The Promised City: Bathhouses and Jews

Via NYPL Digital Collections. A bathhouse located 538 E 11th St-Av A-Av B, Manhattan. Although this photo is from 1934, it gives a general feel to what bathhouses looked like back then.

I never thought that the physical stature of early immigrant Jews would be a big part of who they were back then but according to Rischin it was. One of the biggest factors that separated Jews from any other people was their faith. Orthodox Jews were known for many things such as their style of clothing, daily activities, and religious practices. But one of their most overlooked qualities were their dietary restrictions and hygiene practices. Practicing Jews only ate Kosher and that involved many things. It forbade the eating of pork, as mentioned in Leviticus, and required that the food be prepared in a very strict fashion. Always cooking their meals thoroughly and putting a border around what was permissible to eat decreased their chances of acquiring foodborne illnesses. So despite being physically very small, their immune systems were among the strongest in the United States.

Cleanliness was also a large part of Orthodox Jewish culture in the early 20th century. Jews believed that cleanliness brought purity and holiness so baths were taken more frequently by them than most other people. Being clean enabled them to stay immune from diseases spread through bad hygiene. Many believed that Jews were to blame for the Cholera outbreak in Europe but that was not the case since they were so hygienically aware.Their priority for proper hygiene also led them to owning half of the city’s bathhouses by 1897 whereas only one or two bathhouses were Jewish owned in 1880. 

This type of information is important to know when discussing the immigrant population in the Lower East side because it shows us the cultures of people in contrast to the others. Americans were not very similar to the Jews culturally and that was projected in the statistics regarding deaths related to illness. What this shows is that a lot can be learned from other cultures. Although Jews may have been viewed differently from Americans, they were much more advanced in terms of healthcare which once again supports the idea that immigrants can benefit the general welfare of society.