Faith & Fate
IMPLOSION OF THE OLD ORDER 1911 -1920
LESSON 2 LIVING AND WORKING CONDITIONS FOR AMERICAN JEWS IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY
GOALS OF THE LESSON
- A. To describe the dreams of Jewish immigrants to the USA in the early 1900’s vs. the realities that they found in making a life for themselves in their new country.
- B. To understand the working conditions and poverty for most immigrant Jews in America.
- C. To analyze the dilemma of working or not working on Shabbat in the United States, and to discuss the implications and results of each choice.
View Video 2:35 min
SYNOPSIS OF FILM CLIP
Although the Jews dreamed of an idealized life in the United States, when they actually arrived, they faced the harsh reality of an immigrant’s life. The Jews recreated their Shtetl life from Europe on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, with its crowded tenement housing. Most Jews toiled in the textile industry, with poor and unsanitary working conditions and very low pay, even when working 12-14 hours a day. The spiritual challenge was no less difficult for many Jews who wanted to observe Shabbat. Until the 1950’s, working on Shabbat was a requirement, and not working on Shabbat meant being automatically fired from a job, with that job the only means of survival and a way to provide for one’s family.
SUGGESTED QUESTIONS
- 1. How did Jews picture life in America before they arrived there? How did the reality differ from what they imagined?
- 2. Describe working conditions in the United States from 1900-1910. In which profession did most Jews work in and why? What was needed to improve these working conditions?
- 3. How did the physical demands of working also affect the spiritual life of the Jews? What basic observance was threatened and why? How did this affect the Jews and their children? Why couldn’t this problem happen today?
MAIN TALKING POINTS OF THE LESSON
- A. Before they arrived, the European Jews called America the “Goldene Medina” and viewed life there as an idyllic lifestyle where everyone could become wealthy easily. The reality was quite different. Living conditions were very difficult, with overcrowded tenement housing Working conditions were also deplorable and wages were very low. Jews had to learn to “do without..”
- B. Most Jews worked in textile factories, producing garments in an environment that was hot, dirty and with almost inhuman conditions (few bathroom breaks, payment by the piece, not by the hour). Even after working 14 hours a day, the wages received were very low. It would take the formation of unions and demands by a united work force to eventually improve the situation.
- C. The common expression was “If you don’t show up on Saturday, don’t bother coming to work on Monday”. Jews needed their jobs to survive, and, yet, most Jews who wanted to ob serve Shabbat were forced to choose between their tradition and their livelihood. Most Jews decided to work, and this first “break” with tradition led to abandonment of all traditions passed down for hundreds of years from the “Old