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Kanwar Bhullar
Dr. Rashida Harrison
Honors 1000
October 19, 2015
Moses Eshkol: One of Many Jewish Americans that Started a Revolution
From the early 1880s to the late 1930s, a wave of anti-Semitism swept across Eastern
Europe and terrorized Jewish communities across the Russian empire. The very first thought that
comes to the minds of most people when they think of anti-Semitism is the Holocaust. The
German hatred of Jews in World War II has its place in history as the worst genocide of the
twentieth century. But what most people do not know is that anti-Semitic views violence was
already strongly established in Eastern Europe (specifically the Russian Empire and Poland) and
had been a rather prominent way of thinking decades before World War II and the Holocaust
took place. In Russian, the word pogrom is defined as an attack, accompanied by destruction
and looting of property, murder and rape perpetrated by one section of the population against
another. In other words, pogrom means persecution. Although the term was not originally
geared towards religious persecution of the Jewish community, the words has since morphed to
describe a series of three waves of extreme violence backed by the Russian tsarist (at the time)
government, army and police against Russian Jews. Due to religious persecution, which included
giving preference to non-Jewish workers for jobs over Jewish workers, many Jews immigrated to
other more accepting parts of the world, specifically to the United States, most of them settling in
New York City. This essay follows the life of Moses Eshkol, a fresh Jewish immigrant from
Russia in New York City, as he and his family adapt to American life.

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In 1905, the first Russian Revolution took place in which thousands of discontented
workers, soldiers and common citizens of the tsarist Russian empire wreaked political havoc,
social unrest and military mutiny in an attempt to overthrow Tsar Nicholas II. To turn the
attention away from the uprising mentality against the Russian monarchy, the Russian media was
instructed to promote anti-Jewish sentiment in newspapers across the empire. As a result, the
pogroms from 1903-1906 (with the peak in 1905) resulted in the death of an estimated 1,000
Jews and the destruction of hundreds of Jewish businesses and homes.
Moses Eshkol was a factory worker at a Jewish owned fabric and textiles factory until
1905, when anti-Semitic mobs burned down the factory, leaving Moses without work. Because
of the widespread persecution of Jews during this time period, obtaining new jobs was very
difficult for Jewish men and women. Unable to provide adequate food and living standards for
his family, Moses had no choice but to immigrate with his family to a place more accepting of
his people. The large migration of Jews to the United States during this time was largely fueled
by the experiences of other Jews who immigrated to the United States, who encouraged their
Jewish counterparts to come to America for a fresh start with equal job opportunity and civil
rights. In Moses Eshkols case, his brother moved to New York City in 1903, and obtained a job
in a clothing factory owned by prominent Jewish businessman who immigrated to the city during
the original Russian pogroms of the 1880s. After acquiring a decent job in the city and buying a
small apartment in the Lower East Side neighborhood, Moses brother encouraged him to
immigrate to America to escape the endless violence in Russia for a fresh start (the Burger King
Effect pressured him into conforming to Eastern European Jewish society by moving to
America).

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Arriving in 1905, Moses and his family stayed with is older brother. Because of the
overwhelming numbers of immigrants arriving in New York City day after day, real estate
development could not keep up with the high demand for new and affordable housing. Due to the
overly crowded conditions and high cost of living in the predominantly Jewish neighborhoods of
the Lower East Side of New York City, both Moses family, his brothers family and the brothers
parents (nine people in all) lived in the same two bedroom. Though living conditions were tight,
dirty, and even dangerous in the Lower East Side, Moses accepted his new life with open arms,
understanding that as difficult as life was in New York City, it was still better than the bleak
future for Jews in the Russian Empire. To him, the city was a shining jewel, a paradise full of job
opportunity, and brighter future for his children. But most of all, the city provided an escape
from the horrible discrimination he had been facing his entire life. Within only a few months,
Moses was able to get a job in the same garment factory where his brother worked, and thrived
in his work using his honed skills from his old job in Russia. As the Lower East Side was already
a densely populated area where Eastern European Jewish immigrants settled, Moses transition
into American life was fairly smooth. The Jewish immigrants, because of their shared roots, were
a tightly knit community willing to help one another assimilate into American life and culture as
easily as possible. The Lower East End was filled with Jewish and Eastern European markets, as
well as synagogues. With the help of a prominent Jewish mutual-aid society, and surrounded by
his own people in an area giving a sense of his homeland (but without religious persecution and
barriers), Moses and his family learnt the English language, and familiarized themselves with
American traditions and customs to become true Americans. Within a year, he held a secure
job with a steady income and sent his children to reputable city public schools on weekdays (as

