At
the wharf to greet the steamer were three Jews: the Rev. Sabato
Morais, the very popular Minister-Chazan of Mikveh Israel; Simon
Muhr, a Philadelphia German Jewish philanthropist and owner of the
imposing Muhr Building, Broad and Race Streets; and Jacob
Judelsohn. None of these men were born in the United States, and
all played a major role in assisting the new arrivals settling in
this country. The least known of the three was Judelsohn, the only
one from Eastern Europe. Born in Marionpol, Russia, in 1855,
Judelsohn came to this country in 1879 and settled in New York
City. He
became secretary of the "Jewish
Immigration Society, New York," perhaps, the Hebrew Emigrant Aid
Society of the United States. Moving to Philadelphia, Judelsohn
became the Philadelphia representative of H. Bernstein
&
Co. of
New York, a banking exchange and insurance business dealing in
foreign coins, drafts, and money orders. Judelsohn had an office
in Northern Liberties, but he soon moved to 510 S. 5th Street.
After a short time Judelsohn left Bernstein and went into the
exchange business for himself at the S. 5th Street address.10
Of the 538 steerage and
intermediate passengers (those in the poorest classes of passage)
aboard the
Pennsylvania
when it docked at the pier of the
American Line near the foot of Christian Street on Monday,
September 8, 1884, eighty-two Jewish men, women, and children were
corralled off on the deck and were not allowed to land with the
other passengers. Inspector Rodgers informed the captain of the
ship that no Polish or Romanian Jew was to be permitted to leave
the vessel until proof was given that he or she was not a pauper,
nor likely to become one.
When the other passengers had
been landed with their bags, Count Peter Wodzicki the interpreter
for the American Line, began interrogating the Jews individually.
When asked the amount of money they had, many drew up their
shoulders and innocently responded:
"Ich habe kein
Geld
[I have no money]." When they were told that
paupers with no money would have to
be returned
to Europe, "there was considerable whispering, after which, from
the most unexpected places, were drawn five, ten and twenty mark
notes." These were unrolled from folds of dirty linen, taken from
the bottom of trunks, or produced, after much trouble, from
bootlegs.
Through
the efforts of Muhr and Judelsohn (Judelsohn spoke Romanian,
Russian and Yiddish), the immigrants, except for a mother and her
child
who requested to be returned to Jossi, Romania,
were permitted to land; the mother and child were eventually
landed also. Whether the immigrants aboard the
Pennsylvania
were the same paupers who had been refused admittance in New York
was never established. Muhr pointed out to the authorities that
although a number of the immigrants had the same names as those
denied admittance in New York, it was not uncommon in the old
country for many persons from the same place to have identical
names.ll
Judelsohn,
not willing to let the methods practiced upon his coreligionists
go unchallenged, called a meeting to discuss the protection of
Jewish immigrants at the port of Philadelphia, distributed
circulars at different synagogues, and requested Sabato Morais to
be present.12 At Wheatley Dramatic Hall, the idea of
forming an association for the protection of Jewish immigrants in
Philadelphia was proposed. Word of Judelsohn's ideas quickly
reached the established Jewish community of New York and Philip
Cowen, the publisher of the influential
American Hebrew.
In a letter to Henry S. Morais,
the son of Sabato Morais, Cowen wrote:
"Judelsohn has
turned out to be a great mischief maker. He tried it here but
could get no countenancing and now his head has been so completely
turned that he is crazed."13
The
letter reflected the thinking of many American and German born
Jewish leaders in America at that time. The active encouragement
of east European Jewish immigration was viewed with great alarm.
Jewish leadership in Philadelphia was already supporting the
Jewish Hospital, the Jewish Foster Home, the Jewish Education
Society, the Young Men's Hebrew Association, the United Hebrew
Charities of Philadelphia, and other worthy causes. They also
supported recently arrived Russian immigrants with food, clothing,
coal, money for rent, matzo
for
peysekh (Passover),
sewing machines, etc., and while the Jewish community readily
assumed a duty toward immigrants already landed here, a similar
duty was not envisioned toward those still in Russia. That was
where the community drew the line.
Judelsohn may have gotten word of
Cowen's opposition (Henry S. Morais and Judelsohn lived in
Philadelphia and corresponded with one another) because Judelsohn
advised the elder Morais that efforts were being made to thwart
his, Judelsohn's, plans to found a society devoted to assisting
Jewish immigrants at the port of Philadelphia and helping them
find work. In a letter to Sabato Morais, Judelsohn wrote: "In
order to prevent the interference of shortsighted, ignorant and
prejudiced parties to disturb us in our movement, with the display
that we are going to burden our charities with an Immigration and
Labor Society, I found it necessary to publish a part of my
yesterday's communication to Geo. L. Lyon, Esq."l4
Judelsohn
wrote to Lyon, the Secretary of the Jews' Emigration Society in
London, that although the immigration movement in Philadelphia was
strong, the Philadelphians were already overburdened. Judelsohn
begged Lyon to communicate with the Committee of Hamburg and urge
them to send no emigrants to Philadelphia until a regular
organization could be established, estimated by Judelsohn to be in
a few months.l5 At a subsequent meeting in Wheatley
Dramatic Hall, which was attended by over four hundred recent
arrivals from Eastern Europe, the Association of Jewish Immigrants
of Philadelphia was founded.
