THE SECOND GENERATION

  THE SECOND GENERATION

Arthur L. Finkle

South Broad Street looking north toward State 1937

For first generation Jews, it was difficult adapting to a new culture, new methods of doing business, new interaction between the government and the individual and of course conquering the difficult English language. Besides the threatened competition with other newcomers, ‘liberals’ like Edward A. Steiner, Dean of a New England Collage, believed that the Jew would accept the Messiah as well as his Christian brethren. However, he found there was always immigrant problem, wherever he lived. In his ‘empirical study,’ Steiner believed them to be over-optimistic.

He acknowledged that the Jews are smart, making up 20% of Columbia University and having a chilling effect for others to matriculate. He also found it irritating that his Jewish students, few that they were, to anticipate his intellectual and emotional needs.

He admonished that antagonism toward non- sectarian social and ethical practices in public school (Lord’s Prayer and Bible reading) not well placed. See Steiner, 1909.

In high school, Trenton Jewish students thrived in the free public schools. Yet they also encountered a caste system because Trenton had a segregated junior high school system until 1943!

They were a couple of 12-year-old kids who wanted to go to the same classes as their playmates. But in September 1943, when Leon Williams and Janet Hedgepeth tried to get into their neighborhood school in Trenton's Wilbur section, they were told no. Junior High No. 2 was "not built for Negroes," the principal explained. And Leon and Janet, good students thought they might have been, were black. Therefore, they had to walk 2 1/2 miles to a different school -- the all-black New Lincoln School. Those were the rules of the Jim Crow era in Trenton. But to the angry mothers of Leon Williams and Janet Hedgepeth, the rules just weren't fair. Indignant, they filed a lawsuit against the Board of Education of Trenton, demanding to let their children go to the same school as white kids. The Hedgepeth-Williams lawsuit would lead the state Supreme Court to make a historic ruling -- abolishing racial segregation in New Jersey. It would even be cited by the U.S. Supreme Court a decade later in the historic Brown vs. Board of Education case, which made integration the law of the land throughout America.  http://trentonhistory.org/Old&New.html

Indeed, Richard Green, in writing “Reuben Cohen Comes of Age: American Jewish Youth and the Lived Experience of Cultural Pluralism in the 1920s,” the protagonist, Reuben Cohen,  enters an elite American college during the mid-1920s and was well-liked by his professors.

Professors described him as a typical collegian. But the fact was Reuben was part of the first generation of Jewish students (Second Generation of Jews) in the United States to attend college in significant numbers. He a child  Jewish immigrants, who found ways to integrate themselves more fully in American ways than their parents.

Although living with many reminders of Jewish difference, Reuben had grown up in "the home of a businessman who was comfortably well off." His immigrant father had shunned Orthodox Judaism and embraced Reform as he became a successful entrepreneur.

Predictably, when Reuben's father turned to Reform Judaism, his children followed. Instead of gaining his Jewish education in an Orthodox shul like his father, Reuben attended a "fashionable temple on the Upper West Side" of Manhattan.

Still, the Cohen family maintained significant boundaries between themselves and non-Jews. Reuben's parents had only Jewish friends. They insisted that Reuben not attend school on Yom Kippur.

Mixing with non-Jews had stark and real limits; for Reuben's mother, the "conception of a Gentile daughter-in-law" remained simply "remote and impossible."

Reuben's favorite professor observed that despite the Cohen family's "casual Judaism," Jewishness seemed "profoundly to have shaped the history of Reuben."

Reuben thought. "One must not develop a persecution complex" and become what he called "one of the chip-on-the-shoulder Hebrews." This conundrum of separate but different reflected Reuben's perspective and mediated determining how to express his Jewish identity rested with him alone. Like many of his Jewish peers, he had difficult decisions to make about whether and how to incorporate Jewish religious and cultural interests into his life while in college.

