Jews in the Thirteen Colonies (1654-1789)
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- čas přidán 26. 06. 2024
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Jarrett Ross (Geneavlogger) as Jonas Phillips:
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Sources:
Dr. Henry Abramson
"92. Origins of the Jews of the Americas (Jewish History Lab)"
• 92. Origins of the Jew...
Albert M. Friedenberg
"The Jews of America, 1654-1787: With Special Reference to the Revolution"
American Jewish Year Book, vol. 28
www.jstor.org/stable/23601464
Herbert Friedenwald
"Material for the History of the Jews in the British West Indies"
Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No. 5
www.jstor.org/stable/43058618
Jonathan D. Sarna
American Judaism: a History
amzn.to/3Krki0Z
"The Debate Over Religious Tests"
University of Wisconsin Center for the Study of the American Constitution
csac.history.wisc.edu/documen...
0:00 Intro
1:01 Who Was First?
2:22 New York
5:11 Rhode Island
7:17 The South
8:40 The American Revolution
11:38 Haym Salomon
15:35 Article VI
20:39 Conclusion
I am not Jewish. I am African American. I enjoy learning about how various people came to America.
Many years I was walking in New York's Chinatown and passed by a very tiny Cemetery tucked away in the backyard of an apartment building. The cemetery was barely visible from the street and could only be seen if like me you are very tall. There was a plaque that said this was the first Jewish cemetery in North America. The names were Sephardic sounding Spanish or Portuguese but often with a Jewish first name. The plaque said that the cemetery was on "the outdkirts" of New Amsterdam.
Often the first Jewish "building" of any sort in a community in the U.S. is not a synagogue or a mikvah, but rather a Cemetary. It was here in Cleveland as well, where the first "Jewish" structure of any sort was a cemetary on the West Side of Cleveland. (although most of the Community now lives on the East Side, but that's a long story....)
"Send for Haym Salomon." Dude must have been an absolute baller.
I pictured the scene from Pulp Fiction where Jules (Samuel Jackson) asks his boss for help. The boss sends "the Wolf" to fix everything. I can just see Washington arranging for Salomon to save the day in the same way.
Better call Saul lol
Aaron Levy, prominent merchant of Philadelphia and a member of the Sons of Liberty was a close friend of Haym Salomon and like Salomon, donated much of his own fortune to the Continental Army. He also paid for the building of the first Lutheran church in Pennsylvania as an act of interfaith friendliness.
I spent years amongst revolutionary era reenactors and armchair historians and never once heard any of this. Thank you so much!
Well, as I said in the video, it's only a very small part of the overall picture. I think it would be great if more communities shed light on their own experiences like this. Like, I just found out that there was a well-established Muslim community in South Carolina. I want to know more about that.
A good bit of this is covered in the PBS / Ken Burns New York City documentary from the 1990s.
@@SamAronow Why aren't you a rabbi? Thanks for this informative report.
My Grandfather whom was Sicilian-Italian saw some of the "Not quite White" stuff, and due to CCC service in the South saw Jim Crow, which he disapproved of. His best friend in the Army was a Jewish guy, whom he stayed in contact with after he left the East & moved to California.
I've always loved how detailed your maps were, even showing stuff that isn't important to the story at hand. I remember I could pause and see so many countries and locations. And I'm glad you included the indigenous tribes on the map because most maps about this time period that I've seen just included the various European colonies and then brown blank space for the rest. While everybody knows there were people there, the blank space thing can put forth the impression that the land was unimportant and the people sparse. So great job again I'm excited to see what comes next.
The maps in all these videos are quite wonderful
As a descendant of Prussian (Polish) Jews named Salomon, I am proud of Hayim Salomon's contribution to America's independence weather he is a blood relative or not.
I have been to the Touro synagogue on a trip to Newport and prayed there during the festival of Sukkot. It’s a beautiful structure, built in the Portuguese style. Its congregation is dwindling and it’s more museum than synagogue now.
