Baruch Zuckerman - Emigration To United States

Emigration To United States

In 1904, aged 16, Zuckerman arrived in the USA, where he initially worked in a sweatshop in New York's garment district for $2 per week. It was there that he learned to put together sleeves and cuffs for men's shirts. Later, he graduated to piece work. But his heart was not in the job.

While Zuckerman had been propelled by an uncle towards the garment district, his father and older brother had gone into the scrap business. When his brother realized that there was no future for Zuckerman in the rag trade, he decided to set him up in an enterprise of his own and put a down payment on a candy store in his name. Zuckerman was not a success, and the candy store closed down after only nine months. In the meantime, it had become a popular venue for ideologists who gathered there to vent their Zionist fervour. They all belonged to transplanted Pinsk and Vilnius branches of Poale Zion as did Zuckerman himself.

As his relationship with the candy store was drawing to a close, Zuckerman was elected a delegate to the founding convention of Poale Zionof America that took place on 1 May 1905. This was the beginning of his career as a servant of his people. As a key member of the Labor Zionist Movement of America, he was both a formulator of policy and one of its major exponents.

Passionately committed to social welfare, Zuckerman dreamt of uniting it with Zionism. The Poale Zion movement enabled him to do so. He was executive director of the People's Relief Committee from 1915 to 1924 when it disbanded, and accompanied Herbert Hoover and investment banker Herbert Lehman to Poland to bring food and clothing to survivors of World War I.

During that war, Zuckerman helped to organize the Jewish Legion and was also instrumental in setting up the American Jewish Congress. He was also the editor of Yiddishe Kempfer, and a leading figure in the Farband and Histadrut campaigns. In later years, he was elected Poale Zion representative to the Executive of the Jewish Agency in America and to the Executive of the World Jewish Congress. He was also president of the Labor Zionist Organization of America. A gifted writer and speaker, as well as an editor and journalist, he was one of the chief spokesman for American Poale Zion around the world.