The Constitution of the United States

The Constitution of the United States

Hebrew/Yiddish Translation of The American Constitution

After researching more on the topic of mass immigration in America, otherwise known as the "Great Migration," I came across a very unique translation of the United States' Constitution. This translation caught my eye in particular because it was directly translated to both Hebrew and Yiddish. The translation was written in 1891 by J. D. Eisenstein, who was a Jewish scholar and historian. In the introduction before his translation is presented, Eisenstein discussed how his intention for republishing such an important American document was for the Jewish residents of the lower part of New York City to be Americanized. He also sympathizes with these Jewish people, since he was once in their same position until he became more aware and more involved with this country to start his new life, as he hopes for them.

As Europe and the United States were greatly impacted with the Great Migration since the end of the 19th century, an estimated thirty million immigrants from Europe travelled to the United States. From Russia and Eastern Europe, about three million of these immigrants were Jewish trying to escape their home countries due to mass poverty and pogroms. Since citizenship was of the upmost importance in order to for immigrants to become American, a vast amount of Jewish people went about attending English classes during the night to improve their language skills. This further presents how the Jewish people aimed to strive and be more equipped to live somewhere new so they could adapt to the norms and laws that society had imposed on its citizens.

J. D. Eisenstein

יקוח תוצרא תירבה (Constitution of the United States). Hebrew and Yiddish. [New York, 1891]. Hebraic Section, African & Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress (044.00.00)

J. D. Eisenstein

1891

Evan Orfanos