Russian Jews Moved To The US Studies (1881- 1920)

With the study object of the Russian-Jews pouring into the U.S. between1881and1920, taking full advantage of the first-handed materials like the U.S. Congress reports and the main public released Jewish newspapers in the U.S. between1881and1920, adapting materialist view of history and dialectic method, this essay sociologically explores the reason for the Russian-Jews to pour into the U.S. between1881and1920and the American government’s response to their immigration. It also probes deeply into the modernization issue of the Russian-Jews, revealing the situation how the Russian-Jews were involved in modern economic division of labor and actively in political life, how they got out of their ghettos and blended into the process of urbanization, and how they gradually accepted secularity.The essay is made up of three parts, namely, the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. The body part has five chapters. Chapter One accounts for the reasons why the Russian-Jews immigrated into the U.S. The first analysis goes to the political and economic environment both in the U.S. and Russia. It points out that it was the endless persecutions directed towards the Jews in Russia that expelled them from their homeland. Besides, the Jewish immigrants departments on both sides of the Atlantic played an important role in the journey of the Russian-Jews. This essay also raises other issues, i.e. group persecution and group poverty, which were more crucial factors accounting for the immigration. It indicates that group poverty was the foremost reason for the first immigration in1881, which was later replaced by group persecution in which an increasing number of middle-class Russian-Jews suffered.Chapter Two sets out the American policy adjustments aiming at the immigrated Russian-Jews. Although there was no immigration act directing at groups of Jews, every immigration policy adjustment seemed to be connected with the large-scale arrival of the Russian-Jews. The Enactment of the Immigration Laws in1881,1893,1903and1921coincided the persecutions which exiled large quantities of Russian-Jews. As a whole, gradually American immigration policy became more and more strict due to the general economic environment exacerbated by the end of domestic frontier exploiting, the increasingly serious conflicts between labor and capital, and intermittent economic depressions. The severity of the immigration policy mainly was focused on aspects below:more restrictive clauses and strengthened enforcement of immigration laws, which caused discontent in the circle of Jewish society leaders. The major emphasis of this chapter is the appealing of the American immigration society leaders for more rights to be given to the Russian-Jews.Chapter Three unfolds the Russian-Jews’ adaptation to America. It is woven around three sectors:economic adaptation, cultural adaptation, and the issue of ghettos. It’s made clear that the Russian-Jews, by improving their living state through their own efforts, refuted the skepticism upon them from the American Jew society and proved that their vital capacity was, if not better than, at least as good as German-Jews. The Russian-Jews in general first engaged in apparel industry and peddling, tolerating adverse circumstances in sweatshops, but after saving enough money they finally moved into other promising business.The issue of Ghetto is also a widely social concern in America. The analysis of this issue is based on the great changes that the Ghetto on Manhattan’s Lower East Side has experienced. The Russian Jewry chose to inhabit here mainly to continue their European way of life, for they had a greater sense of security to live in such a community where Yiddish was spoken by most residents and Orthodox Judaist was the dominant religion. But the congestion and squalidity in the ghetto was abominated by earlier Jewish immigrants. As a result the industrial shift office was established by the Jewish society in New York and to encourage sweatshops there to move to inland towns by providing financial support. Hereby,50,000Russian-Jewish migrated out of the ghetto in New York eventually.This part also emphasizes cultural adaptation. Religion is the nucleus of culture, so emphasis is put on the change of religion beliefs on the part of the East European Jews in the adaptation process. Before the arrival of the Orthodox Judaist East European Jews, the American Jews were mainly composed of German-Jews who worshiped Reform Judaism. After their arrival, the East European Jews found very few facilities and places but the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTSA), one of the few, to maintain their orthodox religious life. The leaders of American Jewish society decided to sponsor the Orthodox Judaist on the condition that they shouldn’t cling too much to traditional Judaism, and a compromise was made between the Orthodox Judaist and Reform Judaist with the emerging of Conservative Judaists as the result. Consequently, Orthodox, Reform and Conservative Judaism co-exist today in America.Chapter Four mainly probes into power redistribution in American Jewish society. The arrival of the Russian-Jews broke up the dominance of the German-Jews in the American Jew society. Brandeis, the Russian-Jew spokesman, played a crucial role in helping the Russian-Jews come into power. Taking advantage of the Zionist movements and American Progressive movements then, he successfully originated the American Jews assembly and realized the Russian-Jews’command of Jewish affairs in the U.S. according to the democratic principle of One Man One Vote. This part of the essay also tries to analyze the reasons why the Russian-Jews had much sympathy with Zionist movements and why the German-Jews took a position on non-Zionism, and historically re-creates the dispute between them.Chapter Five explores the revival of the Russian-Jews and the contributions they have made to American society, and points out the fact that this revival depends on protest for right rather than on passively waiting for the America society as they provide legal protection and relief.In fact, the secured right size depends on the amount of the social contribution they have made to the United States of America. Russian Jews have created many great contributions to the United States of America and many a Russian-born Jewish elite has emerged in business, literature and art, academic research, social activities and other fields.In the conclusion part, this essay points out secularized Russian-Jews, by themselves, positively participated in political affairs, fully integrated into and made contributions to American economic modernization in their own characteristic way, and accordingly, successfully influenced the future of Jewish Nation. By lobbying, they exerted impact on public policy and eventually made America the force at the core that supports Zionism.