USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Fifty years of Boston; a memorial volume issued in commemoration of the tercentenary of 1930; 1880-1930, Pt. 2 > Part 26
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PART III - JUDAISM
By Rabbi HARRY LEVI
Five men of Jewish blood were with Columbus when he discovered America. A Jewish mariner was with the expedition which discovered Brazil in 1500. There were large numbers of Jews in South America by the beginning of the seventeenth century. Jews were victims of the Inquisition in Mexico in the sixteenth century. We are celebrating this year (1930) the 275th anniversary of the arrival of a body of Jews in New Amsterdam, as New York was then called.
Jews first arrived in New England in 1655. By 1690 they were in New- port in considerable numbers. In 1762 they were numerous enough to build a synagog there. The capture of the town by the British in 1776 scattered the community. Many went to Leicester. Some came to Boston. Individual Jews had arrived here as early as 1649. Few of them remained. And their numbers were so small that they made no impression.
Jewish community life did not begin in Boston until the 1840's. By that time sufficient numbers had arrived, mainly from New Haven and New York, with direct additions from Germany and other lands, to make possible the holding of religious services. The first Jewish congregation was organized here in 1843 and was given the name Ohabei Shalom, "Lovers of Peace." The congregation established the first religious school in 1849 and in 1851 dedicated the first synagog, a modest structure on Warrenton (then Warren) street. In 1854 some of the more liberal members of the congregation seceded and organized the second congregation in the city, Adath Israel, now known as Temple Israel, and built a small, humble synagog on Pleasant street. Later, in 1858, another group withdrew, organizing a third congregation, Mishkan Tefila, now the Seaver Street Synagog. Congregation Adath Jeshurun, now the Blue Hill Avenue Synagog, was established in 1875. There were probably also at the time a number of small Jewish groups banded together for religious purposes. Most of these early Jews came from Germany. Other lands, how- ever, were represented among them, Poland, Russia, Holland. There had even been an Algerian group, which seems to have disappeared before the second half of the century. Such was the Jewry of Boston fifty years ago. The entire community could not have exceeded 3,000 souls. The total Jewish population of the country at the time was estimated to be 230,000.
Half of the Jews of the world then lived in Russia, suffering indignities, persecution and discrimination which made life almost impossible for them.
Then came the May Laws of 1882. The immediate result was a heavy Jewish emigration from Russia, mostly to America. From 1821 to 1870 the total Jewish immigration froin Russia was 7,550. From 1882 to 1890 the average was 20,000 per year. In the 90's it rose to over 40,000 per year. In 1840 the total Jewish population of the United States was 15,000, in 1881 229,087, in 1887 250,000, and it is now estimated to be about 4,500,000. From
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1881 to 1901 Jewish immigration through the ports of New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore alone was 644,966. During the past forty years 2,000,000 Russian Jews have come to the United States. Seventy-five per cent of all this immigration remained in the East, especially on the Coast. Sixty-nine per cent live in the eleven largest cities in the land. . Part of the tide swept into Boston. The annual increase is not available. It does not seem to have been especially heavy during the 80's, probably because there were few Russian Jews here at the time, most of the new arrivals in the country naturally making for the cities where their fellow-countrymen had already established themselves. It is estimated that Boston Jewry numbered about 5,000 in 1892. From 1892 to 1897, 14,700 more arrived. The next few years must have scen a heavy influx, as the Jewish Encyclopedia places the Jewish population of the city in 1901 at 40,000, "most of whom were Russians." The complexion of the com- munity was changing rapidly.
Practically all immigrants are poor people, leaving the homes in which they have been born and reared that they may better their material condi- tion. The first consideration of these immigrant Jews was to make a living, the second to carry on their religious life. Indeed, the two were interwoven. Work and wage had to be secured to make religious life possible. But that religious life was carried on when work was scarce and wages almost too small to keep body and soul together. These immigrant Jews could live on little, but they could not live without their faith. Indeed, they could live on little because they lived "not by bread alone," but by their faith. So that the moment they arrived, they either affiliated with the already existing congregations or established new congregations of their own.
