The First Salute: The Untold Jewish History of America's Founding

Jewish Insights with Justin Pines on JBS is made possible in part by the clubs at Pearl River, New York luxury rental communities for ages 55 and better now leasing phase three at the reserve and the BL Maincher Foundation [Music] Shalom and welcome to a very special episode of Jewish Insights where we are preparing to celebrate the 250th anniversary of this wonderful country the United States of America and we are here in the city of brother-in-law Philadelphia I place very close to my heart and it plays out for such a central role to the founding of this nation I will be spending time with Liberty Bell and at this museum right behind me the Whiteman National Museum of American Jewish History I'm so excited for you to come on and join me Hey Justin. Hey Josh so nice to meet you. Great to see you. Yeah, welcome to the Whiteman. I'm so excited to remind you what's your role here? So my name is Dr. Josh Perlman. I am a senior advisor to the museum as well as the curator of the first salute the exhibition we'll see today. Let's go see the Liberty Bell first and then connect that to the exhibition inside the museum. Amazing and the Liberty Bell is like a literary around the corner across the street let's go let's go check it out We have the museum right behind us the Liberty Bell right in front of us time a little about the Liberty Bell. So what a wonderful place to be. Yeah so you have a museum that tells the story of Jewish Americans and then you have Liberty Bell which symbolizes the ideals signed in the building behind us independent small and the beautiful connection between this bell and this building is that there's a phrase from Hebrew scripture from Leviticus around the Liberty Bell. We're claim Liberty throughout the land unto all thereof and so proclaim Liberty this idea of Liberty religious Liberty and the stories of American Jews in a place that generally afforded them more Liberty than anywhere else in the world until the state of Israel that's truly remarkable. Beautiful and that's the that language comes from the idea of pronouncing the Jubilee the freeing of slaves and returning of debts. Yeah exactly so it draws on that scriptural sense of we are liberating everybody and creating an atmosphere freedom. To what extent was like biblical thinking like part of the idea of the founding of the country? So that's a great question actually many of the founders were quite follow-semetic. They knew their scripture so they would have called it the Old Testament New Testament but it was kind of normative vernacular at that time to reference biblical text and letters and in speeches in ways that actually if you read it today you miss a lot of it but for them that was literally ingrained in how they taught spoken road. Beautiful all right so let's let's go from the Liberty Bell and let's go check out the let's go to the white man. The white man here we go. Welcome to the white man. Let's go inside and learn some Jewish history. Let's go. Okay so here we are the beginning of the journey. The white man's galleries tell the stories of Jewish Americans from 1654 when the first Jews permanently settled in North America all the way up until the present day. And this is a reminder for me I think people certainly me some of the group grandchild of survivors there's like the sense that Jews came in the 20th century and this is this reminder that Jews came in the 1600s. Everybody thinks about it in terms of when did my family come. Right. Like that is our our familial roots but the beautiful thing about telling these stories is Jews have lived here since the 17th century so they had been part of America and part of American history from almost the very beginning. Welcome to the first saloon. This exhibition in some way should be a movie it's an epic story and it layers together a couple different events that most people don't know about. I don't know if you know them or you don't know them. That's what I've seen on the website. But are incredibly consequential to the Revolutionary War. And highlight Jews' role in many different aspects of the war. So it begins with literally the first saloon which takes place on a tiny Caribbean island called St. New Statius. And that is the site of the first international recognition of the new nation. And we're going to travel through time to about 1781 when eventually the British invade St. New Statius and one of the outcomes of that invasion is that it allows for George Washington's victory at Yorktown. And so just in terms of American history we're bookended by these two major events. What this exhibition does though is bring to the foreground the roles Jews played. So what do you mean the first saloon? What does that mean? That was the site of the first saloon. So the first salute refers to the first time the United States received international recognition after the Declaration of Independence. And many people might suspect it took place in France or by the Dutch it took place on a tiny little island in the Caribbean called St. New Statius. And the reason it took place there at the time it was a Dutch colony. But St. New Statius about the third the size of Manhattan was one of if not the most important ports in the Atlantic Ocean. So it was the place where all commerce between Europe and North America was passing through. Its harbor welcomed over 3,000 ships on an annual basis. And why is that story being told in the White'sman National Museum of American Jewish History? There's an on that Caribbean island. Let's say there are about 2,000 Europeans, another 2,500 enslaved people, of the 2,000 Europeans, 30% to 40% are Jews. Wow. Okay so I have questions already. So this was a Dutch colony. And the Dutch colony was the first to be outside of America to recognize that America was America as opposed to the under British rule. Okay got it. And then where did these Jews come from? Either they were from Amsterdam or London. And what it means that they were Jews here on the silent and it was an important port is that during the revolution St. New Statius becomes the through way for gunpowder, arms and things like material for uniforms. All of the supplies that Washington needed to fight the war such a large percentage were coming through St. New Statius on boats owned or operated by Jews. So Jews on St. New Statius in connection with family business relationships in Europe, in connection with family and business relationships in North America, take part in this essential movement of supplies and very secretive movement of supplies to the patriots and the continental army. So it puts them at the epicenter of the revolutionary experience. And why did they take America's side? Liberty. If you think about the late 18th century, the promises being made by this new nation were unavailable to Jews anywhere else in the world. Religious liberty, citizenship, civil rights, political rights, Jews could expect that nowhere. And even on St. New Statius where the Dutch were fairly good to the Jewish residents, tomorrow it could be taken by Spain and they would lose everything. They lived by the whims of whoever controlled the territory. America promised to end that and to allow Jews to live as Jews, as they chose with self-determination. God. November 16th, 1776. The American warship Andrew Doria sails into the harbor of St. New Statius, flying the new nation's grand union flag, and carrying a copy of the Declaration of Independence. It's Captain orders a 13 gun salute in honor of the 13 new American states. The island. Dutch governor responds with the thunder of his cannons. This exchange marks the first recognition of the United States of America by a foreign government, a moment now known as the first salute. How did a small Caribbean island come to play such a significant role in America's struggle for independence and how would it change the course of history? By 1776, the 13 colonies were locked in a struggle for independence and the world held its breath. Uncertain whether Britain would prevail or a new nation would be born. Far from the battlefields, St. Eustaceus pulsed with trade. Sugar, textiles and rum flowed between continents through its busy port. Soon, the island emerged as a vital lifeline, supplying