Trudy Gold
How did Jews Fare in the American Revolution and Afterwards?
Trudy Gold - How did Jews Fare in the American Revolution and Afterwards?
- All right, well, good afternoon, everyone. And I hope everyone is feeling okay. And of course, we are at the beginnings of our class on America. And it’s fascinating, as I said to you last week, America, up until a couple of years ago, was the largest Jewish community in the world. And now it’s been overtaken by Israel. And if you just think how Jewish demography has changed so, so much. If you go back to 1939, where there were nine million Jews in Europe, and by the way, a million Jews in the Arab world, and today, if you look at the huge demographic shifts, it’s Israel, America, and the rest of us, basically. I mean, in England, we’re meant to be an important community now, but in fact, we’re only 275,000. So they’re people, it’s very difficult to measure Jewish population because of course there are some who have no connection, but except they want to have a Jewish burial. So it’s complicated, but what we do know is the number has well, well halved itself since the war. Now, what can I say about American Jewry? When I first started teaching a long, long time ago, over 40 years ago, it was a much more optimistic country, world we were living in, it was much more optimistic to be a Jew. And in the light of what’s going on, before I get on to George Washington, and I must tell you that the Jews are absolutely irrelevant to the American Revolution. They didn’t think about them, they didn’t consider them. And there was between about two and a half thousand Jews in the whole of the Americas at this particular stage. So, important to remember this.
And what we’re going to be looking at is first of all, how the Germans arrived and changed America and the Jewish community, and then of course the Russians. And when the Russian Jews, I’m talking about the Jews of Eastern Europe, I sometimes call them the Russian Jews because of course they’re living under the Tsars. There was a man called Leon Pinsker, a fascinating character, because he had been born in Eastern Europe. He, and there was a short period in the reign of Alexander II, who reigned from 1856 to 1881. When he seems to be liberalizing, he was ruling over a huge empire, the largest land empire in the world. It was incredibly backward. There were still 57 million people tied to the land. And his father had just lost the Crimean War against Britain and France. Russia needed to industrialize, it needed to modernize. And the only way he could do that was to educate his people. That’s what he did. He relaxed the oppression against many of his people, including the Jews. And there was this brief period where Jews were allowed to live outside the pay or they were allowed to go to universities and there was this feeling that maybe Russia would liberalize. But it all went wrong. The Poles revolted, the governor of Finland was assassinated, more and more revolts because the minute you give people freedoms, you can an autocracy rule. And it culminates in his assassination. Now, Leon Pinsker had been part of an organization called the Society for the Promotion of Culture Amongst the Jews of Russia.
And when Alexander II was assassinated, one of the assassins, not one of the actual killers, but one of the women who ran a safe house was in fact Jewish. And they decided, Alexander III, who was totally reactionary He decided with his chief procurator and minister, a man called Konstantin Pobedonostsev, who was the lay procurator of the Russian Orthodox Church, they decided to use the Jews to ward off revolution. The pogroms break out, those terrible, terrible, terrible pogroms, which tragically we’ve seen an echo of, and maybe just beyond imagination on October the 7th, which will mark us forever. Anyway, Leon Pinsker had believed in the Society for the Promotion of Culture, he believed that Jews could become in the end part of Russia, you could still be Jewish, but emulate what was going on in the West, British Jews, French Jews, etcetera. And when the pogroms happened, he wrote a pamphlet called “Auto-Emancipation,” and it was a man-wolf, it was a warning cry. He wrote it in 1882. He sent it to a relative in Vienna who said, “He must be insane and suggested he see help.” But he said this, “Judeophobia is a psychic aberration.” It is a 2000 year old disease and it is incurable. And he said, “Those of you who are going to America are fooling yourselves. We are ghosts upon the face of the world and we the only way we can stop that is to reconstitute ourselves.” And also I wanted to bring to your attention before I actually get on with the background because I do believe if you understand history and of course, there’s no such thing as objective history although I think everyone who works on lockdown does try very hard to be objective, but we all come from our own personal backgrounds, and experiences. I do believe that if you have a long a detailed knowledge of our past, it equips you better to deal with our future.
Now, what we do with that knowledge is totally our business. And because tonight is the anniversary of Kristallnacht, you see, normally I would have done a session, but I thought in the light of October the 7th. You all know the story, the first state organized pogrom in Germany. All we can do, and most of those who were alive at the time are no longer alive. My close friend Anita is, she’s 98. I did ask her if she wanted to speak, but she is not wanting to at the moment and I think you can all understand why. For a Holocaust survivor to witness what happened in Israel is beyond imagination. So, why am I going to concentrate on America? Because it’s such a rich scene, it’s such a rich scene from every viewpoint. The way that Jews became part of America, the way in a, you can make the case that certainly in music, art, literature, films, modern and business, the usual story, high visibility, they changed America. You can even go as far as to say, and I think some of our literature people will be doing this. They created the American dream. So what I’m going to do in this session, I’m going to actually look at a few interesting individuals at the time of the American Revolution, and how gradually they become part of it. But remember, I’m only talking about a very small number. And next week, I’m going to be talking about the German Jewish immigration, which itself was also fascinating, but it was still small. It’s not until Jews came from Eastern Europe that we can really talk about a sizable population, and also don’t forget the 19th century was the century of immigration and if you’re interested in how America develops look back to Europe see what’s happening in the various countries of Europe, and you begin to understand why did the Irish leave the potato famine, why did the Italians leave, it’s fascinating. So anyway, let’s have a look at the first slide, please. And of course, that is George Washington, the first president of America and the American Revolution. Let’s have a look at the next slide, please.
