LOUIS M. HACKER SEPHARDIC IN CITY

not having the slightest desire in the amend the federal acts would be to tween Sephardim and Ashkenazim Aegean. It must be apparent, then, world of becoming acquainted with have everything relating to the pre­ are more or less familiar; their beai-- that language difficulties stand as the police powers of either state or vention of conception stricken out of ing upon the separatism typical of insuperable obstacles in the path of a federal governments, the average the obscenity laws; another way * the life of the Oriental Jew will at common understanding between Se­ doctor and druggist are quite wary would be by permissive statute ex­ once be grasped. It is common phardim and Ashkenazim—at least, of the whole subject. The federal empting from their provisions the knowledge that the Sephardim speak of the first immigrant generations. laws, however, apply not only to the medical and public health professions Hebrew with a slightly different ac­ The habits of the life of the Se­ article or agent used in the prevent­ in the discharge of their duties. If cent, employ chants which phardim and their general psychology ion of conception, but also to all in­ the former method were adopted it may be described as Oriental in tone present other reasons for the exist­ formation on the subject. Such being would in effect throw the mails and rather than Germanic or Slavic, and ence of a real separatism. Coming the case, it is not possible for a doctor common carriers in interstate com­ have incorporated into their prayer- from the Levant as they have, the Se­ to obtain books dealing with the sci­ merce wide open to the advertisement bocks many liturgical poems unfamil­ phardim have brought a mode of life entific side of Birth Control, nor can and sale of spurious contraceptive in­ iar to the Ashkenazic ritual. This along with them that in many ways the subject be discussed in the medi­ formation and articles. In the latter religious difference has led to the differs radically from Occidental cal journals. Such information as cases if the federal obscenity laws founding of independent manners and point of view. One may the doctor may obtain he must work were amended no objection could be for the services of Sephardim ex­ mention, in passing, their diets which out for himself in his own practice raised on the grounds of public health clusively. have encouraged separate eating or obtain in person from a fellow and welfare, and the constituted houses, the inferior status of their There are two other distinctive practitioner—truly an archaic way of health authorities could give contra­ women folk which has made the cafe characteristics that are much more obtaining scientific information in the ceptive information to those who so rather than the home the scene of so­ important in accounting for the exist­ twentieth century. One way to desperately need it. cial intercourse, and their gen­ ence of a separate Sephardic com­ eral mental attitudes. The Levant munal life, that is to say, the lan­ has not yet become industrial­ guage and social differences. The Se­ ized. As a result, the Sephardim THE COMMUNAL LIFE OF THE phardim speak a variety of dialects are accustomed to a slower tempo SEPHARDIC JEWS IN totally unfamiliar to the general Jew­ of thought and action and a char­ ish population. For the most part, acteristic way of life that is a BY LOUIS M. HACKER these dialects may be grouped into compound of fatalism and inertia. three general classifications, viz., Further, the Sephardim consider HESE facts will provoke some has been given until this year to the Ladino, Greek, and . Arabic themselves a people apart; they are curiosity. In New York City's 40,000 Sephardic Jews hailing from is spoken by the Sephardic Jews com­ T population of some 1,500,000 "Spanish Jews," with a distinct his­ Levantine countries. The existence ing from the Syrian and North torical consciousness and, often, an Jews, there are 40,000 souls who are of these considerations prompted the African coasts, and Greek is spoken inordinate pride. Whether this aloof­ almost as alien to their kinsmen as New York Federation to request the by those coming from a portion of ness is due to a pathetic attempt at are the negroes to the average white Bureau of Jewish Social Research to the old Turkish Empire, now part of maintaining their self-respect or to a Southerner. These 40,000 Jews are make an examination into the prob­ Greater Greece. These two groups true feeling of superiority, it is diffi­ set apart from New York Jewry by lems of the communal life of the New constitute only a small section of the cult to determine. The facts are, religious, linguistic and psychological York Sephardic Jews. In the Spring general mass. The great majority these are real differences producing a differences that vitiate any attempts of 1926, such an inquiry was begun of the Sephardim resident in New different social practice and help to at mutual understanding. New York by the writer, and the pages that fol­ York are those who speak Ladino, a explain why the Sephardic Jews have Jewry's communal problems are not low constitute an abstract of the re­ dialect which holds the same relation been up to the present a group apart theirs, and no attempt has as yet port submitted to Dr. Solomon Low­ to Spanish that occupies in in New York's Jewish communal been made to bridge this extraordin­ enstein, Director of New York Fed­ respect to Middle German. These life. ary gap. In short, in all the brave eration. people have come, for the most part, talk that has been made of the life of from Bosnia, Bulgaria, Turkey in II. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE I. REASONS FOR THE PROBLEM New York Jewry—its aspirations, its Europe (except for parts of Greece), COLONY programmes, its richness—no thought The characteristic differences be- Asia Minor, and the islands of the Although a considerable number of