arms and gunpowder to the American revolutionaries. How this happened reveals a remarkable story of Jewish merchants who having escaped generations of persecution leveraged their trade networks and family ties for a risky and revolutionary cause. Freedom. They would pay dearly for their efforts, but their courage and resilience would help forge a new nation. The United States of America. And then again, just so I understand it. This was a recognition, but the people on the ship know they were going to be recognized as American in that moment. It was just like a head of word spread of this. Yes, the captain of the ship, Isaiah Robinson, had been sent by the new government of the United States to St. Eustaceus to deliver a copy of the Declaration of Independence and to initiate trade for munitions. Even the choice of firing 13 cannon shots as their salute of coming into harbor is no doubt a very specific choice. They are flying the American flag, which then was called the Grand Union flag, not the flag we know today. And they are marking themselves through these cannon shots as Americans. So what's this over here? So I'm going to show you like quickly, kind of three important letters. This is a letter from Robert Morris that tells Isaiah Robinson the captain of the Andridoria to get his ship ready to sail to St. Eustaceus. So this is how we knew, or this is how we know from the historical record, that this ship was consciously sent. This was a flying new American government. And actually Morris, if you want to come over here, continues to play a role, at least in the documentary evidence, is we have two letters, one sign by Morris, one sign by five signatories to the Declaration of Independence, including Ben Franklin, one that establishes that they believe that St. Eustaceus would be an important hub for supplies. And the second one, telling an American agent in Europe to please ask the French to supply them with ships, hopefully at the French own cost, and also to begin purchasing supplies for the war. And one of the main things that they brought through St. Eustaceus was gunpowder. And here you have how soldiers would have carried gunpowder to load their muskets, one of which we'll see powder horn where you pour the powder and you know musket or a cartridge pouch, where paper cartridges fill the gunpowder that you would then put in the musket. This is not a show for them. So I'm going to take you over here to a very special artifact in the exhibition. This Hanukkah lamp is likely the last remaining evidence of a 18th century Jewish life on St. Eustaceus. It lives on St. Thomas today. You know a little Hebrew. Can you read what it says on the plaque? Honin Dalim. Exactly. So Honin Dalim was the name of the synagogue on St. Eustaceus. It's ruins which are actually quite well preserved are still on the island. There are images. There's a whole film about it at the end of the exhibition. And I'm not going to make you read what's on the bottom because that is the Hebrew Day. It's the year, right? Yeah. 1761. Yeah. And so we know that this was sent from Amsterdam to St. Eustaceus in 1761. And we know that it was sent to Honin Dalim and we know that this happened because they sent other Hanukkah lamps like this to other Caribbean colonies. They were issuing them both out of necessity. There was nobody making Judeaica on St. Eustaceus in the late 18th century. But also they were asserting Amsterdam's centrality, right? And it was as in some ways the mainland for all of the Dutch colonies. But and I personally hand carried this from St. Thomas to Philadelphia to be in the exhibition. So it's actually a very emotional experience. Like it felt like I was carrying the voices of Jews who had lived on St. Eustaceus to Philadelphia from St. Thomas. And it's especially special because St. Eustaceus no longer has a Jewish community. There's some Jews, but there is no organized Jewish community. What happened? Spoilovart. Part of the end of this story is after the British invade St. Eustaceus, the British exile a number of the Jews living on the island. And then soon after St. Eustaceus goes into economic depression, it's a many of the Jews living on the island, moved to other islands in the Caribbean or back home to Amsterdam or here to North America. And that's why this Hanukkah lamp now lives on St. Thomas because the family brought it with them from St. Thomas. And St. Thomas has a very active Jewish community today. And if you actually look there, you can see wax. Now, this is made to be oil, but you can see wax. So you know that they're using it today as part of their Hanukkah celebration. Got it. That's crazy. And then it's here with other material that was also brought from St. Eustaceus, the types of things people would have had in their homes. And then on the other side are the types of bricks that were used to build Hanandalim in the synagogue and they're very cool because they were imported from Amsterdam. When they built the synagogue in 1739, the Jews of St. Eustaceus built a very Dutch building. And that was not only a sign of their relationship with the Dutch, but these bricks were also not too inexpensive. And because St. Eustaceus was such a center of trade, there was wealth on the island. Got it. These were largely Sephardic Jews. That. The majority of Jews living on St. Eustaceus in the 18th century were Sephardim. We know they were Ashkenazim too, but the interesting question might be why were they Sephardim and let's maybe go over here and answer that question. In fact, the majority of Jews living throughout the Western Hemisphere during the 18th century were they were Sephardim. And one of the kind of important things that this exhibition brings, especially to the general public, is the story of why. Because those Sephardim would have traced their lineage back to the expulsion from Spain in 1492 and then Portugal a few years after. And they're part of the wave that moved northward, largely to Amsterdam and London. Others moved to the Ottoman Empire to other places around the world. But this is a story most people don't know. Most of the general public, when they think about Jews, they think about Tevye. Right. They think about Fidler on the roof. They think about Eastern European Jews. But the Jews we're talking about because they're Sephardim. Have a very different language, culture, ritual. They are unique in many ways. And what this helps they illustrate along with many of the other stories. Is it even from the beginning? Jews in the Western Hemisphere were diverse people, and today they are a diverse people, and that diversity is very important just like any religious or ethnic or racial community. None of them are monolithic. They are made up of diversities of people's experiences, languages, cultures, and so on this side here you have material culture representing, including the Alhambra degree, which is the degree that expelled Jews from Spain and other documents. And then on the right here what we wanted to show is not only was St. East Asia just part of this Sephardic diaspora in the Caribbean, but you have a Torah from Suriname, a Bessamine from Curacao. What I think might surprise a lot of people is there were more Jews living in the Caribbean at the time of the revolution vastly more Jews than in North America. Really? So that was our spot. That was our spot. So in North America at the time of the revolution you have roughly 1500 to 3000 Jews total. In the Caribbean we're talking like 7 to 10,000 Jews. So just order of magnitude the Caribbean is actually the center of Jewish life in the Western world at that time. And the Jews that came to the Caribbean were not exclusively mostly from Spain and Portugal originally by way of other places and then what about in the ones in North America? I got my mainland. Pretty much the same. Although there's a mixture of Ashkenazim because to make a long story short Ashkenazim also moved from Eastern or Central Europe into London or Amsterdam and they were also traveling to the Western Hemisphere to take advantage of the opportunities offered. And so the Sephardine were the majority. The synagogues at the time were followed the Sephardic right and Ashkenazim are the majority. So we get the Spanish Portuguese synagogues. It's