The Pre-History of LA Jews
A Glance of Jewish arrival to Los Angeles
Prelude: Here Only to Rest
Conscious Jewish historic memory begins with Abraham and God’s first words to him, ”Lech Lecha”-“Go”, an emphatic “Go”,” get yourself out of your country, away from your kindred, and away from your father’s home.” Movement, whether by act of God or by human brute force, has been a hallmark of Jewish existence.
Between 2500-2700 years ago, this ancient people was struck with conquest and exile, a fate that was repeated 2000 years ago. As a result, a vast diaspora, “Galut”( exile) was created. The story of the “wandering Jews” , scattered across North Africa, Spain, greater Syria and Mesopotamia and the Iranian plateau, serves as the basis to our “Memory in Action”, as this diaspora comes to make a new home in the Western Hemisphere, and specifically, for our story, in southern California.
Our first accounts will focus on the initial waves of Jews who came primarily from Eastern and Central Europe to settle in Los Angeles at the start of the 20th Century. This is the story of those who founded and made their Jewish home at Hollywood Temple Beth El. It is a story of creativity, resilience, overcoming prejudice, and building new lives.
Two millennia ago, some Jews made their way into the Italian peninsula, some as merchants, and some as captives taken by the Roman Empire in the aftermath of two great failed rebellions by the Jews. Others made their way to the Iberian Peninsula. Among these were the progenitors of my family.
Gradually, these Jews made their way from Italy into the realms of Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire. This became the heartland of Ashkenazi ( Central and Eastern European) Jewry and here we have the first flowering of the great European school of Rabbinic study, as embodied in the figures of Rashi and his “ Eineklach” ( grandchildren).
It has been estimated that no more than 3000 families comprised the core of this dynamic Jewish community that settled in regions bordering what would become France and Germany. “ Lech Lecha”—this is what they were told, again, this time by rioting Crusaders or rapacious kings eager to seize hold of Jewish properties.
They headed east and came to the land that became Poland, fleeing from the turmoil of persecution and expulsion in the Rhineland; they were invited in with open arms by the rulers who saw in them a great resource for the development of their realm. They joined a small number of Jews who had settled there in the preceding centuries, as well as some Jews who may have come from the Land of the Khazars around the Black Sea. Later, they were joined by Jews who fled the Spanish inquisition and came in either from Italy up to central Europe or through the Ottoman Empire, which at one time extended to the gates of Vienna..
Here, the Jews of Ashkenaz ( the term used for Germany in old sources) hoped they found a welcome home, a home of a thousand years. Yet as they settled, they knew that this too would pass some day. They called their new land,“Po-lin”, a play on Polen, in German, Poyln, in Yiddish, but “Po- lin” in Hebrew. “ Rest here, never settle”, as my father explained to me. It was the recognition that Jewish existence, as portrayed in the title of the famous musical was “ A Fiddler on the Roof”.
In the 20th century, the Jewish communities that remained in Europe were devastated by genocide, exile, or forced assimilation. The Jews of North Africa and the entire Middle East, communities dating back as much as 2500 years and more, were expelled, as thes elands became , as Europe, “Judenrein.”
The largest, last great hopes on the Jewish people , lay in one of two possibilities, the reborn State of Israel, or the “Goldene Medina”, the Golden Nation, the United States of America. Here is the story of the reborn lives as captured through the lens of people who helped create modern Los Angeles and were involved with Hollywood Temple Beth El.
As citizens of this new land, we are committed to the concept that the new America will never be just a “Po-Lin”, a temporary resting place.
Adapted from “ Courage of the Spirit” by the author, Dr. Norbert Weinberg ( http://www.courageofspirit.com/)
Jewish Roots of L.A.
Peter Hauge, Librarian, Los Angeles Public Library
" President Joseph Biden may have put it best in his 2021 proclamation on Jewish American Heritage Month: “The Jewish American experience is a story of faith, fortitude, and progress. It is a quintessential American experience—one that is connected to key tenets of American identity, including our Nation’s commitment to freedom of religion and conscience.” We celebrate those experiences and achievements this May and have done so since 2006, when George W. Bush first declared the month as one to recognize the generations of Jewish people who have come to America for both better opportunities and to escape the discrimination and injustice which has been woven into the fabric of their history. As the country expanded ever westward, Jewish Americans settled in Los Angeles like so many others, looking for fresh opportunities and to carve out new avenues of enterprise the area offered. Los Angeles is now home to the second-largest Jewish population in America, behind New York, and the fourth largest worldwide. "
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"Jewish influence on both Los Angeles and American culture continues to unfold in vibrant and exciting ways. The Los Angeles Public Library is the proud home to a tremendous collection of works both about and influenced by Jewish culture."