It was kind of a museum early on, too. As I said in the video, Rhode Island’s Jewish community was always quite small and most left the country in 1783 due to their opposition to US independence.
@@marceloorellana5726 The Portuguese are not Hispanic in the sense of how Americans understand the term (referencing Spain, not Hispania). Also, most Portuguese themselves identify with the province of Lusitania, even calling themselves Lusitanians. So even if they CAN be similar sometimes, if something originates from Portugal, it should be called Portuguese, not Hispanic (that also applies to the colonies who inherited the cultures of the Portuguese Empire, Brazilians for example are Latinos but not Hispanic in the ''Spanish'' sense).
Why was "and none have them had been a rabbi" the best cliffhanger of 2022 thus far?
Love this video! I remember the first time that I learned about the history of American Jews. I had always been interested in history since I was a young child, but my public textbooks emphasized a narrow conception of what made up the American experience.
I stumbled upon Jonathan Sarna's works, and for the first time I saw myself as an integral part of American history rather than being a later addition in the 19th century wave of immigration. After reading Sarna, I decided that I would study Jewish history in college and contribute to the scholarship of American Jewish life to spread the knowledge of our experiences in this country.
A sheynem dank Sam for bringing the history of American Jews to light for a larger audience to see! It warms my heart to know that it might inspire those who are searching for themselves as part of the American story.
Thank you! Sarna was a real pioneer; he himself states that the study of American Jewish history prior to the Open Door Policy was seen as something of a joke until very recently.
Jews: See slaver ship owners.
@@andoriannationalist3738 stop beinn shady and tell us whats on yurrr mind ???
"May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid."
-President Washington, 1790
For me, as a Brazilian, it's very emotional to hear about the first fellow jews that founded the Kahar Zur Israel congregation here and their expulsion by the portuguese inquisition (specially for being a 'da Fonseca' from my paternal grandmother side like Isaac Aboab). Great work as always Sam!
A lot of brazilians historians claim that we have the oldest synagogues in the Américas. Nice to hear about It in this great channel.
@@joaoribeiro5938 hahaha no, I am not hah
@@marceloorellana5726 Spanish and Portuguese Jews, more known as Sephardic. The biggest sinagogue in Amsterdam that dates back to 1675 is known as Portuguese Synagogue to its day. So Iberian Jews, Portuguese and Spanish Jews, Sephardic Jews are the correct terms.
Eu também me animei quando ele falou da sinagoga de Pernambuco! Mas acho difícil ele fazer um vídeo sobre judeus América do Sul né. Enfim, bom ver um BR aqui nos comentários kkkkkk
@@andoreh Sepharadic significa espanhol em Hebraico. Você acabou de falar que espanhóis (sepharadi) é um termo melhor que hispânicos. De qualquer maneira, não faz muita diferença, os judeus portugueses na maioria vieram da Espanha, são espanhóis.
Really loving your channel. Good history that I haven't heard anywhere else.
Shoutout to my fellow 1/64+ Cherokees out there.
This is awesome job! On my father's side, his grandfather's family were Sephardic Jews came to New Amsterdam from Holland, then ended up in Philadelphia. They received land grants from their service in War for Independence in the Applachian frontier.
There they eventually assimilated as there was no Jewish community intermarrying among their neighbors with only their last name to point to their Jewish origin.
I had heard anecdotally that there was a jew who was involved in the funding of the revolutionary war. This was quite specific in explaining how that all came about. Thankyou.
a book is needed on The Financial Hero Of The The 13 Colonies .Mr Saloman
I have been telling everybody at shul about you bro! I love your channel, I have learnt so much with your shiurim!!!! Thank you 🙏🏼!
I have always been curious about this subject but never had the strength to do the research myself. Thank you very much for this one!
0:50 mormons: actually
Great episode!
If it weren’t for Solomon Haym’s cash and credit we wouldn’t have won the War for Independence
Thank you for making Jewish history ever more fascinating!
