JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

economic history
What were the characteristic features and effects of the
migration process as a whole and of its various forms? The migration
process started as soon as the Jewish population could
rise above the level of poverty and isolation to which it had deteriorated
in Eastern Europe by the end of the 18th and first half
of the 19th century and regain its age-old habits of mobility. In
terms of numbers, the migration stream from continental Europe
during the 100 years preceding World War II accounted
for approximately 4,000,000 individuals, of which over 70%
went to the United States, about 10% each to South America
and Palestine, and the rest to Britain, Canada, South Africa,
Australia, and other countries. Thus, in view of the fact that
the North American continent absorbed three-quarters of the
total international (or overseas) migration, the characteristics
of this migration may be assumed as the most typical.
The available data indicate that the migration was a
family one (of whole families, even if separated by a one- or
two-year period) rather than of single individuals; that it was
a migration for settlement and not for work, saving, and return;
and that it was a migration involving a relatively very
high percentage of skilled workers. With respect to the last
characteristic, only the data can be relied upon and little investigation
beyond these can be done: the explanation of this
phenomenon can only be surmised. It is logical to assume that
the process of overseas migration required payment of transportation
costs, in other words some amount of savings, and
thus could not involve paupers. Therefore, it is logical to assume
that the migrants were either members of the industrial
labor force, or entrants into the labor force who already had
acquired skills, or individuals who acquired particular skills
in anticipation of their migration, having made an investment
over and above their transportation costs or borrowed in anticipation
of future returns. It was in large measure due to the
industrial skills and some working habits of the migrants that
their future relative success can be explained.
Three further points need to be emphasized in connection
with the migration problem. First, given the nature of
the family ties within the Jewish community, the financing of
migration took place within the extended family of the immigrants
and was later also subsidized by the earnings of the
immigrants, often virtually out of their first savings. Secondly,
prior to the end of the 19th century there were already in operation
well-organized voluntary associations that assisted
in the migration process. In their absence the economic and
psychological costs of migration would have been considerably
higher. Thirdly, by organizing voluntary associations
of mutual assistance, in part copying the models from Eastern
Europe, the immigrants were able to help the new arrivals
more effectively. Some relatively small part, probably not
more than about 3% of the total of the migration movement,
was financed and assisted by funds donated or collected on
behalf of the migration, especially in the presence of an ideological
or programmatic background. The two most outstanding
examples were Palestine and the agricultural settlements
in Argentina.
The primary effect of both the intraregional and international
migration of the Jews was to decrease the competition
for employment opportunities where such were scarce and
provide a higher return for the migrants where their labor
and skills were in greater demand. Thus while the income
of the migrants increased in comparison with their previous
income level, the income level of those who remained
behind did not fall. However, it must be admitted that the
movement of millions of people within a few generations deprived
the established Jewish communities of a young, enterprising,
and skilled element. This movement had a number
of demographic, economic, and cultural repercussions on the
European Jewish communities. It is difficult to pinpoint such
effects, but it certainly affected the age structure of the European
communities by removing some of the middle groups
(age groups 20–40 in particular). It also perhaps affected adversely
the growth rate of the Jewish population in Europe,
although it would be difficult to predict what that rate would
have been under worse economic conditions in the absence
of migration. In terms of its impact upon the social structure,
it probably increased the economic polarization within the
Jewish communities since neither the rich nor the very poor
contributed to the migration stream. In another sense the migration
movement contributed to a greater stability within the
Jewish communities since it absorbed much of the unruly and
nontraditionally inclined element of the community. Last but
not least, the migration movement contributed to an activated
exchange among Jewish communities, with a money transfer
to Eastern Europe that not only subsidized further migration
but supported relatives and community institutions, and that
was in part compensated by an export of cultural and spiritual
services from Europe to the areas of new settlement.
PENETRATION INTO INDUSTRIAL EMPLOYMENT. Some assessment
must be made of the conditions that enabled Jews
to penetrate into industrial employment and maintain their
position in the areas of services under conditions of modern
industrialization. What adjustment was required on their
part to attain their goals? Here we are concerned with entrepreneurial
activities in the industrial sector as well as the
transformation of handicraft employment into small-scale
and larger-scale industrial employment. This entrepreneurial
activity is not being considered here in terms of “Jewish
contributions” to the development of this or that country, or
the amassing of wealth by individuals of Jewish descent. It is
beyond the purview of this account to dwell upon the Rothschilds
in England and France, on the German-Jewish bankers,
or on mining magnates in Africa or South America. In
addition, a distinction should be made between large-scale
and small-scale entrepreneurs. While a few Jews entered industrial
entrepreneurship via high finance, the banking system,
etc., the multitude consisted of small-scale industrial
entrepreneurs who were recruited mostly from the ranks of
craftsmen and merchants, previously engaged in the puttingout
system. They were subordinate to and dependent upon
130 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6