ABSTRACT
What some have seen as the Jewish penetration of the American economy and others simply an adaption to it occurred in two related patterns, one through business, the other through an enhancement of skills. In the former we can see how Jewish entrepreneurs gravitated toward new, unpreempted areas of the economy where they established new industries. They were as much "courageous enterprisers" in establishing the film industry during the twenties as they were in establishing the fur and Indian trades during the Colonial era. 1
During the twenties, and to some extent in the decade before, a third strategy developed which played a major role in shaping the economic profile American Jewry would eventually assume. They invested in human capital through formal education and professional training. This was something new in the American Jewish experience. Relatively few members of the preceding Sephardic and German Jewish communities chose higher education as a path to achieve middle class status. 2
The elevation of skills among Jews during the twenties was symbolized by the "invasion" of higher learning institutions of all kinds by Jewish students. 3 The increase in Jewish enrollment at Harvard was merely its most visible manifestation. Officials of
Originally published in American Jewish History (June 1988). Reprinted by permission of the American Jewish Historical Society.