Mostly they followed the latter procedure. As has already been said, the major portion of the Jews who had preceded them here had come from Germany. Contrary to current accepted opinion, the Jews of the world are not all alike. Nor do they have the same interests nor even the same forms of worship. Just as Christians run the whole religious gamut from orthodoxy, represented by Catholicism, through the conservative groups, the Presbyterians Baptists, Lutherans, etc., to the more liberal branches of the faith, Unitarians and the like, so do Jews. The Jewish immigrants who came here from Russia were wholly orthodox. They neither completely understood their German coreligionists nor were they wholly understood by them. The earlier arrivals (lid care for the material needs of those who followed. But that was the extent of the contact. Religiously they kept apart.
But because they could not do without religious worship and religious observance, and because these were practically impossible without congre- gational affiliation, this immigration of the 80's and 90's quickly resulted in the multiplication of Jewish congregations in the city. The Jewish Encyclo- pedia estimates that there were twenty-one congregations here in 1901. Some of these groups held their services in private homes or rented halls. Gradually, as they grew in numbers and strength, they began to erect synagogs. Some of these congregations, of considerable strength fifty years ago, have since disbanded. Some of the synagogs, crowded with worshipers at services in the earlier years, have given way to playgrounds and commercial structures, their
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constituents joining other religious groups. Today there are some fifty eon- gregations in Boston, most of them worshiping in buildings of their own. They represent every phase of Jewish life and their members hail from every land under the sun.
Here are the Jewish eongregations now in the eity: Adath B'nai Israel, Adath Israel (Hyde Park), Adath Jeshurun, Agudath Aehim (Boston), Agudath Achim (Roxbury), Agudath Israel Congregation Anshei Sfard, Anshe Bris Sholom, Anshe Sfard (Boston), Anshe Sfard (Roxbury), Ahavath Sholom, Anshe Poland, Anshe Wolyn, Anshe Libawitch, Atereth Israel (Roxbury), Atereth Israel (South Boston), Ahavath Sholom, Beth El, Beth Jacob, Beth Hakneseth Tifereth Israel, Beth Abraham, Beth Hamedrash Hagodol (Boston), Beth Hamedrash Hagodol (Roxbury), Beth Hamedrash Hagodol Anshe Poln, B'nai Abraham, B'nai Israel, Brighton Hebrew Congregation, Chai Odom, Chevre Mishnaith, Dorehester Club, Ein Jacob, Fessenden Street Congregation, Hadrath Israel, Hevra Chai Odom, Hevra Mishnaith Shomre Shabos, Kehillath Israel, Keneseth Israel, Lunas Hatzedek, Maehsikai Hadas, Mishkan Israel, Mishkan Shlomo, Anshe Birsh, North Russell Street Congregation, Ohel Jacob, Otisfield Congregation, Shaarai Zion, Shaarai Tefila, Shaarai Jerusalem, Shep- tovker Congregation, Sheptovker Shul, Sons of Abraham, South Boston Hebrew Institute, Talmud Torah, Temple Israel, Temple Mishkan Tefila, Temple Ohabei Shalom, Tifereth Israel, Toras Moshe, Walkimir Congregation, Wall Street Congregation, Wilner Congregation, Zeiller Congregation.
These are the congregations in Boston proper. There are, of course, many other congregations in the towns and eities adjacent to Boston. There are probably as many as forty more in what is known as Greater Boston. Chelsea alone has fourteen. The Jewish population of Greater Boston is about 135,000, of Boston proper about 90,000.
The leading rabbis of the eity during the past fifty years are the following: Samuel Abrams, Benjamin H. Birnbaum, William Drazin, Menachem Eiehler, Louis M. Epstein, Rabbi Feinstein, Charles Fleischer, Zalman Friederman, Henry R. Gold, Samuel Hirshberg, Phineas Israeli, Harry M. Katzen, Raphael Lasker, Harry Levi, Wolf Margolies, Abraham Nowak, Herman H. Rubenovitz, Solomon Sehindler, Rabbi Shershevsky, Haym Shoher, David M. Shohet.
