"An entire new scene will
open itself, and we have the
world to begin againe," wrote
Mordecai Sheftall, a Savannah
Jew, in 1783, as the war be
tween England and the newly
independent United States
ended.
A copy of Sheftall's letter, or-
iginating in the B. H. Levy Col-
lection, is found in the files of
the American Jewish Archives,
the research center on the Cin-
cinnati campus of the Hebrew
Union College-Jewish Institute
of Religion.
As Sheftall had said, "an in-
tier new scene" did, in fact,
"open it self" for American
Jewry five years later, in 1788,
with the ratification of the new
Federal Constitution. Now, for
the first time since the Roman
imperial edict of 212 C. E.,
there existed a nation whose
Jews were full citizens.
On April 30, 1789, the Vir-
ginia farmer who perhaps more
than any other man had made
the "new scene" possible be-
came the nation's first Presi-
dent.
Not long after Washington's
inauguration, a self-appointed
American Jewish leader, Man-
uel Josephson, president of
Philadelphia's Mikveh Congre-
gation, urged America's major
Jewish communities to unite in
a common congratulatory mes-
sage to President Washington.
Savannah and Newport, how-
ever, sent separate addresses.
Charleston, too, though later
joining Philadelphia, Richmond
and New York in a letter to,
Washington, first addressed a
separate missive to the Chief
Executive.
The Jews were, of course, not
alone in congratulating the new
Pr e s i d e n t. Other, religious
groups wrote,. too, particularly
the Catholics and Protestant
rg u m
"Targum" is the term used to
denote a translation of the
Scriptures. It is usually a term
confined to the Aramaic trans-
lations. The word itself comes
from a Greek word "Tragema"
meaning a "desert." In early
times, as each verse was read
in Hebrew from the Holy Scroll
of the Torah an official transla-
tor followed it with a transla-
tion in Aramaic, which was the
vernacular of the day. This made
the Biblical verse more tasty in
an intellectual sense and so it
was considered a dessert follow-
ing the meal. The Targum was
often more than a translation.
It offered various interpreta-
tions of the verses of Scripture.
Dissenters who, like the Jews,
were full-fledged citizens of the
Federal Union, but second-class
citizens in several of the indi-
vidual states. Also, like the
Jews, these groups used their
messages to stress the import-
ance of religious liberty in the
new Union.
The Newport letter, probably
the most famous of all those
written by the Jewish communi-
ties, was sent to Washington
when he visited Newport in
August, 1790. It was signed by
Moses Seixas, the president of
Newport's Cong. Yeshuat Israel,
now by Congressional act a na-
tional historic site called the
Touro Synagogue.
Seixas was the brother of
Gershom Mendes Seixas, the
patriot minister of New York's
Cong. Shearith Israel. A prom-
inent Newport merchant, Moses
Seixas was also master of King
David's Lodge of Freemasons
in Newport and co-signed New-
port's masonic address to Wash-
ington, delivered the same day,
as the Jewish community's mes-
sage.
In his letter on behalf of New-
port Jewry, Seixas requested
the President to "permit the
children of the stock of Abra-.
ham to approach you with the
most cordial affection and
esteem for your perSon and
merits."
After conveying to Washing-
ton the Jews' delight in his suc-
cess and their confidence that
God would enable him "to dis-
charge the arduouS duties of
Chief Magistrate in these
states," Seixas came to the point
of the message:
Deprived as we have hitherto
been of the invaluable rights of
free citizens, we now, (with a deep
sense of gratitude to the Almighty
Disposer of all events) behold a
government (erected by the majesty
of the people), a government which
to bigotry gives no sanction, to
persecution no assistance — but
generously affording to all liberty
of conscience and immunities of
citizenship — deeming every one,
of whatever nation, tongue, or lan-
guage, equal parts of the great gov-
ernmental machine. This so ample
and extensive federal union whose
basis is philanthropy, mutual con-
fidence, and public virtue, we ,can-
not but acknowledge to be the
work of the great God, who ruleth
in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, doing
whatsoever seemeth (to) Him good.
The Jews, wrote Seixas, were
thankful to God "for all the
blessings ' of civil and religious
liberty" which they were enjoy-
ing "under an equal and benign
administration," and they in-
voked God's blessing on Wash-
ington.
The President, who dis-
patched gracious replies to all
the congratulatory messages he
received from the Jewish com-
munities, acknowledged t h e
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Newport address the very same 1876, but Washington had set
day—Aug. 17, 1790—it was pre- the tone.
Even the Newport Jews,
sented to him. The haste in
which he responded may ac- second-class citizens ' in their
count for the happy fact that own state, must have known,
he answered Seixas' letter on as they read Washington's
behalf of the Jews by quoting words, that Jewish disabilities
could not endure forever in a
several extracts from it.
He was very pleased, he wrote nation that had elected a
the Jews of Newport, to receive George Washington its Presi-
their "address replete with ex- dent.
Copies of the addresses sent
pressions of affection and
esteem," and he assured them to Washington by the Jewish
that he would "always retain
a grateful remembrance of the
cordial welcome" he had ex-
perience in his visit "from all
classes of citizens."
He went on to address him-
self directly to the problem of
religious freedom:
communities of America and of
his replies to these messages
are to be found, along with a
host of other documents rela-
ting to American Jewish life
during the Colonial and Early
National Period, at the Ameri-
can Jewish Archives, directed
by Dr. Jacob Rader Marcus,
Adolph S. Ochs, professor of
Jewish History at Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Re-
ligion in Cincinnati.
"The citizens of the United States
of America have a right to applaud
themselves for having given to
mankind examples of an enlarged
and liberal policy, a policy worthy
of imitation.
"All possess alike liberty of con-
science and immunities of citizen-
ship. It is now no more that tolera-
tion is spoken of, as if it was by
the indulgence of one class of
people that another enjoyed the
exercise of their inherent natural
rights. For happily the government
of the United States, which gives
to bigotry no sanction, to persecu-
tion no assistance, requires only
that they who live under its pro-
tection should demean themselves
as good citizens, in giving it on all
occasions their effectual support...
"May the children of the stock
of Abraham, who dwell in this
land, continue to merit and enjoy
the good will of the other inhabi-
tants, while every one shall sit in
safety under his own vine and fig
tree, and there shall be none to
make him afraid."
Praying that God would
"scatter light and not darkness
in our paths," Washington con-
cluded one of the most signifi-
cant letter that had ever been
written in the 136-year history,
of American Jewry.
Ironically, the liberal senti-
ments he expressed would not
be realized in Rhode Island un-
til 1842. They would not be
realized in North Carolina until
1868 or in New Hampshire until
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29-THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS — Friday, September 12, 1958
Washington's Letter to Newport Opened 'Entire New Scene' to Jewry