Bar Mitzvah Speech by Michael Hauben 8/24/86

Hello. This is my speech.   It's about you, it.s about me, it.s about our history. Where did we come 
from? How did we get here?

To answer these questions, I studied the immigration of Eastern European Jews to the U.S. Although this 
is the story particularly of Russian Jews, it represents the experiences of most of the people who make 
up America today.

Some of the Jewish immigrants that came from Russia between 1881 and 1914 came to escape pogroms. These 
were anti-Jewish riots provoked by the Czarist Government. Others came to avoid being drafted into the 
Czar's army. When the Jews lived in Russia, they lived mainly in stetls, which were small Jewish towns. 
Education was respected to such an extent that, sometimes, the husband would be studying the Talmud, 
while the wife worked to support the family. The Jewish people in Eastern Europe were mostly poor, with 
little hope of change.

When the Jewish immigrants departed from their homeland, they would usually pay the passage fee with 
money that they had borrowed from their relatives. To these immigrants, America was supposed to be the 
"Golden Land", where the streets would be paved with gold and where people became millionaires overnight. 
The first thing they saw when they came to America was the shining torch of the Statue of Liberty. Some 
would call it the "Goddess of Freedom," because they felt they were entering a land where they wouldn't 
have to worry about the Czar.

When the immigrants were let out of Ellis Island, they were picked up by relatives or they entered New 
York City unaided. Upon entering New York, the person would be bombarded with new sounds, smells and 
sights! They would often experience culture shock. Many of these immigrants would then meet someone who 
would try to swindle them into staying at some cramped boarding house.

Immigrants fresh off of the boat would be called "greenhorns". After a while they became more 
Americanized. The Lower East Side of Manhattan was then a predominantly immigrant Jewish area. People 
lived there in cramped apartment buildings called tenements. Often in the hot summer they would go to 
sleep on their tenement roof or in a park. And even though apartments were small, families might have to 
take in a few boarders to help pay the rent. Occasionally, a boarder would fall in love with the woman of 
the house which would often lead to trouble. This happened to one of my great great aunts.

The Jewish immigrants often became needle-trade workers, cobblers, milliners, furriers, peddlers, 
tailors, carpenters, etc. There were three kinds of peddlers: the pushcart peddlers in the city, the pack 
peddlers in the city and the country, and the customer peddler. Often an immigrant Jew would first be a 
peddler and then he would get another job. Some of my relatives like my Great grandfathers Philip Hauben 
and Louis Stern were fruit and vegetable peddlers.
A product of this American immigrant life was the newspaper "The Jewish Daily Forward." Founded in 1897, 
it was the leading Yiddish newspaper in America. The "Forward" was the workingman's teacher and guide. 
Shopworkers were especially attracted to it. The newspaper taught how important trade unionism was to 
workers. It featured all sorts of articles, literary novels, and sketches. By the 1930's, the circulation 
of the "Forward" was a quarter of a million.

Abraham Cahan was the Editor of the newspaper from its founding until shortly before his death in 1951. 
Cahan was a realist like my father. He thought that "truth is stranger than fiction." Cahan also wrote a 
novel, "The Rise of David Levinsky." I personally recommend that you read it. It tells the process of the 
Americanization of a fictional character, who despite becoming a successful businessman, does not feel 
like he belongs. He misses talking with people in cafes and the intellectual life he was once part of.
There was a column in the "Forward" called "The Bintel Brief." This column originated in 1906 when 
Abraham Cahan received three letters that he couldn't place in existing columns of the newspaper. He 
decided to make a new column for them. "Bintel Brief" means a bundle of letters or letters to the editor. 
It was an advice column like Ann Landers or Dear Abby that mirrored real life. Here is an example of a 
letter to the Bintel Brief. I will read excerpts from it. It is about conditions on Ellis Island in 1909:

"Dear Editor,
We, the unfortunates who are imprisoned on Ellis Island, beg you to have pity on us and print our letter 
in your worthy newspaper, so that our brothers in America may know how we suffer here.

The people here are from various countries, most of them are Russian Jews, many of whom can never return 
to Russia. These Jews are deserters from the Russian army and political escapees, whom the Czar would 
like to have returned to Russia. Many of the families sold everything they owned to scrape together 
enough for passage to America. They haven't a cent but they figured that, with the help of their 
children, sisters, brothers and friends, they could find means of livelihood in America.

You know full well how much the Jewish immigrant suffers till he gets to America... And when, with God's 
help, he has endured all this, and he is at last in America, he is given for "dessert" an order that he 
must show that he posses twenty-five dollars.

But where can we get it? Who ever heard of such an outrage, treating people so? If we had known before, 
we would have provided for it somehow back at home. What nonsense this is! We must have the money on 
arrival, yet a few hours later (when relatives come) it's too late. For this kind of nonsense they hurt 
so many people and send them back to the place where they escaped from....All our hope is that you, Mr. 
Editor, will not refuse us, and print our letter which is signed by many immigrants."

One hundred immigrants, aged eight to fifty-eight, had signed this letter. To stir up public opinion and 
the Jewish organizations, the letter was printed on page 1 of the Forward with an appeal for action to 
help the unfortunates.

The Bintel Brief was full of letters such as this that describe the readers' problems and often asked for 
advice. From these letters we can get a picture of the immigrants' troubles and hardships. Many of my 
relatives read the "Bintel Brief" to their children.

I have told you some of the Jewish immigrant saga. That you are here shows that those immigrants and 
others succeeded in improving America. That we are here at a Bar Mitzvah shows also that they succeeded 
in passing on some of their tradition to us.

And now we will cut the challah.
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