EYATROn;kwiSti GIRON1a6
PAGE SIX
Yeshiva or other, had most likely I
thanks to an abnormally heavy immi-
may contain all the elements of nu-
gration of Russo-l'olish Jews during been caught in the stream of Enlight- I
trition, but it lacks the !supreme qual-
the past 10 years, but an insignificant enment that ran through the Russian
ity of all—the appeal to the palate,
minority in American Jewry, while Ghetto at the time, went off to Ger-
and the satisfaction and joy that one
their great influence and power of manyto study at the Rabbiner Schu-
finds in the act of eating!
By HAROLD BERMAN
yesterday has practically vanished in- ler and emerged therefrom 100 per
The history of the Educational Al- to thin air. The virile race—and- cent German Jew, with an ineradica-
liance
practically
is
synomous
with
(Copyright, Jewish Telegraphic Agency. )
culture conscious younger Jew of the ble hatred in his heart for his native
the history of the American Jew, at East European Ghetto has driven in- Yiddish dialect. Not being able to find I
least, of the newer strains of Jewish to the shade his elder and more staid a position either in Russia or Ger-
(Editor's Note:—In the Jewish center movement, which has
America composed largely of East Eu- German and Austrian brother, whose many--in the first-named country for
assumed such great importance of late in Jewish life in America,
ropean immigrants. One hardly needs Jewish learning and racial conscious- being looked upon as an Apikoros (in-
the Educational Alliance with of particular significance as a pioneer
to add the information that these con- ness were far more attenuated and fidel), and in the last-named country
step in that direction.)
stitue the chief ingredients in that weak. And it is the hearer's portion for being a Pollak—he came to Amer-
synthetic product named the Ameri- of them that had settled in the city :ca where obstinate fate remained nut'
To devote but one chapter to the and howsoever crammed with facts can Jew, all the other elements being of New York—that the Edueationa. much kinder to him. Even here he
history of the Educational Alliance and images, it is bound to prove a at present no more than what the sea- Alliance has done its utmost to train was doomed to minister to his Rus-
would almost be like devoting a para- grievous disappointment to the read- soning, or the pinch of spice, is to the in the new paths of Americanism dur- sian brethren, to do his work and trm
graph to the history of a continent, or er. It may serve well enough to sharp- dish that is being prepared for one's ing the early years of their Ameri- love in their midst. Its was not
en his appetite for knowledge, but
to strike his columns, however. To his
a page to the cultural history ,,of an
table.
can residence.
entire race. However eloquent or pre- surely not to satisfy it. If anything,
All the earlier strains have now,
During the last eighties of the past dying day he kept his speaking of
cise that paragraph or page will he, it would resemble the concentrated
century, at a time when Jewish im- German and German only. With a
migration from Russia had reached heavy Lithuanian accent, of course.
On Sunday evenings, and at every
its flood tide, due to the relentless
I
I
persecutions of the Jews instituted other incaution if there seas any call
by Czar Alexander III., their elder for it—he called together his faithful'
— OF —
and longer settled brothers of Ger- followers of the Russian-American'
man ancestry bethought themselves in Hebrew association, and as many j
their great benevolence of the need the general public as cared to come,
of Americanizing these unfortunate and conduct a meeting uir deliver a
younger brothers of theirs so that lecture to them in German. All dis-
floor,
all questions
they may find it easier to earn a liv- cussion from the
ing, become good American citizens or remarks had to be couched in the
and vote a straight Republican ticket German language, most frequently of
or Democratic ticket on election day. the Baltermantz or Shnipishok vin-
They had already organizes! the I Cage, as it was almost as rare to find
United Hebrew Charities for catering H native German among his auditors
to the physical needs of their younger as it is to find maidenly virtue in a
brothers so why not organize a simi- Follies girl. The subject matter of,
lac organization for raring at the these lectures usually consisted of I
same time for their spiritual needs, such "burning" questions of the day ,
limited as these may prove to be? as the permissibility of riding on the,,
So that this institution, this in- elevated train (these discussions took
Strumeut for civilizing an entire Iwo- place in pre-subway days) on the Sob-
WE EXTEND NEW YEAR'S GREETINGS
pie, came into being.. It ushered in bath, the superfluity of waiting for I
its much and widely heralded and six hours after meat before one can i
awesome life as the Hebrew Institute, eat a piece of cheese or drink a glass
a name meaning nothing in particu- of milk, and the like infidel practices.
tar but vague enough to embrace an Needless to say, that the name of this
301 - 303 BROADWAY MARKET BLDG.
