brothers were fleeing Imperial Russia and the oppression of state militia groups known as Cossacks, who swept Russia with anti-Semitic violence. The shtetls, Yiddish for “little town”, where the Harelik brothers had grown up were often the targets of such violence. What typically creates conflict is overcrowding and competition of resources. Small town Hamilton had a fairly self-contained economy, meaning all services were within city limits; thus a much more peaceful life than that Haskell had known of his childhood.
were passable, of course. The Harelik family stores were always closed for the observance of the High Holy Days. Jewish families of the congregation pooled together to buy Torah scrolls for the temple. Haskell was the oldest immigrant to be a member of the congregation before his passing in 1989. Haskell’s relative, Harry Harelik, and family are still a part of the congregation today. Generally speaking, in terms of the immigrant experience, in order to live the life they wanted to live with the freedom to provide a good living and education for their family, Haskell needed to escape the strictures he was in and Matley wanted the freedom to continue practicing Judaism.
Haskell arrived in Hamilton a mere generation after its founding. Most immigrants in the area at the time could work side by side with the locals. By the time of the Great Depression, there were nearly a dozen different Jewish families The Hareliks found they still had a lot of sacrifices to make living in Hamilton. In fact, the block the Hareliks built their in America. Market and auction day for cattle, livestock and home on was known in 1936 as “Little Jerusalem”. cotton were on Saturdays, keeping kosher was another aspect of assimilation that Haskell understood, and they were not When Haskell had finally earned enough money, he sent dogmatic in that way. Assimilation was managed in the home a letter home to his dear Matley, asking her to join him in and parents would decide where to draw the line and stop marriage and take a chance with him in America. She will- sacrificing. ingly obliged. Standing a proud 4 foot ten inches tall, Matley’s kitchen was scaled for her when they built their home in Assimilation, in anthropology and sociology, is the process Hamilton. Haskell and Matley would quickly grow to a fam- whereby individuals or groups of differing ethnic heritage are ily of five, all three boys, Sam, Louis and Milton. absorbed into the dominant culture of a society. In more simplistic terms, keeping who you are while becoming part of a Since the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, Ju- new community. daism became a portable religion; you no longer needed a priest. Fortunately, that meant most of the practices and tra- Jewish families had to sacrifice majorly by working on the ditions were carried out in the home. However, the closest Sabbath. That aspect of assimilation was the biggest sacrifice. temple was Agudath Jacob in Waco, the first and one of the In addition to Saturday being the local Market and Auction oldest temples in Central Texas. The Hareliks would have to Day, business was prohibited on Sundays. These laws put in reserve the day in order to attend services, when the roads place to prohibit business on Sundays were known as “Blue
Volume 2 Issue 1 | Our Hometowns 17