Contents Jews > Earning a Living
> Decentralization of Jewish New York
> Bris Milah > Shiva - Mourning in the Jewish TraditionEarning a Living Forbidden for centuries to engage in farming,
Russian Jews had earned a living as middlemen and small-scale artisans.
Arriving in America with little capital but a lot of entrepreneurial
experience, many Jews began working as peddlers, selling their wares
on the streets or from door to door. But even more Jews worked in
New York's clothing industry. One-third of the Jewish labor force
in Russia had worked in the manufacturing of clothing, and New York
was already the garment capital of the United States, if not the
world. Furthermore, most of the industry was located on the Lower
East Side through much of the late-nineteenth century.
The presence of the garment industry was everywhere. Early in the
morning, unskilled laborers gathered at the employment market, or
chazar mark, on the corner of Ludlow and Hester streets, looking
for day work in the garment industry. Others worked long hours and
weeks in the area's factory lofts. Still others worked at home (particularly
women and children) doing piecework given to them by the contractors.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, Jews occupied positions
at all levels of the garment industry. In 1905, only three cities
in America produced goods of greater value than New York's garment
industry alone. Thus, the industry was a tremendous boon for the
Jewish community.
