SOURCE: "Jacob A. Riis: Christian Friend or Missonary Foe? Two Jewish Views," in American Jewish History, Vol. 71, No. 1, September, 1981, pp. 29-47.

In the following essay, Gurock takes a close look at Riis's relationships with Jews.

I. Jacob Riis Attacked and Defended

A. The Lucas-Riis Letters

On August 14, 1903, the American Hebrew excitedly reported that "a particular settlement house on the lower East Side. . . . that has attracted much attention in the past few years, mainly owing to the fact that one of its patrons is a gentleman of international repute as an advocate and friend of the poor" was not living up to its announced "high and commendable purpose." Its work, they declared, "has not been of a strictly non-sectarian character, as has always been supposed. Children have gone to their homes singing religious hymns in honor of the Christ and the Virgin" taught to them by "Christians carrying on...