Sephardic Jews came from Barbados to Providence after hearing of Roger Williams

Transcription

1 The Jewish Community in Providence, RI: A Brief Look The Jewish community in Rhode Island has a varied history reaching back to 1658 when Sephardic Jews came from Barbados to Providence after hearing of Roger Williams commitment to religious tolerance. i While this community eventually declined by the early 1800s, a new Jewish immigrant wave came by the 1840s from Germany followed by a mainly Russian and Eastern European Jewish migration during the 1880s and continuing into the 1900s. This Jewish community has largely moved out of the urban area of the South Side, of Mashapaug Pond area to suburbs or the East Side of Providence paralleling financial advancement. The Jewish community remains active through the Jewish Community Center on Sessions Avenue and a number of synagogues on the East Side, but their presence in the South Side has dwindles- reflected in the current decision of how to deal with the abandoned temple on Broad Street, once a pride of the community. In response to an article about the abandoned synagogue, George M. Goodwin, an editor of the Jewish Historical Notes thought it fitting that the synagogue moved with the community: Given the migration of Jews from the former North End and South Providence to the East Side after World War II, it was inevitable that Sons of Israel and David, known casually as Temple Beth-El, would relocate closer to its members. He defended the community against Mr. Brussat s suggestion that Congregation Sons of Israel and David, founded in 1854, is in decline or in senescence is foolish, by asserting that the community still thrives, though not in the South Side. ii Ethnic Heterogeneity The ethnic make-up of the Jewish community was certainly not homogenous. German Jews who began immigrating in the 1940s came with more white-collar work experience compared to other contemporary immigrant groups, such as Italians and Irish, and often set up

2 businesses using this experience. Towards the end of the 19th Century, Jews from Lithuania, Poland and Russia (which made up the strong majority of all Jews) settled in the North End and Smith Hill neighborhoods of Providence. Jewish immigrants from Galicia, Austria and Romania settled in the South Side of Providence, the community of focus in this research. In her article about a meat boycott among the Jewish women of Providence, Kimberly Nusco remarks that the Jewish community was divided ethnically and culturally most notably between German Jews who were more established even by 1910s and who lived mainly on the East Side and practiced Judaism within Reform Synagogues and the Eastern European Jews who immigrated after the German wave and into the turn of the Century and lived in the South Side and practice Judaism within Orthodox Synagogues. iii Industrial Revolution Jobs 1840s-1890s During the 1840s many German Jews in Rhode Island became shop keepers, tailors and dealers in old clothes. By , the Providence directory listed between nine and twenty two families with Jewish names, reflecting the small size of the community at that time or the lack of records kept of them. iv During this period most of the membership of the established congregation Bnai Israel which was Ashkenasim or of Northern or Eastern Europe (at that time German and Polish) descent, but the congregation decided on adopting the Sephardic tradition in liturgy, cantillation, pronunciation of Hebrew "out of respect for the Sephardim and their long tradition of learning and culture." v During the heyday of the Industrial Revolution in New England in the late 19th Century, Jewish immigrants provided a workforce for the textile and jewelry manufacturing, alongside Italian immigrants. Technological advancements such as electroplating and manufacturing

3 through the stud wire machine opened up new commercial products to be manufactured by jewelry industry in Rhode Island, such as cigarette lighters, metal watchbands and celluloid jewelry. Skilled vs. Deskilled Labor This style of manufacturing changed the conception of skill and labor for many European Jewish immigrants who were used to skilled trades as opposed to manufacturing lines requiring little skill and no apprenticeship. Smith presents the intergenerational employment trends as a conflict between adult immigrants and their children who had different relationships with American culture and economy. He asserts that the generation of Jews who immigrated as adults prized skilled trades and self-employment and expressed anxiety over their children s involvement in deskilled factory work. Smith describes this intergenerational conflict as one intimately linked to the immigration experience and the desire of the younger generation growing up in Rhode Island to assimilate to a new culture which valued wage over skill. Whereas parents wanted their children to go through an apprenticeship, their children were often unwilling to wait for monetary compensation in the long-term and sought diversion in the city through a more immediate source of income in factory employment. vi Starting a Thriving Small Business Sector, 1910s Mutual Benefit societies certainly contributed to the Jewish community s success in starting up small businesses and transitioning from employment in manufacturing to selfemployment. The Hebrew Free Loan Association, started in the 1910s, was a prominent community resource for low-income shop or enterprise owners in staying afloat from day to day. By the early 1900s, a strong contingent of Jewish owned businesses created a strong Jewish