Many of his professors did not even know that Reuben was Jewish, perhaps because being Jewish seemed so unimportant to Reuben himself. During Reuben's junior year, something changed. He vaguely began to articulate that being Jewish mattered to him, but he grew frustrated because he could not find satisfying ways to express his Jewish identity. But, when matured, Reuben felt that his newfound exploration of Jewish heritage conflicted with his modern interests and desires. Rabbis, synagogues, and the Zionist movement disappointed him. The new world was secular to a boy whose heritage was steeped in Yiddishkeit.

Yet he strove to gain an education to prepare him as a professional (physician, lawyer, dentist, accountant, etc.) while ignoring his real self. Without know it, Reuben has one foot firmly placed in the secular American society based upon Christian principles and the other foot still mired in his own Jewish culture.  See Daniel Greene.

Quota systems reared its head in universities, medical schools, law schools, etc. There was almost a total absence of Jews in the banking industry, the securities business, accounting firms, law firms, medical privileges in hospitals, and generally any national chain of enterprise etc.

The largest initial businesses were the Junk Business and the Liquor business, which was a carryover from Poland and part of Russia where Jews had a virtual monopoly.

 

Education

Education was the way to economic security. Besides business, education also would produce the many professionals seen in the second generation (the first to natively speak English).

Those in South Trenton ultimately graduated from Trenton Central High School. Trenton High covered all of Trenton, Hamilton, Ewing, and Lawrenceville.

Jewish students distinguished themselves in academics and sports. Moreso in academics than sports.

But the male persuasion likes to see what sports figures predominated amongst second generation Jews at Trenton Central High. In perusing the Bobeshela (High School Yearbook) from 1922-38, we find the table below.

In addition to the athletes, Dave Weisberg became the famed soccer coach in 1935. His innovations and motivation created state dominating teams for a decade. Teams still use some of his innovations. Dave alter became an Assistant Principal, giving up his coaching.

For those old enough, the following names are recognizable, representing the best and brightest of the Trenton community. Most of these students remained in Trenton to become pillars of its Jewish and general community.

Bobeshela Staff	Football	Basketball	Baseball	Tennis (not listed for most years)
1922
Afred Habas	Edgar Fiestal		Sidney Wolberg	not listed
Milton Konovitz			Edgar Fiestal
Nathan Lavine
Solomon Klein
1923
not listed	Sidney Beck	Levin	Edgar Fiestal	Eckstein
1924
Milton Konovitz	Bert Lefkowitz			not listed
Sidney Stark	M. Rosenthal
Seymour Aronson	Sidney Beck	Sidney Beck
Morris Forer	Edgar Fiestal
Robert Pinerman
Sidney Greenwald
Henry Levin
Adele Wolf
Aaron Axelrod
1925
Sidney Stark	Simon Sloshberg			Morris Robinson
Robert Pinerman	Louis B. Singer			Philip Albert
Sidney Geenwald
Henry Levin
Aaron Axelrod
Morris Forer
1926
Lester Finkle				not listed
Joseph Deitz
Sidney Siegel
Leo Goldman
Samuel Lavine
Joseph Forer
Bobeshela Staff	Football	Basketball	Baseball	Tennis (not listed for most years)
1927
Joseph Forer			Morris Robin	not listed
Lester Finkle
Simon Bahr
Morris Aroniss
Philip Albert
Daniel Rednor
1928
Simon Bahr	Harry Gerofsky			not listed
Morris Aroniss	Sol Movsovich
Morris Rosenthal
Bernard Breen
Morris Forer
Arnold Levine
Jack Rosenthal
Daniel Radnor
Irving Wilner
Lester Fisher
1929
Morris Forer	Lester Klempner	Lester Klempner		Red Levy
Arnold Levine				Morris Aroniss
Samuel Adler
Irving Wilner
Bobeshela Staff Football Basketball Baseball Tennis (not listed for most years) 1930 Harold Hoenig David Speigel Isadore Aroniss Eli Albert Isadore Aroniss Leon Cohen David Eckstein Albert Finkle Harry Kusslovitz Morris Miller David Rosenberg Esther Frankel David Eckstein Sidney Spiegel 1931 D. Greenberg not listed Sidney Spiegel P. Zeltt Max Greenberg L. Cohen Oscar Rosenthal; H. Levine Edith Klein A. Klotz Arthur Teich S. Levine Abraham Kunes Disney Safir Matilda Siegle Isabel Steiner 1932 Ralph Fineberg Meyer Bloom Jerome Levy Archie Zabinsky John Hirsch Daniel Robinson Nathan Petchat Milton Kauffman Bobeshela Staff Football Basketball Baseball Tennis (not listed for most years) 1933 State Titleist not listed Honor Society = 27% Meyer Bloom John Hirsch Harry Litowitz Henry Adler Nathan Puchat Stanley Apple 1934 Albert Bash State Titleist not listed Honor Society = 23% Max Feldman Meyer Bloom not listed Stanley Apple 1935 Albert Bash (David Weisberg becomes coach of Soccer Team) 1936 Ben Olinsky not listed not listed Harry Olinsky 1937 Ben  Olinsky Howard Miller not listed Manfred Levy Monroe Levy Leon Rappaport Lewis Applstein Milton Rosenthal

