The Myer and Rosaline Feinstein Center for American Jewish History
Newsletter Volume 1 Number 1 January 1995

New York Jews and The Great Depression

by Beth S. Wenger, University of Pennsylvania

	Discussions about the Great Depression generally provoke images of
breadlines, bank closures, evictions, and street-corner apple vendors.
Economic devastation was a pervasive reality for Americans of all ethnic
backgrounds in the 1930Õs, but the decade a lso represents a unique period
in American Jewish history. My forthcoming book, to be published by Yale
University Press, examines New YorkÕs Jewish community during the
Depression years, exploring the dynamics of Jewish social, religious, and
political c ulture in an era of economic adversity, increased 
anti-Semitism, and generational transition. 

	The Depression decade literally bridged the immigrant period of
the early twentieth century and the well-integrated, highly acculturated
Jewish community that emerged after World War II. By the mid-1920Õs,
Jewish immigration had virtually ceased, a gener ation of immigrants had
established roots on American soil, and a new American-born generation was
coming of age. During the thirties, American Jewry became for the first
time a predominantly American-born rather than an immigrant population.
The Great De pression struck just as immigrant patterns were gradually
giving way to new formulations of Jewish community and culture. 

	A careful examination of the 1930Õs, reveals that many Jewish
trends of the post-World War II era emerged in the midst of turbulent
years of the Great Depression. In the 1930Õs, Jewish youth remained in
school, acquiring education that would ultimately a ccelerate Jewish
economic advancement in the postwar years. Young Jews of the 1930Õs also
began to delay marriage and have fewer children, patterns that continue to
characterize Jewish families to the present day. The 1930Õs marked the
birth of the Democr atic coalition, as Jews flocked to support Franklin
RooseveltÕs New Deal programs. During the Depression years, the immigrant
tradition of radicalism remained vital and Jewish working-class
neighborhoods were frequent sites of eviction protests, rent stri kes, and
consumer boycotts. Yet the radicalism of the 1930Õs ultimately gave birth
to New Deal Democratic liberalism which emerged as a hallmark of Jewish
identity in the second half of the twentieth century. 

	Jewish communal institutions, particularly Federations and
synagogues, struggled to remain financially solvent during the economic
crisis. In the process, they refined their mission and purpose within the
Jewish community. As the government assumed respo nsibility for ÒreliefÓ
and welfare under the New Deal, Jewish philanthropies were forced to
reconsider the long cherished ideal that Jews Òtake care of their own.Ó
Whole-heartedly supporting federal welfare, Jewish philanthropies
redefined themselves as i nstruments of ethnic identity and persistence
rather than as the dispensers of material aid. Post-World War II Jewish
agencies continued that trend; for many American Jews, supporting Jewish
organizations quickly became a key expression of Jewish identity .
Religious leaders experienced their most trying years during the Great
Depression and attempted to attract Jews to financially strapped
synagogues by addressing contemporary issues and incorporating secular
activities within their programming. The dramatic growth of synagogue
affiliation in the postwar era testified to the success of integrating the
secular and the sacred. After World War II, record numbers of Jews joined
synagogues, but most were not primar ily interested in worship services
but rather wanted to demonstrate and preserve ethnic consciousness by
participating in the social, cultural, and educational activities of the
synagogue. The Great Depression presented both economic and ideological
challenge s to Jewish communal institutions. In responding to the crisis
of Depression, individual Jews and Jewish institutions developed lasting
patterns of American Jewish life. 

	My dissertation describes the Great Depression as a moment of both
crisis and transition, a period of creativity and innovation as well as
insecurity and anxiety. For all its adversity and upheaval, the Depression
era provides crucial insights into the o ngoing process of Jewish
acculturation and adaptation in America. 

Beth Wenger is the first recipient of the
Doctoral Prize of the Center for American 
Jewish History, 1993-1994.