THE OUTCAST RUSSIAN JEWS.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2794, 8 March 1882, Page 2

THE OUTCAST RUSSIAN JEWS.

The l< Jewish Chronicle’’ publishes a letter by Mr R. L. Benas, President of the Liverpool Branch of the Anglo Jewish Association'on the result of his examination of the refugees who passed through that city on their way to the United States. 1 In bis introductory remarks Mr Benas saysl must impress upon you the vast difference between the real Russian Jews of the Odessa and Elizabethgrad, .and the Polish Jew, with whom we are brought in contact at our local Boards of Guardians. They are just as utterly distinct as a Dutch and German Jew, even, more so. The Polish Jew also gives one the impression of a down trodden distinct race, with mannerisms and peculiarities entirely his own. Not so, however, the Russian Jew ; he stands erect, has no mannerisms at all,' dresses entirely in the European manner, and has few Oriental traits of', physiog-’ nomy. The majority have light hair, blue eyes, and are really good looking mon , their wives, however, are Oriental types. It has been remarked by many intelligent Christians in this city that both the males and females possesses some of the finest types of beauty, some of them, the latter especially, are fit models for artists. Amongst the 600 that I have reviewed there was not a single money lender. They consisted of the following trades : —Blacksmiths, bricklayers, masons, joiners, saddlers, tinkers, locksmiths, plumbers, painters, shoemakers, tailors, and agricultural laborers ; about 20 per cent were of traders, and 10 per cent broken-down shop-keepers and merchnts who had lost their all, ' I noticed none of the mendicant style that we are apt to find among the Polish Jews. I may mention, as an illustration, several were desirous of having a Hebrew Bible but they would not accept these as a gift, and they preferred to pay for the books. I can positively assert to these' few hundred Jews from South Russia that 1 have seen and interviewed, that they will hold their own with any I have seen among the lower orders of the Jews elsewhere,”