Frankfurt on the Hudson: The German Jewish Community of Washington Heights, 1933-82, Its Structure and Culture

8. The Immigrant Culture

The German Jews were deliberate, reserved, practical and sticklers for formalities, with a marked ability for organization; the Russian Jews were quick-tempered,emotional, theorizing, haters of formalitieswith a decided bent towards individualism —IsraelFriedlaender "The Present Crisis of AmericanJewry" (1915| The differences in cultural style between German and eastern European Jews are frequently formulated in terms of stereotypes such as that in the quote at the beginning of the chapter. Though this stereotype is, of course, not true in every case, it is repeated so often by members of both the German Jewish and the eastern European Jewish groups that it has value at least as a model. The stereotype of the German Jew has been formulated (by eastern European Jews, mainly in Israel) in the often comical form of the yekke.l This figure has been taken by a serious student of German Jews in Israel as a model for studying the German -Jewish "type." She formulates the model in the following terms taken from Israeli stereotypes: "exaggerated discipline in daily life, love of order taken to grotesque lengths, overvaluingof humanistic education, pride in his doctorate, barely speaks Hebrew , considered assimilated, closer to German culture than to Hebrew or Yiddish."2 In their turn German Jews frequently stereotyped Ostjuden (eastern European Jews) as uncultured, dishonest , slovenly, and bad mannered. A description of the culture of the German Jews of Washington Heights will show that certain elements of the "yekke model" apply to this community, but that some of the others do not, or apply only in modified form.3 The cultural differences between German and eastern European Jews were among the factors that kept the two groupsseparate and often led to misunderstanding.The majority ofAmerican 163 CHAPTER 8 The Immigrant Culture FRANKFURT ON THE HUDSON Jews defined Jewish culture in a certain way, based not only on universal Jewish religious teachings and practice but also on the specific Jewish customs, habits, language, and music as known in eastern Europe and adapted to American conditions. BecauseGerman Jews did not share the same "little tradition" (that is, the same specific customs and habits), some of the American Jews questioned their sharing even in the great tradition of Jewish religion and peoplehood.4 It must be admitted, however, that differences between the "little tradition" of German Jewry and that of eastern Europe were minor compared to those between their common Ashkenazic tradition and that of Sephardic or "Oriental" Jews. The conflicts between German and American Jews were more likely to arise because of the perceived "Germanness" of the newcomers than because of differences in ritual or customs. PATTERNS OFFORMALITY Some traits such as language differences, differences in education or reading habits, political or religious values, are mainly the result of conscious choice. Others, however, such as the preference for discipline rather than expressiveness are traits often inculcated in childhood of which the members of the group may be only dimly aware. Such barely conscious traits are often illuminating, but are difficult both to delineate clearly or to document . There is also a danger, inherent in all such attempts at finding elements of "national character" in a group, that one may overgeneralize or exaggerate the cultural features inherent in the group. A trait like formality expresses itself in a host of customs, folkways, and styles of doing things. Such traits are not often discussed in writing and are, therefore, somewhat hard to ferret out, requiring personal observation of the community. An attempt will be made here to describe some examples that I have observed in the community during the period I grew up there. Whereverpossible , these admittedly unsystematic "participant observations," which make no claim to anthropological rigor, will be supplemented by written sources and survey results. As will quicklybecome apparent, many of the examples are drawn from liturgical and religious life. The group to which I have had the most exposure are the mainly rural Jews in Communal Orthodox congregations in 164 The Immigrant Culture Washington Heights. One of the facts that has become clear to me in the course of this study is the tremendous internal variation within the German-Jewish community of Washington Heights, especially between the Orthodox and the non-Orthodox. This makes generalization from one subgroup in Washington Heights to another difficult. In the study of the trait of formality, however, the use of Orthodox Washington Heights Jewry as the chief example may not be a serious...