32 33 LOUIS M. HACKEE SEPHARDIC JEWS IN NEW YORK CITY

of these burial and mutual aid so­ Sephardic Jews left the Levant for the restriction of immigration the ington Heights in the neighborhood cieties, none very large and only the United States from 1900 on, the number of Sephardic Jews entering of 170th and 171st Streets. about one-third are in any way im­ real migrations did not assume im­ the United States decreased to 137 in portant. The first of these societies portant proportions until the years 1925. In short, in the 26 years, 1899- III. ORGANIZATION OF THE COLONY was founded in 1899; all the others following 1908. This phenomenon 1925, the immigration totaled 25,591 must be coupled with the sequence of date subsequent to the period of mass men, women and children. It is ob­ The development of the institutions political events in the Near East. migration. Thus, the four most im­ vious that these figures merely serve of the Sephardic Jews mirrors the Suffice it to say that the young Turk portant, representing the men of to indicate the size of the group to­ history of their Eastern European Revolution of 1908, in its attempt to Monastir, Castoria, and Adrianople day. co-religionists of twenty years ago. Occidentalize the Near East, em­ have a combined membership of only They were settlers in a new and un­ braced a programme of political, eco­ What then, is the present size of 1,500; another group of six, repre­ familiar land with alien tongue, cus­ nomic, racial and religious tenets, the Sephardic Jewish population in senting the men of Rhodes, Darda­ toms and temperament. They were whose consequences rested with par­ the United States? Estimates have nelles, Gallipoli, Salonica, Chios, and —and still are—unusually devout. ticular onus on the Jewish popula­ put the figures in the neighborhood Constantinople, has a membership of What could be more natural than the tion. With the succession of wars of 50,000 to 60,000. There are com­ 1,200. The Sephardic Brotherhood immediate appearance of the charac­ that followed in the Mediterranean munities in , , has a membership of 850. In all, teristic Jewish communal organiza­ lands spur was given to the desire for Cincinnati, Seattle, Atlanta and in a some 4,000 male Sephardic Jews be­ tions—the synagogue and the burial flight and in the years 1908-14 a con­ handful of lesser industrial towns. long to one or another of these so­ society? These organizations were tinuous emigration took place. As The great majority, however, are to cieties. based strictly on landsmanschaft is characteristic of most trans-Atlan­ be found in New York City, and con­ lines. They have persisted until to­ As early as 1912 an attempt was tic migrations, the young men and servative estimates put their number day, and in them one finds an essen­ made to transcend local and petty the heads of families came first and at approximately 40,000. tial reason for internal disharmony. loyalties to the landsmanschaften for in the beginning there was an excess the purposes of communal action, but In New York, settlements were The Sephardic Jews are the products of males. But families, in time, join­ the move was abortive. In 1921, a originally made en masse, and led to of an old world localism that has been ed their men-folk and today the bal­ second effort was made when the the creation of compact colonies. The fostered by centuries and that has ance has been redressed. Salonican Brotherhood (organized in first sprang up on the East Side of succeeded in raising out of petty dif­ 1915) decided to extend its range and It is rather difficult to estimate the New York and many of the Sephardic ferences in ritual, important bars to appeal for general support under the size of the group in the United States Jews still live on the streets to which common action. It is hard for the name of Sephardic Brotherhood. But today. Immigration figures can be they originally came. This initial Jew of Ashkenazic descent to appre­ there was no indication of a desire approximate only and it is interest­ colony may, roughly, be found in the ciate that not only does the Sephardic to part company with the local-society ing to note that independent counts district bounded by the , Jew consider himself unlike the Jew idea. The new Brotherhood formed made by the Commissioner General Houston, Clinton and Division from Poland or Russia, but, if he is a itself about the Salonican Society as of Immigration