The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-07-01
SOLOMON SITS IN NgV YORK.
HIS MISSION TO STAY TEE FLOOD
or EAST SIDE LAWSUITS.

A Court ~Estabihhed by the E~dueatieasi
Alliance IN the Ghetto to Which 1hsu.
sands Resort -Centrast Retwee0 aei.
omon's way N the Regular Judges.
Not arrayed in all his glory, but vhirhng
easily in q revolving chair. CARRIED In or
binary citizens clothes, q stenographer
at his side, Solomon sits In judgment.
He sta In q small ofloe ~partitoned Of from
q larger room, In which his trouble ridden
visitors await the instruction Of wisdom,
justice, Judgment and equity. Ono at
a time they are ushered into the o
by the stenographer, STEPPED beyond her
years In the suiferings Of the East Side.
Solomon In Bernard Rabbino and his
office is the Legal Aid Bureau on tho third
floor Of the Educational Alliance. Solo,
mons visitors are what would DO lawyers
clients or oven prisoners at the bar II they
did not como to him before resorting to the
court.
Solomon practically never takes their
affairs to court. He Is Judge. Jury, lawyer
for the plaintiff, and lawyer for the defendant
all in one. He settles disputes which might
be taken to the Municipal or Msgistrates'
courts, Special Sessions. and Supreme Court.
Nc oompulsion drives his visitors to him.
They com voluntarily.
They pay five cents for as many con-
situations as Solomon may deem necessary.
When the plaintiff appears. his statement
Is taken down by the stenographer, and
a letter Is written to the defendant asking
him to call at the Legal Aid Bureau.
Sometimes Mr.. Rabbino arrange to have
plaintiff and defendant meet; sometimes
he defers the second coming Of the plaintiff
until he has seen the defendant alone.
OF course, the defendant does not always
appear at the m
The Legal Aid Bureau is In the fourth
year of It's existence. Its work has grown
astonishingly. In the first year 1000 per-
Sons applied; In the second, 10000, and this
year the number may rise to $4,000.
The bureau employs two stenographers,
an oface boy and several voluntary assist
ants, who have the legal knowledge to help
Mr.. Rabbino. tits the outgrowth Of genuine
E&st Side needs; and its purpose is to end
the euormous amount Of petty litigation
which Is an actual menao s to tho East Side.
In Russia the oppressed Jew had not
the privilege Of righting his grievances In
court. Here, tho privilege granted, he
avails himself Of II TO the full.
Every little difficulty Is presented for
solution to the Magistrate, who has neither
the time, nor. perhaps, tho complete COM
prehension Of peculiar race psychology
needed to enter into the details Of each
petty misunderstanding. The Magistrate
is there to apply the law to Irishman, Italian,
Pole and Jew alike.
Moreover, a still deeper historic aus
may account for the frequency with which
the Jew resorts to the court. From time
immemorial he has been accustomed to CON-
suit the rabbi ON points Of the law; and the
law, belt remembered, prescribes for
every possible act Of daily life. II q bit OF
meat seemed not to be kosher the Jew
carried it to the rabbi for inspection and
abided by his Judgment. Thus it is that Mr..
Rabbino is Magistrate and rabbi in one. a.,
His clients, almost without exception;
trust to his decision as Of old the pious
Jew relied on the judgment Of the rabbi.
Their demeanor toward him is respectful
not bringing; they listen to his words as
though spoken from the Torah.
To prevent petty litigation and keep
the poor people from the courts is but ono
OF the many advantages Of the Legal Aid
Bureau. 1t has carried on Q campaign
against abuses to which the ignorant i'm
migrant Is subjected on his arrival in this
country. Ordinary wage cases form more
than o%ne-fourth Of the total number handled
IN the bureau.
Next in number are the domestic diff
culties cases. Here is whsre Solomon and
the bureau show at their best. They have
restored many a husband to his wife, many
a child to its parents. prosecuted many q
bigamist and by their fight against the
get" (rabbinical divorce) prevented many
q crime against the marriage laws OF this
country.
When the immi grant casts looee from
his %moorings, his standards unoonsciously
chan 20. He Is free to cast of restraint.
He has come to America, the land Of free
dom. Why shaokle himself with the bur-
densome letters Of the old country?
He has como to America to make money
and stretch his limbs a bit. Temptations
assail him undreamed Of in Russian Ghettos
theatres, music halls, CATS. He is weaned
from the customs Of his forefathers, and
his new habits initiate against the peace
| Of family life. Wife desertion and bigamy
are frequent.
In Russia, where the Jew had not access
to the court, his law was the Torah and the
Talmud, and the arbiter OF the law was
the rabbi. A marriage performed by a
rabbi has legal standing there, likewise q
divorce granted by him.
Now, in Russia the work Of the rabbi Is a
high vocation, not a business. He throws
every obsta Gle in the way Of divorce. More
over, among the Orthodox Jews in Russia
peculiar shame attaches to the pereor
who has obtained a divorce.
Here. some OF the very rabbits have beer
tainted by the desire for money making
With some Of them the granting of thu
get Is a matter Of dollars and cents. to bt
obtained with absolute ease. 1t ia not tc
their interest to keep couples together
let them pay for being rent asunder.
Here, Of course, the law does not recog.
nize the get and many an ignorant immi.
grant. resorting to the rabbi. has been
made a bigamist. The reader can readily
peep down the endless vista OF litigation
opened up by the granting Of the rab'
binical divorce. Couples that have beer
bound for fifteen years have been known tx
purchase immunity from quarrelling for 81
Some rabbits have signs in their offices an
nouncing the ~cheapness with which q get
may be had.
Mr.. Rabbino got Jewish preachers Il
prcaoh against the evil. he addressed letter
! - ororipapk man ooLinu thnr IN ~ IN IN.