Judelsohn's pivotal role in the establishment of the organization
not only confirmed in Cowen's mind the belief that Judelsohn was
crazed but also convinced Cowen that Judelsohn was dangerous.
Writing to the younger Morais, Cowen stated:
As to Judelsohn, he is no riddle. I did not wish to give
you any instructions about him as I preferred not hampering you.
But you will find him a meddlesome, troublesome individual who is
never so happy as when in his zeal he gets others in hot water. It
has been a marvel to me that your best men should have been led
around by the nose by a person who has neither ability, standing
or influence, nor anything else to recommend him, except that he
was opposed to the methods of New York because he had not the
brains to grasp the situation, and it pleased Phila. to do
anything to show its olden hostility to US.!6
Who were
the best men who were led around by the nose by Judelsohn? Elected
president of the Association of Jewish Immigrants was Alfred T.
Jones, the respected Jewish editor of the
Jewish Record, 1875-1886.
Other best men included
Simon Muhr; Charles Hoffman, a lawyer and one of the founders and
first editors of the Jewish Exponent;
Abraham Kessler and
Lieb Levine, founders of Chevra B'nai Abraham; and many other
community leaders.
Judelsohn refused to accept a
position in the Association of Jewish Immigrants of Philadelphia
and returned to New York. He became an accountant, kept abreast of
matters in Philadelphia, contributed articles to the
Jewish Exponent,
and continued to correspond with
Sabato Morais. He remained deeply interested in immigration
matters, testifying before a sub-committee of the Joint
Congressional Committee on Immigration in New York City. Several
years later, on December 15, 1891,
at the age of thirty-six, Jacob
Judelsohn died of pleuropneumonia.17
The Association Judelsohn helped to start, however, began to
flourish immediately. By November 28, 1884,
the Association rented a
twelve-room house for newly arrived immigrants. A total of
1,076 Jewish
immigrants arrived at the port of Philadelphia by steamer during
the Association's first year, but of this number only
145 persons
remained in Philadelphia. The majority left the city within days
after their arrival for final destinations in other cities.18
In a letter to the headquarters of the Alliance Israelite
Universelle in Paris, the president, Alfred T. Jones, explained
the workings of the Association of Jewish Immigrants of
Philadelphia:
I will take this
opportunity, dear sir, to acquaint you with the
modus operandi of our organization. When a
passenger steamer arrives, we are notified by telegraph six hours
before it reaches the wharf. Our agent (the only paid officer) is
thus enabled to be on the spot,
&
is duly empowered by the U.S.
Commissioners of Immigration to board the ship to confer with the
immigrants. He superintends their conveyance to the Railroad
trains of all who are destined for other cities, thereby
expediting their departure
&
saving them from the exaction of
illegal charges or other impositions practiced on strangers in
large cities,
& also
notifies their friends, if they have any, of their departure.
Those who remain in this city are provided temporarily with
lodging &
meals in a large house
rented and furnished by us for the purpose (for which we have
engaged a man
& wife as
superintendents in which also the office of our Labor Bureau is
established).
We then seek
homes for the families that remain, saving them from drifting into
the slums of the city,
& from
herding together. Employment is sought for all old enough to work,
&
for some, tools or machines are
provided, where we think it is necessary
&
the recipients worthy, although to
find work in the present depressing state of the manufacturing
&
mercantile interests is most
difficult. Besides this we are often compelled to furnish articles
of clothing
&
assistance towards the purchase of furniture.19
Three
years later the house was closed and the Association rented
facilities when needed. The organization continued to expand,
grow, and aid immigrants at the port of Philadelphia, but it
suffered a reversal when Jones, the staunchest American-born ally
of the Russian immigrants in Philadelphia and throughout the
country, died on October 3, 1888. At the time Russians began to
arrive in Philadelphia in large numbers, Jones, in editorials in
the
Jewish Record,
zealously
supported their efforts.
Few in the established Jewish community of Philadelphia thought
that the Russian Jews would continue to arrive, and most hoped
that things would soon return to normal. The first years of east
European Jewish immigration saw relatively few of the newcomers
settle in Philadelphia. Most were transmigrants on their way west
or south and for them, Philadelphia was the penultimate haven on a
long journey. But some did stay and made Philadelphia their home.