and the HIAS show Streets, with the greatest concentra­ Castorian, that he is unlike the man a nucleus, adopting its purpose and wide discrepancies. But the Immi­ tion between Chrystie and Allen from Chios, or Janina, or Rodosto. its methods, and merely differing gration Division's figures are pre­ Streets from Houston to Grand. But This sentiment has been fed by a from the old organization in that it sented here for the trends they show. as early as 1913, there began a move­ natural conservatism, a suspicion held out its benefits to all Sephardic During the years 1890-1907 there en­ ment uptown. The colony in , easily aroused, and a fondness for Jews. It had the customary provis­ tered from Turkey in Europe, Turkey occupied the streets between 110th casuistry that is one of the distin­ ions for legal, sick and death benefits in Asia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Monte­ and 125th Streets, and between Park guishing marks of the Oriental. Thus, to members paying dues and in good negro, and Greece, 2,738 Sephardic and Lenox Avenues. In fact, today, there exists in New York City, a standing. It attempted to cope in a Jews. In the seven years, 1908-1914, Harlem holds more than half of the group of small, struggling and in­ very primitive fashion, with commun­ the number of arrivals totaled total Sephardic Jewish population. adequately-housed synagogues. There ity problems by giving advice in 10,033. Immigration, of course, fell Since the war, smaller communities are eight on the East Side, three in citizenship, establishing a off during 1915-1919 reaching only have settled in the Sea Beach, New Harlem, and three in . , and organizing a sisterhood 2,806; but during 1920-1924 the ar­ Lots and Williamsburg sections of The local societies are even more for friendly aid. Its leaders did not rivals numbered 9,877 souls. With Brooklyn, and very recently, in Wash- obscure. There are some thirty-six

35 LOUIS M. HACKER SEPHARDIC JEWS IN NEW YORK CITY

not being supplanted by a new and see—and there were no Ashkenazic (1) the encouragement of religious 1923, the Sisterhood decided to ex­ helpless group requiring a repetition Jews to point out to them—that the education; (2) the inception of a clude from its house all but those who of the old services. Sephardic Brotherhood had inherent campaign for the creation of a Se­ were Sephardic Jews of Oriental or­ failings as a body for the organiza­ phardic Jewish Community Center, igin. Thus it became the only link 3. That the Sephardic Jews are in­ tion of community sentiment for it is which might be looked upon as a focal between New York Jewry and the creasingly leaving the unadjusted purely a friendly society. It has a point of all Sephardic activity in the Sephardic Jews. The Settlement group and becoming self-reliant, eco­ bureaucratic and centralized admin­ city; (3) the training, or calling from House has the customary programme nomically and socially. istration, and holds out a programme abroad, of religious leaders to head of its kind. It conducts a Talmud 4. That, therefore, their com­ interesting only to those who cannot, the spiritual forces of the commu­ Torah with an average daily attend­ munal problem has shifted. As a for economic reasons, furnish these nity. ance of 200. It houses kindergarten community, they no longer need act­ services for themselves. classes, serving some 100 children. It It is interesting to note the reasons ual physical aid from an outside Another organization for commun­ for the Community's failure, to date, provides for sixteen boys' and girls' source. Their chief requirement, at ity service is that of the Sephardic to put its programme into effect. Its clubs, with a membership of 150. present, is adequate leadership within Jewish Community created in 1924. directors, although highly respected There is a lecture system, a gym­ their own body for the formulation of Its purposes are commendable; it men, have failed to uncover the in­ nasium, a reading room, a game room a programme of cultural and group must be confessed however, that to dependent forces in the community, and a roof-garden. The social service expression. In short, the group is on date it has met with little success. outside of the local societies. Second, activities include information and ad­ the verge of becoming articulate, Like the Sephardic Brotherhood, the they have not tapped the possibilities vice by the headworker, a medical which is merely a repetition of the Sephardic Jewish Community falls of individual support on the basis, not clinic open for one hour daily in co­ history of the Ashkenazic Jew in the back upon the local society. But of an annual membership due, but of operation with the Jewish Social Ser­ United States. whereas the former is a centralized contributions or donations. Thus, vice Association and the Commit­ What would be the position of an group, the latter is a federalized the Community is attended by all the tee for Health Service Among Jews. agency like the Settlement House in group. The Sephardic Community typical vices of a confederation. It A synagogue is also housed in the such a future programme of self- at present is made up of six