MORDECAI NOAH

Mordecai Noah was appointed by James Madison as Ambassador to Tunisia in 1813. He was recalled by James Monroe, then Secretary of State, in 1814 because he was a Jew. In 1825, after he resigned from Tammany Hall, Noah purchased a tract of land on Grand Island NY for an American Jewish state to be called "Ararat". It has been said that this Ararat Community was the forerunner of American Zionism. Unfortunately for Noah, we were not interested in a separated American homeland and his dream was never realized.

THE FIRST JEWS IN AMERICA

The first Jews to reach America, in 1654, were Dutch refugees from Brazil. We were deported as part of the Portuguese seizure of Brazil from West India Company. New Amsterdam's governor, Peter Stuyvesant, was forced by his superiors in Amsterdam to allow us to dock our ship, the St. Catherine. He didn't want us in his colony because we got him demoted from the governorship of Curacao by smuggling horses to the Spanish and the Puritans instead of farming.

Asser Levy was the last of those original 23 to remain in New York after the British took over. He secured our right to serve in the militia and engage in petty retail trade.

Manasseh Ben-Israel was responsible for the myth that the Native Americans were the "Lost 10 Tribes of Israel". This was brought about as part of the spread of Jews to the "4 corners of the earth", which was thought by the Christians to be necessary for "the second coming of the Messiah". Perhaps it was brought about really to convince Puritans to proselytize the "Indians" instead of us.

We were among the leaders in the finance of American independence from Britain. Aaron Lopez financed the Revolutionary Army. Haym Salomon loaned $200,000 to the Continental Congress, which was never repaid.