Thanks for this video Aaron! I studied this particular subject in my college US History class. My prof was Jewish and very renowned and respected for his extensive knowledge of Jewish history in the New World. Their history in the colony and state of New York in particular. I live in Albany County in the Capital District. The Revolution was literally fought in my back yard. The Liberty Bell was forged at the Meneely Bell Foundry that was located one block north of my childhood home. Saratoga and Bennington are only a short drive from my home. This video actually clarified some of the things I learned but it also taught me a lot that I wasn’t aware of. Namely how the Jewish citizens basically financed our fight for freedom while being unable to enjoy the fruits of their sacrifice like their fellow Americans. I really enjoy your channel, Aaron. Thank you again! 👍
I didn't know that colonial Rhode Island didn't allow Jews to become citizens, wow...
If any colonial Jews out there want citizenship, hmu and we can get married
I would like to get married
I love your illustrations of people. Its a really good balance of detail and simplicity. Works well for a vector-based program like illustrator. The two shade approach to skin color and shadows is a great balance too. Kudos!
Don't mind me, I'm just celebrating the cameo of Tadeusz Kościuszko at 14:45.
Seriously though, this video was full of fascinating information. Also, some outstanding voice acting during Caldwell's speech.
I always look forward to you works!
another great vid, thanks
Thank you for this lecture. Very informative.
What a fascinating story! I especially enjoyed the music in this video.
Great video on a fascinating topic, thank you!
The local Jewish library claims "Baltimore, the largest city in Maryland, is home is one of the United States' oldest and largest Jewish communities. As an immigrant port of entry and border town between North and South, as a gateway to the nation's interior and as a manufacturing center in its own right, Baltimore has been well-positioned to reflect developments in American Jewish life."
It was from Baltimore that the Jews were sent to Israel during the Exodus of 1947
Man quality content as always. I LOVE this video.
This is a great documentary, thank you for sharing it with us on CZcams .
thank you, this was phenomenal
Great content as always!!!!
great video as always
Thank you, Sam!
What an amazingly thought producing production! It was concise yet well researched, it covered multiple aspects of a wonderful part of our history as American. Thank you for the tremendous dedication to your research and editing discipline. A+ in my book! Thanks for sharing this. Poty Mouth Mike, San Antonio, Texas. Can't wait for your next one!
A fantastic short history which I was never taught in highschool. Only did I learn much of history on my own. I will contest a little regarding Rodeisland, it was two flavours of Baptist that played heavly in it's founding not purtians so much.
Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson were unorthodox puritans. They were both born and lived in puritan Massachusetts, and were each expelled because of their heresies against puritanism.
Great video sam
- "first Jew in the Americas…"
- Joseph Smith joined to the chat.
:D
Why is he going to use his Seer Stones to find some buried treasure?
Lol
Praise to the man!
Amazing video! Keep it up!
This was incredible I can’t wait to teach this to my students one day!!!
I finally recognize the music you used in the video! Jean-Baptiste Lully est l'un des mes compositeurs préférés!
Excellent work.
VERY cool. I have always wondered about this.
Very interesting! Bravo!👌
As is well known Alexander Hamilton received his formative education at a Jewish school in the West Indies.
What a history lesson this is. Incredible. Astounding information.
Great video. I knew almost nothing of this.
Thank you for this video
Do one about the Jews in the Antebellum South, as well as Jews in the American Civil War!
Hey Sam, amigo, how about a video on Portuguese Jews who went to northern Mexico 🇲🇽 (New Spain) and southern USA 🇺🇸 and stable shed there? Please???? I can’t find anything on that myself. Obviously you have an extraordinary source!
I would suggest reading Judith Neulander, "Crypto-Jews of the Southwest: An Imagined Community". The legitimacy of these claims are a widely contested debate amongst Sephardi researchers but I think Neulander's work is by far the best at discussing this subject, especially a lot of the issues with the evidence used to support the claims. I should also note that instead calling them Portuguese Jews it would be more accurate to call them Bnei Anusim or Crypto-Jews, Portuguese Jews is more often a reference to the Portuguese Jewish Nation which were the communities founded from the Western Sephardic Diaspora; Amsterdam, Livorno, London, Hamburg, Bayonne, Curacao, Suriname, Jamaica, etc. Recife was actually part of this collection of communities, most strongly connected to the Amsterdam community.