Though the Jewish men and women who came here a half-century ago quiekly gave thought to the organization of congregations and the ereetion of synagogs, they gave little attention to systematie Jewish education. They eounted the synagog their sehool, indeed ealled it their school, and felt that they received their religious education from its services. The older men eame regularly to the synagog, to supplement the services with religious study and diseussion. The women played little part in this program, the children hardly any part at all. Fifty years ago there were probably but three Jewish religious schools in the eity and these were connected with the three older congregations, Ohabei Shalom, Adath Israel and Mishkan Tefila.
The first Hebrew school in Boston was organized about thirty-seven years ago on Lovering street in the West End. Patterned after the European model, it had limited facilities and an inadequate eurrieulum. The first modern Hebrew school was opened at 62 Chambers street in 1895. It is now located at 31
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North Russell street and is known as the Ivrio Hebrew School. Since then, with the growth of congregational life, the development of the Jewish com- munity and the larger vision of its leaders, the cause of Jewish education has received increasing attention, until today there are scores of religious schools in every part of the city. Some years ago, Congregation Adath Jeshurun built its fine Menorah Institute. Recently, Temple Kehillath Israel dedicated a splendid school building adjoining its synagog. So did Congregation Beth El of Dorchester. The Otisfield Hebrew Congregation has just erected what is
known as the Roxbury Free School. The Dorchester Mattapan Hebrew School, with accommodations for 1,000 children, has just been completed and dedicated. Mishkan Tefila has just erected a magnificent building for school purposes. The same is true of Temple Ohabei Shalom; while Temple Israel two years ago completed the construction of a School of Religion, which is declared by com- petent Jewish authorities to represent facilities for religious education such as the Jew has never known in all his history.
Many of the other congregations have recently contributed to this develop- ment by making adequate physical provision for their religious schools. Some have limited their enrollment to the children of the congregation. Others have opened their doors to all the Jewish children of the neighborhood. Temple Israel has gone a step further and has established seven branch religious schools, one meeting in the school building on Longwood avenue, and six others in Mattapan, Hyde Park, Cambridge, Woburn, Everett and Waltham.
There are not only more religious schools in Boston, schools in which the instruction is given wholly in the vernacular, there are also more Hebrew schools. The recent development in Palestine has brought about a new interest in Hebrew, which has affected large groups of all ages who might otherwise have lost all familiarity with it.
Indeed, of late years there has been a veritable renaissance of interest in things Jewish. This is, of course, true elsewhere, but is equally true here. And this new passion touches not merely secular Jewish matters but definitely religious interests as well. Temple Mishkan Tefila and Temple Israel have organized choral societies to familiarize the community with Jewish music. Temple Israel has a Little Theater which uses the medium of the Jewish drama for educational purposes. Many of our religious schools are using Jewish mov- ing pictures as part of their curricula.
Most of the congregations have not been content to limit their religious interests to public worship and the development of Jewish education, but have established programs of religious activity that branch out in a score and more of differing directions. Some of these activities are in the hands of congre- gational brotherhoods, sisterhoods and young people's groups, which have developed marvelously during recent years. Some of these organizations try to bring religious education to outlying districts. Some aim to reach the Jewish students, of whom there are 5,000 in the city. Some give their atten- tion to the Jewish inmates of hospitals, eleemosynary and penal institutions. Some arrange religious services for young people, especially during the high Holy Days, when the usual synagog accommodations are wholly inadequate. Some conduct special classes for the study of Jewish history, literature and
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philosophy. Some care for the religious education of the Jewish blind and deaf. Some are actively concerned with furthering the interests of national Jewish institutions, like the theological schools, of which there are four in the coun- try. And many are active in awakening the Jewish spirit that may further the Zionist eause in Palestine. There was a time when the programs of these organizations were largely social and secular. More and more they are becom- ing definitely Jewish and religious. As I write, nine of the men's elubs of our congregations, representing cvery angle of Jewish religious life, have arranged to celebrate together the festival of the Maccabees. All of these groups are becoming increasingly helpful agencies for the legitimate expression of the faith with which they arc affiliated.
