As we approach America’s 250th, this July 4th, 2026, here’s a little list of some people and places, thoughts and things, as they pertain to early Jewish America, with relevance and lessons down to our current day (in no particular order):
ASSER LEVY (or the Hebrew Asher Levy) predates the American Revolution by a century, but he was one of the first Jews to arrive at these shores, likely the first Jew to own a home here, and is noted for his advocacy for Jewish rights. He fought the director-general Peter Stuyvesant and appealed to the Dutch West Indies Company for Jews to be recognized as burghers, for the ability to serve as guard duty and not be subject to a special tax. And he set up shop right here in downtown Albany, near the Hudson (then called the North) River, where he bought a house (or several) back in 1660, back when it was called Fort Orange and Beverwyck, with his own growing businesses and trade. Asher Levy’s persistent advocacy teaches us to stick up for ourselves, even if very small in number, against far greater odds, with few resources (at first) at your disposal, even in a new and unfamiliar environment. Asser Levy reminds us: Don’t feel small! Despite the odds, you can still advocate for yourself and others, you can still stand up for what’s right!
HAYM SALOMON was a major financier of the struggling American Revolution, both of the US Army and also supporting several of the Founding Fathers through challenging times. He arranged major international loans and transferred funds into useable currencies enabling the war effort. Estimates say the loans he arranged (from his own resources and via arrangements) amounted to $650,000 which was a staggering sum in those days, and much of it was not paid back! He died poor and his children were destitute. His role was not fully recognized for many years, but more so in recent works and exhibits etc. He was also a founder of the Mikveh Israel synagogue in Philadelphia. There are Chumash books of his inscribed with his Hebrew name: Chayim Moshe ben Chayim Moshe (his father died before his birth). Funders don’t always get the recognition they deserve. But they make it possible! It’s impossible without it! You can’t run a revolutionary war, or keep Chabad Houses or day-schools or synagogues open, without funders who back you up and help you pay for it. These are expensive undertakings, there are a great many costs. As Pirkei Avot says: “If there is no flour, there is no Torah!” The support is essential and crucial and should be better valued and appreciated!
PROPOSED FOR THE GREAT SEAL: This didn’t end up in the final version, but there’s fascinating detailed historical documentation that Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson both had biblical visuals in mind for the Great Seal of the United States. Benjamin Franklin envisioned Moses splitting the Sea as the illustration along with the motto: “Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to G-d”. Thomas Jefferson planned for the Great Seal to have the Jews at the Exodus with the pillar of fire and the pillar of smoke. The bottom line is that the Great Seal ended up with the eagle, but quite fascinating that both these illustrious Founding Fathers saw the founding of the United States in the lens of the biblical Exodus or the Splitting of the Sea! This is not just historical stuff! As Jews we continually refer to the Exodus in our prayers, in the Shema, in our performance of many Mitzvot, including Kiddush on Friday Nights. We have many a post on this website, including this one about the Exit Sign that speaks of the Exodus in personal and contemporary ways. And the Splitting of the Sea is mentioned in our daily prayers, and we have our Option A & B, and Option C post about that, and how the Holocaust Torah at the UAlbany Science Library is on display opened to the Splitting of the Sea.
ON THE LIBERTY BELL: It’s well-known that the inscription on the historic Liberty Bell is the verse from Leviticus 25:10: “Proclaim Liberty throughout the Land, to all the inhabitants thereof!” But it took our own visit to the Liberty Bell display (almost a museum of its own!) to better appreciate the bell and its message. The building built for it, the setting for the bell, which sits in a closed-in space that widens and opens out (almost Shofar-like!) with a great windowed wall onto Independence Hall – all helps illustrate its message! First of all, there’s nothing like a first-hand experience. The Talmud tells us that seeing something yourself is more impactful than hearing about it. Context and setting can play important roles in our appreciation of things. See this post of our experience and lessons from visiting the Liberty Bell and its surrounding enclosure space in historic Philadelphia.
GOMEZ MILL HOUSE: Especially since we have students and alumni from the Hudson Valley, and it’s not that far from Albany, it’s good to know that the oldest existing Jewish home in America is the Gomez Mill House in Marlboro NY, near Newburgh. (Marlboro is today also home to the NYS Kedem Winery). Luis Moses Gomez and his sons Jacob and Daniel purchased a thousand acres upstate in 1716 (later expanding to 3,000 acres by 1723) for a big lumber and limestone business. The stream near the home they built was called “Jew’s Creek”. The home had several owners and evolution since, but the original Gomez Mill House still stands, with stone walls that are 2-3 feet thick! There’s an old expression “Your Home is Your Fortress” that still has some legal implications and is also used in home-security ads. But it’s also a message about the rock-solid enduring strength of a Jewish home.
MYER MEYERS THE SILVERSMITH: One of the greatest Colonial silversmiths was a Jew named Myer Meyers (1723-1795), a member of Shearith Israel in NYC, whose handcrafted fine silver remain prized collectibles and museum pieces to this day. One of his finest works are a pair of intricate Torah crowns (aka finials or “Rimonim” crowns) which in recent times caused a great synagogue controversy between Cong. Shearith Israel of NYC (the oldest Jewish congregation in United States) and the Touro Synagogue of Newport RI (the oldest continuous synagogue building in the United States). We live in a throwaway disposable generation with ever-changing trends and much built-in obsolescence but no doubt there are things made and actions taken today that will have ripple effects and far-reaching impacts for decades and generations to come – hopefully positive ones! Thinking longer-term can often help us make better more meaningful decisions and choices.
GEORGE WASHINGTON’S LETTER TO TOURO SYNAGOGUE: This beautiful letter from the nation’s first president to this historic synagogue in Newport Rhode Island has been shared many times, but sharing it again here as many students have told us they have not heard of it before – and these words feel especially needed in the America we live in today. Here are a key few lines from the longer letter:
“…for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support…
“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 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 all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.”
There are some exceptionally meaningful lines in this letter: I personally love “scatter light and not darkness upon our paths” as one very richly poetic wish and missive. The lines “give bigotry no sanction, persecution no assistance…” and “And there shall be none to make him afraid” have become all the more relevant again, unfortunate that this has been called into question in America of 2026…
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This below is not a early Jewish Americana, but a Jew who knows their history can not celebrate a July 4th milestone without recalling the rescue at Entebbe – now 50 years ago.
I (Mendel) was three years old at America’s bicentennial in 1976. While I do not remember the Israeli dramatic rescue of the Jewish hostages at Entebbe, I was raised in its bright shadow. Enough can not be said on how dramatic and game-changing this mission was – for the hostages and their families, but also for Jews around the world.
In fact, that 1976, when America was in a much more celebratory spirit than 2026, and the bicentennial was a very grand affair all over the country, many a prominent newspaper headlines had to be rewritten that July 4th 1976, because of the incredible news of this breathtaking successful rescue by the IDF.
Ten years ago, in 2016, we had a 40-year Entebbe anniversary event at Shabbos House. I remember then at the Q&A one student asked, “This is such an amazing story, yet I never heard of it before. Why were no movies made of it?” There certainly were movies: Look up “Operation Thunderbolt” and a US TV series on it, there’s also “90 Minutes at Entebbe”, “Raid on Entebbe”, “7 Days in Entebbe” and others. But more important than the movies is that we know and appreciate our history!