exactly how we get the Spanish Portuguese synagogues. So since we're talking about merchants I wanted to show you one of my favorite things in the exhibition. This is a illustrated dictionary of maritime terms that was composed by a Jewish merchant in Amsterdam. It was also a poet. He also wrote religious commentary. He was really kind of a Renaissance man but the cool thing about it is not only do you see the hand illustration but it is multi-lingual. He's writing in duck. She's writing in Portuguese. He's writing for an audience that he knew understood multiple different languages and that is another reason that Jews were so successful at this time. As merchants, it was not only did they have family and business connections across the Atlantic but even linguistically they were able to move kind of between countries and kingdoms very fluidly as a result of being in diaspora, as a result of being segmented into particular professions by European leaders. I set them up to be right place, right time for the revolution. Whatever they try to do, we always figure it out but it's like I assume if they came from the Iberian Peninsula they spoke Spanish and/or Portuguese and then that probably was in the house and they're picking up Dutch if they're living in Holland. Most of these people would speak three, four, five languages easily. Right. And then over here you kind of can't tell the story or the story of the Western world without the story of the trafficking in human beings and that is certainly part of the story of St. East Asia as a port. There was no doubt that people were bought and sold. Sure. As a European colony there's no doubt that enslavement played a role in the economy of the island. That being said what we do know is that St. East Asia was not one of the major trade hubs. Number one and number two, Jews on the island owned only about six percent of the total enslaved people on the island. Even so much to say if you took the entire number of human beings from Africa who were trafficked, traded and enslaved in North America and the Caribbean. And you took the number owned by Jews and removed them. It would be a statistical error. It would not change in any way the history of enslavement. I guess they forgot to read the Liberty Bell. They forgot to read the Liberty Bell. Maybe lost touch with their values. So we brought you to the Caribbean to St. East Asia. We've talked about the Sephardic diaspora. Now we're gonna come into the Philadelphia of it all. Okay. And talk a little bit about Philadelphia and the revolution. During the revolutionary era, you know, Philadelphia is the center of it all. Not only in terms of American politics but for American Jews, Philadelphia becomes the center of it all. So we're gonna visit congregation McVeas rail, which is a Sephardic synagogue. It was called the synagogue of the revolution. And that's because when the British invaded New York, the New York Jewish community except for the loyalist of which there were some moved to Philadelphia. When the British invaded Savannah, Charleston, Baltimore, other cities, Jews came north to Philadelphia and so McVeas rail becomes the hub of American Jewish life. And amongst that community in McVeas rail, you have some truly amazing people. So behind us are Bernard and Michael Gratz who are well known here in Philadelphia. There are many things named after Gratz's and also speaking of McVeas rail. Come over here. Here we have the original petition of the community to build a McVeas. Here we have a subscription list to build a new building. Since McVeas Israel grew so much during the revolution, they started to solicit funds to build a new building and were you to look closely? Benjamin Franklin is signed here amongst other notable Americans. And what you see actually throughout the case are different ways that Jews participated in the revolution and also responded to the revolution. And so you have bills of exchange and account books featuring Hayam Solomon which is a name many people know. He actually has a historical marker in front of McVeas rail synagogue and there is a mythology about him as the financier of the revolution. But his story is actually more interesting. He was an immigrant who came to New York, built himself up in a very American way. It was a very strong patriot. It was arrested by the British. They learned he knew German so he became a translator for Hujenats. He escaped to Philadelphia and then is recruited by James Madison to work on financing the revolution through obtaining European loans. And so this is material related to him. And this you of course know what Aluach is. Sure. Aluach is basically for the person who's the God by the person who's like running a day-to-day at the synagogue. It gives a list of all the times and dates and everything that you keep track. Like you know today is Rochkhodish the new month back in my starts. Yeah. So this is what they refer to as the Patriots Luach and this was a Luach composed by Jews living in the country at this time. It contains you know like an Almanac. So it combines both you know what we've been considered secular dates and times and and and that's secular calendar but also combines it with the Hebrew calendar. It's a very special piece that has been written about before and so it's an honor to have it here in this exhibition as this expression of Jewish patriotism. Beautiful. I'm going to take you back to Saint East Asia. Okay. 1781. In 1780 the British finally Dicolair warned the Dutch because they're supporting America. Exactly. Okay. And because they know that they're sending all of this gum powder and arms to America and they are very aware of Saint East Asia. As you can see from the quote over here the British admiral who invades Saint East Asia you know says had it not been for this island the rebellion never would have subsisted. They were highly aware that Saint East Asia was a key piece of the Patriot puzzle. In February of 1771 Admiral George Roddy invade Saint East Asia. The invasion took about five minutes because he brought 15 ships and 3,000 men. Saint East Asia's had three soldiers and two guns at the time. It took them so long to show up. I guess okay. It wasn't until they were officially at war with the Dutch side. So what was the first thing that Rodney did? Round up all the Jewish men and literally strip any sign of wealth on their body. A ring, a pendant, a nice jet strips them of their body and imprisons them. Next, he exiles about a third of those men to sink hits. Why? because he could. He moves on then to Jewish women, Jewish children, Jewish houses, Jewish store houses, the Jewish cemetery. He exudes graves. Oh my god. Sicking wealth. Why specifically did he go after Jews? We know from his letters and papers. The word anti-Semitism didn't exist then. But today we would have called him an anti-Semite. And because Jews play such an important role as merchants on Saint East Asia, he goes after them first. Now it was like the style of the times that an admiral could benefit from an invasion like this. But Rodney was greedy. He was also in debt. But he was greedy. And he moves on from the Jews to pillage the entire island. And because of his greed and also because of his avarice, he stays on the island too long. Saint East Asia should have been a couple weeks' job. He stays there for months. And what that means is he fails on what his real orders were, which was don't let the French get to North America. He and his fleet, the reason they existed in that part of the world, was to block the French. So by staying on Saint East Asia, he misses the countergrasses fleet coming across the Atlantic. And they make the Northward turn at what's called the Leeward Islands to head to North America without contest. And it is that fleet that lands at the Chesapeake, barricades it, resupplies Washington, and allows for the victory at Yorktown, which is the final battle of the war. I guess I can't say for 100%, but because of that mistake on Saint East Asia's Washington gained victory at Yorktown, and America gained its independence. The anti-Semites always lose, huh? I'd like to think that's true. But what this, you know, it shows in many ways, not only one person's greed or one person's prejudice, but it shows going back to