For the full story, go to:
https://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/blogs/lapl/jewish-roots-la
Breed Street Shul, Boyle Heights
More resources on the history of the Jews of los angeles
Here are some online resources about the history of Los Angeles Jewry
" Since the city’s American beginnings, Jews have shaped the social, economic, and cultural life of Los Angeles. They emerged as early leaders in commerce, civic life, and philanthropy, propelling the city’s growth while enriching its multiethnic character. By the twentieth century, the Jewish population had diversified substantially, setting the stage for disparate community experiences and destinies. Jews occupied a place at both the center and margins of urban life. Not only did Jews shape Los Angeles in important ways, their own religious and ethnic identities in turn were shaped by the city’s culture of self-reinvention.They exerted an enduring and important influence on the city’s development. " - Historic Introduction :https://planning.lacity.gov/odocument/cb3a43ec-8138-4517-95e1-3a1cf0947309/LosAngelesJewishHistoryContext.pdf
"The most significant factor in the development of Hollywood in the twentieth century was the arrival of the entertainment industry. Regular motion picture production began in Hollywood in 1911, and quickly grew into a significant economic force. As the popularity of motion pictures grew, more physical facilities related to film production were constructed in Hollywood, and the industry contributed significantly to the area’s overall industrial growth. " from introduction
For a discussion of the concentration of Jews in certain neighborhoods in Los Angeles, follow this article,
Author: Bruce A. Phillips, Professor of Sociology & Jewish Communal Service, Hebrew Union College
HUC Louchheim School of Judaic Studies at the University of Southern California ,University Research Fellow, USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture,Affiliated Faculty, USC Middle East Studies Program
Hebrew Union College
From the article's conclusion:
"But a funny thing happened on the way to the twenty-first century. Jewish residential patterns were as different from Anglo patterns in 1997 as they were in 1930 and, on the other hand, strikingly similar to Asian-American patterns established in the 1980s. Even the grossest instances of place stratification had to be qualified as Jews moved back into black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Pico-Robertson, thereby creating exceedingly vibrant ethnoburbs. In 1925, the Yiddish poet I. J. Schwartz observed that Jews were a “white race of another kind.”106 This is an apt description of the residential patterns of Los Angeles Jews at the turn of the twenty-first century. Whether or not Jews think of themselves as “white”, and regardless of how they are perceived by others, when it comes to where Jews chose to live in Los Angeles, their behavior was not quite white. "
Image courtesy Josh White/Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
The story of Jews in America - Follow 5 Essays on American
How did Jews first get to the future USA
The journey of the first Jews to America was not easy. They came from Recife, Brazil, on a ship called the Saint Charles, which carried 23 Jewish passengers. They arrived in New Amsterdam, a Dutch colony, in 1654. The governor, Peter Stuyvesant, Peg Leg Pete, did not welcome them. He thought they were poor, indebted, and did not belong to the Dutch Reformed Church. He wanted to send them back to Brazil.
http://www.rabbinorbert.com/2023/05/how-did-jews-first-step-foot-in-what.html
Jews Take Their Part in Helping Set Forth a New Nation
Despite these obstacles, the Jews fought for their rights and freedoms. In 1655, they obtained permission to bury their dead in a Jewish cemetery and the right to trade on the Hudson & Delaware Rivers. In 1656, they petitioned for equal rights with other citizens of the colony. They argued that they paid the same taxes and were willing to serve in the militia. They were led in these fights by Jacob Bar Simson and Asser Levy. They eventually won their case and gained more rights.
http://www.rabbinorbert.com/2023/06/jews-take-their-part-in-helping-set.html
The first century- rascals and exemplars
The founding fathers were excited about opening the doors to all religions—yet, as much as they accepted Jews, they did not know how to digest them.
http://www.rabbinorbert.com/2023/06/the-foundations-of-american-judaismthe.html
The Yekkes Are Coming
Of all the Jewish communities in recent history, the most successful in assimilating and mastering western culture and society were the German Jews, both in Europe and America.
German Jews gained the nickname of YEKKE , by common assumption from the word in German Jacke. That referred to the short coat that the Germans wore as opposed to the long coats worn by the supposedly backwards Polish Jews. It was to have been a sign of modernity.
http://www.rabbinorbert.com/2023/06/the-yekkes-are-coming-part-4-american.html
The Russians Are Coming
From the 1880’s to 1920’s , a huge wave of migration, from Eastern Europe ( but from other parts of the Jewish world also) that would begin at the bottom of the barrel to shape America into the “American Century”- creating new categories of industry-film and media—new categories of culture-Tin Pan Alley-Vaudeville-to Broadway- to Berlin, Gershwin Bernstein- and leaders of American finance, advisors, Justices and Senators, shapers of the literary and Academic world .
http://www.rabbinorbert.com/2023/07/the-russians-are-coming-conclusion-of.html