But though many of our congregations have joined national associations, every congregation is autonomous and is a law unto itself. There is no ecclesi- astical authority which can impose creed or policy upon it. But liberty has its dangers as well as its advantages. It is good for congregations to be inde- pendent. Yet there is much work which ought to be done which concerns them all alike and which no congregation alone can accomplish. For this purpose congregations, however free they may be, however much they may differ, especially in incidentals, must band themselves together. Retaining their loyalty to their own program and their own point of view, they must work together for their common ends. Hence, five years ago, eight of the English-speaking Jewish congregations of the city organized the Boston Asso- ciation of Jewish Congregations, which in the brief period of its existence has more than justified itself. The president of the Union since its inception has been Moses Mishel.
Many of these organizations have joined national associations carrying on Jewish work in communities too small to initiate or develop it themselves. Thus a goodly number of our congregational brotherhoods belong to the National Federation of Temple Brotherhoods and the Men's Clubs of the United Synagog, while the local sisterhoods are affiliated with similar national federations of Jewish women. Indeed the United Synagog, composed of prac- tically all the conservative congregations in this section of the country, has developed here so rapidly that a Boston branch of the union has been organized.
The United Hebrew Benevolent Association was organized in 1860 to care for the Jewish ncedy of the community. In 18SS this society joined with a number of other local associations with similar purposes to form, what was to all intents and purposes, the first Federated Jewish Charities in America. Though sectarian, the work of the Federation and all its constituent groups was wholly seeular. Save for religious services, for example, which the Home for Destitute Jewish Children provided for those in its carc, or religious services which the Free Burial Society provided for the poor of the community who passed away, there was no thought of attempting to do religious work as such.
When the local Council of Jewish Women was organized, the largest Jewish women's association in the city, it undertook to establish and conduct schools for the religious instruction of Jewish children. But the Council at that time did not belong to the Federation. The Federation was concerned with the adininistration of charity and charity, it was felt, had no right to
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embark in the field of religion. That field should be tilled by the synagog. But there were so many children then receiving no religious instruction, the Hebrew schools were so poorly organized and the standard of education in most of the schools was so unsatisfactory, that in 1915 a group of rabbis and laymen established the Jewish Education Society, to lift the whole communal. school level and reach as many of the unschooled children as possible. When Mr. Morris Waldman assumed charge of the Federated Jewish Charities in 1917, among other radical changes which he introduced was that of inaking it financially and administratively responsible, as far as possible, for all the reli- gious schools of the Jewish community not directly connected with the synagogs. Out of this proposal, which was not adopted without bitter criticism and con- troversy, grew the Bureau of Jewish Education, which planned to embrace both the Associated Boston Hebrew Schools, composed of all the Hebrew schools of the day, with an enrollment of 1,529 children, and the Bureau of Jewish Religious Schools, comprising all the existing Sunday schools, with an enroll- ment of 1,934, and, within the means at its disposal, to expand the work until it could bring Jewish education to all the Jewish children in the community.
Under the able direction of Mr. Louis Hurwich, who made the survey which demonstrated the need of the Bureau and who has been in charge of the Bureau since it was established, Jewish education has reached new proportions and found new dignity throughout the community. The Bureau has assumed direction of most of the religious schools that knew no synagogal affiliation and has advanced subsidies to most of the independent Hebrew schools of the com- munity. It has established a number of new schools, has introduced a stand- ardized curriculum, has raised the standards of school equipment and teaching personnel, has inade a number of interesting studies in the field of religious education and has introduced many new methods of mass education. It intro- duced music and art into the Hebrew schools of the city. In every way the Bureau has richly served the religious development of Boston Jewry. Recently, as a result of the period of depression, it has had to withdraw the subsidies it had been granting and has thus lost control of a number of schools which pre- viously had been under its direction.
Though a large number of Jewish children of the city are reached by the regularly organized Jewish schools, it is certain that the vast majority of our children are not enrolled in these schools,- which does not mean that they are without religious instruction. All through the ages the work of the schools has been supplemented by private religious instruction in the homes, instruc- tion imparted not by the parents but by professional paid teachers. And this instruction was not weekly but daily. This is undoubtedly still true in Boston. Most of the children of our community probably receive their religious educa- tion in this way.
One of the constituent organizations of the Associated Jewish Philan- thropies is the Jewish Prison Aid Society, organized in 1913. As the name indicates, the society concerns itself with the interests of members of the Jewish faith who are in the penal institutions of the state and more especially of Boston. The program is almost exclusively religious and has been in charge of the present chaplain, Moses L. Sedar, since the society was established.