proclaim liberty, what the story could be, right? This British admiral invades Saint East Asia a place where the Dutch had allowed Jews to live rather peacefully, to build a magnificent synagogue. What was day one of the British invasion? Target the Jews. Crazy. So if that was the behavior in Saint East Asia, could that have been what would have happened if the British had won the Revolutionary War? Obviously we don't know, right? But it an example of what could have happened, thankfully it did not. By 1780, the American struggle for independence was gaining ground. Though officially neutral, the Dutch government quietly supported the American Revolutionaries, turning a blind eye as vast shipments of weapons and gunpowder crossed the Atlantic. News of ships laden with ammunition passing through St. Louis St. Louis's harbor outrage the English. Furious, Great Britain declared war on the Dutch in December 1780. Admiral George Rodney, who led Britain's fleet in the Caribbean, received orders to capture the island and eliminate this critical supply chain. I do not mean for this infamous island. The American rebellion could not possibly have subsisted. This rock has known England more harm than all the arms of our most potent enemies. The ruthless admiral was determined to punish the tiny island. With 15 battleships and several thousand troops, Rodney descended on St. Ustaceus. This nest of fighters deserves a scourge and will be scourged. The island's few soldiers were no match. And St. Ustaceus fell quickly. Rodney unleashed a brutal campaign of plunder and persecution. But he specifically targeted the Jewish community, forcing all its men to appear at the weighing house. Edmund Burke, a prominent British politician, recounted the events to the British Parliament. Orders were given that the Jews should be stripped and all the linings of their clothes ripped up, that every shilling of money which they might attempt to conceal and carry off should be discovered and taken from them. With only a day's notice, Rodney banished dozens of Jewish men from St. Ustaceus, forcing them to abandon their homes, families, and livelihoods, and act that echoed centuries of Jewish expulsion and exile. He ordered all remaining Jews to surrender their money, property, and household belongings. The community was stunned by Rodney's ferocity and petitioned him to end the abuse. Such unexpected orders as these from British commanders have not only been productive of the most horrid and melancholy scenes of distress and confusion, but families are now helpless, disconsolate, and in absolute state of indigence and despair. They suggested Rodney's real motive lay in his distaste for Jews. If any among us have committed a crime for which they are punishable, we humbly beg those crimes be pointed out. But if nothing can be alleged against us but the religion of our forefathers, we hope that will not be considered a crime. If Britons are injured, Britons have armies and laws, the laws of nations to fly to for protection and justice. But the Jews have no such power and no such friend to depend on. Humanity then must become their protector. And ally, did they find it in the British conquerors of St. Hugh Stacius? No. Burke called for a motion to condemn Rodney's actions, but Parliament rejected it. Rodney sought profit by auctioning off the stolen goods and sending ships of looted treasure to England, but the auction failed, and his ships were intercepted by the French, robbing him of his spoils. Rodney, however, had a greater mission to intercept a French fleet rushing to support George Washington. Distracted by the plunder of St. Hugh Stacius, he missed his chance and the fleet slipped past toward North America. These French ships established a blockade of the Chesapeake Bay, trapping the British army at Yorktown, allowing Washington to force a surrender that effectively ended the American Revolution. Word of the defeat, and Rodney's blunder, reached London, prompting the Prime Minister to cry out. Oh God! It's over! [Music] After the invasion of St. Hugh Stacius, these are examples of the only examples of Jewish merchants who had lived on St. Hugh Stacius who filed suit to recover their losses. In most cases, they would have never recovered their losses, but nevertheless, what we see, you know, by the historical record, is they describe in detail what took place in February of 1781. And that was the end? That is the beginning of the end. Right. The Jewish community doesn't fully leave in 1781, but because of what happens in 1781, by the beginning of the 19th century, almost the entire Jewish community is gone from St. Hugh Stacius. The final piece of this story of the exhibition is coming back to the Declaration of Independence. Why are we doing all of this? Because we are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of this document. This is actually a very rare printing of the Declaration from Newport, Rhode Island. The site of another important event in American Jewish life, which we'll talk about in a second, and how we wanted to end the exhibition was real. asking through all of this saga, through all of these events that took place in order to bring about a society based on this document. What was that like? Like what happened next? There was a lot, there was a whole 250 years of what happened next, but certainly in the immediate aftermath, where Jews, along with other Americans, free, where they free to worship as they chose, where they free as Jews, to exercise their everyday rights, their civil rights, their political rights. And the answer is kind of. In many ways, they were quite free. You can see examples of that being celebrated in this document from 1789 called the Richmond Prayer, which you have a good Hebrew, do you read what the Acrosstica is down the right-hand side? A machine got tell, but what is that? - Foshington. - Oh, Voshington. (laughing) - Are there others in there? - Yeah, and that was in response to washing, this was not actual Thanksgiving, it called for a day of Thanksgiving. So they composed this prayer for this day, and then this is prayer for peace in the revolution that was composed by Gershman Desesha, who was the husband of Sheriff Israel, and then relocated to Philadelphia and became cousin of McVeigh Israel. And if we'd come around this corner to kind of iconic, iconic documents on the left, this is a letter from Jonas Phillips, who was a member of McVeigh Israel. And in this, he's writing to the Constitutional Congress, and he's aware at the time that many states, including Pennsylvania at that time, still had religious tests. In order to hold office, you had to swear on the Christian Bible. And by swearing on the Christian Bible, you were swearing that you were a Christian, and you believed in Jesus Christ and all of that, sure. And his letter-- - Let me just go take office if you're correct. - Some states eliminated and immediately, some states were longer the last state wasn't until 1875. So this is his letter to the con, and on Congress, and we don't know if they read it, we don't know if they didn't read it, but it's an example of, in this new nation, Jews felt safe to advocate for. - Right, a letter like this, you know. - To advocate for themselves. - Wow. - This is the famous letter. We're Washington lays out his view of religion in this new nation, and he commits himself to a government which gives, in his words, to bigotry no sanction, to persecution, no assistance. And he says, quoting Micah, "All shall set safely "underneath their own vine and fig tree." And we know this nation is imperfect. We know that even back then, and today, that ideals in trying to cross the street, are lofty, are ambitious, and are not yet fulfilled. But nevertheless, as evidenced by this letter, and other documents by Jonas Phillips advocacy, what we see is a nation that's committing itself to a vision for society that is unlike any other in the world at that time. - Wow, and so this is, I mean, this is the famous letter, obviously, this is, we're looking at it, this is what it looks like, this is George Washington's actual letter, and this is in response to the, the congratulations that they receive from the synagogue. It's in response to the visited Rhode Island in August of 1790. It