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the Jewish community valued education very highly) and Hebrew language school at one of the
many neighborhood synagogues on the weekends.
Moses worked very long work hours with his brother to support the family. For the most
part, he would work six to seven days a week, and would pray at the synagogue if his time
allowed him to do so. New York was a competitive and difficult city to raise a family, but living
in a predominantly Jewish section of the city and working under a Jewish employer helped him
provide a fairly stable and comfortable transition to American life for himself and his family. His
job wage was not very high, and his lifestyle was not at all lavish, but Moses and his wife, like
many other Jewish immigrants at the time, were quite ambitious. Determined to live the
American Dream, Moses wife started working as a pushcart peddler, selling fish and poultry
throughout Jewish neighborhoods in the Lower East Side. Though the Lower East Side was one
of the worlds most densely populated neighborhoods at the time, most families (a little over
half) collected rent from international boarders as a supplemental source of income. The huge
family unit lives with three boarding students.
Moving to the city, in the end, was a very influential decision in Moses life. America was
a country built by immigrants. For this reason, the Jewish community in the United States, and
specifically in large cities like New York, for the most part, was able to adapt and integrate into
society very well. As a community with strong unity, affluent, well-established Jews (usually
prominent factory owners and bankers) supported the poor, newly arrived immigrants (factory
workers) to build a life better than the one they once had in Eastern Europe. But not all American
groups accepted immigrants with open arms. Only when Moses ventured out of Lower East Side
did he face discrimination for not being a true American. Frequently mocked for his
appearance (thick, black hair and a large nose), speaking Yiddish (his native language) in public,

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and his strong Russian accent when speaking English in many other parts of New York,
especially in the working class Irish-American areas of the city, Moses used this discrimination
as the fuel to power his desire to become an American. Moses took more rigorous English
classes to improve his accent, and only spoke English when outside of the Lower East Side.
However, in the Lower East Side, Moses continued to hold a strong connection to his religious
and cultural past and kept his children aware of their heritage and people. Jewish American were
and still are a strong and proud community in New York, and across the United States.
Though Jewish Americans molded themselves to some extent to fit in with the American
way of life, they made huge economic and social contributions to the welfare of the city they
lived in. As stated earlier, Eastern European Jewish Americans maintained (and still do) a strong
cultural identity that enriched American life by contributing to American cuisine and
entertainment. Even today, Americans frequently eat Eastern European food in the form of
different pierogis, porridge, many different varieties of soups, and alcoholic beverages. But more
important than social impacts of Eastern Europe on American is the economic impact of Jews on
the American economy for almost a century. Most frequently, Jews were factory workers (like
our immigrant Moses Eshkol) and bankers in their homelands and adopted similar practices in
the United States. Before the establishment of the country of Israel, New York City and the
U.S.A as a whole had the largest concentration of Jews in the world. Most of these Jews worked
in clothing and textile factories and made positive contribution to the American economy. Also,
second generation Jews (children of Jewish immigrant) were ambitious and were remarkably
good in the finance industry. Their financial acumen has been essential in building Wall St. in
New York City the international business hub it is today.

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The city gave Moses sanctuary from religious persecution in his home country and
provided him with equal opportunity to flourish and grow, a benefit he was denied in so many
other places around the world. With such a diverse population to begin with, American cities
provided people like Moses the luxuries find and holding a decent job, and the freedom to
practice his religion and culture without fear or negative judgement. In short, the city helped
Moses build his life and a future for his family. In turn, Moses provided the city with economic
support through his hard work and strong ethics as a factory worker, and made social impact on
the citys diversity through his maintenance of his cultural and religious identity (the city did not
embrace his heritage during his time of living but did later on) in New Yorks Lower East Side.
Jewish immigrants in the early 1900s like Moses Eshkol are one of the most essential
parts in the development of the great American city we have today.

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