THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
America
covernor of New Auistenliim, wlio wrote to the directors of the Dvitch AVest Imlm Company asking This the dircetors reauthority for their exclusion. fused to jrrant (April ~(>. 10')5) on the jrrounil of "the considerable loss sustained by the Jews in the taking; of Brazil, and also because of the larj;e amount of capital which they have invested in the shares of the conipauy." They directed that "they [the Jews] shall have permission to sail to and trade in New Netheilund. and to live and reniaiu there." This permission was modified on March 13. lli.W, by the statement that the Privileges Jews were not privilejred to erect a and Re- synagogue: and a little later they strictions. were precluded from employment in any public service, and from opening retail shops. One of the sturdiest pioneers of the New Amsterdam colony was Asser Levy. In lO.io he. among others, applied to be enlisted in the militia; but permission was refused, and, in common with all other Jews, he was, instead, ordered to pay a ta.. This 1G.").5, he petitioned he refused to do: and on Nov. for leave to stand guard like other burghers of New Amsterdam. The petition was rejected; but Levy seems to have appealed to Holland, for it subsequently appears that he was ])ermittcd to do guardduty like other citizens. Step by step, through the courts and by appeals, he secured many other privileges (see New Yokk and Asskk Lkvy). He seems to have been the lirst Jew in the state of New York to hold real estate: a lot on what is now the site of
Early
'>,
Albany was owned by him in HiOl. Another of the most prominent of the early Jews in New Amsterdam was Abraham de Lucena, who in 1(1.").") applied, with several others, for permission The request to purchase a site for a burial-ground.
was refused with
was then however, the re-
the statement that there
no need for it. On July quest was granted.
New Amsterdam was
14, 16.50,
captured by the British in
to New Y'ork. For a half-century afterward but little is known respecting the Jewish residents. Their increase in numbers was very moderate. It seems likely that they had some sort of private wi)rshi[) very soon after 16.5.5, and that they began to meet in a more or less public way in IGTfi. lu l(i8'.3 the congregation rented a house on Mill street; and it was not until 1T29 that this was exchanged for a regular synagogue building. On Nov. 1.5, 1737, an act was passed by the General Assembly of New York providing that when the oath of abjurati.m was to be taken by any one '•{ his Hritisli Majesty's Under British subjects professing the Jewish religion. the words "upon the true faith of Rule. a Christian " might be omitted. Three days later an act was jiassed naturalizing one Daniel Nunez da Costa. There was a very considerable antipathy in the colony both to (^atholics and to Jews; but in the case of the latter this gradually relaxed, so that they soon came to receive most of the privileges accorded toother inhabitants of the town and province. In 1737. however, the Assembly of New Y'ork decided that no Jew might vote for a member of that body. Before and during the Kevolutionary War the Jews, like the other inhabitants of New Y'ork, were divided in their allegiance. 3Iany were devoted to the patriot cause; and among these was the minister of the congregation. Gershom Mendes Seixas. who, upon the occupation of New Y'ork by the British, took all the belongings of the synagogue and, with lG(i4
and
its
name changed
496
quite a nuinlier of the members, removed to Philadelphia, where he founded the lirst regularly established congregation, the Miekve Israel. After the close of the war mr)st of these Jewsietnrned to New York, which, on the decline of Newport as a commercial city, took its place and rapidly allnutid a large population. The tide of immigiation now commenced to flow toward the United States, most largely in the first instance to New Y'ork city. Hither came Jews from the West Indies, from Germany, Poland, Russia. Humania, in short, from every quarter of the globe. It is estimated Modern that the city of New Y'ork aloniJewry of now (lil(ll) contains 3(t((, 000 Jews; ami Tork. there are 110 congregations enumerated exclusive of numerous small ones. Jews are now represented in New York city in every walk of life, professional, commercial, ami
New
industrial.
From state. 183"),
citj", Jews gradually penetrated to the congregation was founded at BulTalo in one at Albany in 1S37, and another at Roches-
the
A
ter in 1848:
and
smaller towns in conununities.
all
of the larger and many of the Y'ork state now have Jewish
New
Newport, R.
I.: The hostile attitude of .Stuyveluobalily caused Jewish emigrants to leave New Amsterdam as early as 16.55 and to settle in Newport. There is definite information to the elTect that 15 Jewish familiesarrived in 1658. who brought with them the first degrees of Masonry. They were reinforced by a contingent from Cura(;ao in 16!)0. Quit<' in contrast with the oppres.sivc treatment in New Amsterdam was the generous reception accorded the .Jews in Rhode island, in Jews Cor- consonance with the liberal principles dially propounded by Roger Williams. AlReceived. ready in the seventeenth century the Jews of Newport had commercial relations with their coreligionists in New Amsterdam. It is likely that religious services were first held in Newport in 1658, although no synagogue was erected until the following century. burial-place, however, was purchased on Feb. 28, 1677. In 1750 a very important accession was received in the families of Lopez, Riveia, Pollock, Hart, and Hays, all persons of wealth and enterpii.se engaged in manufacture and commerce. These families came from Spain. Portugal, and the West Indies. The extent of the properly of Aaron Lopez is shown by the fact that at one time he owned as many as 30
sant
A
Jacob Rodrigues-Rivera. a native of Porto Newport about 1745. He was the person to introduce the manufacture of sperina-
vessels.
tugal, lirst
celi in
came
America.
synagogue was begun, which was completed and dedicated in the following Two years jireviously there had year. Synagogue come from Jamaica the Rev. I.saac Built. Touro, who was chosen rabbi; and under his auspices the synagogue was well attended until the outbreak of the American Revolution. In 1763 there were between 60 and 70 Jewish families in Newport. The first Jewish sermon preached in America which has been published was (ielivered in the Newport synagogue on Jlay 28, 1773, by Rabbi Hayyim Isaac Karigel, in the Spanish language, and wasafterward translated into English, Karigel appears to have come from Hebron in Palesline, and was a close friend of Ezra Stiles, the presiIn 1763 the erection of a
dent of Yale L'niversity, As early as 1761 a Jewish club was formed, with a membership limited to 9 jiersons. Just before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War the Jewish population of Newport