local so­ is characterized by excessive timidity. building. Approximately 700 children help? Whereas the Settlement House cieties, the members of which are It dare not launch on an elaborate and adults are reached by the House, radiated its influence among the taxed $2 per capita annually for the programme lest it be denied financial through its Kindergarten, Talmud group when it was comparatively Torah classes, clubs, synagogue and support of the Community. These support. It is driven into inaction by new, the movement of population is medical clinic. societies have a combined member­ the threat, held over it by the mem­ away from the sphere of influence of ber societies, of withdrawal. All this ship of only 1,200, with the result To evaluate the position of the Set­ the House. In fact, fully three-fourths has forced a stalemate, and the Com­ that the Community can actually ex­ tlement House in the Sephardic com­ of the Sephardic Jews on the East munity is in that unhappy situation pect only $2,400 a year for its activi­ munal life, requires a consideration of Side are already either unacquainted where it has $6,000 in its treasury and ties. Provision is made for individual many factors. One recognizes the with or impervious to the work of the no definite purposes for which to membership, but there are very few worth of the House's service in helu- Sisterhood. Finally, material and so­ spend its money. such. In keeping with its purpose of ing the Sephardic Jews in adjusting cial problems are not so pressing and themselves to a new life. They are serving general communal needs, the Thus, it can be seen that in neither the emphasis increasingly shifts to Sephardic community has succeeded of these organizations, at present, is sensitive; some are proud. Because the spiritual and cultural. The ques­ in affiliating with itself two societies, there great promise for community of these inherent characteristics, it is tion resolves itself into this: How doubtful if any other agency could viz., the Sephardic Educational Insti­ enterprise. shall we aid the Sephardic Jews' tute, which conducts a Talmud Torah have served them as effectively. But One other element in the situation children to appreciate their Jewish for about 200 pupils, and the Spanish it is pertinent to keep in mind these should be recorded, namely, the Set­ and Sephardic heritage? How can Hebrew Charity Society, which has matters: tlement House of the Sisterhood of we aid in the evolution of a Sephardic about 300 members and gathers to­ the Spanish and Portuguese Syna­ 1. That the Sephardic Jews, like communal programme? It has be­ gether $2,500 annually. The Com­ gogue (a Federation society). The their Ashkenazic co-religionists, are come palpable that a settlement munity, too, has a specific programme Settlement House was organized in moving uptown. house, whose very essence predicates to which it has committed itself at 1896 for the service of the Yiddish- the idea of dependency, can be of no one time or another. This includes: 2. That because of the restriction speaking Jews of the East Side but, in of immigration, the old population is help here. LOUIS M. HACKER SEPHARDIC JEWS IN NEW YORK CITY

IV. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL pose other than to keep up ac­ tive inclination toward outdoor en> among themselves there is a plethora ELEMENTS quaintances and to pass the time. ployment encouraged similar activi­ of petty bickering, misunderstanding There are some five or six social clubs It has been suggested that the Se­ ties here. But there has been ma­ and obscure rivalry. Demagoguery phardic Jews, in their brief stay in terial betterment. Sephardic Jews thrives on the general illiteracy. whose total membership is only 400. Feuds and factions—both personal, New York, have already made com­ have become skirt, kimono, and elec­ Home life. The home environment though everybody appears to believe mendable progress in their adjust­ trical battery manufacturers. Many, is Oriental; the pater-familias rules that deep-seated issues are involved— ments toward American life. It will by close living, have amassed enough the household while his children are are rather typical, and there seems, be seen, however, to what extent capital to buy out the cloak-room con­ young and his women-folk remain at thus far, to have been no general set leadership and a community pro­ cessions where they were formerly at­ home. The whole situation is at pres­ of principles on which the whole com­ gramme are imperative in making tendants. The Arabic-speaking Jews, ent in a state of flux. The influences the group articulate. munity, or a considerable body of it, who are shrewd merchants, have of the outside world are beginning to has been willing to agree. Here lie Literacy. The Sephardic Jew is opened a row of lingerie and lace creep in—from the street, the fac­ some of the reasons why neither the not educated according to our stand­ shops that fill a whole street. The tories, the dance-halls. To an extent, Sephardic Community nor the Se­ ards, though he is conversant with middle class is being gradually aug­ the head of the family is at fault. Un­ phardic Brotherhood has been