With the arrival of the last boat, the Edam, at the port of Vera Cruz, containing over one hundred Jewish immigrants, the B’nai B’rith organization began to function in earnest. The immigrants, among which were an unusual number of women and girls, were met at the boat and looked after by the special Jewish resident agent of Vera Cruz. They were questioned as to their financial position and those who were unable to make up enough funds to travel on were aided to reach the capital.
Once in Mexico City, the immigrants were registered at the B’nai B’rith house, lodging was found for most, and many, over twenty-five, were accomodated temporarily in the house itself. Immediately began the work of finding employment for them. Due to temporary industrial slackness it was somewhat difficult to follow the programme of placing them in jobs corresponding to their European trades instead of allowing them to enter as peddlers. Practically all of the immigrants have well-developed trades, many of them being shoemakers, tailors, watchmakers, mechanics, electricians, and there are chemists, pharmacists, and many other professionals among them.
The B’nai B’rith, acting as a clearing house, has organized an active employment agency, resorting as little to charity means as possible. Since the boats come in several times a month, no sooner is one group settled than another comes, and they are becoming more and more numerous, having averaged not over fifty on a boat and now nearly always reaching and overtopping the hundred mark.
Recently a meeting was held of all the charitable Jewish organizations of Mexico City, for the purpose of founding a hospital, since it has been the practice to send the Jewish ill to the American hospital, and it has been a rather expensive one, particularly in the case of incurable consumptives, of which there have been several. Many of the Jews who are sick and need aid cannot receive the proper care because the organizations are financially unable to give it to them. There was one case of a young girl who, sick, alone, unable to find employment, attempted to commit suicide. She was in a dangerous state for a long time, and had to be removed from the hospital almost before it was fairly safe to do so, and placed in lodgings where, although she was looked after, she did not receive the scientific care her state demanded.
The meeting, however, resulted in nothing concrete, the various factions disagreeing as to proceedings, and the project at present is under discussion.
To celebrate Simchas Tora, the Y. M. H. A. of Mexico entertained with a dance, which was attended by its members and by members of the Cultural, a reading and study club of Jewish men.
Worthy of note is the invitation, which is translated literally from Spanash as follows: “The Commission of the Y. M. H. A. of Mexico has the honor of inviting you, your family and friends to the ‘Baile’ of Simchas Tora, which, to commemorate our traditional feast, will be held on the eighteenth day of October at 9:45 P.M…. with the magnificent orchestra, etc. (In this orchestra plays a young Jewish boy, a fiddler, who although he is Russian, can jazz more genuinely than many a darky.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
