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The Jewish population of America is made up of mostly Ashkenazi Jews and their US born descendants. They make up 90% of the American Jewish Population. The United States, after Israel, is home to the second biggest Jewish population in the world.

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Jewish Immigrants faced many obstacles when trying to enter into the United States. Many difficult processes such as obtaining there visas  or getting sponsors made entering very challenging. On top of all of this, people had to compete with thousands of others.

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There were many different reasons that the Jewish people immigrated to the Americas. For some, they were seeking the opportunities that America was offering during the late 1800s and early 1900s. On the other hand, some were escaping the persecution of their kind, such that was occurring during WWII.

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How did Americans respond to Jewish Immigration?

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How did Americans respond to Jewish Immigration?

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As Jewish refugees arrived into the United States Americans feared that this would effect the economy severally. The United States had just gotten out of a huge depression as men struggled to maintain their jobs. They were worried that the Jewish refugees would take their jobs that they needed to feed their families.

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The Jews came in three waves. First came the Sephardic Jews. They migrated from Brazil to New Amsterdam in 1654. Second came the German Jews. They arrived in the 1840s. Third came the Eastern European Jews. They started migrating in the 1880s because of over population and poverty.

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This video is in honor of the 18 million Jewish people who migrated to the United States from 1890 to 1920. This was one of the largest migrations of man kind. "Ellis Island a New Hope" tells the stories of the men, women, and children who ventured into the unknown searching for a new place to settle.

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Seymour Rechtzeit  was a Jewish boy who immigrated from Poland shortly after the ending of WWI. Back home, he was a well known singer and traveled to America in search of better opportunities. Here, he became a famous singer and made many records.

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Seymour Rechtzeit was 8 years old in 1920, when he left his home in Poland and journeyed to America. Why do you think he came, and what happened when he arrived? This is Seymour's story, in his own words.

Seymour's Story

My name is Seymour Rechtzeit and I was born in Lódz, Poland, in 1912. My family is Jewish, and I first began singing in our synagogue. By the time I was 4, I was called a wunderkind, or "wonder child" in English. Soon I was singing in concerts all over Poland.

My family decided that I should come to America, where there would be more opportunities for me. The Great War (which you know as World War I) had just ended, and it was a bad time in Europe. I had an uncle living in America, and he sent two tickets for my father and me to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. The rest of my family stayed in Poland. The plan was that my father and I would earn enough money to eventually bring them to America, too.

In Danzig, a city on the shore of the Baltic Sea now known as Gdansk, we boarded a ship called The Lapland. It was 1920, and I was on my way to America.

Crossing the Atlantic

Riding on a big boat across the Atlantic Ocean may sound like fun, but it wasn't. The two-week trip was miserable! Our beds were in steerage, way down in the bottom of the boat. It was lined with bunks, one on top of the other. It was uncomfortable and crowded. I went up on deck all the time, just to have space to move around.

We hit many bad storms at sea. It rained hard, and I was often wet and shivering. By the time we sailed into New York Harbor, past the Statue of Liberty, I had a very bad cold. Still, I was up on deck in my good white suit, cheering along with everyone else at the awesome sight of the statue.

Back then, immigrants had to pass a medical examination before they were allowed to enter the country. Many people were sent back to where they came from. I was 8 years old and I was ill. I didn't know what was going to happen to me in America.

Ellis Island

At Ellis Island, my father, who was not sick, stood in long lines as part of the entry process. Officials asked him lots of questions about where he came from, what he did for a living back in Poland, and what his plans were in America. All immigrants had to answer these questions. Only then could the newcomers leave Ellis Island and take a ferry to New York - and finally set foot in America.

When the doctor examined me, he discovered I had a cold. He said I could not go with my father, though I cried and begged. I was terrified to be all alone in this strange place.

Detained

I stayed on Ellis Island for a few days, until I was feeling better. I had no toys with me. I didn't know of such things. But there were other sick boys to keep me company. Some of them spoke Yiddish, my language. We ate in a huge dining room. The food was different - it was American style. But it was good, especially the milk.

There was a long gate that led to the boats that took people off the island, across New York Harbor, to the city. Every day, we boys would walk to the gate and look out over the water. We wanted to see America. It was like being in a jail. We felt sad and wondered if we would ever get through that gate and onto a boat for that final journey to our new country, the United States.

New Life in New York

My cold soon went away, and then the officials told me that my father and uncle were coming to get me.

As I stepped off the boat from Ellis Island, I felt a rush of joy. All around me were hundreds of families greeting their relatives, welcoming them to America.

That was the beginning of my new life in New York. Right away, I started singing in concerts and earning money to help bring the rest of my family to America. I sang in school, too. I sang "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and "The Star-Spangled Banner." I learned quickly.

Child Star

I became a child star of vaudeville. That's a kind of entertainment in which actors sing and tell stories. I was very popular because I was a kid. I traveled from place to place to entertain.

Within a few years, I had made enough money to bring my mother, brothers, and sisters to America. But I faced a new problem: It was 1924, and by then, not as many immigrants were being allowed into America. My family could not get permission to come. They were in Poland, and my father and I were in America. How would we be a family again?

Singing for the President

My voice was the ticket that would bring my family to America. A congressman who had heard me sing arranged for me to come to Washington, D.C., and perform for leaders at the U.S. Capitol.

The politicians liked me and wanted to help. They arranged an invitation to sing for President Calvin Coolidge in the White House! That did it. After I sang, I met the President. He shook my hand and told me I sang well. He said he'd help get my mother, brothers, and sisters to America. We would be a family again!

Star of Yiddish Theatre

Many wonderful things happened to me in America. I kept singing as a young man and became a star of Yiddish theater. I appeared onstage and made many records. I met my wife, Miriam Kressyn, who was also a singer and an immigrant. Her family came through Ellis Island, too. We were married for 43 years.

I went back to Europe, traveling as an actor, but I never returned to Poland. I have always been very happy to be in this wonderful country.

Photographs: Copyright Milken Family Foundation. Courtesy of the Milken Archive of Jewish Music.

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Relive a Boy's Journey to America | Scholastic

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Seymour Rechtzeit was 8 years old in 1920, when he left his home in Poland and journeyed to America. Why do you think he came, and what happened when he arrived? This is Seymour's story, in his own words. My name is Seymour Rechtzeit and I was born in Lódz, Poland, in 1912.

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Before WWII Poland had the second largest Jewish population in the world. Though during the war, many Jewish people were being persecuted by the Nazi Party, so many people fled to America to escape the terror of The Nazis. After WWII, only 11% of the Jewish population remained in Poland.

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By the mid-1960s the Jewish society claimed that they had felt very well integrated into the American society. In fact, as time went on, most Jewish American children became less and less religious.

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To escape the harsh conditions that the Russian Peasantry was afflicting towards the Jewish population, many Jews fled to the United States for more freedom. The Russians were exerting extreme violence as well as  taking away many jobs from the Jews.

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Ellis Island - History of Immigration to the United States | 1890-1920 | Award Winning Documentary