The American Revolution of 1776 glorified in some countries, not in others. But what is going to be interesting about America, and Simon Sibelman began to speak about it, and it’s going to be, and William Tyler is coming in on Sunday to do a special lecture on state religion, because one of the reasons America is going to become more and more attractive to Jews is along with so many other people, there’s no state religion. And was it a haven for people escaping persecution? And that’s something all you have to do is think of the Salem witch hunts and I think this is something that William is going to address for us on Sunday because luckily he’s not just a brilliant historian, he’s also a constitutional lawyer and we also are lucky enough to have Dennis Davis, and I know he and some American scholars are going to do an in-depth for us on the American Constitution. Now, the first person I want to talk about and he was mentioned to you last night. And that can we see the next picture, please. That’s a man called Haym Salomon. Now, if you remember, those of you who watched, he was mentioned by Professor Sibelman, and he is absolutely going to be critical to the American Revolution in such a stereotypical Jewish way. He was the son of a rabbi, he was born in Poland, and he was obviously a restless character, for a very, very clever background, a bright man. He traveled through Europe, he acquired several languages, also a great knowledge of finance.
He returns to Poland in 1770, which was not a good time to go because in 1772 the partitions of Poland. So it begins in 1772, by 1815 Poland is swallowed up as a state. most of the land becoming part of the Russian Empire. So, you know, that’s one of the issues of Jewish history, there’s so much dependence on the outside world, the outside world acts, how do the Jews act. So this ambitious young man, he leaves, he travels to England. And then he decides he’s adventurous he’s going to travel to New York and he leaves for New York in 1775, so he’s an astronaut and he establishes himself as a financial broker for merchants in overseas trade. He’s very, he becomes a patriotic American. He joins the New York branch of the Sons of Liberty. And remember, it’s under British rule, and he is arrested as a spy, but he’s pardoned. He seems to have been a very resourceful individual, but they pardoned him because they needed an interpreter for who? For their Hessian mercenaries. One of the regiments that the British employed were the Hessians. This also ties back into Jewish history. Hesse was a small state in Germany. The prince of Hesse became incredibly wealthy because he lent out his troops, and he had as his main financier a man called Mayer Amschel Rothschild. So, it all kind of ties up the stereotype of the Jew. Never forget that the bulk of Jews are actually impoverished in Poland. And he was obviously very brave because he used his position to help prisoners escape. And he also tried to encourage the Hessians to desert the British.
That was too much for the British. The war is on, he’s arrested, he’s sentenced to death. and he manages to escape. He’s got a family by this time. He escapes to the rebel capital in Philadelphia. Now once he’s resettled, he returns to his activities as a broker. He becomes the agent to the French consul as well as the paymaster of the French forces in North Africa. He’s incredibly resourceful. He has colleagues. You see, this is, he has colleagues in other parts of the world. And as a result, he becomes the paymaster to the American allies, the French. And in 1781, he began working extensively with Robert Morris, the newly appointed superintendent of finance for the 13 colonies. He often worked out of the London Coffeehouse in Philadelphia. Now, Coffee houses were just places where brokers gathered. In fact, the same thing has happened in London a century before, before they set up the stock exchange. He sold about six million dollars in bills of exchange. He arranged deals and he took a percentage. It netted him about two and a half percent of the sale, which is a considerable fortune. He was a risk taker. He negotiated the sale of war aid from France and Holland, selling bills of exchange to American merchants who believed the Americans would be victorious. And August 1781, the Continental Army had trapped Cornwallis in the Virginian town of Yorktown. Now, the war chest was completely empty. There was no food, there was no uniforms and no supplies. And the troops were on the edge of mutiny.
George Washington needed $20,000. Washington told him, so Morris says look there are no funds available and it was Washington who said send for Haym Salomon. Now the story goes that Salomon was actually in synagogue at the time, but he leaves, he raises 20,000, he sold the bills of exchange, and that led to the final battle of the revolution. He also… He was evidently a very interesting and kind man. He helped many unsung heroes who were impoverished by the war. The Treaty of Paris ended the war, but there were huge financial problems. The American war debt to France was never paid, and it was actually part of the cascade of events that later led to the French Revolution. Salomons becomes very involved in Jewish affairs, congregation Mikva Israel in Philadelphia, He made a huge donation towards the construction of the building. He was an amongst a number of six prominent Jews in the successful effort to have the Pennsylvania Council of sensors remove the religious text load required for office. So it was originally to disenfranchise the Quakers, the Jews were such an awful, an afterthought, but he took it as a personal front. America’s going to be a new land, new opportunities, and they managed to do it. In 1784, there was an anti-Semitic slanderer, and this is how Salomon answered it. I am a Jew. It is my own nation. I do not despair that we should obtain in every other privilege that we aspire to enjoy along with our fellow citizens. However, unfortunately, he had helped a lot of people, but due to the failure of governments and private loans to repay the debts, he died in poverty after he managed. He was in debtors prison and he contracted TB. However, there’s a US stamp that now honors him.
