Creative Destruction: Jewish Immigrant Bankers, the Business of Mass Migration, and the Reshaping of American Capitalism, 1870–1914

At which moments and in which ways did immigrant Jews play a central role in the development of American capitalism? The scholarly failure to inquire into what enabled immigrant Jews to economically succeed so quickly in the United States perpetuates the mystification of Jewish history and reinforces stereotypical distinctions between ethnic groups in America.  My paper addresses this gap by investigating immigrant Jewish ‘bankers’ between 1900 and 1930.  Through close analysis of three immigrant Jewish bankers in New York City whose banks failed, my paper highlights how immigrant Jews’ transnational entrepreneurial endeavors transformed the development of America’s particular system of capitalism and shaped the economic dimensions of Jewish immigrant identity in America. 

East European Jews' central role in America’s evolving commercial banking industry was exemplified by the most famous (or infamous) Jewish banker in Gilded-Age New York, Sender Jarmulovsky.  In 1914, the largest financially-driven riot in New York City history to date broke out in front of the Jarmulovsky bank, when enraged Jews demanded the bank return their deposits so that they could send money back to relatives in Europe. The riot resulted in new banking legislation that ended the era of immigrant banking. 

This episode highlights a fascinating aspect of immigrant Jews’ involvement in American economic development: while East European Jews occupied marginal niches in banking, they nonetheless moved into the mainstream sectors of the economy in a comparatively brief time span by acquiring substantial capital through their investment in risky ventures.  My paper not only dialogues with the growing literature on the economic dimensions of the Jewish past but also contributes to the larger debate on the interrelationship between American character and capitalism, a literature that rarely grapples upfront with issues of race or ethnicity.