American Tewish Archives - American Jewish Archives

THE IMAGE OF AMERICA IN TWO EAST EUROPEAN HEBREW PERIODICALS I47
shame for such strong and healthy women not to work.13 On another
occasion, a Russian Jew was imprisoned for stealing a watch; when
it was explained that he had done so because it was Passover and his
wife and five children had nothing to eat, the judge released the
prisoner and gave his family five dollars. The correspondent com-
mented that the judges of America were "not only judges of justice
but also seekers of mercy and charity."14
Because Americans believed in equality and tolerance, there was
no religious instruction in the public schools. Nevertheless, they
tended to be "orthodox" (fundamentalistic?) in their religion and
were devoted to their Christian faith.15 One report even noted a
plan by a group of rich Americans to rebuild Solomon's Temple in
Jeru~alem!~~
No incidents of anti-Semitism were reported from America -
and this at a time when the columns of Hamelitz and HatzJirah were
filled with reports of European blood libel trials and restrictive
decrees. Nonetheless, Americans were not described as immune to
either violence or antipathy to foreigners. The lynch justice of the
South was mentioned, and a long article described an attempted
lynching and the ensuing bloody riot that took place at Cincinnati
in 1884.~7. The Christian reaction to the threat of cheap Chinese
labor is also described, in this highly rhetorical style: "They arose
together against them, to kill them and destroy them, and to obliter-
ate them from under the skies of Ameri~a."~~
Generally, the attitude of the population and especially of its
leadership was represented as favorable to the Jews. When the
cornerstone of an "Orphan Home for Hebrew Children" was laid
in New York, leading Christians took part in the ceremonies. A
prominent citizen spoke on that occasion, praised the Jews as "faith-
ful sons of the lands of their birth in whatever place they are," and
'3 Ibid., p. 1072.
'4 Ibid., p. 745.
Is Ibid., pp. 409-10.
16 Hatzfirah, XI, 43.
'1 Ibid., pp. I 28-29.
a8 Hamclitz, XIX, I 363 (footnote).