Carol Fountain

July 5, 2014

The Things They Brought

What does a nation of Jews who are united in faith only, with no place to call home, carry with them on their journey to a new land? Many of the items are probably the same that they carried thousands of years ago during the Exodus from Egypt: their faith, history, religion, customs, language, love of learning, and the desire for a homeland. I can imagine that their entry into the United States was much like their entry into the promised land: looking with wonder around them and hoping to realize their dreams of finding a home, putting down roots, establishing their families, practicing their faith, engaging in the learning process, all while moving towards a land of promises and riches just waiting for them to attain. Their new world was the land called America, free of slavery, or pogroms, of religious persecution, ready and waiting for them.

My interest in the Jewish immigration began with the Jews who came through Galveston, but in the course of the class I realized that the scope is much broader and their immigrant story spans a time period so huge that it is unimaginable. The story of Yekl is but a minor example of the challenges that the Jewish people have faced. Yekl has one foot in each world—the one that is new to him and the one that is his past, and with his wife’s arrival it is brought to light just how different those two world are. In “Soap and Water,” we see the angst that is experienced with the attempted assimilation into the new world. 

The Jewish people bring with them their faith. Their monotheistic beliefs have carried them through many trials: their movement from Canaan to Egypt and back again after being held in slavery in Egypt, the harshness of the rule of the Roman Empire, the brutality of the pogroms in Eastern Europe, and the horrors of the Holocaust. They carry this faith with them to the USA in order to establish themselves in a new country, bringing their beliefs with them and hoping to find their “promised land of today” (Yekl 2.12) where they will be free of persecution and be able to establish homes and businesses.  Their courage and tenacity has earned them the title of a model minority, or ideal immigrant, ready to take on the challenges of assimilation and acculturation (White). The belief that they are God’s chosen people has encouraged and supported them through centuries of rigorous movement and changes.

The history of the Jewish people dates back to the earliest records of mankind. From the original Exodus from the land of Egypt to their arrival as immigrants onto United States soil, their history has been one of movement and change. They have been known as frequent wanderers, their history being traced back to the patriarchs in the land of Canaan, to Egypt, to their movement back to the Fertile Crescent now known as Israel, to their journeys through Eastern Europe and eventually to America. There is a tremendous amount of historical information about the Jewish nation, but it culminates, for now, in the massive migration of these people to the USA and their stories.

There are approximately 14 million practicing Jews in the World. In 2012, Jewish population in the United States has reached nearly seven million. The Jewish race has suffered through waves of anti-Semitism to establish themselves as a viable culture and religion. The pains of assimilation for these people have appeared through social, political, and economic changes. A Reform Movement has been afloat for a number of years and is altering the religious practices of many American Jews. Some of the issues being questioned are those of women’s rights and gay and lesbian rights within the Jewish faith, and have yet to come to a resolution. (jewishvirtuallibrary.org).

Jewish people brought with them to the US their own language, Yiddish, based on a mix of the German and Hebrew (among other) languages. It was considered a barrier to assimilation for the Jewish people arriving in the United States. Yiddish was once considered in the same way that ebonics is considered today, with the main difference being that ebonics is criticized by outsiders, and Yiddish was criticized mainly by Jews themselves. The word “Yiddish” is the word for “Jewish” (jewfaq.org). Many examples of Yiddish are found in Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto highlighting the characters’ words with a touch of realism in a comedic and friendly way.

Immortalized in the musical Fiddler on the Roof, the word “tradition” memorializes the tension between the old and the new worlds and is, in a sense, symbolic of the difficulties of acculturation that immigrants experienced after coming to America.  Those difficulties are seen in the character of Yekl as he comes face to face with the traditional Old World mannerisms clashing with those to which he is accustomed in the new world in which he lives. Whether or not that tension existed in many of the Jews entering the USA is unknown, but it seems likely.  Gitl’s traditional clothing, hairstyle (or lack thereof) and shy demeanor is in direct contrast to those of the women in the world in which Yekl now resides, which belies the gravity of the traditions that Yekl has left behind. 

These people brought with them an overwhelming love of learning. Yezierska’s character in “Soap and Water,” looks upon her education as being the American Dream, the ultimate goal of her immigrant life, a goal which will proves to be exceedingly difficult to obtain. After her goal is met, though, it is equally difficult for her to put that education to work, until ten years pass and she meets once again the professor who will finally give her a chance at a career. This short story is representative of the difficulty of this culture to assimilate into American society although this model minority since has had enormous success in attaining their goals of assimilation and success. Trina Silva mentions in her Research Post that the “model minority places a large emphasis on education as a pathway to the ‘American Dream,’” underscoring European Jews’ desire for education in order to get ahead and finding economic riches as financiers, money-lenders, and business owners. Some of the prominent companies founded by American Jews include Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream, Google, H & R Block, Toys-R-Us, Snapple, and Starbucks (jewishvirtuallibrary.org).

The Jewish people brought so many things with them, and each of those things was needed to help to establish their voice in our country. Their culture is one of many who have made their way to this country, and their journey is just the latest in a long list of movements the Jewish people have made, to their eventual settling in various areas. They see the United States as a symbol of new opportunities for freedom and peace, and perhaps, finally, freedom from the persecution they have experienced for so long.

Works Cited:

Cahan, Abraham. Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto. 1896.

Jewfaq.org

Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Israeli National Symbols.

Kownslar, Allan O. The European Texans. College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 2004. 48. Texans All. Print.

Silva, Trina. . LITR 5731 Multicultural Literature: American Immigrant Literature. Research Post. UHCL. Web. 2012.

White, Craig. LITR 5731 Multicultural Literature: American Immigrant Literature. English Dept. UHCL. Web. 2014.

Yezierska, Anzia. “Soap and Water.” 1920.