So Jews literally saved the American Revolution from economic collapse? Thats amazing! Why didn't even my Jewish school teach this?
Truthfully, this particular era of Jewish-American history is pretty minor even by the standards of Jewish history; it just had a lot of consequences further down the timeline.
No
New worlds jews are a fascinating group imagine how disconnected you would have been from the community and likely from classically trained rabbis and how that would have and did affect their attitudes and beliefs.
Was waiting for Charleston 👍🏽
Thank you for this magnificent, informative, and patriotic video! I learned so much about things I thought I knew, and I also learned a lot that was entirely new to me.
Great Video! I'm training to be a High Shool History teacher in the United States. However, in all i've read, I' had never heard of Haym Solomon or of Locke specifically encouraging Jewish emigration into the Carolina Colonies. I'm always on the lookout for ways to inform students that minorities are for more important in their countries history than they might realize. Additionally, All your other videos have been highly informative and interesting as well. Keep up the great work!
Now that was interesting, well presented articulate and intelligently presented.
Just found this channel and I’m loving it. I’d love to see a video on the Assyrian (sometimes called Kurdish) Jews of Northern Iraq and Hakkari. Thanks and keep up the good work!
I just can not get over how good this series is. It has been an absolute pleasure to watch every episode.
Your Southern Accent is spot on. Well done sir.
It's anachronistic, but I was channeling Johnny Reb.
Sam! You're awesome! I've been looking for this story for over a decade. I was invited to a Passover Seder, and when I read the Haggadah, the words and tone sounded familiar, like... the Declaration of Independence. Ever since then I had the idea there was something missing from the story of the American Revolution, but I never found out much. This fills the gap that I knew was there.
I hope to visit those historical places someday!
This video is very educational. Previously I had hear of Hyam Salomon but not much about other specific Colonial Jews. I knew of Jewish communities but not the full and great impact of those very small communities. This video earned a subscription.
Many Sephardic Jews who were miners, settled throughout the South in the early days of the country. They were more apt to assimilate than their Ashkenazic brethren and it appears that many married into non-Jewish European families including the Cherokee people throughout the Southeastern U.S. This explains why we see their genetic presence in Cherokee and Appalachian people's DNA history.
There were Jews in Latin America at least by 1520. I know because my family was among them.
I must congratulate Sam on his excellent choice in music.
You do know how to tell a tale, young man!
Thx for making this video, i'm of Jewish heritage and I'm an American so i find this fascinating
Something funny I'd noticed is that before Jews became common in the United States it was common for synagogues to be referred to as "Jewish churches."
Islam was called "The Turkish Church."
@oaktree_ yea Synagogue is weird word to Hebrew speakers,I also didn't know how to say it in English until my late teen years and I have family in America🤦.
Just wait until we deal with the fact that היכל and בית מקדש are the same word in Germanic languages...
@@SamAronow What is the difference between the two? As you point out, in English both words translate into "temple".
@@jeffmoncalieri7491 because there is only one capital-T Temple.
There was a great exhibition at the New York Art Society a few years ago. Self-portraits of Early American Jewish families.
Brilliant thanks
This is one of the most informative videos on US history I’ve ever encountered. Fantastic ✨
Damn that was great 👍
What great history. Makes me proud to be an American as imperfect as we are.
Although I've casually studied American history for decades, I was ignorant of all of this. Thank you for posting this video.
Francis Salvador of South Carolina, I've read, was the first Jewish person to be elected to a legislature anywhere.
Sorry, I sent my message by mistake
When the king Dom Manuel saw how many gifted and prosperous people his country was losing, he changed tack and performed mass, unconsented baptisms, transforming all Jews into nominal Catholics, who need not be expelled.