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There are other Jewish organizations whose purpose is not specifically religious, though indirectly they have been doing religious work. Reference has already been made to the Council of Jewish Women. The Hadassah, though constitutionally pledged to medical work in Palestine, still exerts a healthy religious influence over its members. The New Century Club marks the Jewish holy days with special programs and brings to its platform monthly distinguished Jews who are authorities on specific Jewish themes. The League of Jewish Women, composed of forty-three local Jewish Women's organizations, lends itself wholeheartedly to every cause which affects the faith of the Jew.
Little religious literature has been published by the community during the past fifty years. The orthodox congregations have continued the use of the traditional Jewish liturgy. The conservative congregations introduced con- siderable modifications in the ritual and have supplemented these changes with a large body of literature for purposes of religious education. The liberal con- gregations years ago adopted the ritual issued by the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Most of this material, however, was prepared by national organizations with headquarters in other cities. Little has been done locally to enlarge this program. The Bureau of Jewish Education and the Hebrew Teachers' College have from time to time issued pamphlets on Jewish themes. Some forty years ago Rabbi Solomon Schindler issued a history of the Jews in Boston. In 1896-1925 Ezekiel Leavitt wrote numerous poems, plays and essays dealing with Jewish life. Twenty years ago Rabbi Menachem Eichler issued an interesting volume of Jewish prayers. In 1928 "The Adjustment of Law to Life in Rabbinic Literature" appeared from the pen of Solomon Zuerow. In 1929 Rabbi Louis M. Epstein published "The Jewish Marriage Contract." In 1930 Rabbi Beryl D. Cohon wrote "An Introduction to Judaism." In 1911 Rabbi Harry Levi wrote "Jewish Characters in English Fiction," in 1929, "The Great Adventure" and in 1930 "A Rabbi Speaks." In 1920 Rabbi Levi also wrote a new ritual for the Sunday services of Temple Israel. In 1927 Maurice Lieberman wrote "Know the Bible." In 1880 Solomon Schindler, then rabbi of Temple Israel, edited a monthly Jewish Journal, only a few issues of which appeared. In 1892-93 Abraham Alpert issued a semi-religious weekly, the Hebrew Citizen. The Jewish Advocate, which made its first appearance in 1902, and is now. edited by Alexander Brin, is the only Jewish weekly in the city. The Jewish Telegraph and the Jewish World have also issued local editions, which have been edited by Mr. Alpert.
The growth of the youth movement in the synagog has been especially marked of recent years. Twenty years ago the movement was unknown in the synagog. Now almost every congregation has a young people's group, which, aside from its social program, gives itself seriously to some part of the work of the synagog. And the movement has reached beyond the synagog to our Jewish centers and educational institutions. Most of our centers have religious classes for children, or study classes for growing young men and women. Many of the so-called boys' and girls' clubs have definitely Jewish programs. For some years the Boston Young Men's Hebrew Association conducted regular Friday evening services. In practically every college and school in and about Boston there are branches of the Avukah, the Jewish Student Zionist Society
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and the Menorah, an intercollegiate Jewish organization for the study of Jewish culture and history. Until a few years ago Jewish religious schools seldom reached those beyond grammar school age. Now every religious school of the larger congregations has a high school department and some have departments for systematic adult education. The Hebrew Teachers' College, founded in 1920, has probably the best normal school for Jewish teachers in the country.
This college was founded by the Bureau of Jewish Education in 1921. Its first dean was Dr. Nisson Touroff, formerly of Palestine, now with the Jewish Institute of Religion of New York, one of the ablest Jewish educators of the day. The double aim of the college has been to train Jewish teachers and develop American Jewish scholarship. The institution has had a notable career. Aside from the men and women it has graduated and put into the field, it established a Principals' Association and developed a Hebrew stage. In 1927 the Legislature authorized the college to grant the degrees of Bachelor, Master and Doctor of Hebrew Literature, Hebrew Laws and Hebrew Education. The course of study, originally of four years, was later extended to six and later still to eight years. The present enrollinent of the college is 150. Doctor Touroff resigned in 1926 and was succeeded by Dr. Samuel Perlman, who is still in charge.
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