To summarize, Jews' representing about 4% of the student population in the years between 1922 and 1938.,  they generally represented  50% of the Bobashela (yearbook) staff. Many of these participants will go on to become their generations of professionals (physician, lawyers, accountants, dentists, etc.). In addition, they became the titans of local business in Trenton.

This generation, as in other similar communities, disproportionately represented Jews in the professions and in business. The opportunity for education and the motivation to be financially secure was the immigrants' dream for their children.

Their appearance on sports teams was disproportionate o the tennis team. Otherwise, it was below their percentage in high school. The big exception was that the 1935 and 1936, when Trenton high won the State tournament, with at least three on its twelve man squad.

The Second Generation also GAVE BACK to the Trenton Jewish community. Indeed, there was no less Jewish activity during this generation than the previous generation. Indeed, save for the Orthodoxy of the ‘Old Country,’ the Second Generation fleshed the start-up organizations with their leadership and also became local bastions of national Jewish movements, such as the Jewish National Fund, Hadassah, ORT, and the Brotherhoods and Sisterhoods of the newer congregations.

The Second Generation also became more prominent businessmen in the community. Beginning small, they disproportionately owned  ‘downtown’ commerce.

Smaller Department Stores

Normal  Department Store – Swamp Angel (Isaac Finkle)

S.S. Allen – (Karl Urken)  S. Broad near the Second Precinct

Urken and Cohen’s (Hy Urkin)

Finkle’s Dry Goods – Willow and Spring  (Samuel Finkle)

Cohen’s Dry Goods

Alexander’s Dry Goods

Laundry

Trenton Laundry - Samuel Levin

Stacey Laundry – Sidney Vogel and Carl Schipper

Lincoln Laundry – Max Levine

Print Shop 

Honey Gordon

Mort Parker

Physicians

Dr. Jacob Berman

Dr. Eckstein

Copeland

Dr. Lester Finkle

Dr. Arthur Randelman

Dr. Kagan

Dr. Ivy smith

Blaugrand

Dr. Sam Freidman

Irv Poyas

Dr. Percy smith

Dr. Drezner

Dr Barney Lavine

Dr. Epsten

Dr. Sacks-Wilner

Dr. Zimskind

Dr. Levin

Ed Feistal

Dr. Yale Byer

Dr. Mo Byer

Dentists

Miller

Ben Vine

Herman Moss

Greenwald

Sam Byer

Norman Vine

Nat Popkin

Ben Miller

Sacks-Wilner

Stein

Optometrist 

Ed Fier

Saloons

Chick Bash

 Murf Cohen

Mugsy Resnick

Jumbo Saperstein

Orville Cohen

After prohibition, several in the Jewish community applied for liquor licenses and retail stores. Indeed, in 1934, twenty-nine of 209 liquor licenses went to Jews. For retail stores five of 17 licenses.

