Starting New Lives

This chapter explores how Jewish refugees dealt with the problems involved in starting their lives afresh in the Holy Roman Empire—a dynamic and creative process whose effects were felt well beyond their immediate circle. A key issue the refugees faced in the empire was their feelings of strangeness and sometimes even alienation. Many retained warm feelings toward their previous home, and the foreign environment in which they found themselves was hard to come to terms with. The refugees' feeling of strangeness was also a result of cultural and religious difference within Jewish society. Even when they did find a place to settle down in, the refugees did not always feel at home. However, there may have been deeper issues at work. There were those who ascribed their difficulties directly to their refugee experiences. The chapter then focuses on Jewish economic activity. Most refugees seem to have found themselves in one of two professions: trade, often just peddling, or some form of religious occupation, from the lowly jobs of teachers or slaughterers to highly prestigious rabbinical posts.