endless series of interpretations mean- Apikoros was anathma to all pious'
ings as well as activities. Jews of the ghetto. And if curses
Teleohone Randolph 1825
These were, however, confined to were as effective as sticks and stones
such as, in the mature and superior he wouldn't have lived till past 60
judgment as well as suitable for the and to die a natural death in his own
beneficiaries, and not as any one of bed.
s l• WA ViiValiSsli • alMW• • - •%% %%W•WAValliWC
these latter thought or felt the need
One would be mistaken, however, IGICWIWM1061•W
I of. For, weren't they raw and uncul- to suppose that this Germanized Rus- ^
tivated "Polacks," jungle men in need sian Jew, who despised to speak his
of civilizing by all the means in the native dialect and not infrequently •
power of their more enlightened would poke cruel fun at it, did not
brothers? They knew nothing, and truly love his humble Russian breth-
they weren't allowed to express it ren. There are indeed instances aplen-
within the hearing of their all know- ty to prove the contrary, and one of
ing benefactors! them will suffice for proving our case. :
The intention of these men was It happened at the time when Isador
I undoubtedly a good and honest one., Strauss (he who so heroically went, e
1 They meant well by their own poor down on the Titanic) was president
and helpless brothers. But, how can I of the Educational Alliance and he
e
of the
one or a group of men, presume to had to write his annual rport
!cater to the needs of any other in- institution. In this report was found '5
" dividual or group, when he knows a paragraph to the effect that "there ,
nothing at all of his needs, or his was need to wean the Russian Jews" 9'
longings, sentiments or desires? And away from their many pernicious hab- .5
how can one presume to do educa- its" and, perhaps, some more in that I:
tional work among a people whose vein. No sooner was this report cir-
I very soul is a profound mystery to culated than Dr. Radin called together
ICILVILVMMICI6W.11%%%%%%W•VtoW•%%-%%••••%,%1M306369616901:"116
j him? And yet, autocracy and a impe- his Russian American Association,'
1 riority based on, conceit always did and, in thunderous voice (but still in I
• presume to do these very things, un- German!) he demanded the withdraw-
asked and unaided by the people, no al of the offensive remarks from the
why could it not be attempted once report, as well as an apology from
more? The patient will either be killed Mr. Straus, both of which he ulti-
or recover. Nothing worse can hap s mately got!:
pen to him at any rate.
The prize bird of the show was,
Autocracy ruled supreme at the however, the superintendent of the in-
I Educational Alliance. And it was not stitute. This man was a native of
by any'means or always an autocracy Kalvariya, a town which my Atlas
founded on intellectual superiority of tells me, is not exactly a suburb of
manners, a sound financial standing to
Kaleariya is famed for its 1
which was added that certain indefi- "Kalekotke," but hardly for the excel-
nite sentiment which according to the lence of the ;German spoken in it, or
author of the Divine Comedy the road for its reform temples and colleges. I
to purgatory is paved with good in- Moreover, this man's name ended with
tentions. All these virtues and espe- the tell-tale "Sky," and he could no
cially of the last one in our list, they more be mistaken for a Deutecher
possessed in abundant measure and to Yehudi than could an Esquimaax ne
spare. What they did, however, lack mistaken for a Frenchman. All these
was a drop of that human brotherhood did not, however, interfere with his
and understanding that renders all of determination never to permit a word
us kin to each other. There was no of Yiddish to profane the sacred pre-
lack of pity in their action—pity for cincts of the Alliance, nor to permit
a stricken lower creature in distress anything that savored of the barbar-
—but of genuine brotherly affection ous practices of his fellow Russo-Po-
and understanding there was none. lish Jews that he had been appointed
"Ilis ways are not my ways," these to civilize and to make over into hu-
benefactors seemed to say: "Ilis life man beings.
not my life; his faith no longer is my
All this soon passed into the dis-
faith, though the fools say that it is card, however. Life, which bears in
of the same origin; his ideals, grant- itself the cure for many an evil, soon
ing that he has any, surely not my cured this one as well. Due to the
ideals. It is my duty to help him as increased persecution of the Jews in
a gtauhens genosse, but no more. Russia after the ascension (not to
Well, he shall get what is coming to heaven!) of Nicholas II., immigra-
him, but no one else than myself tion of the Jews to America increased
shall be the judge to decide what this by leaps and bounds. These later ar-
is to be, and least of all himself who rivals were far more mature, political-
knows nothing at all of these mat- ly and educationally, than their earlier
SEE THESE DISPLAYS
arrived ones had been. And even these
Under
such auspices, and with such had already made considerable ad-,
, tern
n'
benevolent objects in view, the He- vances during the years of their stay ,
brew Institute, later to he renamed in America. The self-respect of both
the Educati nal Alliance was ushered of these elements had been greatly en-,
into life. The building itself was hanced by the spread of either the na-
I beautiful nd imposing, and, taken in tional or the Socialist ideals among I
conjuncti, with the adjoining tene- them. One was either a Zionist or a
' ments an placed in juxtaposition to Socialist now, but he no longer was'
' them, a fairy palace, indeed .
a dumb animal to be led about at will.
