RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Israel, History of
Jewish people, though occasionally a few English Jews were found among them. Toward the close of the colonial period Jews had spread to Lancaster, Philadelphia, and Leicester, Mass., and the majority of them took the revolutionary side in the struggle with England, some of them fighting in the ranks, twenty-four of whom held commissions. Robert Morris was helped to finance the Revolution by the aid of Haym Salomon.
It has been calculated that at the beginning of
the nineteenth century there were about 2,000
Jews in the United States, of whom 800 were in
Charleston, 500 in New York, 150 in
2. In the Philadelphia, and the remainder scat-
Unitea terec[ Their numbers were soon in-
ST8X6S
1800- creased by migrations from England 1880. and Germany, the latter chiefly after the failure of the Liberal movement in 1848. These were among the first of Austin's colonists in Texas in 1821, and the cities of Waco and Castroville still testify to the important position held in early Texas by Jacob de Cordova, who laid out the former, and Henry Castro, who founded the latter. The Jews also helped in the earlier development of California, Solomon Heydenfeld being chief justice of that state up to 1857, while among the pioneers in the commerce of that state Jews were numbered. The period from 1848 to 1880 marked the immigration of German Jews who had taken part in the liberal movements in Germany in 1848 and had come to America to escape the reaction which followed it. These to the number of not less than 7,000 showed their devotion to their adopted country by taking part on both sides of the fraternal strife of the Civil War. Meanwhile, Jews had been in various directions establishing their positions as American citizens and claiming the rights thereof. Even in the early days of the eighteenth century several of the colonies passed laws permitting Jews to become naturalized without the oath on " the true faith of a Christian " still demanded in the mother country. The English act of 1740 permitted this throughout the colonies. In Maryland between 1776 and 1825 the political disabilities of the Jews were entirely removed, mainly by the activity of Jacob I. Cohen and Solomon Etting. The Board of Delegates of American Israelites had been formed for activity where religious discrimination was brought against Americans on account of their creed as Jews. Several American Jews in this early period served abroad as diplomatic agents of the United States.
Internally, movements for reform in the ritual
took place among American Jews as among their
European brethren, the first being at Charleston as
early as 1825, but the chief movements
3. Reform, jn this direction came with the migra-
Educa- tion 0f German Jews in 1848. Under
Charitable the leadershiP of Rabbis David Ein"
Move- born and Isaac Mayer Wise, a wave of
merits, reform spread throughout American
Jewry, though a large number of the
older established congregations still retained the
older and more orthodox ritual. Two colleges were
founded by the opposite parties to train ministers,
the Maimonides College at Philadelphia, founded in 1867, by Isaac Leeser, the leader of the more conservative Jews, and the Hebrew Union College in 1875 in Cincinnati, O., by Isaac Mayer Wise, who had likewise established the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, which combined the ministers of the more radical direction and unified the reform ritual by a standard " Union Prayer Book." A more extreme development of the reform position was founded by Felix Adler (q.v.) in New York in 1883, and is known as the Ethical Culture movement (see Ethical Culture, Societies for). Among the most characteristic features of American Jewry during the period from 1848 to 1880 are the many fraternal organizations which combined educational, charitable and benefit features and served as Jewish centers in small communities where no congregations or synagogues existed. Most congregations had established some charitable features, but few specially philanthropic institutions were found necessary. The first Jewish hospital, Mount Sinai, was founded in 1852 in New York, and the first orphan asylum in 1855 at New Orleans, under the auspices of Judah Touro.
In 1880 it was reckoned that there were about
250,000 Jews in the United States, of whom 75,000
were in New York, 16,000 in San Francisco, 12,000
in Philadelphia, 10,000 in Chicago,
4. The 8jooo in Cincinnati, 6,000 in St. Louis,
T fw and the rest scattered. In the follow-
Immigra- ,
tion Since ln§ ^ear commenced extensive migra- 1880. tions from Russia, due to the massacres and persecutions which began then and have continued down to the present. It is estimated that at least 1,250,000 Jews have entered the United States since 1881, two-thirds of them from Russia. With the advent of this huge and increasing stream of immigrants, mostly 01 provided with means of livelihood, a total change came over the spirit of American Israel. The older Jewish inhabitants hastened to form institutions to assist their persecuted brethren in settling in the land of liberty. Baron de Hirsch placed a sum of two and one-half millions of dollars at the disposal of an American committee in 1890 for the special purpose of providing for the new arrivals; this fund has founded agricultural colonies and industrial schools. In New York the Educational Alliance has been established to instruct the newcomers in the English language and in their duties as prospective American citizens. Hospitals, orphan asylums, and homes for the aged have been established in all the great Jewish centers, and uniform methods of treatment have been developed under the auspices of the National Conference of Jewish Charities organized in Cincinnati in 1899, which numbers over fifty philanthropic organizations throughout the country. The various charitable bodies have been federated in Philadelphia, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Kansas City and Cleveland, and it is reckoned that these bodies, together with the chief Jewish institutions of New York, distribute five millions of dollars annually for relief, industrial training and other philanthropic objects. More recently the Russian Jews, who have prospered remarkably, have estab-
Israel, History of Italy