Jews prove critical to founding of America
Bill Federer
In
1492, Columbus was sent to find a sea route to India and China by the Spanish
Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, who had just liberated Spain from 700 years of
Muslim occupying forces.
Statue of Robert Morris, left, George Washington, center, and Jewish financier Haym Solomon, right, in Chicago |
Some
Jews went to the Ottoman Empire, and some went to Portugal and then went to
Amsterdam. From Amsterdam, some Jews sailed with Dutch merchants to South
America, settling in the city of Recife. In Recife, they built the first
synagogue in the Americas, Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue.
When
Spain and Portugal attacked Recife, the Jews fled again.
Twenty-three
sailed to Port Royal, Jamaica, then, on the French ship Sainte Catherine, they
arrived in 1654 at the Dutch Colony of New Amsterdam, becoming the first Jews
in North America.
Dutch
Governor Peter Stuyvesant attempted to expel them, but they were allowed to
stay, as the Dutch West India Company in Holland considered Spain and Portugal
its main enemies, not Jews or other dissenters.
The
Dutch were in a global contest with Spain and Portugal over possessions in
Indonesia, India, Africa and South America, and so they wanted to quickly
populate the colony of New Netherlands for its defense and profitability.
In
1663, the Dutch West India Company, while officially establishing the Dutch
Reformed faith, instructed Peter Stuyvesant regarding Quakers “and other
sectarians”: “Immigration … must be favored at so tender a stage of the
country’s existence, you may therefore shut your eyes, at least not force
people’s consciences, but allow everyone to have his own belief, as long as he
behaves quietly and legally, gives no offense to his neighbors and does not
oppose the government.”
Jews
in New Amsterdam were not allowed to worship outside their homes or join the
city’s militia.
Then,
in 1664, British forces took control of New Amsterdam, renaming it New York,
and Jews gained more freedom.
In
1730, Jewish citizens in New York bought land and built the small “Mill Street
Synagogue,” the first Jewish house of worship in North America.
During
the colonial era, America’s population grew to 3 million, with a Jewish
population of around 2,000 in seven Sephadic congregations:
·
Shearith
Israel, New York City, begun 1655;
·
Yeshuat
Israel, Newport, Rhode Island, begun 1658;
·
Mickve
Israel, Savannah, Georgia, begun 1733;
·
Mikveh
Israel, Philadelphia, begun 1740;
·
Shaarai
Shomayim, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, begun 1747;
·
Kahal
Kadosh Beth Elohim, Charleston, South Carolina, begun 1749;
·
and
Kahal Kadosh Beth Shalom, Richmond, Virginia, begun 1789.
From
the 3rd century on, the teaching of Rabbi Samuel in Babylonia, that “the law of
the land is the law,” resulted in Jews refraining from trying to change their
political situation. The American Revolutionary War was the first time since
being exiled from Jerusalem that Jews fought alongside Christian neighbors as
equals in the fight for freedom.
Jewish
merchants, such as Aaron Lopez of Newport and Isaac Moses of Philadelphia,
sailed their ships past British blockades to provide clothing, guns, powder and
food to the needy Revolutionary soldiers. Some merchants lost everything.
An
estimated 160 Jews fought in the Continental American Army during the
Revolutionary War, such as Lieut. Solomon Bush and Francis Salvador of South
Carolina, the first Jewish State Legislator, who was killed in a Revolutionary
War battle; Mordecai Sheftall of Savannah was Deputy Commissary General for
American troops, 1778; Abigail Minis supplied provisions to American soldiers
in 1779; and Reuben Etting of Baltimore fought and was appointed U.S. Marshall
for Maryland by Jefferson, 1801.
George
Washington’s Jewish physician, Dr. Philip Moses Russell, suffered with him at
Valley Forge.
President
Calvin Coolidge recounted, May 3, 1925: “Haym Solomon, Polish Jew financier of
the Revolution. Born in Poland, he was made prisoner by the British forces in New
York, and when he escaped set up in business in Philadelphia. He negotiated for
Robert Morris all the loans raised in France and Holland, pledged his personal
faith and fortune for enormous amounts, and personally advanced large sums to
such men as James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Baron Steuben, General St. Clair,
and many other patriot leaders who testified that without his aid they could
not have carried on in the cause.”
