United States Independence Day July 4, 1776
A Day to Remember all Jews and Our Sephardic Heroes of the America Revolutionary War
Arrival
Storm-tossed in the Caribbean and captured by pirates, 23 Jews fleeing oppression in Brazil landed in 1654 in what is now New York, and formed America's first Jewish congregation. New Amsterdam Mayor Peter Stuyvesant initially refused the Jews whom he called a "deceitful race" that wanted "to infect" the colony. Descended from survivors of the Spanish Inquisition, these pioneer American Jews called themselves the "remnant of Israel" -- in Hebrew, Shearith Israel. "It's a wonder there was a remnant at all," says Rabbi Marc D. Angel, spiritual head of the Congregation.
The 23 who got lost in the Caribbean and fell into the hands of pirates were rescued by a French vessel and finally made it to the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam on the Hudson River. There, they and their descendants worshiped in rented space in lower Manhattan until 1730, when they turned an old grist mill into a synagogue -- the first in the American colonies. Three more sites followed before the congregation built its present home, facing Central Park, on a former duck farm. The original "23 souls, big and little," as a Dutch document called them, grew into a religious community that has served some prominent New Yorkers.
A marker denotes the gravesite of a Jewish Revolutionary War veteran at Congregation Shearith Israel's first cemetery, also the nations first Jewish cemetery, consecrated in 1656.
The War Years
The Jews assembled for a number of years in homes or designated places for religious worship, since their arrival in 1654. The first synagogue was erected about 1700 on the north side of Mill Street (South William). It was replaced in 1730 by a new stone building 35 feet wide and 58 feet long on the same site, and it remained there for 100 years. It was here that the famous Gershon Seixas of Portuguese descent, born in New York in 1745, was the rabbi of the congregation. He succeeded Rabbi Pinto in 1766 and held office for fifty years. When the British army was about to capture New York, Rabbi Seixas closed the synagogue, took the Sefer Torahs--and--followed by most of his congregation, left New York as war refugees for seven years.
Jews both fought in and helped finance the Revolutionary War. The war was right in their front yard! Among them, one Abraham Solomon, in the Battle of Bunker Hill with the 21st Regiment from Gloucester. On July 31, 1776, Frances Salvador, a plantation owner from South Carolina, was killed in a British incited Indian skirmish. He was the first Jew killed in the Revolutionary War.
"These Jews both fought in and helped finance the Revolutionary War. The war was right in their front yard!"
Legend has it that George Washington appealed for funds to financier Haym Salomon on Yom Kippur. Salomon, it is said, suspended services in the synagogue upon learning of the desperate request, secured pledges from congregants and then proceeded with observances. Salomon was later imprisoned by the British in New York, he secured his release by translating German documents, but later was again arrested for spying and fortunately succeeded in escaping to Philadelphia. He was not Sephardic, but married into a Sephardic family. Born in Lissa, Poland, in 1740, Salomon spent several years moving around western Europe and England, developing fluency in several languages that served him well for the remainder of his life. Reaching New York City in 1772, he swiftly established himself as a successful merchant and dealer in foreign securities. Striking up an acquaintance with Alexander MacDougall, leader of the New York Sons of Liberty, Salomon became active in the patriot cause. When war broke out in 1776, Salomon got a contract to supply American troops in central New York. In 1777, he married Rachel Franks, whose brother Isaac was a lieutenant colonel on George Washington's staff. Their ketubah resides at the American Jewish Historical Society at the Center for Jewish History in New York. He later served as a member of he governing council of Philadelphia's Congregation Mikveh Israel, a synagogue of the Spanish-Portuguese rite.
In 1975 the United States Postal Department issued a commemorative stamp honoring a Jewish man named Haym Saloman for his contribution to the cause of the American Revolution. This stamp was uniquely printed on the front and the back. On the glue side of the stamp, the following words were printed in pale, green ink:
"Financial Hero - Businessman and broker Haym Salomon was responsible for raising most of the money needed to finance the American Revolution and later to save the new nation from collapse."
Many Historians have said that without his contribution to the cause there would be no America today.
There, with the help of friends, he became active in a security house and made a considerable fortune. He was highly patriotic and helped Robert Morris, who was in charge of the government's financing, to raise money to conduct the war. He loaned much money of his own and, probably due to his imprisonment and active participation in the war, he died at an early age, before the government had made restitution on his loans. He was a martyr to the cause of liberty and American independence.