was the last of the 13 new states that he visited because Rhode Island was the last to rad off side of the Constitution. - Mm-hmm. - They almost didn't, that's a whole different story. But Moses Saceius, who was a chisana of the Torah synagogue, the synagogue there, addressed Washington and gave him, you know, he actually addressed him a second time, as the head of the Masons. Also, very interesting story. And Washington kind of cribs from that letter, this bigotry, no such in persecution, no assistance. He takes a phrase from Saceius's letter and actually improves on it to respond back. And that is a very Washingtonian thing to do. He would take text from a letter and then repeat it back to show kind of like, I hear you, I see you, and likely written on his voyage back from Newport to New York. And there is evidence in there that Jefferson likely helped him write it. - Wow. - Pretty cool, very cool. And so if you think about the kind of the journey we've gone on, beginning with Saceius becoming central to the revolutionary effort, through, you know, the stories of individuals who participated in a revolution, whether it's, whether they fought in the revolution, and we know at least a hundred Jews did, whether they were part of the kind of team of merchants that supplied the revolution, whether they assisted in seeking the funding for the revolution. We've kind of gone on this journey, which concludes with this sense of promise. And even though there are examples of here of where America has not lived up to those promises, what stands, and I think what should be remembered as we think about this 250th, is that promise. Along with the responsibilities we all have, as people living today, to make sure those promises are preserved, protected, but also extended. And that to me is the meaning of that document over there and the meaning of the 250th. This teeny little island, a third the size of Manhattan, a population of 32 to 3400, such an impact on the world. - Wow, really? It sounds like this is the core major piece of American history and both Jewish history all from the same place. - And as we said at the beginning, although it's a story that's largely unknown, one of the things that I've come to learn through this exhibition, is you actually can't tell the story of a revolution without it. - Okay, now we're heading to McVeigh, Israel, one of the oldest congregations in the United States. It's gonna be a great visit. - Welcome gentlemen to the synagogue of the American Revolution. - Wow. - Please, to have you guys today. - Hi, Carl, good to see you. - I'm Carl Montoya. - My role is, I'm in the head, Dosen, for the synagogue. I'm also on the board of at Huntos. - Justin, you're an excellent hands now. Gentlemen, enjoy the tour. - Okay, I'm looking forward to taking care of Justin. - Thank you very much. - Okay, thank you very much. - Thank you, Josh. (upbeat music) - The synagogue of the American Revolution is really a story about resilience for McVeigh, Israel. We were here before the revolution. We had some of our members like High M Solomon, who helped finance the revolution. We had members that helped shape the new government of the country. And then we also had many congregants after that, who helped establish a foundation for Jews, who came after that. So these are the early Jews that I'm going to be focusing on. And also how they survived, how they persevered. And we're still an act of synagogue today. We're not a museum piece. Everything that we have here, we used on Shabbat. We used during the week. So we're a vibrant synagogue and we hope to be around for a long, long time. - Wow, okay. - So, time to go where we're looking at. - Okay, so one thing I want to start with is, it's probably one of the oldest ones that we have. It's our reading table. That comes from our very first synagogue. As you can see, this is not our original building. This is not building, it's not 300 years old. So this is our fifth building. But that reading table, it's from 1782 from our first building. So that's original. The only thing that's not original are the legs where they've added some bronze decorations to it to make it look nicer. But that's one thing that's the oldest piece that we have. Now, also what we call the Teba Teba or the Bima is this white Italian marble. And that was from 1859. And that's 154 pieces. They had to disassemble it in a symbol at 154 pieces. So, and that just has so much majesty to our services and something that we cherish also. The third thing that we have is our Cohnine Chair. Now, it's got a protective cover around it. But we use that every week. That chair is from 1860. - What's a Cohnine Chair? - The Cohnine Chair is what we use when the Cohnine, the Cohns give their blessing. So that's a picture there. And there should be a bowl, a silver bowl underneath there, but it's not there today. And then the Cohnine will take that, they'll wash their hands and then they'll come to the front here to give their blessing. - Do they sit in what do they do with the chair? - The chair is a strictly ceremonial. Nobody sits in it. It's too old. It's been around for over 200 years. - Was that the practice that they did sit in and something? - No, no, it never was there. - That's always there to be there. I never saw that before. - Yeah. So it's just purely a decoration to help with the cornene blessing, but nobody's ever sat in that chair. Okay, fine. And tell me just a little bit. So this was founded originally when? This was founded in 1740. Got it. And that's when Nathan Levy, we're going to be going to our cemetery, but he was one of the early merchants here in Philadelphia. And his son died and he needed a burial place. Now he went to Thomas Penn and they were really. What happened is the holy experiment was what William Penn brought to Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, where all religions were tolerated. But what they didn't foresee is infrastructure like a cemetery. So he had to go to Thomas Penn, the son, William Penn had passed by then, and asked for permission to get land so that he could bury the child. And so that's how the cemetery began. And then that same year in 1740, he helped establish Macbeth, Israel, became a synagogue after that. Why was it called Macbeth, Israel? Just the hope of Israel, which was something that the early Separatum used at that time. They had hope and that was what they always. that was a common name in those days. God, and beautiful. And this was the place, anyone who was the Jews we've been hearing about today, and then my time with you as well, this is where they all came on Shabbat. This was the spot. This was the only game in town. This is a first synagogue in Pennsylvania, and one of the first synagogues in America. So these people who helped found our country and were part of the story of America were at that table. Yes, they were. Receiving all the oaths and if they were priests, they were giving blessings. That's right. Getting water from that chair. That's right. Wow. And also were Spanish Portuguese synagogue, and there's only two in the United States now. Us in Sherith, Israel in New York. Right, I've been there the other time. Okay, they're the only two that are Spanish Portuguese. There may be other synagogues in the country, but they're. You know, we're all the same religion, but the traditions are different. Service may be a little bit different. Got it. So that's what makes it different. And I just could briefly say that we got the Spanish Portuguese when the Portuguese attacked Brazil. And they attacked, received the Brazil, and they conquered it. And it was new hall on that time. It was owned by the Dutch. There were a number of Jewish Jews that were Dutch there. There were traders, and they brought the Inquisition with them. So they had to leave. They went to another Dutch colony, New Amsterdam. And of course, we know that's New York. And they founded it. The synagogue, Sherith, Israel in 1654, that same year. And then the Revolutionary War intervened and Rabbi Mendezaceus, Gershim Mendezaceus, did not want to be under British occupation. So in 1780, he brought many of his congregants, not all of them, down to Philadelphia. And they were here for four years from 1780, 1784. They helped reestablish the