Revolutionary Jews

Rabbi Joel Fleekop

Friday, July 2, 2010

The first seven years of my life were spent in Newton, Pennsylvania – a suburb north of Philadelphia, not far from the Delaware River. I am not entirely sure why – I am guessing because it was so close and I think free – but one of our most popular family outings was to Washington’s Crossing State Park.

Just a small child, what I mostly remember from those visits was a giant picture of Washington standing bravely upon a boat crossing the icy river – what I now know was a copy of Emanuel Leutze’s famous oil painting. My sister, four years my senior, has much more detailed memories. Even years after our family moved west, she could recite long sections of the filmstrip played in the park.

The revolutionary period and Washington’s crossing remained alive for my family in another, unsuspecting place – in one of our favorite Hanukkah stories. Each year my mom or dad would tell us the story of how Washington new it was safe to cross the Delaware because a Patriotic Jewish family in New Jersey signaled them by lighting their Menorah for a 9th night . Sadly, I couldn’t find a copy of that story anywhere, but this newer book, Hanukkah at Valley Forge, also deals with the intersection of Hanukkah and George Washington – this story taking place the following winter during the trying times at Valley Forge.

Both the story I remember from childhood and this new children’s book leave the reader with the sense that Jews played a meaningful role in the success of the Continental forces. Whether the details of these stories tell are true, – they most likely aren’t – the impression they give the reader is accurate.

When hostilities began between the British Government and its North American subjects, there were about 2,000 Jews in the colonies. Mostly of Sepharidic heritage, almost all lived in the major East Coast seaport cities.

Like their gentile neighbors, most colonial Jews hoped for a quick and peaceful resolution to the tensions, a sentiment captured by the prayer offered at New York’s Congregation Shearith Israel on May 17, 1776. On that day, a date designated by the Second Continental Congress as a day of humility, prayer, and fasting, the Congregation prayed, “O Lord, may it please thee, to put it in the heart of our Sovereign Lord, George the third, and in the heart of his Councellors, Princes, and Servants, to turn away their fierce wrath from against North America.” The congregation asked God to instill an “everlasting peace” between Britain and her colonies and that “no more blood be shed in these countries.”

Merchants – not politicians or philosophers– colonial Jews were reluctant to take sides in the conflict. But when it became clear that the peace for which they prayed would not arrive – most cast their lot with the Continental forces.

Approximately one hundred Jews fought in the Continental Army, with three men, including Colonel David Franks, attaining high offices in the army – ranks unavailable to Jews in the British armed forces. One Jewish soldier, a surgeon’s mate at Valley Forge named Dr. Philip Moses Russel, earned praise from General Washington himself, who singled out Russel’s “assiduous and faithful attention to the sick and wounded.” Interestingly, the historical record also shows at least one Jewish enlistee who was granted an exemption from serving night watch on Friday so that he could observe Shabbat.

Beyond bearing arms, Jews also played an important role in supporting the war effort through their involvement in commerce – providing food and arms to the chronically undersupplied army. Most famously, Haim Solomon served as “Broker to the Office of Finance” – helping through his connections and private wealth, to bankroll the war effort.

Less well known is the role played by hundreds of Jews on the Carribean Island of St. Eustatius who, backed by the Dutch government, led efforts to break the British blockade, smuggling tons of vital supplies to Colonial forces.

As these examples and others illustrate, Jews no doubt played an important role in the birth of our nation – but what is often overlooked is how Judaism shaped the way these men and women understood the literally revolutionary events occurring around them.

When we think of the American Revolution, our minds likely conjure images of colorfully dressed soldiers in battle, late night river crossings, and the heated debate of our founding fathers meeting in Philadelphia. But for many colonists, the war meant fleeing a conquering army and living as a displaced person.

Patriot Jews from places like New York City and other British controlled areas often likened their displacement to Biblical exile. Aaron Lopez, a wealthy Newport merchant who spent much of the war in Massachusetts wrote about being a nomad – pitching his tent where he could – but taking comfort in the familiarity of Jewish practice -- including “keeping Saturday as holy time.”

On the collective level, a group of patriotic Jews from Congregation Shearith Israel in New York fled the city together following its capture by British troops. They settled first in Stratford, Connecticut and later in Philadelphia. During the more than five years spent away from home and synagogue, the group took comfort in the Torah scrolls and other religious objects that, to the objection of the Shearith Israel’s Tories, their leader, Gershom Seixas had taken from the congregation. They saw these sacred objects, like the prophecies of earlier generations, as a sign that God was with them in their exile.

The Hebrew calendar and its holy days also helped colonial Jews make meaning of their world. When Norwalk Connecticut was destroyed on July 11, 1779, -- a date which that year fell between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av -- Samson Mears could not help but connect the devastation around him to the siege of Jerusalem and the sacking of the Temple. Norwalk’s Jewish community, Mears wrote, “truly realized the Anniversary season with all its gloom that our predecessor’s experienced.”

On the other end of the emotional spectrum, the cessation of hostilities, just before the start of Passover in 1783, was widely connected to the ancient story of redemption. That spring, at seders across the thirteen, newly-born states, participants had no trouble feeling as though they themselves had been freed from Egypt.

This weekend, as we mark a secular celebration of freedom, let us remember the contributions and example set by our colonial co-religionists. May we, as they and the generations of American-Jews who followed them, do our part to build this great nation. And as we undertake this worthy task, may we, like them, find guidance and comfort in the teachings of our tradition.