Generally using 1930 census statistics, Robinson make several noteworthy findings were:

Data on the age, sex, nativity, citizenship, family composition, occupations and ward distribution of the Jews enumerated in Trenton in 1937, led to the following conclusions:

1.  While  almost  half  of  Trenton Jewry  resided in  two  of  the  city's  fifteen wards,  there was none without some Jewish residents.

2.  The Jewish group comprised almost as large a native element as the corresponding ratio in the total population.

3.  The ratio of aliens among the Jews was about half that recorded for all foreign-born males in the city.  Of the foreign-born Jews half had lived in Trenton for 23 years and in the U. S. S. for 31 years.

4.  T h e  occupational  distribution  of  the Jewish  population  differed  widely from that  of the total population,  the  former being concentrated in trade and commerce; latter  in manufacturing and  mechanical industries.

5. Trade   accounted  for  59 percent  of  the  gainfully  occupied  male Jewish population  of Trenton a  ratio is more  than  three  and  one-half  times the trade proportion  of  males in  the  city's  tot al   population in  1930.

Perhaps the most striking common characteristic of the ten communities lies in t h e concentration of the gainfully occupied group in retail trade.  In  no  city studied  was  t h e  ratio  of  gainfully occupied Jews in  trade  fewer than  43  percent (Passaic), whereas in Pittsburgh it  was a s  much as  60 percent. 

Another category in which Jews are found more frequently than non-Jews in proportion to their numbers is the professions.  Professionals represented no less than 8.5 percent of Jews (compared to fewer than 3% in 1905. The second generation took the opportunity that education allowed them.) .  Industries, in public service, in domestic service, in skilled and unskilled occupations anywhere near that of the ratio in the total population.  The ratio of Jews in the manufacturing occupations varied from 11.7 percent in Trenton to 35.5 in Chicago.

6.  If  the ratio of  children  of  elementary school age were assumed  to  be  the same among the Jews as  among the Trenton population  and the assumption used as  a  basis for  estimating the total  Jewish  population,  the  result  would be  an under-estimate due to the fact that numerous children attended

7.  Only 4 Jews in Passaic and 20 in Trenton reported WPA employment.  This  may  be either  to the failure to report WPA employment or to  a rather remarkable  lack of  public  dependency  in  the  two Jewish communities.

8. When the differences in  occupational distribution a r e  related to  the larger proportion of Jewish women working in Passaic than in Trenton, the smaller proportion of naturalized citizens and the larger proportion  of  foreign-born in  Passaic  than  in  Trenton,  they  point  to Passaic as  the more industrialized Jewish  community.

9. There were 455 unattached persons among the 2,000 families, some of whom resided with families but not as an integral part of them. These unattached persons constituted 6.3 % of the Jewish population of Trenton. Accordingly, the Trenton community was looking into the feasibility of establishing a home for the   aged.

10. With the exception of Wards 2, 3, 4 (South Trenton) and 14 (West Trenton) there were fewer than 50 unattached persons in any one ward.  Men out- numbered the women in both nativity groups.  Among  t h e  unattached native Jews  there  were  more  t h a n   twice  a s  many  men  a s  women, while  among  t h e  foreign born  there were approximately one-third more women than men.  These findings were similar to those regarding unattached persons in the Jewish population of Minneapolis. See Sophia M. Robinson.

Downtown Trenton

Although there were a disproportionate amount of professionals (Physicians, Attorneys, Certified Public Accountants, Dentists), most reverted to the family business of selling merchandise. However, they did it on a much larger scale. 