And it says, the financial hero, businessman and broker, Haym Salomon, was responsible for most of the money needed to finance the American Revolution, and later to save the new nation from collapse. And in World War II, the US Liberty ship was called the SS Hyam Salomon in his honour. Now, what is also fascinating is that his heirs actually calculated that if the debts owing to him had been were to be repaid now, it would put America in a great deal of difficulty. So the extraordinary story of Haym Salomon, he died young, he died in poverty, he lived the life of an adventurer, there’s no question of it. Can we see the next character I want to look at? Another kind of character, this is Gershom Mendes Seixas, his father, Isaac now he’s a Sephardi. His father was a Lisbon based merchant who emigrated to Barbados, a British colony, and then he comes to New York City in 1730, and then moves to Newport Rhode Island in 1765. So Isaac marries Rachel Levy, and had seven children, including Gershom. And he is one of the signatories to the Non-Importation Agreement Act, which led to the War of Independence. His father is a wealthy man, and they think they can take a new kind of freedom in a new kind of country. And his eldest brother Moses helped organize the Bank of Rhode Island and became president of the Rhode Island Synagogue, and led the welcome to George Washington.
His younger brother Mendez was an officer in the Continental Army and he becomes the leader of Shearith Israel. And when the British fleet actually approached, he preached a very emotional sermon, and he left New York rather than stay under British rule. He rescued the scrolls of the law and fed to Stamford, Connecticut, where many of the congregation actually joined him. So, many important politicians attended the dedication of it for Israel, including the governor of Pennsylvania. So, there is hope that it can be a new world. He was totally in favor of religious liberty, he approved the adoption of a religious test for prospective office. He said, I beg your pardon, he opposed any religious test for office holders as unjust. And he believed that anyone who was attached to the American cause had the right to be a free citizen without any kind of religious test. And this is something that, as I said, William’s going to talk about it on Sunday, but it’s something that’s very critical. Remember, a lot of people are escaping. Catholics have escaped Protestant persecution, Protestants have escaped Catholic persecution, Quakers and Jews who were persecuted by everybody. In 1784, when he returned to New York City, he preached a Thanksgiving sermon, and he was one of the 14 clergymen to participate in George Washington’s inauguration, and he served on the border which later became New York University. He was buried in the congregation’s first cemetery, which is now in Chinatown. Now, he is an interesting character and let’s go on though to his brother and the message of welcome to George Washington. Now this is fascinating George Washington goes to synagogue, and this is the Message of Welcome. And it gives you a total new notion of self-confidence.
Permit the children of the stock of Abraham to approach you in the most cordial affection and esteem for your personal merits and join with our fellow citizens in walking you to Newport. With pleasure, we reflect on those days of difficulty and danger when the God of Israel, who delivered David from the perils of the sword, shielded your head in the day of battle. We rejoice to think that the same spirit which rested in the greatly beloved Daniel, enabling him to preside over the provinces of the Babylonian empire, rests and ever will view upon you, enabling you to discharge the arduous duties of chief magistrate in those states. Deprived as we have hitherto been of invaluable rights of free citizens, we now with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty, disposal of all events, behold government which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, but generally affording to all liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship, deeming everyone, whatever nation, tongue or language, equal part of the great governmental machine. For all the blessings of civil and religious liberty, which we enjoy under an equal and benign administration, we send our thanks to the ancient of days, the great preserver of men, beseeching him that the angel who conducted our forefathers through the wilderness into the promised land may graciously conduct you through all the dangers and difficulties of this mortal life. When like Joshua, full of days and full of honor, you are gathered to your fathers, may you be admitted into the heavenly paradise to partake of the waters of life and the tree of immortality.
And that is the speech of Malcolm when George Washington visits the synagogue. And can we please see his reply? And I want you to work out where he’s quoting from. Gentlemen, while I receive with much satisfaction your address, replete with expressions of affection and esteem, I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you that I shall always retain a grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome. The citizens of the United States have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind our examples of an enlarged liberal policy, a policy worthy of imitation, or less alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship, this of course is a great speech of the European enlightenment is it. It is now no more the toleration is spoken of as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people that gives another that gives another enjoyed the exercise, of the inherent natural rights and let me say this again it’s terribly important. This is the enlightenment. We don’t want toleration, we want inherent natural rights. It is now no more the toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily, the government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that those who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their support.“ Now, don’t forget, this is written in a book. the 17 in the 1790s. Don’t forget, of course, that it doesn’t include women. It doesn’t include people of color. It certainly doesn’t include native inhabitants of the Americas. But what I would say, in its time, as a speech of the Enlightenment, considering what is happening in most other places in the world, it is still a forward-thinking document. I think as a historian it’s very important not to judge according to the standards today. Yes, of course you could judge slavery, it was abhorrent, but the point is when you’re looking at these documents, try and see them in the context of their time. And now this is what I want you to work out where this comes from.
May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land and continue to merit and enjoy the goodwill of the other inhabitants, while everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of mercy scatter like a not darkness in our path, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his due time and way everlastingly happily. So, that is the speech of George Washington. And can we go on to the next slide, please. Because I want to bring your attention to a man I consider to be an extraordinary individual, a man called Judah Touro. Now, his father was Isaac of Amsterdam, and in 1762 he became the husband at the Newport Rhode Island shoal. He had been a converso. His family had been forced, you know, you know these stories. Originally the family were from Spain. One of those families who stayed behind in 1492, and lived as secret Jews. And then of course, when Holland breaks away from Spain, Protestant Holland, it becomes, I talked about this last time, it becomes an absolute oasis of toleration. When I say an oasis of toleration, it’s comparative. Everything is comparative. And he comes from Amsterdam, his father, and he becomes the Hazan at the Newport, Rhode Island shore. The family moved to New York after the British occupy Newport during the American Revolution, the family then moves to Kingston, Jamaica, when in 1782, the father dies, and it’s at this stage his mother moves to to Boston to live with her brother Moses Michael Hayes.