Brazil was officially discovered in 1500.
Many Jews fled to Brazil, as there was an erroneous belief that they might make their way overland to Israel.
Almost all these immigrants were single men.
More "reputable" Catholic Portuguese preferred going to India and Southeast Asia, as it was much easier to make a fortune there.
Brazil, at the outset, had nothing of value.
These recent immigrants found the Tupi-Guatani natives, with very different customs.
One of these was polygamy, which for the Indians was considered the normal state of affairs.
As a result, these early colonists had hordes of children, the ancestors of today's Brazilians.
If one peruses the history of the early days in colonial Brazil, one will find incredible stories of exploration and exploits performed by these "New Christians " and their descendants.
I saw one estimate, whose exact source I do not remember, that up to 40% of the gene pool in Brazil is of Jewish origin.
The "Portuguese Jews" in Europe were actually Spanish Jews who had been expelled from Portugal.
Excuse me for many errors committed by the automatic editing device on my phone, which insists on converting English into Portuguese.
awesome story !
Ahh man, Your southern accent... So good!
A history of Jews in the Dutch West India Company is a video I did not know I needed.
I love learning about the lesser known details about American history. And this makes want to learn more about Judaism in other historical periods.
Great vid!
@Samaronow I have a few books on Jewish History and they cost me a lot. Each time I watch one of your videos I feel you have the topic well covered, way better in fact…
Can you please do the Jewish history in Australia. I believe the first fleet had Jewish people and convicts and free settlers came from then. Many great Australians, Judges Governor Generals Isaac Isaacs and our Greatest General in the GW Sir John Monash. Many politicians like the current Treasurer Josh Freydenberg and businessmen are worth mentioning; Frank Lowy, Harry Triguboff to name a few and many more. I’m sure that you’d find many nuances and something completely unheard of … like Australia’s faults look at pre war refugees and our points of praise.
Latinos and Jews. You never hear about them in the early days of America but they were here.
Thanks Sam for another great video, very interesting. I guess next video will be napoleonic Europe?
Leggo!
All my life I've heard about the Sheftall family of Savannah, my hometown. Without the Sheftall family and many other Jews and their sacrifices there may not have been an America.
Haym Solomon is my favorite Jew of American History thanks to this video
Great video, but I couldn't help but laugh at the decision to read out the David Caldwell quote in a non-rhotic southern accent; such an accent did not exist at the time, as it would only develop from the introduction of non-rhoticity into coastal American dialects in the 19th century, which itself stemmed from the influence of the non-rhotic English accent which was only popularized in the 19th century. In the 1780s, an average person from the Southern US wouldn't have sounded exactly like anyone today, but would have had an accent more similar to England's West Country accent than to the accent we associate with the Southern plantation elite today.
I know it was anachronistic, but I was more interested in presenting an attitude than a realistic representation of speech. Similarly, I have instructed all the actors in my next video (on the French Revolution) not to speak in a French accent.
@@SamAronow
Yes. For accuracy, French characters should speak French! But the actors may not be good at the language and not everybody likes subtitles.
So let them speak naturally. You need to get the message across with clarity.
Similarly, the evolution of English accents is fascinating but might distract those here for history lessons
(See the VVitchfinder General at Atun Shei Films.)
@@SamAronow Fair enough!
"...is best calculated..." shut up, Rev. Dave. just. shut. up.
-- a lapsed Pagan who has at least one Jewish ancestor
Nice use of the March of the Ceremony of the Turks! Impeccable choice of music.
1:35 Claim to be 1/64 Cherokee, just brilliant. Wink wink.
I've watched a lot of your videos with great interest. I've had questions before but now I must ask: What do you find interesting or important about the lack of a rabbi among the Jewish community in colonial America?