Trenton was known for its ‘downtown.’ Between Willow and City Hall, there were 100’s of stores, both small and large. The interesting fact is that most of them were owned by the sons and daughters of ‘Jewtown.’

During the era of the 1920’s, Jews had difficulty getting onto college, if for no other reason that they were Jewish. If they were ‘lucky’ enough to attending college from 1929 on, they returned home to support a Depression-starved family.

Downtown Trenton had been a busy commercial district after the Greene St. (Broad St.) over pass was built to fjord the Assinpink Creek. In addition, it originally housed the most prominent families of Trenton, such as the Roebling’s, the Kuser's, etc.

The retail trade in Trenton saw its heyday in the 1930’s 1960’s. Jews owned most the major Department stores in the downtown area, bordered by State St, from Montgomery to Warren Sts. Dunham’s (Charles Levy and Jules Aresty and later the Plapinger Brothers); Swern’s (Swern family), Goldberg’s (managed by Wolf from the Federated Department  Stores), Yard’s (Buddy Hano) and Stern’s.

Men’s Stores

Croyden (Holland Brothers)

F. W. Donnelly Mens’ Clothiers  (Gene Howard)

Eton Clothes – Levin Family

Robinson’s – Murray Robinson

George’s – George, Herman and Harold Lavinson

Joe Finkle’s Furnishings (Joes Finkle)

Men’s Shoes

Handis Shoes

Schulman Shoes

Fischer’s Shoe ear (Abby Haveson)

Josephson’s Shoe

Florsheim - Florsheim –geo weiss

Kahn's "Treadeasy" shoes

Ladies Stores

Charm Aronson – Bill Aronson

Stacy’s – Bob Albert

Rifkin’s – Evelyn Rifkin

Lillian Charm (Lillian Charm)

Lavenson’s

Joyce Women’s Clothing – (Charofsky)

AS Beck

Miller – Isidore Miller

Women’s Shoes

Kitty Kelly

National Shoes (Joe Hayfer)

Jewelry Stores

Siegel’s Jewelers (Irving Siegel)

Walter’s Jewelry (Rae Walters)

Kind’s Jewelers (Sam Kind)

Dietz Jewelers.

Miller AND Leavitt

Litmann’s Jewelers – Steve Holzman)

Jewelry – Haskel Levinststein

Furniture Stores

Spiegel’s

Ethan Allen Furniture

Tire Stores

Black and Freidman

Richman Tire

Appliance Stores

Bea Greenberg's NJ Plumbing Supply, ( before she became "Mrs. G",

Trenton Lighting – Morris and Max Levine

Harold Feinberg appliance

BOB Binders – Lightings fixtures

Nath Floor Covering

Trenton Floor Covering – Levie Brothers – Morris, Max

Printing Press

Mort Parker

Manufacturers

Circle F – Ed Ring

Homasote – Irving Flicker

Neapara Rubber - Rosenthal

Horsman Doll – Harry Freidman

See Koslow

Clothing Manufacturers

Metropol Clothing Co. (Walcoff)

Baxter Clothing

Hardware

Levy’s Hardware

Olinsky Hardware

Lumber

Millner’s’ Lumber -  Artisan Ave. - Irv Millner –

Ajax Lumber – So Broad St. Lavine

Insurance

David Rosenberg

Marvin Gandelman

News Dealer

Harry Levenson

Whitey’s Newsstand – Warren St

Advertising

I. Louis Finkle

Albert Finkle

Specialty Stores

Sam’s Shoe Repairs (Sam Lavinthal)

Luggage – (Abby Botwinick)

Norman’s Gift Shop – Arnold Norman and Ted Henschel)

Hal’s Record Shop

Patio Furniture (originally Extension Toys) Max Intrologator,

Richmond Bus Company – Sidney Sussman and Arthur Levie

Sack’s Dishes

Trentonian Newspaper – Sam Jacobs

For 1937 City Directory of Downtown Trenton, see Appendix 4, p. 76

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