account
was given by one of the best known Jewish
workers on the East Side:
Divorce" he said, 'is, after ALL new thing
among the Jewish people. OF course, according
to the Talmud, it is comparatively easy for a
man to get divorce-bear in mind it must
always be the man who asks What would an
American girl think if her husband should say
to her some morning when the biscuit did not
rise: Your cooking is atrocious; intend to di-
vorce you?
band would be acting within his rights. In
deed II the man should frankly tell his wife
that he had found a woman better looking than
she-that is If he dared TO tell woman such
thing-why that would be sufficient cause for
him to ask a divorce. And yet divorce has
been until very recently rare among my people.
The first cause of divorce arises from the mar
rying in extreme youth. In Eastern Europe mar
riages arranged almost entirely by the parents,
are celebrated when the couple are under TWEEN
ty; with years comes dissatisfaction; that is. in
America. although it did not in Europe"
The seed of the evil in America. in New York
City. lies deep down. The most frequent in
stance arises in this way. \ Jewish citizen of
Czernowtz Lemberg or Cracow decides to seek
better fortune in America and So leaving the
Old World he comes to New-York. With the
few years necessary to gain enough money TO
provide for the coming of his family he becomes
Americanzed. His dress. his language even
his religious ideas modified by the conduct
with the busting Gentle world. He goes about
sees American women. and enters to some de-
gree at least into the spirit of the New World.
''All this time he has clung to the idea that
he will have his family as soon as he scrape
together the money. and presently the ambition
is realized. and he goes down to the Battery 10
welcome his wife When she comes ashore he
sees in her at once the old absurdities of
Europe She wig. She is a green
horn. She does not grasp the new language
She Clings more closely than her husband 10 the
old religious faith. Instantly begin differences
between man and wife.
There is another reason quite as poignant
The first reason may. in part at least be senti-
mental the second is practical
The condition of the Jew i'm Russia is under
stood but slightly here in America. Despite the
fTs.V ~,