Within, there were English classes The men at the head of things at the
for immigrants, in charge of a kind- Educational Alliance could not longer
ly principal who spoke a simple play the role of the all powerful auto-
enough German (not Yiddish, of crat to the masses. The current had
course) that could be easily under- become too strong for them!
stood by the Yiddish-speaking immi-
Dr. David Glaustein was appointed
grant. Among the teachers one could, to the superintendent's office. Imme-
however, find some
e
r al Yidden, men, diately things began to happen. It
who could in a pinch forget them-
as as if a long-shut room had sud-
selves long enough to utter a word denly gotten an airing. perhaps one
•or two of "Mammie Loshen," though, ought to, say a fumigation. The cred-
with many blushes and stammering. it is not entirely due to him, but rather
There was a library, named the An- to the people who now demanded it.
. gin-English novelist, Grace Aguilar, Rut, at any rate, he and the directors
that circulated books in English, He- behind him, were wise enough to sense
, brew and German,. but whose shelves the coming of other days and not to
never were profaned by any hook block the road against him. They
• . written in the vernacular Yiddish. In yielded, and gracefully at that. The
the reading nook adjoining that li- Alliance now became truly the hone
brary this rule was however relaxed of the people who uses it. It became
We Specialize in Domstic Rugs of the
somewhat, so that one could obtain truly Volksthimlich,_ There were now
Better Grade.
there some few Yiddish dailies and classes in Hebrew,' in Jewish litera-
periodicals; if he was daring enough ture and history, observances of Jew-
cast pride to the. winds, and ask ish National holidays, all sorts of
for them at the desk that was in clubs and gatherings and even occa-
charge of a custodian who had (M- sional lectures in the outlawed Yid-
. dently been crossed in love, to judge dish. The popular Rev. Masliansky
by the none too benign expression on was engaged to deliver a weekly lee-1
his face and the rasping bark of his tune in Yiddish in the big auditorium,
answer to any and every question the Yiddish reading public could cel-
asked of him, be it ever so innocent ebrate with impunity the anniversary
.
and polite.
of its favorite writer or hold funeral
There was a not garden for the services there for him when he died,
mothers and babies during the hot while a ghetto mother would be per-
summer months, various literary and muted to ask the way to the roof gar-
dehating societies, notable among den in Yiddish and not receive a
them being the Thomas Davidson So- shrug f r a pitying stare. Under the
' , ciety,
named after management
that incomporable
present
of Dr. Fleisch-
' Scotehman of that name who, aside man it has even gone many steps
from being a man of discriminating
Jew- further. The Educational Alliance
literary taste, took a fatherly in- has become entirely identified with the
merest in the earnest-mid
in.
n-
quie
its situated:a
et town
f
ixa,rp leof o t the
. ish youths who frequent ed the t.
become the club house of the
Educational Alliance meetings. There
lower e a s side
was one organization at the Alliance , c. i'tilh,a;:ec
,
,
that deserves special mention here, if
and many other vital changes
for no other purpose than for the' have een
been instituted little by little
bright light that it sheds upon the so-
cis] and economic status of the Rus- hoary institution founded by the sub-
sian Jew of the day in America. It and in due course of time, in his
Wandering Johre of the Russian Jew Mantis) and long-settled German Jews
forms an illuminating chapter in the for the advaneemeht .,,
of their newly-
The Educational Alliance of New York
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•
0
Rosh Hashonah
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When Cadillac Square was yet a wilderness In-
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rx
Under the guiding genius of Benno D. Ma
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II
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ly-f
This
which met every
Sian American Hebrew Association,"
!and its moving spirit was a certain
Dr. Adolph M. Rodin. This Dr. Ra- thoroughly.
It takes two to make one brother.—
din WIN a Lithuanian Jew who had
ng-mill.
I spent the years of his youth at some Israel Zang-mill.
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