synagogue formally in 1782. Because before that, we were kind of, you know, we didn't really have synagogue building. And they helped establish this. So, and then they went back to New York. And that's why we say we're the oldest continuous synagogue. Sherith Israel is older. But they had a four-year break when they came down here. Got it. So this was like a satellite. It was a hybrid, I guess, but it was. So we're the oldest continuously operating synagogue in North America. And this has been a theme today of these Dutch Jews, or very influential, I guess. Yes, they were around. Yes. And they were traders. And they had their Atlantic networks because of diaspora. So they had trading contacts everywhere. And that made for good business. So before we go any further, tell me what's your Jewish story? Okay, my Jewish story is I relate to Jose Lopez there, Moses Lopez, who gave us the Conean chair. He was a converse. His family was forcibly converted during the inquisition. But he returned to Judaism and then he came to Philadelphia and joined our synagogue. And I relate to that because I too am a converse. So my family left Spain. They went to New Spain, Mexico, and then came up to New Mexico. Settle there in 1598. So my family's been there for over four centuries in New Mexico. But they didn't know they were Jewish until I married my second wife who was Jewish. And my, you know, there were things that they did like in my family. When somebody died, they covered mirrors. And my wife's family did that too. And I thought, whoa, what's going on here? And then there was some other things that they did. When their parents, in the anniversary of the death of their parents, my parents always let a candle for their parents until they're dying day on their yard site. And Catholic Jews, Italian Jews don't do that. You know, Polish Jews, nobody does that. But my family did that. And so I was looking at all these practices. And I did more genealogy and research. And I kept going back. I went back 14 generations in my family where converse was also. Wow. So you basically, first of all, you guys came from the Inquisition to Mexico, then to New Mexico, and then were converseos. And you, for centuries, no one knew that. And then your second wife was Jewish. And by seeing the practices she was doing in her home, you discovered, I'm doing the same practice in the newspaper. And then you went back into the research and realized you were a converseo. Yes. And I had a clue because there had been some books written about New Mexico and some of the stories that were coming out of there. And so I was reading those stories. And then I was putting the pieces together with my wife. And that's how I discovered my own identity. So I'm a born and bred Catholic, but I'm now very much a Jew and proud to be one. Amazing. Amazing. That's just a crazy story. And it fits in again with this whole larger theme of all the people who came here and the role they played. And obviously some of them didn't even realize that they were Jewish from any generations. It's good to have you back. It's great to be back. Thank you, Justin. Are we ready to look at the stories? Let's check them out. Okay. When you're an old synagogue going nearly three centuries, you accumulate a lot of torus. We have 20 torus. We might be missing one because it's being repaired. And we often get asked which ones the oldest Torah. We used to think this was the blue one because we believe that's one that Hymne Solomon donated to us. When we moved into our first building, synagogue building 1782, he donated the first Torah. And we think that's Hymne the blue one. Wow. But we just learned that there was another Torah that came from landcaster Pennsylvania in 1761. But we have no idea which one that could be. God, there's a mystery in here that one of them is from 1761. And then you also have the one that you know came from Hymne Solomon. Yes, we think that's the one that came from Hymne Solomon. I've been told that's the blue cover. We have a rabbi, a maritous rabbi that says one should not favor one Torah yet. The other so he always keeps this guessing. We believe he knows that he won't tell us. I love that. I love that. That's great. Yes. Unless we come to favor the oldest Torah, but the one given by the famous person, that's beautiful. Right. Wow. These are very special. And this is our newest Torah. We're here. About 20, yeah, it's about 20 years old, given us by the good by family. And that's an Eastern Torah. And it's all metal. And it's very, very heavy. Yes. Nobody wants to carry it. Right. Unless they've got a lot of muscle. These are all there. These are Ramanim. Our Ramanim helped Melz on them. And we have the breastplates. Great. Not all of them have breastplates on some of our Torah covers. But this is what we use every week. Amazing. And during the weekdays. [Music] So, Justin, what we have here, this is the original book of our formal establishment in 1782. And we just got out of storage at Iring Mountain. So, it's only going to be here temporarily. But it has the names of all people that help bound us. This is our formal founding. And it includes the names on the right side. There's Himes Solomon. There's, he's on the left side there. Himes Solomon. Michael Gratz is here. It's a great art. We're in our Gratz. Yes. So, all the early Jews from Philadelphia. Are on this list. Any of the Jews. Those who are the people that were built in the British community. And also helping the American war effort. Exactly. Especially the Gratz family was one of them here. So, I just wanted to. to point that out to you. And that's the original book. We had lost it for a long time, and then we found it, so we hope not to lose it. - Where'd you lose it? - It disappeared. The rabbi said, I don't know what happened to it. We couldn't find it. - And then? - And then suddenly it appeared again. - It was under its helmet or something. (laughing) - No, no, no. - I wouldn't be afraid to guess. - All right, yeah, got it. - These are our four synagogue buildings. The building that we're standing in now is our fifth building. Our previous buildings before that and we'll start from the very beginning is our very first building as a congregation of 1782. And then we moved to a new building in 1824. And then 1859. And then this is, and then 1909 is our York Street building. And it's Roman Greco architecture, very impressive building. It's a dry good story today, unfortunately, with a beautiful building like that. But it was in a bad, not in a great section of Philadelphia. And we had also left our historic location in Old City behind. So we wanted to come back to where we started before. - Just here. - So we came back to where we started from here in Old City, Philadelphia. That was our last building, York Street. - Okay. (upbeat music) Carl, I couldn't help but notice that they're kind of all of portraits you have on the way in here. Why don't you tell me a little bit about the very special people who are involved in this congregation over the years? - Justin, I would be very pleased to share with you the proud history behind each of those portraits. - Okay, this is Gertian Mendes-Saceus, the minister. And again, Sephardum, go by, for the head of the congregation, they go by different names. So it could be titles, I should say. It could be minister, it could be Huzon. Whereas for Ashkenazi, Huzon means something entirely different. - Right, the vision leading the services. - Yes, or it can even rubber him. And then use the term rubber him. And in this case, they're using minister. He was our minister from 1780, 1784. He came from New York, share at Israel. And he was here during the Revolutionary War. He was called the Patriot Rabbi because he did not want to be under British occupation. So he got himself and his congregants from share at Israel, not all of them, but many of them, to come down to Philadelphia. - Got it. - And so this is our, you know, this is our minister. - And then he went back up to New York. - And then in 1784, he went back up. - But the congregation continued, they found a new river. - Yes. - Yeah, we continued. - Yeah, okay. - What I want to show you now is manual Josephson. He was our president from 1785, 1791. He was one that was responsible for what we call