4 business district along Willard Avenue of the South Side. Self-employment allowed for greater child involvement in decreasing labor costs for the family business. Synagogue and Jewish Organizations 1920s-1930s Although, in his detailed history of the Temple of Beth-El a synagogue in Providence, Goldowsky notes that the first Sephardic Jewish community from Barbados had focused primarily on cemetery site as opposed to synagogue formation, the 20th Century immigrants formed many synagogues, reaching 24 congregations by vii During the 1930s, Jewish community organizations grew dramatically. The Jewish Community Center combined 3 Jewish organizations and partnered with the Jewish Welfare Board which founded organizations across the nation. By 1934, the organizations reached a growing membership of 1,400 and included programs for youth, religious services, a "Baby Welfare Clinic, a branch of the public library and a Hebrew School of 225 children." viii The Stereotype of the Communist Jew Another stereotype which Bloom attempts to combat is the Socialist or communist Jew. Nor is there the least danger of their transplanting to this country the Socialistic propaganda which they consider to be, and which is in fact, a necessity in Russia. (397) In contrast to Bloom's effort to allay fears of Jewish socialist organizing, Horovitz details a community center for progressive and socialist thinkers in the Workmen's Circle, Branch 110 and a fairly active branch of the Socialist Party organized by Yiddish-speakers of South Providence.

5 Yet, socialist organizing was only a minority of the community. When a new wave of Russian Jews immigrated to Rhode Island in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, their distinct culture presented a cultural barrier for the long-settled Jewish communities. ix Bloom also defends Zionist Jewish recent immigrants when she wrote in the 1910s by characterizing their political beliefs as liberal showing a knowledge not only of Jewish history, but of political history in general and see the solution to the Jewish problem in a Zionist state of Israel and the development of humanitarian ideals (397). Rabbi Balustein, an active community member of the Congregation of Sons of Israel, also supported the Herzl Movement and the Zionist Project and was extensively profiled by Goldowsky. Jewish community groups were not only aware of Zionist yearnings but also financially supported Jewish victims of pogroms and victims of other disasters. The Temple Beth-El donated $250 to the victims of Pogroms as well as the victims of the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, at a time when budgetary concerns dominated their board discussions. x Thriving Business or Slum? In Jewish Life in Providence an essay re-published in the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association and first written in 1910, Bessie Edith Bloom discusses the current historiography of the Jewish community in Rhode Island as problematic in its portrayal of the Jewish community s involvement in business. First, she argues that a study conducted by a Brown University professor over-emphasizes the business centers as the heart of the Jewish community and ignores the residential centers. She states, It is almost invariably true that the Jews of any city are judged by one district, usually the business and market centre, while many surrounding districts, where there are actual living problems, are altogether overlooked. xi

6 Bloom suggests that this portrayal of the Jewish community as successful in business relies on a racialization of Jews, exemplified in the essentialist phrase rich as a Jew. She argues that many factors including assimilation to American culture and market, inexperience in factories, and insufficient remuneration have led to strong Jewish involvement in business. It is not simply through racial instinct, nor through willing desire, that the immigrant Jew engages in business. xii While Bloom described the residential community of Jews in terms of its living problems, interviews analyzed by Eleanor F. Horwitz which were conducted in 1967 provide a much more nostalgic view of the urban community. These interviews "dispel[led] this image" of South Providence being "overcrowded, undesirable and having a slum character." xiii Bloom defends the groceries and butcher shops that are labeled unclean quite passionately, saying I do not believe that the Jewish grocery store is less clean than any other grocery store. xiv This statement does not so much reveal her perceptions of grocery store standards as Bloom s defensive attitude of the Jewish community towards generalized admonishment. In this section, Bloom does not criticize a report or a study conducted, but a common perception. This reveals the cultural context of the 1910s in which Jewish immigrants were facing negative stereotypes of uncleanliness and considered the "Jewish problem". Bloom s defense was not an unfounded topic, for in 1910, Easter European Jews of South Providence organized mass meetings and pickets of the Willard Avenue kosher butcher shops over the costs of beef and supervision of meat production after suspicion broke out that the butchers had used meat from a cow infected with tuberculosis. xv Nusco argues that this struggle