Can we see him please because he’s a fascinating character. She died in 1787 and Judah and his siblings were raised by his uncle. The uncle was a wealthy banker, a merchant, he’s actually the founder, one of the founders of Boston’s first bank and he’s again, remember there aren’t that many of them at this time. And he’s what he’s an adventurer and a very interesting character. He was also born to a Dutch he was born in New York to a Dutch converso family. He went into his father’s shipping business, and on his father’s death, took it over. You will remember I told you that some of these Sephardi merchants were incredibly wealthy. He continued his father’s commitment to congregation Shearith Israel. He becomes the second parnas, and in 1767, he’s the major parnas. He married Rachel Myers, the younger sister of Myers Myers, who’s a famous New York silversmith. This is kind of a Sephardi kind of cousinhood. In 1769 he moves to Rhode Island, and remember he’s going to be taking in his sister’s children, so Judah Touro who’s going to be the main subject is going to be dependent for a while on this man. and he continued his shipping business. Unfortunately, he had some business reversals. He landed in debtors prison, but he managed to liquidate his assets and repaid them. And again, reestablishes himself in the North Atlantic trade.
If you were prepared to take risks, there were fortunes to be made in the Americas. And in 1775, the 76 men of Newport asked to sign a declaration of loyalty to the American colonies, including the phrase, upon a true faith of a Christian. He refused, he said, all men are created equal, and he offered a letter affirming belief that the revolution was a just cause, and he signed when the Christian part of the oath was removed. So he’s a very, very forward-thinking character. He left Newport for Boston ahead of the British. He opens a shipping office and was amongst the first member merchants to underwrite the ship building and trade insurance to the newly opened markets. He also founded, as I said, he founds the Bank of America, which is very important. And he is in charge of his nephew’s welfare. So, can we please go back to. Can we go back to Judah Touro, whilst living with his uncle, he falls in love with his cousins, but Hayes forbade the marriage and sent Judah on a trading voyage to the Mediterranean basically to end the romance. It’s absolutely quite tragic because he never married. And the two of them were obviously madly in love all their lives. It’s rather a sad story. He goes to New Orleans, so Judah Touro he himself, he’s trading in the Mediterranean that he goes to New Orleans, can we see the next slide, please. That’s the Touro Synagogue on Rhode Island. It was later named for him because it fell into disrepair and he’s going to become an incredibly wealthy man, and one of the things he’s going to do is restore the synagogue. So, that’s the Rhode Island Synagogue now called The Touro Synagogue. Very important. Can we go on, please? Yes, he goes to New Orleans in 1801. Have a good look at it. This is the early 1800s. He opens a small store. He sells soap, candles and other exports, and eventually becomes a major merchant and ship owner. Why? The Louisiana Purchase. Can we see the next slide, please? I’m sure our American students would have been taught this many, many, many times.
What was the Louisiana Purchase? This was something that the American government was desperate to get their hands on. It’s under Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon Bonaparte in 1803, he is prepared to sell that French stretch of land for $15 million. And as a result, America acquires the American colonies who are now the United States of America, they acquire 828,000 square miles in the middle of America, and most of the area is, in fact, who lives on the area, there’s only 60,000 ordinary folk, 30,000 of whom tragically are slaves from Africa and Native Americans, and what America does is to buy the preemptive rights to obtain land from the Native Americans by treaty, or conquest to the exclusion of all other powers. As I said to you, there are things that today we would find completely distasteful, but you’ve got to see it in the context of the time when the African slaves were treated in the most abominable way, and so were the Native Americans. So, what happened was Napoleon was embroiled in other difficulties and Thomas Jefferson, he was desperate to gain control of the Mississippi port of New Orleans, and he tasked James Monroe, who of course later on was president of America, to negotiate. He goes to Paris to negotiate and he nearly doubles the size of the country. It’s land. Now, have a look at those states. The entirety of Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, a large portion of what is now North and South Dakota, areas of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado, a portion of Minnesota, west of the Mississippi River, as part of New Mexico, the Northeastern section of New Mexico, the Northern part of Texas.
New Orleans, and a small portion of land within Alberta and Saskatchewan. Now, what was he really? What he wants is the ports. This is so important. And it means that the it means that of course, Louis, New Orleans is going to become an incredibly important city. and the new American governor assures the residents that their property rights and religion would be respected. Now, this is one of the most important land transfers in history, and it’s also one of the most important parts of the creation of the United States of America. The price, $15 million, was incredibly cheap. President Jefferson was later told, you have bought the Louisiana, you have bought the Louisiana purchase for a song. And also it was rich in gold, silver, all sorts of other ores, forests, and endless land for grazing and farming. This is what’s going to make America very, very wealthy. Now, so it’s important because Judah Touro is a very clever merchant, and he is in New Orleans, and he is going to develop a very very very big empire. He’s a great patriot in 1812, I beg your pardon there’s war between America and Britain, remember the British take the White House, and Touro despite poor health volunteers for Andrew Jackson’s army, and later on, of course, Andrew Jackson is the president the seventh president of America, in fact, can we see a shot of the 1812 war and of course the Battle of New Orleans. And he volunteers, even though he’s wounded and he’s ill, and he carries ammunition. And after the war, though, once the war is over and the Americans are victorious, he really expands his empire. He begins, he gets capital from his uncle. And not only that, he’s already a very astute businessman. He goes into the shipping. You know, if a buccaneers, this is a time of huge, huge opportunity if you’re prepared to take risk, the shipping trade and personally and also personally he lives a very simple bachelor life. He said, "I have saved a fortune by strict economy.” He was a huge philanthropist. He donated $40,000 to the Jewish cemetery in Newport. The park now is there in his memory. He built a synagogue in New Orleans. He built an almshouse and infirmary for sailors suffering from yellow fever. He built a Unitarian church, that’s a very low church, very all-encompassing theologically, for a minister he admired. His infirmary became the largest free hospital in New Orleans.