able to Ladino, Greek, Arabic, Turkish, mented and now includes a sizable like the Ashkenazic Jew, he has not get more than a thousand men to French and Italian. He can speak group of merchants and agents, brought with him from his old home stand together. All this has militated these languages; he cannot, as a rule, shopkeepers, salesmen, agents, can­ a keen sense of opportunities denied. against leadership on the part of read them. There is, of course, a lit­ vassers and office workers. There is, He can see no reason for securing for those able, morally and financially, to erate group made up of the former too, a profesional class made up of a his children the advantages of social exercise it. Another reason why Se­ attendants of the Alliance Israelite dozen lawyers and physicians. There and economic betterment. There is phardic Jews do not think in philan­ Universelle schools in Constantinople, was a remarkable testimonial to the entirely absent the characteristic thropic terms lies in Mr. Joseph Ged- Smyrna, etc. But these men have adaptability of the group in a banquet stinting and denials which mark the at­ alecia's wise saying: "No Oriental not taken the reins of leadership with held under the auspices of the Se­ titude of the Ashkenazic Jews toward ever gives or takes charity." the result that demagoguery has play­ phardic Jewish Community in the their children. Observers are gener­ ed an important role in the group's summer of 1926. Here were a people Religious life. There is no vital re­ ally agreed that Sephardic children history. Again, because of inertia, not more than ten to fifteen years in a ligious life in the community, with the are not permitted to avail themselves sensitiveness in the face of their strange land, sufficiently adjusted to result that the synagogues languish of the benefits of higher education or bolder Ashkenazic brethern, absence don dinner clothes, assemble in the and the younger generation is being vocational training, but are compelled of a social spur (compare the political banquet hall of a great hotel, eat frightened off. This state of affairs to augment the family budget as soon liberties of the Jew of the Orient with American food, and listen to speeches is reflected in the calibre of religious as the law permits. This situation the disabilities of the Jew of Eastern in English! education. There are at present only has produced in the growing genera­ Europe), the Sephardic Jew has not But one must not forget that the two Talmud worthy of the tion a temper that is a compound of tried to acquire the English language. great majority are workers, and un­ name, and one, supported by Sephar­ impatience and lack of understanding, Experiments attempted in formal skilled or unorganized workers at dic Jews, is in continuous financial dif­ and has unnecessarily widened the class work, have repeatedly failed. As that. Sweating exists. Yet a small ficulties. These two serve only 400 breach between old and young. The for a press, there exists but a single body of skilled workers is already ap­ children; 350 more are being served lack of home influence, because of the weekly paper published in Ladino. pearing, particularly among the car­ by five synagogue Hebrew schools. children's economic independence at Economic Conditions. Jewish de­ penters and upholsterers, and these Social life. The outstanding social too early an age, and the inability of velopment in New York is cyclic. Like are becoming trade unionists. center continues to be the cafe, which, social agencies to make any impres­ the first generation of the Eastern It cannot be said, on the basis of like its model of the Levant, is the sion on their lives through furnishing European Jew, the Sephardic Jew this material, that the Sephardic Jews common restaurant, club, business ex­ them with facilities for intellectual or came to New York poor, unskilled, and are more likely to become dependents change, gaming room, and political cultural development, have permitted unbefriended. Its members became than are their Ashkenazic co-religion­ forum. There is no medium for Jew­ the Sephardic children to succumb to peddlers, bootblacks, cloak-room at­ ists. ish or Sephardic cultural expression, the influences of the street and chance acquaintances in factories, dance-halls tendants, candy vendors in theatres, Disunion. Before the stranger, the no real place in the community where and pool-rooms. laborers in factories, etc. Their na- Sephardic Jews present a solid front; the adults can congregate for any pur­

39 38 LOUIS M. HACKER

