Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/463

 JEWS

399

JEWS

portance were those effected cliiefly by Sephardim in North America. There were Jews in New Amsterdam as early as 1652; others came from Brazil in 1654. As these were not received in a friendly manner by the governor, Peter Stuyvesant, some of them betook themselves to the Colony of Rhode Island, where they were reinforced in the course of time by contingents from Curasao (1690) and from Lisbon (1755). The condition of those who had remained at New .\mster- damwas, on the whole, fair, for they were sustained by the Dutch home Ciovernment; and it remained sub- stantially so after 1664, at which date the British cap- tured New Amsterdam and changed its name to New York. At the end of the seventeenth century there were some Jews in Maryland. The next places of settlement were Pennsylvania (with a large percent- age of Askenazim), Georgia, and the Carolinas. Dur- ing the War of the .American Revolution, the Jews generally took the colonial side; some fought bravely for it; and Haym Solomon aided the Continental Congress with his money. Following the Declaration of Independence (July, 1776) most of the states of the Union placed all citizens upon an equality, the only notable exception being JIaryland, in which state all disabilities were removed only in 1826.

During the nineteenth century, the Je-svs spread over all the United States and recently into their pos- sessions, after the Spanish American A\ar (1S9S), in which some 2000 Jewish soldiers took part Important congregations have also grown up m the lirger cities of Canada where the Jews possess full ci\ il rlght^ since 1831. From 1830 to 1870, the immigriticin into tlu United States came largely from til HHiik Pi(i\niri-. South Germany, and Hungary, ^inci. issj tin nuts and persecutions in Russia have led to an immense emigration, a small portion of which was directed by Baron von Hirsch to the Argentine Republic, oi went to Canada, but the great bulk of which came to the United States. To these have been added numerous Jews from Galicia and Rumania. The total Jewish immigration to the United States tlirough the three chief ports of entry (New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore) from 1881 to 30 June, 1909, was 1,397,423, out of which upwards of 54,000 reached the country between 1 July, 1908, and 30 June, 1909. In conse- quence, the United States have the third largest Jew- ish population in the world, the latest estimates being 5,215,805 for Russia, 2,084,.591 for Austria-Hungarj-, and 1,777,185 for the United States. For the immi- grants who, for the most part, have settled in large business centres, day and night schools to teach them English, together with trade schools to enable them to earn a livelihood, have been organized or enlarged. For those whom it has been possible to divert else- where, agricultural colonies have been attempted in several states, but have been little successful. In nearly every other line (educational, philanthropic, literary, financial, etc.) the development of Jewish activity during the last twenty-five years has been both rapid and successful. Differently from the Jews of Jamaica and Canada those of the United States are altogether independent of the jurisdiction of any Euro- pean authority.

The Jewish statistics in the table below are taken from the "American Jewish Year Book " forthe current year 5670 (16 September, 1909, to 3 October, 1910).

Judaism. — At the present day, the term designates the religious communion which survived the destruc- tion of the Jewish nation by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. A brief account of Judaism thus under- stood may be given under the following heads: (1) Judaism before the Christian Era; (2) Judaism and Early Christianity; (3) Judaism since A. d. 70; (4) Judaism and Church Legislation.

(1) Judaism before the Christian i?ra.— Upon the Return from Babylon (538 B. c), Juda was con- scious of having inherited the religion of pre-Exilio

Israel. It was that religion which had prompted the exiles to return to the land promiseil by Yahweh to their ancestors, and they were now determined to

United States 1,777,185

British Empire 380,809

Abyssinia 3.000

Argentina 30,000

Austria-Hungary. . .2,084,.591

Belgium 12,000

Brazil 3,000

Billgaria.. 36,455

China and Japan.... 2,000

Costa Rica 43

Cuba 4,000

Denmark 3,476

France 95,000

Algeria 63,000

Tunis 62,540

Germany 607,862

Greece 8,350

Holland 105,988

Curacao 1,000

Surinam 1,158

Italy 52,115

Luxemburg 1.200

Jlexico 8,972

Morocco 109,712

Norway 642

Persia 49,500

Peru 498

Rumania 250,000

Russia 5,215,805

Servia 5,729

Spain 2,500

Sweden 3,912

Switzerland 12,264

Turkey 463.686

Egypt 38,635

Tripoli 18,660

Crete 1.150

Turkestan and Af-

ghani.stan 14,000

Venezuela 411

Total 11.530,848

maintain it in its purity. From the Captivity they had learned that in His justice, God had punished their sins by delivering them into the power of pagan

Triumphal Coin of Titus Obverse and Reverse

nations, as the Prophets of old had repeatedly an- nounced; and that in His love for the people of His choice, the same God had brought them back, as Isaias (xl-lx\-i) had particularly foretold. Thence they naturally drew the conclusion that, cost what it may, they must prove faithful to Yahweh, so as to avert a like punishment in the future. The same conclusion was also brought home to them, when some time after the completion of the Temple, Esdras solemnly read the Law in their hearing. Tliis reading placed distinctly before their minds the unique posi- tion of their race among the nations of the world. The Creator of heaven and earth, in His mercy towards fallen man (Gen., i-iii), had made a covenant with their father Abraham, in virtue of which his seed, and in his seed all the peoples of the earth, should be blessed (Gen., xii; xviii; IIEsd.,ix). From that time forth. He had watched over them with jealous care. The other nations, once fallen into idolatry. He had allowed to grovel amid their impure rites; but He had dealt differently with the Israelites whom He wished to be unto Him "a priestly kingdom and a holy na- tion" (Exod., xix, 6). Their repeated falls into idola- try He had not left unpunished, but He kept alive among them the revealed religion which ever repre- sented God as the true and adequate object of their devotion, trust, gratitude, of their obedience and service.

All the past misfortunes of their race were thus distinctly seen as so many chastisements intended by God to recall His ungrateful people to the observance of the Law, whereby they would secure the holiness necessary for the blameless discharge of their priestly mission to the rest of the world. They, therefore, pledged renewed faithfulness to the Law, leaving it to God to bring about the glorious day when all the earth,