the Washington letters. When Washington became president in 1789, he wanted on behalf of the Sephardic congregations in the colonies, there were only six of them. He wanted to send George Washington, the new president, a congratulatory letter. And so, but the congregations could not agree on the wording. - And anyway. - Is it getting the Jews couldn't agree with each other? - They couldn't agree with each other. How rare is that? So anyway, Washington happened to be in Newport, Rhode Island where Torah synagogue is. And Moses, Saceus, who's the big brother, the older brother, a rabbi, Irsham, Saceus, he presented Washington the letter. And the letter basically was congratulatory letter, but it also was kind of questioning what would be life like for Jews under the New Republic. - Mm-hmm. - And Washington wrote more than one letter, but Newport was the most powerful. Because Washington basically said it was the prerogative of governments to decide whether one could practice their religion. That it was an inherent right of man. It was a natural right of man to practice whatever religion they wanted. And so, it was a powerful letter and it was a presidential voice behind it and a popular president. And those letters, because he wrote more than one, but this is, McPhysra also has one, and we have the original here from Washington. - So I'll lose that one. - Yeah, we don't want to lose that one. But anyway, even the Supreme Court has cited these letters in some of their opinions on religious freedom. So those are some of the most important documents in American Jewish history, the Washington letters. And it was manual Josephson's idea to do this. - Beautiful. Although he didn't get to send the letter that he wanted. So. - He was the president of the McPhysra. - Right, I just wanted to mention Jonas Phillips in his role in the Religious Oath Act, which it was passed in Pennsylvania and to take public office in Pennsylvania. He had to swear on the Christian Bible. And of course, Jews weren't gonna do that, but it's a turned out, and neither did the Catholics want to do that. Because the Bibles are a little bit different. And so he went to the Board of Sensors to protest that. And this was 1783. And it's one of the early acts of Jewish civil rights in America fighting for religious freedom. And that's why it's so important because we got on record as beginning to protest some of these things that we're going on in America. So I just wanted to do a quick piece on that. And then I just-- - You're probably pretty unique. Stories of people in Spain writing a letter to the king saying, "Well, we don't love what you're doing. Can you make it?" - Well, it's funny you mentioned that because you got to remember during all this time the Inquisition was going on. So Spanish and the Spain and Portugal were still hunting down. Anybody was practicing Jews in secret. And in England or Mother Call of the Jews cannot vote there. They could not go to the university. And so they didn't have their civil rights there. If you're in Captain, the Great and Russia, she was moving all the Jews out of the cities and just adults. And of course in the Arab Middle Eastern countries, Jews were considered second class citizens. So here we are in the United States. We have the audacity to protest and about our civil rights. So with all this going on, it's, you see, Jews taking the initiative here. And these two together, you have Manuel Josephson saying, "That's right, a letter to the president." So to see what he says back, to try to get something on paper from him and some recognition. And then you have Jonas Phillips talking about a specific issue, which is the swearing on the Bible. - Yes. - God. - Yes. - Amazing. - Okay, you know, this is Rebecca Gratz. She's one of, she's from the Gratz family. Michael Gratz, Miriam Gratz, very wealthy family in Philadelphia. One of Philadelphia's richest families. They had 12 children. And all the 12 children did amazing things. And they all lived to tell about it. In those days, not everybody, not all the children lived, but the grasses all lived. And they all accomplished great things. And of all the Gratz children, Rebecca Gratz, was probably the most prominent. Her life started right at the end of the Revolutionary War, 18, 1781. And went to 1869 to the end of the Civil War. So she was, she was lived in the time of America when we were going through lots of changes, lots of volatility, sure. And Gratz turned for a woman, and those times, she was extraordinary. At age 20, Gratz used her family money and her mother and sisters helped out to establish an association to deal with Revolutionary War widows and their children. So she's 20 years old, she did that. Then she started the Hebrew and Evelyn Society, which still exists today. And many people, women, want to be part of that. And she also started of Sunday schools and did that. She did an orphanage for children. She established an orphanage for children, but it was for Jews and non-Jews alike. It wasn't just Jewish only. At the same time, she established a Jewish foster care home because she wanted Jewish kids and foster care to go to Jewish families. And so, and what was amazing about it, not only for organizations that she founded, she served in the secretary as superintendent, as president. She had an officer position in those organizations. So she just wasn't sitting behind the lines, behind the table there, letting the men do that. She was in the forefront doing that. - Got it. - And so she kind of set the tone for us as Jews because she was working with the non-Jewish communities too. So it was kind of building trust like, you know, here are these Jews. They're not stained to themselves over here. They're out, they're helping, you know, the local community, they're contributing. And that helped to improve relations in America. America. It also helped to establish Jewish flaunt philanthropy. Right. Because the grats is, you know, her brother, uh, Grats College was named after her brother was founded by McBitt Israel. But that was through a trust that he gave us to establish the college. So the Grats family just did great things. And, um, and, uh, she was probably the most illustrious of the world. God. And so alongside the people who fought for, you know, the rights of Jews here, which we talked about earlier, now we're talking about no civic participation, the idea for anthropology and trying to contribute meaningfully and in proof society around us. And she was a leader in that. Yes. Beautiful. And, uh, and I do love the, I would just going to say I do love their Sunday school because she and, uh, Rabbi Leeser, who I'm going to talk about next. Uh, they saw all these, you know, because Jews were mingling with the, the Christians, you know, these Jewish kids were seeing these Christian kids going to church on Sunday. I'll dress up and Jewish kids were sitting home on Sunday with, yeah, doing other things. And, um, they came up with the idea for Sunday school. And I know all the Jewish kids that don't go to the Ashima's love Sunday school. Right. How much time was that? That was her? Yeah. That was her. All right. Yeah. Rebecca. Yeah. Rebecca. I mean, these are all, this is all the furniture that we took out of our storage. This is all original grass family furniture. That's Michael Gratz, his portrait. And that's his wife, Miriam Gratz there. And then that's Rachel Gratz. Got it. And, uh, and so, um, so, and this is the kind of furniture that they had in their house. So you can tell that it wasn't, um, it was pretty elaborate furniture, pretty nice. Uh, but this was a Gratz family. But they also contributed to society. And that's what made the family special. Everyone did all their kids. Okay. Now, the one I want to tell you about is one of our most distinguished congregants in Israel. And that's Hi Am Solomon. And we call them the financial hero of the, of the American Revolution. And, uh, because he helped, he contributed to financing the revolution. He was the financier. He, he, he dealt with financial notes. And he bought them and sold them. And, uh, he did quite, quite well at it. And, uh, he was reputed to earn, uh, loan the, the nation's $650,000. I didn't pull that figure out of a hat. His, uh, ancestors in the 1880s