Another matter of serious import­ and possibly two, community centers ance is that the young Sephardic Jew LEVINDALE be created to act as focal points of the is being lost to . One of their Sephardic Jewish life in New York. An Experiment In Child-Care young leaders has said: "Thus, the Here are to center all those educa­ present Sephardic generation is grow­ BY SAMUEL S. SOLENDER tional spiritual and cultural influences ing up without any connection with which although essentially Jewish the Jewish people. It ignores the will at the same time help in the ad­ and Jewish history, HE past fifteen years, since the Following the Roosevelt Conference justment to the American environ­ and is indifferent to every modem famous White House Confer­ which proclaimed that all normal chil­ ment. This it is hoped will help to Jewish movement." T ence, have marked the most dren deprived of their natural par­ unite the Sephardic Jewish com­ important and enlightened interest ents are far better off under the care munity into a single and articulate of foster parents, the child placing V. A COMMUNAL PROGRAMME ever centered upon the problems of whole. agencies, who were small in number, The considerations above outlined child-care. Up to that time we were The creation of a representative took a new lease on life. The foster indicate the nature of the problem filling our institutions with the desti­ body for the whole Sephardic Jewish home is the next best thing to the tute, the orphaned and the neglected, confronting the Sephardic Jewish community has been suggested pos­ child's own home and a child should the objective usually being to retain community. There is need for the in­ sibly through affiliation with New be placed in an institution only as a these children until they had reached culcation of American standards of York Federation, since financial self- last resort. The institution, be it working age. In some communities living, for the teaching of English and support is, for the time being, still im­ ever so well equipped, and may it of­ this age was fourteen and in others citizenship, for the handling of em­ possible. fer a great many splendid opportuni­ ployment and hygienic problems, for the institutions were striving to re­ In brief, the spirit of the program­ ties, nevertheless cannot be compared the religious education of the young, tain their charges until their eigh­ me of the Bureau of Jewish Social to normal family life. and for the creation of a cultural teenth year. Service Research is directed not to In order to approximate as nearly bond which will more nearly unite the There was little if any attention paid meeting a problem of dependency, but as possible the normal family life, the young and the old in a common under­ to the possibility of returning such rather to aid the group to realize its next step taken by the institutional standing. At present, no Sephardic children to their respective homes, be­ independence along lines that have management was to provide cottages Jewish agencies really exist for this cause the institution like a business, proved successful in the history of for the children. The cottage plan purpose. It seems obvious that the had to be kept filled in order to keep American Jewry. The Sephardic was to be the panacea, but it has dem­ Sephardic Jews should be working to­ down the per capita. With the com­ Jews of New York, as a group, have onstrated many handicaps. In some ward an integration which would tend ing of mothers' pension laws and re­ come of age. Materially and socially instances it has meant complete isola­ to bring out the full potentialities of lief from other agencies, fewer chil­ their condition is encouraging. It is tion because the new home was re­ their group, and hold the loyalty of dren were removed from their homes along cultural and spiritual lines how­ moved from the city. The children their children. What are the mini­ because of poverty alone, though it is ever, particularly in the forging of a went to their own school, had their mum essentials of such a programme ? bond between the young and their still being done even in enlightened own recreational facilities and made It is hardly necessary for the pur­ parents and in apprizing the growing communities. In some communities, no outside contacts. Upon their dis­ poses of this paper to describe such a generation of their Jewish heritage the family caring agencies are today charge, their adjustment to commun­ programme in detail. The plan which and their affinity of interest with New bending their efforts to keep children ity life was made extremely difficult, has been proposed considers the York Jewry, that much work has to in their respective homes, because, be­ and for some time they found them­ spiritual, social, and community needs be done. For this consummation the sides the human element involved, it selves out of harmony with life out­ of New York's Sephardic Jews. Par­ Sephardic Jews need the sympathy is cheaper for the community to sub­ side of the institution. ticular stress was placed on the neces­ and cooperation of their Ashkenazic sidize a mother, than to place her About this time, some of the insti­ sity for independent action. It has kinsmen who have already traveled children in an institution. This as­ tutions were outgrowing their unsan­ been recommended that at least one, the same road. sumes that there is no institution in itary and inadequate quarters. They the community, because if such a pro­ wanted to offer greater opportunities cedure became general it would ser­ to their children, and were beginning iously affect the intake and, there­ to solicit funds for their enterprises. fore, increase the cost of operating The World War postponed building the institution.

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