And during a New Orleans fundraiser for persecuted Christians in Jerusalem, he gave 10 times more than any other donor. And this is a compliment paid to him by Christians, an admirable trait evinced was the unsectarian distribution of charity, whilst the donor continued a strict adherence to the principle of his faith. Now he’d moved away from Judaism, but he comes back to it. He gave a $20,000 donation to the Jews Hospital in New York, now Mount Sinai, and it led to the opening of Mount Sinai in 1855. He gave much personal charity to individuals in trouble. And it was said in his eulogy, it will be impossible to enumerate all the acts of charity performed by Judah Touro. At his death, his estate provided endowments for nearly all the Jewish congregations in America, as well as huge bequests to hospitals and orphanages. And what about in Palestine? Now, can we have a look at the next slide? There’s the Battle of New Orleans. Yes, and the next slide, please. Moses Montefiore. Now those of you who know about Moses Montefiore, who was a British philanthropist, he’s wonderful for historians because he lived to be 101. He was a Sephardi Jew who was a very wealthy Englishman and his wife was sister to the wife of Nathan Rothschild, two sisters, so Montefiore and Rothschild were very, were very, very close. He was also close to Queen Victoria because as a girl she played in his country garden in Ramsgate, she was very, had a very unhappy early life and he was the Stadtmann of the Jewish world. Whenever Jews were in trouble they would, because England under Moses Montefiore, he was chairman of the board of deputies. He was a very, very wealthy man. And not only that, whenever Jews were in trouble, they would send for Moses Montefiore and Adolphe Cremieux, who was president of the Alliance in France.
And they got involved in all sorts of things. And he got very, very involved in Palestine. He visited the Holy Land seven times, and he gave, he actually was involved in all sorts of help in Palestine. Now, Judah Touro through a friend of his, as I said he’d rediscovered Judaism, mainly through his friendship with a man called Gershom Kirshen. He kept Shabbat, he kept Kosher. And basically, apart from a bequest to his cousin, Catherine Hayes, the woman he was always in love with, as an expression of the kind remembrance in which that esteemed friend is held. Unfortunately, she died a few days before him, but he gave everything away to charity. And as I said, he’s buried in Newport, Rhode Island. One of the reasons it’s the Touro surely, made possible for the reopening of the synagogue. That why its renamed The Touro Synagogue. And this is what the Jewish encyclopedia said of him. No American Jew has ever given so much to so many agencies and causes, nor has any non-Jew done so much in such a varied way because he gave a lot to non-Jewish charities, and on his tombstone is inscribed in the book of philanthropy to remember tomorrow for forever. Now, as I said, he rediscovered Judaism, and he… What happened was he gave permission for Kursheedt who became his executor to give a lot of money to Moses Montefiore. He gave Moses Monti $40,000, as long as he would use it to ameliorate the condition of our unfortunate brother brethren in Palestine, and in the Holy Land to secure for them, and I’m quoting “The inestimable privilege of work worshipping the Almighty according to our religion without molestation.”
Sorry, and so what he does is at his death, his estate, and I’ve already said it not only provides endowments and maybe all the Jewish congregations, hospitals. arms houses, an awful lot of money to non-Jewish causes, but in Palestine, his bequest working with Moses Montefiore he his pre quest funds the first Jewish residential settlement an arms house outside the old city, and he don’t beg your pardon it wasn’t 40,000 he donated 60,000. In fact, all of the requests, he gave away $500,000 to be used at the discretion of Moses Mendelssohn with his trustee Gershom Kursheedt on Jewish matters. So, Isaiah 32, my people will abide in peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings and in a quiet resting place. And the building was dedicated in the 18th 6th, and it encompassed two synagogues, one Ashkenazi, one Sephardi, a mikveh, a well and a handpipe, and gardens, and, of course, the Montefiore window. So, what an extraordinary character. So, and it was Kirschke, who traveled with Moses Montefiore. to Palestine and he had actually gone first to meet up with Moses Montefiore to discuss what could be happening. Montefiore also had a dream of opening a railway that in fact didn’t happen, so I really felt that it would be wrong not to talk at length about Judah Touro because I think he’s a real kind of hero. He was obviously brave, and he fought for him in the war. He was an incredibly generous man, he was brilliant businessman who lived a simple life. I don’t know if there are any writers in the audience, but what a story the story of him and Catherine, and all those yeah, a sad story too. Now, another man I think I should bring to your attention. Can we go on, please. Completely at the different end of the scale, a character. If ever there was a character, it was Mordecai Manuel Noah. Let’s have a look at lots of pictures of him. There you go. In Grand Island, in the Niagara River, between Buffalo, New York, and Canada, okay, are you with me? On a pedestal, a Grand Island town hall is a cornerstone engraved with the Shema and the following inscription, a city of refuge for Jews founded by Mordecai Manuel Noah, Tishri 5886 September 1825 in the 50th year of American independence. Now, who on earth was this character who decides he’s going to create a Jewish colony and he called it Ararat. Okay, who was he. Some of these early settler’s Jewish settlers in America are characters and this one is a character you couldn’t have made it up his life. One of his mother’s ancestors was a man called Dr. Samuel Nunes, a converso, who escaped the Inquisition and fled to the States, actually to Savannah.
