American Tewish Archives - American Jewish Archives

as history was to show, they were beginning to consider their own
immigration. For the student of history the fact that the Jews of
Russia and Poland had a "distorted" view of America and her
Jewish life is irrelevant; it was the image or conception of America
that was held -rather than the actual reality that was America -
which operated as a factor in the growing mass immigration.
Secondly, it must be remembered that America was definitely
not a leading contender for the attention of these periodicals at this
time. In Hatzjrah, for example, only twenty-nine out of fifty issues
contained any reference to the United States, and in most of these
cases only a brief mention was made. Less than 50 percent of the
IOO issues of Hamelitz contain articles on American life.* The
primary interest of both these journals becomes apparent when one
considers that practically every issue dealt at length with the inter-
national politics of Europe; America was clearly secondary for
these Hebrew journalists who were so intensely concerned with
developments on the Continent. But while on the periphery of their
vision, America was certainly not ignored.
With these two points in mind, let us examine the image of
America and American Judaism in some detail.
America has been called the "land of opportunity," and this is
the way she appeared in Hamelitz and Hatzjrah. The correspondent
of Hamelitz, reporting from Chicago in 1883, painted a picture of
an expanding city with fine buildings, well-paved streets, and an
energetic population. In his own words, "The spirit of commerce
seizes them [the inhabitants] and the spirit of the activity of life
causes every difference and division to be forgot ten."^ America was
* Though America is considered less frequently in Hamclitz than in Hatzfi~ah, the former
is much more valuable (for these years at least) as a source. The articles in Hamelitz
tend to be fuller and longer, there is more attention to detail, and more of the articles are
first-hand accounts and letters rather than translations from other publications.
Note: All citations from Hamclitz are for the year 1883 (vol. ~g), while those from
Hatzfi~ah are for I 884 (vol. I I).
I Hamelitz, XIX, 54.