The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-23
The Transformation OF the jews.

Inc TRANSFORMATION OF tnc Jews.
The discussion OF the Jewish problem
at the meeting Of the Jewish Educational
Alliance, in East Broadway, on Tuesday
evening, brought out facts which are OF an
interest and importance extending far
beyond that particular race.
In the district on the East Side OF the
town lying in the square mile of area to
the south of Houston street and the east
Of the Bowery are congregated more
than 800 ,O00 Jews. II is the most densely
populated region OF New York, yet thither
still tends the main part of the Jewish
immigration now arriving at this port in
great and unprecedented volume. These
immigrants GO there of necessity, for
they arc not merely strangers to this
country, but to our speech also; and as
ON Of the speakers at the Alliance meet
int said, they must 60 to their own
and it b in the East Side Ghetto that
theY find their own. There their Yiddish
speech or their dialects Of eastern Europe
are understood and they can best be
piloted in their course in this their new
Jerusalem.
What, then, shall be done to make room
for the increasing multitude in that mar
row and densely crowded region? Mr..
CYRUs L. SULzBERGER could give no other
answer than that those of our people
already there who can afford it should 20
to Harlem, to The Bronx and to Brook
Ign, where there is ROOM and thus leave
space for the accommodation OF the in
coming throng. But the Same reasons,
generally, which drive the Jewish immi-
grants to the East Side Ghetto influence
Jews already there to remain in the dis
trict. They want to be In Jewish COM
munity so large that it is dominant in
the district where it is. Moreover, these
Jews of later arrival are not in sympathy
with the Jews of longer residence, those
who fill the Uptown Ghetto" as the
newcomers call it derisively.
Hatred bred Of their different birth
places" as Mr.. DAVID BLAUsTEIN, the
superintendent Of the Alliance, remarked,
prevents homogeneity Of the great mass
Of the immigrants Of the race and the
Jews Of Portuguese, German, and Eng
lish extraction, OF which before our
Jewish population consisted so largely.
This prejudice explained Mr. BLAU-
sTxIN, never finds full sway till they
get to this country, because they never
meet till they come here Conse-
quently. the Russian Jews. Of whom the
great mass in the Ghetto is made up,
want to be by themselves. apart from the
German Jews. for the two hate each
other"
The Jewish problem. however, Is set
Ting itself in way far more eIfectual
than any method that can be devised
artihcially by the Alliance or by the phi
lanthropy Of the prosperous part Of the
race situated outside Of the Ghetto and
removed from its prejudices and restrio-
tiohs. That solution ID being worked out
by the rapid Americanization Of the new
comers. for ultimately the thinning out
Of the Ghetto by the removal Of Jews
who haveNoutgrown its limitations will
come spontaneously. But it will be a
result produced by causes whose opera
ton is painfufto the old and strict Jews
" orthodox views and habits.
The same process of transformation
which has gone on and is still going on
among other race Of immigrants will
affect radically the Ghetto. As Mr.. BLAU-
STEIN said, : in six months the Jew in
America undergoes more changes than
he would have done in century in the
country from which he comes This
transformation is In his family life, more
particularly. and it is of kind which has
brought grief to other races, but IL is in |
evitable, and in its ultimate results will |
be desirable. 30 far as concerns the whole |
community, at least. To quote again |
from Mr.. BLAusTEIN, the child goes to |
school apd learns English; parent and |
child do not understand each other; there
Ia no family council, no beart-to-heart
talk" A gulf is established between the
two. and naturally the child tends to
further separation and the whole tone Of