And I’ve been talking to Professor Simon Sibelman, and I am going to put a lot of pressure on him to talk about some of the communities in the southern states because they’re also interesting. He was born in Philadelphia in 1785 in what my mother would call a mixed marriage. His dates are 1785 to 1851. What do I mean by that? On one side, he’s German Jewish, and on the other side, Sephardi. His father, Manuel, was a war hero from the Revolutionary Wars, and had contributed to the war efforts financially. His mother died when he was only 10 years old, and he went to live with his maternal grandfather. He studied law in Charleston and decided on a political career on journalism. He was an incredible patriot. He writes articles in the Charleston papers advocating war with the English in 1812. His grandfather had given him a very deep-seated reverence for American liberty and also for great pride in his own people. And at 26, he petitioned the Secretary of State for a consular position. He comes from a wealthy background, remember. He’s a journalist and George Washington, by the way, was at his parents’ wedding. And in 1811 he was appointed he was offered the consulship to re-read he declined it, but in 1813 he was appointed the US consul to Tunis, so we have a look at Tunis in 1813. So, this Jew… Can we see the next slide, please? Oh, James Madison. Yeah, I should mention James Madison. James Madison also later on becomes and he becomes president. And what happens is he is Secretary of State in Tunis. Have we got a picture of Tunis. I think I yeah Tunis in 1813, and what he had to do. He was that he’s a real daredevil. He was charged with releasing American slaves captured by pirates. He managed it, but the ransom was huge, and it caused trouble in the States, and the Secretary of State Monroe recalled him. Let’s have a look at James Monroe. He records him.
And says the chief cause of the problem was Jewish. Now, Monroe said his religion was an obstacle to the exercise of his consular functions. Monroe, of course, becomes the fifth President of the US. Now, Noah doesn’t like this, he tries to get a satisfactory answer from the White House. He gains letters from John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison that’s why you had his picture supporting church take separation and toleration. So, you see, he is prepared. He believes that James Monroe is anti-Semitic. Whether he was or not is not, I don’t think he was actually, but he said it made it difficult for him to operate in Tunis. Nevertheless, he gets letters of support, and he also gets from the leader of the Jews in New York, a man called Isaac Harvey, to write articles in the newspapers. Jews are by no means to be considered as a religious sect tolerated by the government. They constitute a portion of the people. So, he’s an agitator for the rights of the people. They are in every respect woven in and compacted with the citizens of the Republic. He then moves to New York. He founded and edited the National Advocate. The New York Inquirer, by the way, which I’m sure you all know of, it was founded by him and others. He was also a playwright. He was a prolific. He was a prolific writer. And also, he writes a huge patriotic of patriotic further some of his plays. Fortress of Sorrento, she would be a soldier, the siege of Tripoli. He becomes a very famous playwright. He’s a very popular playwright. He was ruthless. He would use his papers to close other plays that he didn’t like. One year he was editor of six different newspapers.
He was very competitive, and he is the first Jew to actually gain real political power in America. In 1821, should we go back to the picture of Noah rather than looking at James Monroe all the time? Can we go, and go back one more, and then you’ll see Noah, okay. He was elected sheriff New York. So, remember, he is a politician. He’s a writer. He’s a journalist. He’s a playwright. He’s also incredibly egocentric. And he’s a surveyor of the of the city’s courts. He’s also a judge in general sessions. And in fact, some of his rivals, one of them said, isn’t it a pity that a Jew may hang a Christian. And his reply, yes, isn’t it a pity that a Christian deserves to be hanged. This is a new kind of, I don’t know what it’s a new kind of self-confidence, I suppose. Also, he has another dream. His other dream is the restoration of the Jewish nation. And this is what he writes in 1818, never will prospects for the restoration of the Jewish to their ancient rights, and dominion more brilliant than any other than they are at present. There are 7 million Jews throughout the world possessing more wealth, activity, influence, and talents than anybody of people of their number on earth. He really did egg it actually. You see the stereotype of the Jew, he’s playing it. They will march in triumphant numbers and possess themselves once more of Palestine, and take their ranks among the governments of the earth. This is Jewish messianism. In 1820, he begins negotiations to purchase Grand Island, then completely undeveloped as a temporary refuge where Jews could safely await possession of their ancient land.
