America and Was Changed
by llan Stavans and Josh Lambert
However improbable it may seem, the arrival of around two million Yiddish-speaking Jews from Central and Eastern Europe in North America, between the middle of the nineteenth century and the middle of the twentieth, has turned out to be one of the most profoundly influential modern migrations.
It's an astonishing story. When those Jews first arrived in large numbers in North America, they came mostly from countries in which their economic and political disenfranchisement was taken for granted, places where a Jewish man could not freely choose where to live or what profession to pursue, and where the publishing of newspapers and magazines in the language he spoke, Yiddish, was subject to harsh censorship. (Jewish women were disenfranchised doubly, as Jews and as women.) Violent attacks on Jewish civilians in their homes and businesses —which came to be known as pogroms-were frequent enough, and received enough tacit government support, to add pervasive terror to a Jew's typical experience of life.
Meanwhile, as other Jews gained civil rights in western Europe, even they looked back at the still-disenfranchised, increasingly impoverished Yiddish-speaking Jews of Eastern Europe as embarrassments or as a problem to be solved.
Use the passage to answer the question.
Based on this introductory paragraph, which statement describes the topic of this chapter?
(1 point)
The migration of Yiddish-speaking Jewish people from Europe was different from other waves of immigration.
Anti-Jewish prejudice in Europe was present within the Jewish community, as well as outside of it.
Jewish people who immigrated to North America fled violence and terror that had become a part of life for them.
Yiddish-speaking Jewish people endured discrimination in Europe hat other ethnic groups did not face.
1 answer
The statement that best describes the topic of this chapter based on the introductory paragraph is:
Jewish people who immigrated to North America fled violence and terror that had become a part of life for them.
This statement captures the essence of the experiences described in the passage, highlighting the violent attacks (pogroms) and disenfranchisement that motivated their migration to North America.
