The Lower Eastside & the Jewish Immigrants in the late 1880s

By Tiffany Aucancela

From homeland to New York

• About 2.5 million Jewish immigrants came

• Entered Ellis Island

• About 250,000 Jews already living in New York

• To take advantage of social and economical opportunities

New Home

• Mid 1800s, tenements buildings built hurriedly and inexpensively

• Late 1800s, reputation known as Jewish neighborhood

• By 1910, more Jewish in NY than any other U.S state

• Lower East Side became overcrowded

An 1885 illustration of tenement apartments

Traditional Jews

• Yiddish Culture

• Judaism is a religion and also form of ethnic identification

• Four major “movements”: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstruction

• Each movements specifically determines how Jewish law and tradition can be interpreted

Jewish Men

• Work to support family

• Viewed as dominate partner in marriage

• Offered wide range of opportunities

• Perfect projection

Jewish Women• Traditionally Jewish

women were stay at home mothers

• 19th century women left village home to study or work in the cities

• The National Council of Jewish Women was founded in 1893

• Allowed women to participate in men programs