American Jews moving to the West?

Zioneer

Banned
So how entrenched were American Jews in the Eastern states? (By which I mean North and Southeastern)

Would they be likely to move to the West if promised equal rights to Gentiles, and good job opportunities?

I'm asking because I'm about to start a new Utah/Mormon TL, and I was wondering if the Mormon Prophet, Brigham Young, could attract Jews to the Salt Lake Valley by aggressively advertising equal rights for Jews?

It wouldn't be out of character for the Mormons, since we're an incredibly philo-Semetic religion, so how many Jews would migrate to the West?

How about if Mormon missionaries in Europe advertised the West among the Jews in England, France, and such?
 
Lots of Jews traveled west during the settlement of California, and tended to make their fortune off of provisioning dry-goods rather than with gold.

That being said, Jews tend to be more urban than other American ethnic groups. It will take time, technological advancement, and massive infrastructure projects before the west is ecologically/economically capable of supporting large urban populations.
 

Zioneer

Banned
Lots of Jews traveled west during the settlement of California, and tended to make their fortune off of provisioning dry-goods rather than with gold.

That being said, Jews tend to be more urban than other American ethnic groups. It will take time, technological advancement, and massive infrastructure projects before the west is ecologically/economically capable of supporting large urban populations.

What's interesting is that the early Mormons in Utah did the exactly what's outlined in bold ; selling goods to the gold-seekers traveling to California.

As for your other point, well, the West didn't seem to be capable of supporting the Mormon population either, but somehow, it thrived. So why not a couple hundred or even a thousand more Jews coming every year for a few years?

Brigham Young could certainly expand the Church Emigration Fund he used for converted immigrants to Jews (that is, if Jews don't pay for the exodus themselves, some of them being fairly rich).

And it's not like the Jews were stubbornly urban either; there were several attempts at creating farming communities in the West in the latter half of the 1800s. So why wouldn't they succeed with a poweful religion that would be friendly towards them?

EDIT: Some sources I've found say that Jews came primarily after the Utah War of 1858 and the establishment of a Union fort in Utah. How about Brigham Young, in a attempt to weaken the "Gentile" influence entroaching on Utah, advertised openly for Jews?
 
Lots of Jews traveled west during the settlement of California, and tended to make their fortune off of provisioning dry-goods rather than with gold.

That being said, Jews tend to be more urban than other American ethnic groups. It will take time, technological advancement, and massive infrastructure projects before the west is ecologically/economically capable of supporting large urban populations.

I believe historically Jews were generally pretty urban in Europe, as family businesses generally developed from money-lending practices in medieval times. To get urban people to settle in wide expanses to do farming is pretty difficult. I believe Jews were more non-urban in Russia and the Muslim world, so maybe focus on targeting them?
 
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