Nadene Goldfoot
The thirteen original states involved in the American Revolutionary War were: Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. These colonies, which were part of British America, declared their independence in 1776 and fought for it in the Revolutionary War.
The 4th of July, or Independence Day, celebrates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, marking the United States' separation from Great Britain and the end of the American Revolutionary War. While the war itself continued for several more years, this day signifies the official declaration of the colonies' independence.
During the American Revolutionary War, Jews actively participated on both the Continental Army side and in support roles, with some even serving as officers. Estimates suggest that around 100 Jews fought in the Continental Army, with others contributing through financial support and supplying provisions.
Like other colonial Americans, their loyalties were divided, with a sizable majority favoring the Patriot vision of an independent America. Jewish merchants’ signatures appeared on the various non-importation resolutions adopted by individual colonies. Like other Americans, they opposed the power of the British Parliament to tax the colonies. But some Jews probably had mixed feelings, given the freedoms they enjoyed under British rule.
Benjamin Mendes Seixas, a prominent merchant and founder of the New York Stock Exchange. a large family of Marrano origin, from Portuguese, another was a banker, part of Gershom Mendes Seixas family...
Gershom Mendes Seixas, (1745-1816) son of immigrant Sephardi Jew, Isaac Mendes (1708-1780) who emigrated to America from Portugal in 1730. Gershom was the minister (rabbi) of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York for some 50 years. When the British occupied New York City in 1776, he took the scrolls and other religious objects from the synagogue and went to Stratford, Conn. and then to Philadelphia where he helped found the 1st Jewish congregation in 1780. After the British left New York, he returned to is duties there. He was one of 13 clergymen to participate in George Washington's 1st inauguration. Gershom was a trustee of Columbia College from 17887-1815. He achieved prominence as an educator of the deaf and introduced the daguerrotype into America. At the same time, Benjamin Mendes was a founder of the New York stock exchange.
In New York, as the British fleet appeared in the harbor, Reverend Gershom Mendes Seixas called his congregants to the Mill Street Synagogue. There he delivered a powerful patriotic address and shortly thereafter left the city for safety in Stratford, Connecticut. While most other patriotic Jews also left the city, a small number remained behind and, together with the few Loyalist Jews, kept the synagogue open. During the war, the congregation was led first by a Tory sympathizer and later by a Jewish Hessian officer who fought with the British and remained after the hostilities ended. (Hessian forces, which were German mercenaries primarily from the region of Hesse-Kassel hired by the British. One notable Jewish figure who worked with the Hessians was Haym Salomon, who used his German language skills to assist prisoners of war and encourage desertion, but he was not a Hessian officer. (below)
Chaim/Haym Salomon,(1740-1785) Jewish financier of the Revolution, began the war as a wealthy merchant whose unstinting financial sacrifices helped to keep the Revolution going. Chaim was born in Lissa, Poland, immigrated in 1772, went into the brokerage business. He was all for the patriot cause and wound up in prison. Later he became a broker to the Office of Finance and collaborated with Robert Morris in maintaining public credit during 1781-1784. Using his own money, he financed patriot leaders such as James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. With his assistance, an expert in finance, he helped consolidate the American republic in its formative years. He died penniless.
British attacks forced residents, including Jews, from the cities of Newport, Philadelphia, Boston, and Charleston. Of the approximately 1,500 Jews scattered among the 13 colonies on the eve of the American Revolution, about 200 lived in Newport–the largest concentration of Jews in the colonies.Newport, Rhode Island, was a prominent seaport and a significant city within the 13 colonies. Founded in 1639, it was one of the original settlements of the Rhode Island and Providence Plantations colony. Newport played a vital role in colonial trade, particularly as a hub for the "Triangle Trade" and as a center for shipbuilding and rum production. It also held importance for its early embrace of religious tolerance and its role in the American Revolution. After the war, Newport transitioned into a Gilded Age summer resort for the wealthy, with the construction of grand mansions.
Mordecai Sheftall of Savannah, Georgia, and his son was the head of the local revolutionary committee and was responsible for provisioning soldiers. They were captured by the British in 1778. Parolled from the British ship, Nancy, local Tories beat and killed Patriots as British troops evacuated under fire from American forces, and both Sheftalls escaped by sea, only to be recaptured and sent to Antigua, but freed in 1780.
Aaron Lopez was one of the Newport Jews who opposed British rule and abandoned the city where they had developed roots and prospered. Lopez led his extended family and members of the Rivera and Mendes families, numbering nearly 70 people, to temporary settlement in Leicester, Massachusetts. The renowned synagogue was closed, and its spiritual leader, Isaac Touro, who professed Loyalist tendencies, sailed with his family to Jamaica where he lived out his life under British rule. According the diary of the Reverend Ezra Stiles, the few Jews remaining in Newport were “very officious as Informing against the Inhabitant–who are one + another frequently taken up + put in Gaol.”
Isaac Touro (`1740-1784), minister (I hope this is meant as a rabbi) though he could have been a Marrano or Anusim; The Hebrew word used to describe Jews forcibly converted during the Spanish Inquisition is Anusim, meaning "the coerced". While other terms like "Conversos" (Spanish for "converts") and "Marranos" (an offensive term meaning "pigs") were also used, "Anusim" specifically highlights the forced nature of their conversion. Isaac was the father of Judah.
Touro, then twenty years old, was from a Dutch Sephardic family—who in Spain had been the de Toros—and had trained in Amsterdam for the rabbinate (although he was never ordained). Before his arrival in Newport, Touro may have spent time in Curacao, Suriname, or New York, and certainly in Jamaica. It was from there that he arrived in 1758, as the city of Newport reached its commercial peak.
Judah Touro (1775-1854) son of Isaac, US philanthropist, born in Newport,
Rhode Island, became a prosperous merchant in New Orleans]
and gave generously to Jewish and Christian charities. He and
his brother, Abraham (1774-1822) were responsible for the pres
ervation and maintenance of Newport's 18th cent. synagogue.
Judah's will made it possible the construction of the 1st res-
idential units in what became the new city of Jerusalem.
Reuben Etting of Baltimore enlisted the moment he heard about the Battle of Lexington and headed north to Massachusetts. He was taken prisoner by the British who, when they discovered he was Jewish, gave him only pork, which he refused to eat. He was able to survive on scraps of permitted food from fellow prisoners. Weakened by such treatment, he died shortly after his release. A cousin bearing the same name, born in 1762, also fought in the war and was appointed as a United States marshal in 1801 by President Thomas Jefferson.
Abgail Minis supplied provisions to American troops in 1779, angering British authorities. She received permission from them, however, to move with her daughters to safety in Charleston, South Carolina. She died in 1794 at the age of 94.
For Jews, participation in the war marked the first time since their exile from Jerusalem in 70 CE that they could take their place alongside their Christian neighbors as equals in a fight for freedom. Jews were present at Bunker Hill, Valley Forge, and other battle sites throughout the colonies. Behind the scenes, they provided logistic support by equipping soldiers, shipping supplies, and raising funds. Ship owners such as Isaac Moses of Philadelphia outfitted privateers to harass British shipping.
Isaac Moses: (1742-April 16, 1818) of Philadelphia outfitted privateers to harass British shipping, and their ships engaged in running the British blockade to provide necessary provisions to the needy Revolutionary forces. He helped establish the Bank of North America in 1781. He was born in the Holy Roman Empire. He came to the 13 colonies in 1764.
Resource:
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/arti
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
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