In
1975, a U.S. postage stamp honored Haym Solomon, with printing on the back: “Financial
hero-businessman and broker Haym Solomon was responsible for raising most of
the money needed to finance the American Revolution and later saved the new
nation from collapse.”
George
Washington sent a letters to the Jewish Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island,
and in Savannah, Georgia, stating: “May the same wonder-working Deity, who long
since delivered the Hebrews from their Egyptian oppressors, planted them in a
promised land, whose providential agency has lately been conspicuous in
establishing these United States as an independent nation, still continue to
water them with the dews of heaven.”
Ashkenazic
Jews were few in America until a persecution in Bavaria in the 1830s resulted
in many thousands immigrating.
President
Martin Van Buren sent a letter to the Muslim Ottoman Turks requesting that they
stop the killing of Jews in Syria, “on behalf of an oppressed and persecuted
race, among whose kindred are found some of the most worthy and patriotic of
American citizens.”
David
Yulee, “Father of Florida Railroads,” was the first Jew elected to the U.S
Senate in 1845. He was joined in 1853 by Senator Judah P. Benjamin from
Louisiana.
Governor
David Emanuel of Georgia was the first Jewish Governor of any U.S. state.
In
1818, Solomon Jacobs was Mayor of Richmond, Virginia.
Uriah
P. Levy was the first Jewish Commodore in the U.S. Navy, fighting in the War of
1812 and commanding the Mediterranean squadron. He was responsible for ending
the practice of flogging in the Navy. A chapel at Annapolis and a WWII
destroyer were named after him.
When
Jefferson’s Monticello home was decaying, Levy bought it in 1836, repaired it
and opened it to the public. He commissioned the statute of Jefferson that is
in the U.S. Capitol rotunda.
Samuel
Mayer Isaacs, editor of the Jewish Messenger, wrote of the United States, Dec.
28, 1860: “This Republic was the first to recognize our claims to absolute
equality, with men of whatever religious denomination. Here we can sit each
under his vine and fig tree, with none to make him afraid.”
In
1862, the London Jewish Chronicle reported: “We now have a few words of the
Jews of the United States in general. … The Constitution having established
perfect religious liberty, Jews were free in America. … They … in a
comparatively short time, prospered and throve there in a degree unexampled in
Europe.”
At
the time of the Civil War, the population of the United States was 31 million,
including around 150,000 Jews. An estimated 7,000 Jews fought for the Union and
3,000 fought for the Confederacy, with around 600 Jewish soldiers dying in
battle.
Jewish
Union Generals were: Leopold Blumenberg; Frederick Knefler; Edward S. Salomon;
and Frederick C. Salomon.
Jewish
Confederate officers included: Judah P. Benjamin, Secretary of War; Colonel
Abraham Charles Myers, Quartermaster General; and Dr. David Camden DeLeon,
Surgeon General; Surgeon Dr. Simon Baruch served on General Robert E. Lee’s
personal staff.
Major
Raphael J. Moses was Commissary Officer of Georgia, and after the war began
Georgia’s peach industry.
Whereas
the first Catholic U.S. Army chaplain was appointed during the Mexican-American
War, the first Jewish chaplain was appointed during the Civil War, Rev. Jacob
Frankel of Philadelphia’s Congregation Rodeph Shalom.
On
March 1, 1881, Tsar Alexander II of Russia was assassinated and a pogrom began
against Jews, leading to over 2 million fleeing to America.
By
1916, the United States population was 100 million, of which 3 million were
Jewish.
During
World War I, President Woodrow Wilson wrote: “Whereas in countries engaged in
war there are 9 million Jews, the majority of whom are destitute of food,
shelter, and clothing; driven from their homes without warning … causing
starvation, disease and untold suffering … the people of the U.S. have learned
with sorrow of this terrible plight. … I proclaim Jan. 27, 1916, a day to make
contributions for the aid of the stricken Jewish people to the American Red
Cross.”
Source: WorldNetDaily,
via Last Days Watchman
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