During this period in history rabbinates were not just the religious leadership but also the actual recognized legal and political authority for the Jewish communities as perceived by secular and religious authorities in Europe AND the Middle East. All European and Muslim states in this period talked to their Jewish citizens through the rabbinate. Therefore, the experience of American Jews was unique in that there was no possible form of communal representation for them under the Old World model, yet they did exist and did (sort of) have a voice independent of the traditional system.
@@andrewsuryali8540 Exactly. Even now, when Jewish emancipation is the norm worldwide, the US, Canada, and Australia are alone in having no rabbinates of their own; each synagogue is its own supreme authority. And although the vast, vast majority of American Jews today do not descend from these colonists, the absence of a rabbinate has had enormous consequences for how Judaism has evolved in the New World.
@@SamAronow Even more special when you remember that Kaifeng Jews isolated all the way in China had their own rabbis.
Some goods could and were made in the colonies but these were very limited. Whale oil candles, rum from molasses and other goods that did not come from England and were not subject to the navigation acts which set the prices the colonists could get from British merchants or put a surtax on goods they sold to other nations and prevented the colonies from buying manufactured good from anywhere than Britian. The British goverment took a share of these transactions.
Would you be able to name a couple Jewish board members for the Dutch East India Company?
4:00 Delaware - 'New Sweden link', could explain a lot current state of affairs :)
Nice presentation, shared, subscribed.
The way you say your 'a's in all your video, eg Lasting, Vast, After, is really strange for an American, is this some regional dialect that I don't know about? :)
I will never understand antisemitism.
And now we reached the promise land of Manhattan
*Brookland
I was homeschooled, and knew a little of this. I remembered that a Jewish man singlehandedly financed much of the war and died bankrupt, though I could never remember his name. Another little known fact, if I remember my history correctly is that Ferdinand and Isabella did not finance the voyage of Christopher Columbus, but rather an important Jewish man convinced the monarchs to grant the mission by paying for it himself. From what I gather, he got the short end of that stick.
Further, there was cause for concern among both Jews and Christians in the New World because of Spanish control in the Carribbean, Mexico, and Florida and the very real threat of an Inquisition driven war to the North. I am certain that neither Jews nor Christians were ignorant of the slaughter of French Protestants in the renamed city of St. Augustine.
A final interesting fact is that for all that most Jews supported Independence, I do recall a Southern Jewish representative in the Confederacy 87 years later.
As a Christian, I love learning about Jewish history. Further, I have never understood the fear of some who claim to be Christian of the Jewish people. Do they not believe that God spoke to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and say that those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse her are cursed, and that in Israel will all the nations and families of the Earh be blessed? (Genesis 12:2-3, 22:17-18, 26:3-5, 27:29, 28:3-4; Numbers 24:9)
(I do not know how the references operate in the Jewish versions of the Torah, or I would have cited them in that fashion. As a Christian, I am only familiar with our own textual divisions. My apologies.)
When the US became independent, there were about an equal number of Jews in the North and South. But by the Civil War, this had changed to where the vast majority lived in the north due to more recent waves of immigration and industrialization. Subsequent claims by Lost Causers that the Confederacy was pro-Jewish and the Union was not rings hollow; yes, it is true that the Confederacy had a Jewish Secretary of State and a Jewish colonel, but of the 10,000 Jews who served in the Civil War, 7,000 served in the Union and attained ranks as high as brigadier. These demographic and political shifts are equally true of the US as a whole.
@@SamAronow, I quite agree, nor was I attempting to assert that the South was more progressive than the North during the war, just showing that the opposition to the Jewish community involvement had faded slightly.
@@jayt9608 Not exactly. In the South what happened is that opposition increased after the Civil War. In the north at the same time it decreased, but would go back up later on. I’ll get to all this eventually.
@@SamAronow, I was a pain in school because I was always pushing the teacher to jump ahead from other things that I knew or inferred from what was taught, I may not always be correct, but I am always thinking and absorbing. I am quite aware that the situation would get...unsettled, and that it took WW II to change many attitudes, though that imperfectly. However, I shall sit patiently and push no further.
I thank you for these videos and for taking the time to discuss these things.