JERUSALEM, Israel – America was founded as a Christian nation. Yet, early on in the country’s history, some Jewish settlers came to dwell in the Colonies alongside their Christian neighbors. CBN News talked with Jewish commentator and historian Gil Troy and discovered that the settlers were among the most patriotic of the British colonists fighting to become the first citizens of a free America.
To watch the video of our discussion, click on the video above. The text of the interview is below.
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PAUL STRAND: Looking at America’s 250th anniversary, we’re also looking at Jews in America at that time of the Revolutionary War era, talking to a Jerusalem Post commentator and scholar, and historian, Gil Troy.
In America, I understand there were very few Jews there at the start. Do we have rabbis or spiritual leaders to thank for the fact that that community did manage to thrive and become a real presence in America?
GIL TROY: It was a small community, but it was a very patriotic community, and there was one particular hero, Gershom Mendes Seixas, who was known as the Patriot Rabbi. When he was 23 years old, he was born in 1742, so in 1766 he has the nerve to throw his hat in the ring to lead the synagogue, Sha’arey Yisrael, which today is the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue still existing.
It was founded in 1654. And he beats out older European types. Why? Because they wanted an authentic American voice, an authentic American Jewish voice. And so, on the 250th anniversary of this extraordinary country, the land of possibility I call it, America, we celebrate this connection between the civic, theological, and patriotic dimensions of the American Jewish community and America.
PS: One thing I like about him is the fact that he really had a communal sense. And I think he started the first works for the poor in New York City. He started a burial society so that even the poorest Jew could still be buried with dignity. And what I liked about his patriotism is that I think he, he had his whole congregation, he said, “Let’s flee New York” when the British were invading, and I think he himself fled holding onto the Torah scrolls and saying, “I will not let the British have these.”
GT: He was a proud American.
PS: Yeah.
GT: Right? And the congregation had chosen well. And the burial society was a free burial society for Jews, but it inspired other New Yorkers. The charitable initiatives were for all New Yorkers. And indeed, during the revolution, he said, “Let’s leave.” And they took the Torah scrolls and their sacred objects, and they went to Connecticut, and then eventually, he ended up in Philadelphia. And he meets this guy named George, George Washington. And he becomes friends with the greatest hero of the American Revolution, George Washington.
PS: And that led to something interesting, which is that when General Washington became President Washington, there were only three clergymen he invited to stand with him as he was sworn in, and one of them was Seixas, and he was the only Jew there. So that’s pretty amazing.
GT: Think how crazy this is. The Jewish people, unfortunately, have been attacked in so many places. And now, at the very start of the American story, at the inauguration of President Washington, his friend Gershom is there. And it’s a symbol of the way the Jewish people and so many other people have been accepted into America as Americans, but also able to continue their own identity. That balance between being a patriot and a rabbi is why we call him the Patriot Rabbi.
PS: And I wonder if Seixas’ friendship with Washington inspired him when the Hebrew congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, wrote Washington in 1790, he replied to them, saying this about protecting their religious liberty. He said, “May the children of the stock of Abraham dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the goodwill of the other inhabitants, while everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, there shall be none to make him afraid.” What a sign of support for this minuscule population of Jews in America.
GT: This man, George Washington, who already has, his birthday is already a national holiday. He’s already legendary. Basically, he lays hands on the Jewish people, but also on all peoples, and saying America is going to be different. So we have the Constitution. We have the First Amendment. We have separation of church and state. We have empowerment of people to pray freely and be freely religious. But it’s not just in terms of the formal rights. With George Washington, it’s personal.
And by the way, Seixas became a beloved figure in New York. He becomes a trustee of Columbia College, now Columbia University. When he walks around New York, everybody loves him and hugs him. And when he dies in 1816, his death is considered to be a big blow to the community, not just to the Jewish community.
PS: Wow. And what I like, though, is that he never wanted his Jewish people – though he wanted them all to be patriots – he never wanted their Americanness to overrule their Jewishness. He always reminded them that we have a covenant with God. We’re not even really home when you think about it. We’re still people in exile.
GT: It’s a dance.
PS: Yeah.
GT: And one of the things that we’ve seen over the 250 years of American Jewry – of course it starts earlier, but we like to celebrate, since 1776 especially – is you talk about the power of the freedom, life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, is that you can live multiple identities. So you can be a proud Jew and a proud American.
And in America, it wasn’t a choice. In fact, Louis Brandeis, the great Justice of the Supreme Court years later, would say that by being a proud Irishman, by being a proud French person, by being a proud Italian, by being a proud Evangelical, by being a proud Jew, you’re a better American, because you understand what it is to have community, you understand what it is to have values. And you understand what it is to have patriotism and pride.
PS: Amen. Well, thank you so much, Gil. I appreciate this.
GT: And happy birthday, America.
PS: Amen.
