In World of Our Fathers (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976), his classic account of Eastern European Jewish immigrants, Irving Howe, discussing the "Inner World of the Landsmanshaft," wrote, "While the Jews had seldom felt much loyalty to Russia or Poland, as nations, they brought with them fierce affections for the little places they had lived in, the muddy streets, battered synagogues, remembered fields from which they had fled. The landsmanshaft, a lodge made up of persons coming from the same town or district in the old country, was their ambiguous testimony to a past they knew to be wretched yet often felt to be sweet .. Coming together, they formed modest little organizations that kept alive memories and helped them fit into the new world." Much of the material in this section of Howe's book is excerpted from the major Yiddish work noted below. He gives a brief quote from the oath from the Narevker Untershtitsungs Verein constitution; the full Yiddish text is below:

"The Narevker [constitution] declares that if a member marries, a committee of seven will be chosen to grace the wedding, with 'hat check ... on the account of the organization.' ... With the Narvker Untershtitsung Fareyn, a member who marries is to receive a five-dollar gift, but only if he has belonged a full year; and the present must be given personally by the vice-president at the wedding."

From Di Idishe landsmanshaften fun Nyu York [The Jewish Landsmanschaften of New York] (NY: I.L. Peretz Yiddish Writers’ Union, 1938) prepared by the Yiddish Writer's Group of the Federal Writers' Project, Works Progress Administration in the City of New York; Oath from Constitution of Narevker Untershtitsungs Verein:

Courtesy YIVO Institute for Jewish Research