Now he is a loyal American, but he doesn’t think all the Jews will come to America, what he wants is to create a temporary place for them before they can go back to Palestine. He also, he’s an operator he hopes to attract Jewish finance from Europe, who would see benefits in Eastern European Jews who sought to farm. It took him five years because he wants to set this colony up by Niagara. It took him five years to raise the net money. He’s part charlatan, he’s part activist, he’s part speculator, he’s part dreamer and it opens. And second of September 1825 thousands of Christians come to see it he has far more success with the Christians and the Jews millennial thought you’ve got to fill and Rubenstein is going to be talking about this, you know, people waiting for something, large inaugural crowd because remember he’s a playwright and he has theaters, he creates a spectacle. He employs the New York militia for the opening of Ararat. He rents a Buffalo church, cannons were fired, an Indian chief called Red Jacket arrived by boat. Noah speculated, also said perhaps the Native Americans were the lost tribe of Israel. He made a huge spectacular entrance. Jonathan Sarno, the brilliant American historian, he said this, resplendent in a Richard III costume from his theater, complete with gold medallions, chain all lent by the Park Theater. Norris Hume, his self-proclaimed royal role as the judge of Israel. There was an ecumenical service left by a Protestant minister.
Noah issued his proclamation to the Jews. He created his city. There is a Jewish refuge for Eastern Europeans, it’s called Ararat. And he said this, “The government of the Jewish nation under the auspices and protection of the United States of America,” and declared himself a judge of Israel. He called on each Jew in the world to be taxed three shekels to support the Jewish nation. And of course, you can imagine some people thought it was amazing, but the majority of the Jews, it was a firestorm of protest and ridicule. Isaac Harvey, the influential newspaper editor from Charleston, accused him of abrogating to himself the role of Mashiach who would one day lead the Jewish people to New Jerusalem and not New York. He was labeled a fraud. He was labeled a land speculator. How he had a lot of ridicule from many European rabbis, but nevertheless, he continues with his charitable work. He was a founder of New York University. He project, he was also one of the people behind the idea of Mount Sinai, which comes into being after his death. He was also a benefactor of synagogues. But he’s a strange character, but I thought I’d bring you to bring many of you will know of him, but I thought he was worth including because it gives you a notion of the kind of responses. He did believe that it would be problematic if all the Jews came to America, and he did believe that the only answer was a homeland for the Jews. He wrote a discourse on the restoration of the Jews proclaiming his faith in Jewish return, he called on America to take the lead.
So, he was also responding very much to the dire reports of the of what was going on for the what was going on in the Jewish world because you’ve got to remember the Jews with being terribly oppressed under Nicholas the first of Russia, there was the Cantonist system young Jews being taken into the Russian army before the mitzvah for 25 years, it was terrible of persecution. And he thought he could solve it. He was half charlatan, half serious. He was also a bit of a con man, but in my opinion, an extraordinary individual. Anyway, I’ll stop there. Let’s have a look and see, we’ve got some questions.
Q&A and Comments:
Oh, this is from Diane Katzlin. It’s a lovely, lovely question, compliment for Wendy. Thank you so much, Wendy for starting this. It’s amazing. If only all people were like you. Yes, Wendy. I’m very lucky to call Wendy my friend. She’s an extraordinary, extraordinary woman. She does so much.
October the seventh was war pogrom. Now the reason I use the term pogrom is because pogrom is… Because that’s what happened in Pogroms. That’s what happened in Pogroms, Carol. That’s how they did it. They did, they slaughtered, they maimed, they terrified, unfortunately. So, that’s why I use the term. It’s beyond a massacre.
Our great great great grandfather, this is Richard Philip Moses Russell served with Washington at Valley Forge is buried at maker Israel smooth streets in the goal, along with him Salomon Rebecca Rebecca Gratz. Oh, that’s amazing.
Rita saying that the word pogrom was used properly and organized massive or particularly as a group, yeah. And one of the reasons I find it, so well. I mean, anyone who’s got any sensibility, how can we, it’s in our memories and hearts forever isn’t it, but the reason I use the word pogrom, and I’m going to say this to you, as a student of Jewish history, I’ve had the misfortune to have to study things like The Helm and it’s the massacres, and if you read the descriptions which the Israelis had to release because people were questioning it. That break me up. It was they perpetrated acts which they do, so perpetrated in the time of film, and it’s key which I’ve never read aloud to students because it’s too painful. Okay, that’s why it’s a pogrom. That’s interesting.
Marilyn saying there was a tennis player called Victor Seixas as a relation from his father was Elias’s Seixas a senior was born in the Dominican Republic. He is reported to be Jewish. Oh, that’s that’s interesting. That’s interesting. No Seixas. They were a converso of family. So far, the Jews, you’ve got to remember, probably over 100,000 Jews did convert to stay in Spain. And of course, it’s a fascinating period of Jewish history. But you know, that’s our story. We stay somewhere for a while. And then we move on. Now, Israel was to make sure that we never had to do it again. Touro Synagogue on Rhode Island has an escape hatch under the building. That’s very interesting.
“Liberty Son” by Shirley Milgram recommended by Leon, thank you. Michael is it Michael, or is it Isaiah I want you to tell me next week do read the Bible, let me know. Can you estimate percentage of how many converso returns to Judaism, not the entire amount of converted. Jews have always had significant numbers of the proverbial off-ramp. That’s a very difficult question to answer. And I will try and find a concise answer for you. A colleague of mine when I worked on the on IRA, a colleague of mine went to visit American, he went to visit Portugal, because Portugal was thinking of joining IRA that’s the, and that’s the task force that their duty was to it was government intergovernmental to teach the shower so it would never happen again to anyone, yeah, well we won’t go there, and when he went to Portugal he went to Lisbon University and the rector told him he thought that something like 60% of the population of Portugal had Jewish blood.
