City of Promises: A History of the Jews of New York, 3-volume box set

Introduction: The Emerging Jewish Metropolis

1 On April 10, 1906, 160 detained eastern European Jewish immigrants gathered in the Great Hall of the immigration center at Ellis Island for a Passover seder, the traditional ceremonial meal that commemorates the flight of the children of Israel from Egyptian slavery. Alexander Harkavy, a member of a delegation of immigrant communal leaders, welcomed the detainees by drawing parallels between the Israelites of the Exodus and the Jews of Ellis Island: whether fleeing the oppression of Pharaoh’s Egypt or Tsarist Russia, both groups sought freedom in a Promised Land. A few days later, Yiddish journalist Yakov Pfeffer described the moving seder, proclaiming that the poor, bedraggled immigrants—no longer fearful of blood-libel accusations or pogroms—had celebrated the Passover holiday as bene horin, children of freedom. In addition to linking these Ellis Island immigrants to the Haggadah’s ancient Israelites, Pfeffer argued that the contemporary immigrants merited their own mention in the chronicle of Jewish history: “When the future historian tells the story of the freedom of the Jewish people, when that person has the good fortune to tell not only of the sorrows but also the joys of the Jewish nation, . . . he will need to tell of the Seder night on Ellis Island.”1 The Jews who celebrated the seder on Ellis Island in 1906 arrived in the United States at the crest of a century-long wave of Jewish immigration from Europe. Beginning in the 1820s, economic change in their European homelands drove many Jews out of their accustomed trades and, along with political and religious persecution, sent them in search of new livelihoods. By contrast , the burgeoning United States needed workers and offered unparalleled Introduction: The Emerging Jewish Metropolis 2 ■ e m e r g i n g m e t r o p o l i s political freedom. Early on, most Jewish immigrants came from central Europe , particularly the German lands. By the end of the nineteenth century, eastern European Jews predominated. One-third of eastern Europe’s Jews uprooted themselves. The vast majority headed for the United States. Most of these immigrants entered the country through New York Harbor, which by the second decade of the nineteenth century had overtaken Philadelphia as North America’s busiest port. New York’s rise was conditioned by its natural advantages, which included access to a large hinterland via the Hudson River and Long Island Sound; deep channels; and a well-protected harbor. But innovative business practices and government support also played an important role. The introduction of regularly scheduled transatlantic departures in 1818 and the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 drew shipping to the city. New York’s status as the country’s largest port made it the most important textile and financial center, as well as the main point of entry for European news and fashion. The port of New York became the dominant entry point for people as well as goods. Three-quarters of the thirtythree million immigrants who entered the United States between 1815 and 1915 came through New York. Many supplied the cheap labor that enabled the city to grow into a major manufacturing center. New York’s streets led from the docks to the garment shops that produced most of the country’s readymade clothing.2 In 1855, faced with an ever-increasing influx and almost complete lack of oversight by the federal government, New York State established an immigrant processing center at Castle Garden off the southern tip of Manhattan. Castle Garden had a varied history, each stage of which left a mark on the building’s unusual shape. Built on an artificial rocky island some one hundred yards off shore, its original round masonry walls and twenty-eight guns formed part of the harbor’s defense system. In 1823, it was decommissioned and turned into a “resort, theater, and restaurant.” In 1845, a domed roof was added, along with additional tiers of galleries, transforming Castle Garden into a popular concert hall. By the time the state took it over for an immigration station, landfill had moved the shoreline closer to the Garden, and soon Battery Park completely surrounded the old fort. To placate respectable local residents, who feared that placing the immigration station in Castle Garden would cause disagreeable immigrants to overrun the Battery, a twelve-foot Introduction ■ 3 fence was erected around the building. A number of smaller structures completed the complex...