Most of the New York Jews were Patriots during the Revolutionary War. The few Loyalists were the Nathans, Hendrickses, and a part of the Gomez family. Col. Isaac Franks and Maj. David Franks served in the Continental Army with honor and distinction from New York. Among other Jewish officers of distinction in the Revolutionary War were Major Benjamin Nones, Capt. Jacob de la Motta, and Capt. Jacob de Leon, who were attached to Baron de Kalb's staff at the battle of Camden, South Carolina. When the huge and brave general of German origin was wounded mortally from a half a dozen wounds and deserted by most of his troops, it was these three Jewish officers who, at the risk of their own lives, carried him off the battlefield.
Collectable coin dedicated to Benjamin Nones, Sephardic Jew & American Revolutionary War Hero
The three Pinto brothers of New Haven left Connecticut to fight for American independence. Some of the families involved with the cause were the Ascostes, the Benjamins, the Cardozos, the Cordobas, the Gomezes, the Hendrickses, the Levys, the Mendozas, the Nathans, the Pintos, and Rabbi Sexias. The Americans were always thankful to the Jewish people. Here a letter sent to the Sephardic synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island by President George Washington. In it Washington uses a few words written by Rabbi Isaac Sarfati (1454) of Istanbul. Words originally meant to tell the Jews of the world about the peacefulness he had found in Turkey.
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Another member of the congregation was Haym Levy, probably a descendent of Asher Levy, the pioneer emigrant known as "the battling butcher of New Amsterdam." Haym Levy was an honest and successful merchant. He was one of the great fur dealers of the time. It was in his store that John Jacob Astor learned the fur business. During the Revolution, he retired to Philadelphia. He was a true Patriot and a friend of the United States. Rabbi Seixas, Gomez, and Levy were buried in the Jewish burying ground hounded by Oliver, Madison, and James Streets, within the new Bowery. New York graveyards or cities of the dead have not been untouchable or sacred from the hands of time or the foot of progress. About 1830, congregation Shearth Israel moved to Crosby Street near Spring Street, and thirty years later it again moved to a synagogue near the northwest corner of 19th Street and Fifth Avenue.
A 1779 British invasion through Georgia towards the Carolinas eventually proved to be a major quagmire for the British commanders. British troops were unprepared for new tactics used by American rebels, who fought small, delaying skirmishes, retreated, and then would turn to fight again. British General Cornwallis fought his way along the eastern edge of America, but was unable to achieve a knock-out blow.
Regrouping in the Chesapeake region, Cornwallis planned to await fresh supplies and troops sent across the ocean from England. Without his knowledge, however, Washington had left the safety of New York and marched his forces south where a trap was laid for the British general. While in the French West Indies, French Admiral de Grasse had notified Washington of his fleet's availability, which Washington accepted, and so the French sailed for Yorktown, on the Chesapeake coast. With Washington advancing from the north, and a French army under the French Comte de Rochambeau to the south, the British faced 16,000 troops, while they could muster only 7,000. Cornwallis desperately hoped to be evacuated by sea, but before the Royal Navy could arrive, the French fleet sailed into position. Cornwallis was forced to surrender his entire command, the largest British army in America. The date was October 19, 1781.
Sporadic fighting continued after Cornwallis surrendered in 1781. In March 1782, the British prime minister was replaced. Colonial negotiators began to assemble in Paris. Congress had given Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams instructions not to negotiate without the aid of the French, but these three men did not follow their orders. The French were eager to see their European rivals defeated, but also had hopes of keeping the Americans weakened, which would aid the Spanish, another French ally, with its own interests in North America. America would also serve as a strong overseas market and continual ally. The American delegates secretly opened negotiations with the British, and a temporary treaty was reached in 1782, but the final treaty came a year later. The new treaty recognized the colonies as being independent from British rule and established a normalization of relations that would lead eventually to a strong relationship of trust and coexistence.
The American army under George Washington marched into New York on November 25, 1783, King's College was renamed Columbia University. Rabbi Seixas of Congregation Shearith Israel was named as one of the trustees as he was very highly regarded by everyone. Mario Gomez was a much respected real estate man and money lender. The Daily Gazette contained his obituary as follows: "He was religious, hospitable, humane and generous and a staunch friend of freedom as was evidenced by his relinquishing a very considerable property and residing among the friends of the Revolution during the late war.
"The Revolution was effected before
the war commenced. The Revolution was
in the hearts and minds of the people."
-- Former American President John Adams, 1818
Our appreciation to the Long Island Genealogy Organiztion for assistance with this page.
