The Western Jew treats his co-religionist from Eastern Europe as an infe-
rior. He considers him ignorant, superstitious, bigoted, hypocritical, cun-
ning, ungrateful, quarrelsome, unclean, and in many other ways abominable.
In the eyes of the Eastern Jew, the Western Jew is a cad. His education is
superficial and flashy; his philanthropy ostentatious, and insincere; his man-
ners a cheap imitation of the Gentiles upon whom he fawns; his religion a
miserable compromise in which appearances count for everything; his as-
sumption of superiority another proof that “every ass thinks himself fit to
stand among the king’s horses.”^63The German-Russian rift drew from European roots and flourished in
the United States from the beginning of the mass immigration. Estab-
lished Jews aired their complaints at organizational conventions, in lec-
tures and sermons, and through the Anglo-Jewish press. The eastern Eu-
ropeans launched counterattacks, usually by writers in the Yiddish press,
who discussed specific grievances (e.g., the lack of Jewish content in Jewish
institutions and on occasion the basic issue of elitism versus democracy).^64
In 1903 two indictments of the German stewards rocked the New York
Jewish community. The first, a biting satire by the Yiddish playwright
Jacob Gordin, was entitled The Benefactors of the East Side. Caricaturing the
overbearing philanthropist, his schemes for Americanizing immigrants,
and his retinue of sycophants that included an unctuous, hypocritical Re-
form rabbi and a matron who feared physical contamination from the new
arrivals, Gordin mocked the arrogance and pretentiousness of the estab-
lished leaders. Schiff was obviously the model for the wealthy philanthro-
pist, Ashley Jefferson Joske. In the play, Joske convenes a meeting at his
home of a few uptowners, one labor leader to represent the Lower East
Side (the only decent character), and a reporter who will give the philan-
thropist the publicity he desires. The philanthropist outlines his concern
for downtown in flowery terms: Lincoln freed the slaves, and we are like
Lincoln; true, the downtowners are neither Blacks nor Ethiopians, but
they are (almost as lowly) Russians and Romanians; since we are human be-
ings, we need to make them—the beggars, idlers, radicals—into worthy
citizens; all this in the name of truth, love, humanity, progress, civilization.
Schiff doubtless knew of the parody, but he stayed aloof from the spirited
discussion of the play in the press.^65
A second critic was Dr. Isaac Rubinow, a Russian-born and American-
trained physician and economist, who wrote a strong defense of ghetto life.
He said that concentration in cities was natural; since opportunities for
employment were better, other nationalities, not only the Jews, followed
the same track. Questioning the strongest boast of the philanthropists, Ru-
binow also claimed that the newcomers helped themselves, without aid
from the outside, to achieve economic independence. Nor did he have
The New Immigrants 107