wanted, he never got reimbursed. And the government, uh, they wanted reimbursement from the government. So they went to the Congress and, and asked the perimeter for, for their father to reimburse what he loaned to the nation in helping to finance the revolution. Uh, Congress, um, we're very consider to that. They, we're very respectful, uh, but they made no decision on it, which is a nice way of saying no. Um, but Hi Am Solomon had a very, uh, illustrious career. He started off as a spy. Um, for, for, for, he was a patriot. And he was with, uh, he wasn't with the sons of revolution, but he worked with them. And he spoke seven languages. So he could speak German, he could speak French, he could speak Spanish, Portuguese, Russian. Uh, he spoke a lot of different languages. So he could get a buy with just about anybody. This is a team I'm noticing also that a lot of the Jews from this era spoke a lot of different languages. Yes, they did. Because they were all traders. And it had to do with a diaspora getting kicked out of Spain and Portugal and also leaving other countries. But with their families getting, uh, scattering all the globe, they, they kept in touch, but also it served good trade links for the mercantile business, the trade business. So that's, that's where it came in handy. God. Now, um, so Solomon was, was captured twice as a spy. Once in 1776. Uh, when he, he was caught spying for the Americans and patriots. And he was in prison. And, uh, but he managed to, to escape. And then he was caught again in 1778. Uh, and he was, his, his charge is trying to destroy a fleet of British ships. And he was, um, he was sentenced to death for that. Wow. And the rumor has it that he had some gold in his garment, you know, sewed in his garment. Uh, it seems like some of the Jews have money in sewn in their garments. But that's the story goes and that he bribed one of the guards to, to, to, to escape. Wow. And when he did, he came to Philadelphia. And he became, um, one of the stalwarts of the synagogue. He helped fund our first synagogue, building in 1782. He gave us our first Torah. And, uh, we honored him by letting him open the door of our, of our brand new synagogue. It was our very first synagogue. Uh, so, I am Solomon for us as one of our distinguished people. And, um, at the, he was, he's buried in our cemetery in an unmarked grave. We have two markers from him, of him, one by that Rift Shalom, uh, in 17, 1976. So it's 50 years old. We also have another one from 1917, who was great grandson. They're both 20th century markers. So, Hyme Solomon, you know, was apparently just sort of forgotten from the Revolutionary War until the 20th century. Uh, I don't know why, but that, that's what happened. So that's how we know Hyme Solomon. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Next I'd like to talk about, uh, after Rebecca Gratz is Isaac Leaser, who kind of laid the foundation for Judaism in America. Uh, Isaac Leaser was born in Germany. He came to Richmond and he stayed, uh, with an uncle there. And, uh, the uncle was friends with a Benjamin Saceus, who was a nephew of our minister, Reverend, uh, Saceus. And so he taught him the Sephardic rituals. And he came to Philadelphia in 1829 and served the congregation for 21 years until 1850. Now, Rabbi Leaser was, uh, as they say, wasn't a particularly attracted man, nor did he have a very positive personality. It's hard to get along with. Uh-huh. But he, despite those things, he did incredible things. Uh, first of all, when he came here, he started the, um, the tradition of having sermons every week. Before that, uh, rabbis in this country would just have sermons on, on, on, on the high holidays. Right. Or Shabbat Hagadol. And, yes, the big, the big ones before Passover and you know, keep working. Exactly. Shabbat Shabbat Shabbat. And that was it. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, I think Rabbi Leaser probably was looking at the Christians, and you know, they have been, they have their services every week and, uh, the ministers give sermons. And Rabbi Leaser adopted that approach. I don't know if that makes him the most loved Rabbi in history or the most hated Rabbi in history. It could go either way. Uh, and, uh, but he, he also wrote the first Hebrew English Bible in America in 1853 called the Leaser Bible. Uh, because, you know, a lot of people couldn't read Hebrew. They needed to, they could, could read English. He helped out with that. He also, there was a time in this country when Leaser was here from 1806 to 1868. Um, there was no infrastructure here. Leaser started, he, he, he had a publication, the advocate. And, um, that was the first Jewish publication in America. And then Leaser had some books he wanted to publish. Nobody wanted to publish them because they were, they were Jewish books and nobody knew anything about them. He established the Jewish Publication Society. Oh wow. Uh, so, yeah. So, so Leaser also worked with Rebecca Gratz in, in establishing the Hebrew Education Society where they set up, um, to, to, this is how where the Ashivas came from, how to establish Jewish schools in this country. So they, the Hebrew Education Society did that. He was also involved in getting Jews together to establish the first Jewish hospital. We had the Einstein hospital here in Philadelphia. That was, uh, through Isaac Leaser using the power of the press and getting support for hospital. So, uh, so he, he did many great things. He even, uh, established a, a seminary before he died. My monity seminary here in Philadelphia. You know, seminary a few years after it's, it's yet closed. But they've used that as a model for, for, for, um, starting establishing new new seminaries. They used the Leaser model. So this guy, you know, was, uh, just, uh, set up an institution builder, institution builder for the Jews that came, you know, there, there was an infrastructure they had waiting for. So he, he really did quite a bit. Now, I said he was, uh, with Mick Rizrael, 1850, they had a little disagreement. He left. Uh, so, uh, so, but that happens. Okay. There's one person, uh, is one of our most distinguished soldiers that are buried in the Israel cemetery. We have actually 19 people buried in that cemetery that are approved by the sons of the American Revolution. So we had a lot of patriots that fought for this country and buried in that cemetery. We're very proud of that. One of the most decorated is major Benjamin Knownes. Knownes was from Mordeaux in France. He was French. He came to this country and he joined Mick Israel. He joined the Revolutionary Army, got his commission and he served for what I was on the staff of Washington. He was on the staff of Lafayette. He was on Camp Polaski's Calvary and he fought at the Battle of Charleston. He fought in Savannah, the Battle of Savannah. And in the siege of Savannah, Savannah, we're excited for bravery. And then he was also captured by the British at Charleston in 1780. And he was released when Cornwall was surrendered in 1781. That's when he got released. So he was an incredible person. He was president of our synagogue for 13 years and served as our rabbi here when the rabbi was away. And so he's one of the people that we're very proud of. Wow. Carl, I just want to thank you for everything that you've shared. It's really been so special to learn about. Congregation Mick Israel, the people who participated in this community, the influence they had on America. And not just on the Jewish community, they built institutions. They did philanthropic work. They financed the revolutions. They served in the army, all these different leaders. And you know, this is their community. This is where they prayed. And these are the towers they read from. And this is the Bima they read from as well. And to see the influence they had to be reminded of the role that all these different Jews played in the creation and foundation of our countries is so valuable. Thank you so much. Hey, you're welcome, Justin. We're just glad to have been in Philadelphia at that time when all the exciting things were going on and all the changes were being made. And we were right in the middle of them. So it was nice to have the opportunity to recount those experiences for you. Thank you. All right, sir. [Music]