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We
are glad to find from the “Orient,” for July 16, page 224, that the
Jews in Odessa furnish another example of the praiseworthy industry with
which, when opportunity is afforded them, they devote themselves to the
prosecution of those useful trades and callings, which are so
indispensably necessary for their prosperity as a people.
“The
official lists for the year 1842, show the following number of Jewish
tradesmen and journeymen:
“Twelve
goldsmiths, nine watchmakers, twelve lacemakers—these employ
thirty-eight journeymen; forty-one shoemakers, with eighty-eight
journeymen; fourteen bookbinders and wadding manufacturers; with
twenty-one journeymen; one hundred and ten tailors, with ninety-four
journeymen; thirty-three capmakers, with thirty-eight journeymen;
fourteen glaziers, with seventeen journeymen; eight bakers, with three
journeymen; thirty-four tinmen and pewterers, with thirty-six
journeymen; in all two hundred and seventy-eight masters, and three
hundred and thirty-five journeymen.
“This
account includes only those master-manufacturers who have got the
freedom of their respective companies.
“The
Jews of Odessa apply themselves also to occupations which they do not
generally exercise in other parts of the empire. This proves that the
Jews do not hesitate to enter upon the most laborious employment, if
they furnish them with an honest though scanty livelihood. There are,
for instance, those who are employed in the harbour in bringing in and
heaping up the grain. Hundreds of Jews arrive in the summer from the
western governments to labour for forty kopecs (a Russian coin, the
hundredth part of a ruble) a day. It is a touching sight to see these labourers, for the most part aged, perform their
fatiguing labours in the streets during the hottest season, endeavouring
to lighten their heavy burden by the repetition of passages of
Scripture, or of the Talmud. Other Jews are working in the
stone-quarries outside the town, and there is no public building, not a
single church, for which the Jews have not furnished the stones in the
sweat of their brow.”—Jewish Intelligence.
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