Episode 317: Jews in Early America

The first Jewish colonists in North America arrived in 1654. From that moment, Jews worked to build and contribute to early American society and the birth of the United States.

Gemma Birnbaum and Melanie Meyers, the Executive Director and Director of Collections and Engagement at the American Jewish Historical Society, join us to explore the history and experiences of Jews in early America and their contributions to the American Revolution and the founding of the United States.

This episode is supported by an American Rescue Plan grant to the Omohundro Institute from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

About the Show

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Ben Franklin’s World is a production of the Omohundro Institute.

Episode Summary

Gemma Birnbaum, the Executive Director of the American Jewish Historical Society, and Melanie Meyers, the Director Collections and Engagement, lead us on an exploration of the Jewish presence in Early America and Jewish contributions to the American Revolution and the founding of the United States.

As we investigate Jewish life in Early America, Gemma and Melanie reveal information about the American Jewish Historical Society and what its unique collections reveal about early American Jewish life; The origins and backgrounds of Jewish colonists and why they chose to settle in North America during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; And Jewish contributions to early American history and the founding of the United States.

What You’ll Discover

American Jewish Historical Society
AJHS manuscript collections
The arrival and presence of Jews in the early Americas
Reasons Jews settled in the early Americas
Backgrounds of Jewish settlers in early North America
Jewish settlement in early American Dutch colonies
Resistance to Jews settling in early North America
Establishing Jewish communities in early America
Community life in early American Jewish communities
Establishing synagogues in early America
Marriage and intermarriage in early American Jewish communities
Southern Jewish life
Jews and African chattel slavery
Jewish contributions to the American Revolution
Haym Soloman, financier and spy
George Washington and the Touro Synagogue

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Time Warp Question

In your opinion, what might have happened if Jews had not migrated to early North America? How would early American and early United States history be different?