Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/552

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
504
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
504

THE JEWISH

America

on the statT nf Gcncnil Arnolil. In tlic war isii tlii-iv wcii as far as known, 4:{ .lews, of whom the most |irominciit was Hrisrailirr (Irni-ml Joscpli IMoomtiiUl, iu charge of .Military District

504

£^X•VtLUl'l:l)lA law

Jamaica

I'olmicl.

of Moses.

of

a]>plicants for naiunilization simply to taki' the oath of alli'giance. In 1727 the (iiiieral .ssemlily ol New York voted that Ji'ws taking the oath of abjuration might umit the wt>rds " upuu the true faith of a Christian." This liberality was not contine<l. however, lo provincial assemblies. In 174u Parliament pa.s.sed an act f(U' naturalizing, among others. such Jews "as are settled or shall set In the tie in any of His .Majesty's colonies in British -Vmerica." Of the IS'J Jtws who took Colonies.

No. 4. coniprisini: I'liiiisyivania. Dilawarc. and In tiii' Mixicaii War there western New Jersey. were .")! Jews, the most proniiiient lieinir Daviil de Leon, who twice received the thanks of Conj;re.ss In the Civil War tlicie were on hoth for iralhmtry. sides T.tiys" Jewish soldiers, and in the SpanishAmerican War over 2,(HHI. Hesides, a fair numher has lieen found in the rejrular army, as well as in the navy (See Ait.MV. Ji;ws iN. and I'mtlo Si.vtks). lu civil service lo the state nearly all of the information at hand relates to the I'niled Slates. There have been 4 Jewish memliers of the Services in I'niled Stales Senate and aliout 20 of Many Civil Life, the House of Representatives. have been in the diplomatic and consular services, anionir whom may Ix' specially mentioned Moi'decai M. .Noah, consul al Tunis; 15. K. I'ei.xotto. consul al Bucharest; Simon Wolf, consul.^einial in Egypt Oscar S. Suaiis, twice minister to 'I'urkey, au(t Solomon llirsch, who held the same

]iost.

Jews liave served as mayors of cities, inemhers of the le.gislature, judges of the courts; and they have held many minor otlices of trust and conlidence. Simon W. Kosendale was altorney-general of New York; Isador Havnor. altornev-L'enind of Jlarv-

.V

Thetirst statue to l)elongtothe rnileil Slates, and in the Capitol at Washiiiglon, was one in bninze of Thomas JctVerson

which originated Statuary Hall

by David

d'An,!rers, a

French sculptor.

It

was

|)re-

sented to the United States in 1S3S by a Jew, Lieutenant, afterward Commodore. Uriah I'. Levy, of the United States navy, and was formally accepted by Congress in 1^71 on the motion of Scn;ilor Sum-

in l(>H;!rei|uired

advantage of this act, lol were in New York, 9 in Pennsylvania, 4 in Maiylanil, and 1 in South Carolina. Following the Declaralion of Indei)endence in 1770 most of the states ]daced all citizens upon an absolute equality the oidy notable exception being Maryland, in which Jamaica. 24

in

state a pidlonge<l struggle took i>lace before full political rights were linally secured (see above, un-

der

"

.Maiyland "). stringent Sunday laws now iu force in nearly all the states, forbidding Jews to work on the Christian Sunday, entail considerable hardship among Jews observing the Sabbath; but these laws are in the nature of |iolice regiilaticais. and are not disciiminative against Jews as such

The

Science and Art, Literature, and the Learned Professions: Jews baM' been nieinliers of all the leariud luolessidus

— and

— principally

the

le,i;al

they have conlributed to nearly all the sciences and to the linearis, 'i'he fact has alrcadv been mentioned that some .lews have been elevated to the bench, and others elected to the post of attorney general. Many eminent iihysicians, medical writers, and professors in medical .schools are .lews. There has been at least one distinguished

and medical

land.

pas,seil in

Hebrew

sculptor, Moses Ezekiel, and there are sevothers of rank. .Vmong artists and etchers should cspeciallv be mentioned the Jews Koscnthals of Philadelphia, lathiraiid Eminent in son; and of illustrators the best known All Deis Louis Loeb. Jews are also found partments. as inventoi's, c.;i.. Einil Berliner, inventor of the teleiihone transmitler; as architects, Daiikmar Adlerof Chicago, and .Arnold W. Bruimer of New York, for instance; and as en.irineei's, the most distin.sruislied of whom is .Mendes Cohen of Ballimia-c, one of the ])ioneer railroad buildersof the country, and at one time president of the American Society of Civil En.irineers. Many Jews hold professorships in colleges: JI,

I

and J. II. Hollander at Johns Hopkins; Richard Oottheil and E. R. A. Scli.cman at Columbia; Mollis Loel) at the L'niversity fif New York; .Morris Jastrow at the University of I'ennsylvania; Joseph Jasli'ow at the University of Wisconsin: ('harles Grossat Harvard; whileamueh largernuin-

ner.

Civil and Political Rights: In the colonics establisheel on .Vmericau soil jnore liberty or toleration was usually shown to the Jews than in the mother countries, yet they laboreil under serious dis abilities. In F,ima, in Peru, and in Mexico they were pursiU'd by the Inciuisilion. In the Dutch West India Islands and provinces they were accorded the greatest freedom. In New .Vmstcrdani, while there was some objeclion to them, and they

Varying

were

Expe-

at

lirst

denied burghers' rights,

the latter seem to have been granted riences of iliem at a very early dale a result Early due lar.irely. as already stated, to the |)ersistence, both by petitions and beSettlers. fore the courts, of .Vsser licvy. In Surinam, in Hit!!*. Jews were formally gianted the right of free exercise of their rel!,y:ion. The Hritish Parliament in IToS passed an act jiermil ing " persons ])rofessin,ir the Jewish religion to be naturalized by Farliamenl." which was iei)ealed in the followNot until ISoS miglit Jews sit in Parliaing year. ment anil it was oidy in luiill that the words "on the true faith of a Christian " were removed from the ordinary oath. The Englisli provincial .irovernors and assemblies exhibited a tolerant spirit much earlier. Dr. I.,um

brozo was granted

letters of denization in Marvland Sept. 10, 1603. Iu 1070 Sir Tlionias Lynch, .irovernor of Jamaica, was instructed to give all possible encoura.irenient to persons of differing religions. In lt>7'.i Uabba Couty of New York ap pealed to the king in council. an<l promjitly obtained redress for a grievance. In 1074 in liurbados Jews were allowed to take the oath ujion the live books

as early

a.s

eral

Bloomiielil

ber are a.ssistant professors or instructors. The most distin.sruislied Jewish writer of ]ioeiry in the United States was Emma Laziirus; Michael Heilprin gained eminence as an editor anil writer; A. Calmnand Emma Wolf are successful novelists; and .Morris Roseiifeld is a gifted Yiddish jioet. In music; a number of Hebrews have acciuired a rejiutalilc po.sition. Jews are also prominent as Among the latter actors and as driimatic authors. may be mentioned Aaron J. Pliilli])S,

Music and who the Stage,

the

tirst appeared in New York at Park Theater in 1H1.5 and was a

very successful comedian; Emanuel

who first appeared in ls-2:!; and Moses S. Phillips, who acted at the Park Theater in 1827. .Mordecai JI. Noah, best known as journalist,

Judah,