7 reflected national concerns over food production and safety. Additionally, this struggle rooted in the Jewish community also reflected a struggle of cultural and ethnic identity as the community faced competing goals, buying affordable food according to their income and retaining Jewish identity by following kashrut, or eating food prepared according to kosher requirements. Horovitz compilation of the interviews with old-timers from the community reveal a more idealized portrait of the Jewish business thoroughfare without discord over meat prices or sanitation: "One had to dig them up with a fork. The herring was in small barrels. Nothing was probably sanitary, but I do not know if anyone got sick. The herrings were laid out beautifully...jewish people were great herring eaters." These interviews also reveal a measured pace of life and work among these shop-keepers who would join in on discussions with local customers, even neglecting other customers to continue a conversation. xvi Living Better Than Other Immigrants Bloom explains that the recent Jewish immigrants have a higher economic status compared to other immigrant groups because they are seldom willing to be employed as manual laborers. She mentions that the second generation in American never live upon the same standard, not in the same district, but avoids conjecturing a reason for such an implied upward economic transition. xvii Imitating White Flight 1950s-1960s After the Great Depression at the first quarter of the 20th Century, Jewish families began to improve their socioeconomic standing by WWII era. This transition is not fully explained in the historiography. Smith asserts that Italians and Jews reached a similar familial pattern by 1940 through the work of the mutual benefit societies and possibly through the labor shortages of

8 the wars which opened up new employment positions to Jewish community members. These sources do not mention of any structural inclusion of Jewish immigrants above other immigrant or minority groups. The Jewish community, like Jewish communities throughout the United States was highly concentrated in the city. Even until 1950, during a period of economic gain for the Jewish community overall which is associated with moving out to the suburbs, 88% of Jews lived in the city. By 1963, this percentage dropped to 69% and the 45% of Jews living in older areas of the urban area decreased to 18%, reflecting a movement to newer and more socioeconomically higher urban areas of Providence. xviii When a synagogue moved to the East Side, a wealthier area of Providence even at that time, four congregations near the South Side merged to form the Shaare Zedek Temple, demonstrating the dwindling membership of each. The merging also was a result of the urban renewal and construction of Route 95 which claimed some Jewish areas by eminent domain. Plan for highway construction also displaced a Jewish and Italian community in Hartford, Connecticut. In some cases eminent domain dispersed a community for a plan which was never carried out. xix Interestingly, not much attention is paid to this event in the Jewish Historical Notes, which was been publishing journals on Jewish history and activity in RI since the 1950s. The 1967 Population Survey of the Jewish Community of Greater Providence shows a change in the occupational trend towards increasing managers an proprietors and professionals as opposed to semi-skilled, service or unskilled workers. While roughly 40% of Jews at this time were in managerial and proprietor occupations and another 20% were professionals, these statistics do not reflect the Jewish community in the South Side and the North End of whom 9% and 2% were in professional occupations(goldstein and Sidney 90, 95) The occupational

9 differences and wealth difference between these parts of Providence and the East Side of Providence reveals the confluence of residential dispersion and income stratification within an ethnic community. Community Organizations/ Involvement in Synagogues by 1960s The Community's dispersion also played a role in the maintenance of a Jewish identity through temple or Jewish-affiliated organization. The 1967 Population Survey-conducters were interested in the way in which Jews maintained a connection to their culture and religion, measured through involvement in Jewish organizations or synagogues, inter-marrying rates with non-jews and maintenance of Yiddish language. This survey found that between 60 and 70% of Jewish residents of Providence and Pawtucket were members of at least one Jewish organization. The levels of Jewish involvement according to club membership were less in neighboring suburbs, such as Cranston, Warwick and Barrington at 40-50%. The authors of the study also found this discrepancy in temple attendance as well, leading them to conclude that Jewish suburban residents were less attached to their Jewish identity or more integrated into mainstream American society. Racial Justice Not all members of the suburbanized community saw this residential move as an advancement. Members of the Temple Beth-El called for an end to racial residential segregation to help integrate non-white families into all while neighborhoods. This call from some board members was not heeded by many of the congregation and opposed this as a statement representing the entire congregation. Jewish American from the Northeast did play a strong role in the Civil Rights Movement as Freedom Riders, but they did not represent the entire Jewish

10 community. While the temple invited an African-American speaker to lecture on the "Changing South" and the Civil Rights Movement at the temple, the message did not lead to sustained organizing efforts between the South Side's African American community and the East Side's White and Jewish communities. xx Providence still bears the signs of economic stratification along racial lines with African American and Latinos making up and building the South Side's thriving working class community. Recent efforts of community members to organize in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street campaign against concentrated wealth reflect an ongoing class struggle in Providence. i Goldowsky Temple Beth-El 4 ii Goodwin The Manifold Meaning iii Nusco iv Goldowsky Temple Beth-El 4 v Ibid 13 vi Smith 72 vii Ibid 136 viii Segal 58 ix Miller 11 x Goldowsky xi Bloom 387 xii Ibid 388 xiii Horovitz 41 xiv Bloom 394 xv Nusco 97 xvi Horovitz 44 xvii Bloom 391 xviii Goldstein and Goldscheider 47 xix Salzman Bulldozers xx Goldowsky