Oh, this is interesting. The Battle of New Orleans was fought two weeks after the peace was declared. Communications in those days were slow and Judith is seconding Carol’s heartfelt thanks to Wendy. As a Canadian, I learnt the British won the war and retained our lands. That is Diane’s comment. I am so bad at pronunciation.
Thank you, Michael. Entrance to the South African Jewish Museum which was the first purpose built shortly in South Africa, concentrated in 1843 has beautiful stained glass windows in memory of St. Moses Montefiore’s philanthropy to South African Jew. He was an extraordinary individual Moses Montefiore, as I said he lived to be 101. You can spend a whole term teaching the history of Moses Montefiore and what he got up to. Yes, I can. I will send that to the… Well, actually they’ve got it, haven’t you? You’ve got it, haven’t you, those two speeches? So it would be easy just to send it round, wouldn’t it? Am I correct? Because it’s a slide. Is that correct?
Oh, from Della. Hi, Della. They grew up the famous called Yemi Moshe named after Montefiore, they were built with Touro’s money. My family lived there. I was always indignant there’s only one street named after Touro where I lived. I was recently delighted that the only restaurant was named the Touro or Della, that’s lovely.
Q: What happened to Ararat?
A: Well, there’s still a plaque there. The Jews didn’t come. They didn’t come to Ararat on the Canadian border.
Yes, this is interesting. The big really, Shelley said, Noah was living during the 1820s, when the big religious revival, Protestant in the US, that must have influenced him too. Yes, and Phil’s going to talk about it. There are so many different threads that we can look at when we look at America. But I really wanted to talk, look, I had to choose characters, just as Simon did. And I chose because I like biography, I chose, Touro because he’s a hero of mine. And I chose Noah because he’s such a character. I mean, he’s a messianic claimant in a way, but he had the, I think the only word one could use about him was chutzpah.
Anyway, I will convey to Wendy your very good wishes. It’s so weird how it all started. Wendy was locked down in South Africa, and I was locked down in Cornwall, and we’ve known each other for years, and she’s her parents have been they’ve been to classes, and family friends blah blah it doesn’t matter. Anyway she phoned me up and she said we’re going mad, and I said, “So am I.” So she said, “Would you want to start teaching because there was there was, I think there were about 10 of them in the block with the family. And she mentioned it to a few friends, I mentioned to a few friends. And within a month, we had about 100 people. And then we thought of bringing in some other colleagues because I used to run the London Jewish Cultural Center. So that’s where William and Patrick came from, and a lot of the and then of course, as it grew, Wendy, because she’s international and she bought the American team in and of course, wonderful Carly has brought in so many political speakers. So somehow, we didn’t sit down with the plan, maybe that’s why it worked.
This is truly besides your wonderful lips. I hope you keep them well. I love the show. Thank you. We’ve been to see that synagogue. It’s beautiful. That reply by Washington, it should be posted at every American university. What’s happening on the campus is sickening. Yes, and I want to look, I know what needs to happen, but it will never happen. Jewish history should be taught to Gentiles in non-Jewish. It’s bad enough we don’t know our own history, but they need to know our history too because we are so mysterious to them. And the other problem, you see, we are so central to Christianity and Islam. On one level, they are. Now I’m not going to say look monotheism think about it Christianity and Islam see themselves as fulfillments of Judaism. Don’t forget the day side it’s so important that Christians understand that hatred. You know, you can’t hate a people for 2000 years and it’s in the I’m not paranoid. I know I was tutored by Robert was rich, but I do not. I’m not mad. I do not believe every Gentile hates Jews. Of course, they don’t. But there’s this negative stereotype in the culture. And you add to that the show up, which is how Jacobson said they can’t forgive us for it. So whenever Israel acts in a way where they think they can criticize all the hounds of hell come down on Israel. It’s like, you know, I find it absolutely extraordinary. There’s going to be 100,000 people marching through London again. But where were they in the Ukraine? Where were they for? Where were they for every injustice in the world? It’s this special injustice reserved for the Jews. That’s my view.
This is from Marion there’s a problem there’s a poem bigger part written by long fellow about the Jews buried in the cemetery in Newport. I was stunned when I saw that some of the graves of similar in shapes the micro being graves and the tomb of option on in conical tops. Uriah Levi who saved Monticello has the synagogue on the grounds of the naval academy name fee, the only synagogue on federal property. Yes, he was quite a hero wasn’t he and the fact that he saved Monticello is so interesting, and, of course, Simon Simon the lecture on that.
Oh, Rita, you’re so sweet. You’ve got to understand, Rita’s thanking us all, you’ve got to understand, you all mean so much to us. We’ve become a community and it’s very comforting. It’s comforting to know, and I know that there are people in Israel listening, it’s comforting for us to know that we are whatever, and there are differences and we all have different political views, and all the rest of it, but in times of crisis the majority of us do come together, and that’s so important to all of us. So, I wish you all good night, and I believe there’s going to be a very important lecture on at 7:00 with wonderful Carly, so bless you all and I will see you next week, and don’t forget to listen to William on Sunday. He’s going to talk about church, and state, and synagogue, and state, and also there’s a very special event on Sunday I believe is that not true Hannah?
[Hannah] Yes, that’s true.
[Lecturer] There’s going to be a very special event for you is that 6:00, or 7:00? 7:00. Anyway have a good evening, God bless.