Jewish Account History Chapter

Jewish immigrants came from 3 parts of Europe…the economic, social and religious. The 1^st group of Jews to immigrate to the United States came from Portuguese-ruled Brazil. It all started when 23 Sephardic Jews from Brazil, came to New Amsterdam (New York) in 1654. They came seeking the rights of free men in a place where they could worship and avail themselves of both opportunities and obligations.

Jewish was pushed out of Russia and Poland because of the scarcity of land, rural poverty and government restrictions on marriage, domicile and employment. They were pulled into United States because of economic opportunities, democracy, and religious freedom. But once they settled down in The Lower East Side of New York, they were treated no different from where they had came from.

The second group came after the failed German revolution in 1848. The 3^rd group of Jewish immigrants into the Unites States was also the largest. They came from Poland and Russia. Jewish settlement in the Empire was restricted to Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. There were large groups of Jews in city, towns and villages—shelters. These immigrants came to America in search of democracy and all came, hoping for religious freedom and economic opportunities and also came to escape pogroms and persecutions

The Jews came hoping for democracy, freedom, better lives, and economic opportunities. But when they arrived they were treated horribly bad.

Until late in the century most of the Jewish immigrants were from German speaking lands in central Europe, but from 1881onward, the majority of the Jewish immigrants were from Eastern European. Jews also had restrictions on what kinds of job they can have. The majority of the Jews were merchants, shopkeepers, and craftsmen. They also sold knifes, jewelries and have petty trades.

Jews continued to join families in the United States. After the tragic events of World War 2, thousand of homeless European entered the United States. Since then, American Jewish communities have also been enriched by the diversity of Eastern Jews, particularly from Iran and Syria. And Jewish also has been immigrating to United States even now.