THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
friday, September 26, 1975 17
A Bicentennial Feature
As a service
to the community
Dream of a U.S. Jewish State
Is Remembered in Buffalo, N
During Yom Kippur serv-
ices, several Buffalo rabbis
discussed the celebration
that occurred on Sept. 15,
1825, when the founding of
a Jewish nation called Ar-
arat was announced by an
early American Zionist
named Mordecai Manuel
Noah.
Noah's dream first took
shape in 1819, four years
after New York State
ught GrandIsland-48
uare miles of white oak
forest, inhabited by wild
deer, in the Niagara River
north of Buffalo and south
of the majestic falls.
According to the New
York Times, Buffalo was
then a city of 2,500 people,
and the 24 United States
had a total population of
less than 12 million.
o
The Biblical homeland
of Palestine was still a
part of the Ottoman Em-
pire, which gained control
of it in the 16th Century,
and most of the world's
seven million Jews were
Europeans.
Noah's ancestors had fled
the Spanish Inquisition, and
he was born in Philadelphia
in 1785.
An orphan, raised in pov-
erty, Noah became an ap-
prentice gilder and carver,
until he attracted the atten-
tion of Robert Morris, a fin-
ancier, who paid off his ap-
prenticeship and obtained a
job for him in the United
States Treasury.
Noah became a play-
wright and journalist, stud-
ied law and later held a se-
ries of, political" offices,
including that of High Sher-
iff of New York.
City, where he lived until he
died in 1951. His uncle, Na-
phtali Phillips, a Tammany
Hall leader, named him edi-
tor of The National Advo-
cate, the Tammany Hall
paper, which he edited for a
decade.
In 1924 Noah persuaded a
wealthy New York friend,
Samuel Leggett, to buy
about one-fifth of Grand Is-
land's 17,381 acres, a por-
tion across the river from
the terminal of the Erie
Canal, as a home for Jewish
immigrants.
Noah planned to purchase
the remainder of the island,
either as a permanent
homeland or a temporary
refuge until Palestine could
be regained.
In 1825, at the age of 40,
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MORDECAI NOAH
Noah went to Buffalo for
the dedication ceremonies
on the island, but he
learned that there were
not enough boats to take
the hundreds of people
who would attend across
the river to its shores. Ar-
arat was therefore dedi-
cated at St. Paul's Episco-
pal Church in Buffalo.
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Noah addressed the as-
sembly with what he consid-
ered the "Jewish Declara-
tion of Independence," and
he declared himself the ap-
pointed "Governor and
Judge of Israel."
He called for a census and
a tax of Jews around the
world, abolished polygamy
among Asian and African
Jews, and enjoined Jews in
foreign lands to remain
loyal "until further orders."
Finally he commanded
that the American Indians
— "in all probability the
descendants of the lost
In
1813, President tribes of Israel" — be in-
James Madison appointed formed of their lineage and
him the United States reunited into the Jewish
Consul to Tunis, but Noah race.
was removed from that
Noah left Buffalo a few
post three years later un- days later, leaving no one
der conditions that inten- near Grand Island to put his
sified his sense of Jewish ideas into operation. There
identity.
was no Jewish settler even
On his return from Tunis, living in Buffalo until 10
Noah settled in New York years after Noah left.
Dulzin Says Eban Supports
Him as Jewish Agency Chief
JERUSALEM — Jewish
Agency Treasurer Leon
Dulzin, vocal Liberal Party
contender for the chairman-
ship of the Jewish Agency
against Haifa Mayor Yosef
ogi of the Labor Party,
recently that former
eign Minister Abba
Eban endorsed him for that
post.
The chairmanship be-
came vacant last month
with the death of Pinhas Sa-
pir. Since then, support for
Almogi seems to be increas-
ing, while Dulzin, of the
opposition party has pub-
licly stated that he will fight
to retain the chairmanship
against any candidate La-
bor might put up. Dulzin is
acting chairman of the Jew-
ish Agency.
Eban confirmed his sup-
port for Dulzin, stating that
he regarded him as person-
illO
ally qualified if there was
no party consideration in-
volved. He added, however,
that Dulzin has not been au-
thorized to state publicly
that Eban favored his elec-
tion.
The time and format of
the chairmanship contest is
not yet known for certain.
In January, the Zionist Gen-
eral Council is due to meet
here, and theoretically it
could elect a new WZO
chairman (the WZO and
Agency chairmanships are
traditionally held by the
same person). But the fund-
raising organizations have
no representation in the
Zionist General Council,
and so, it is thought, Dulzin
would prefer the issue to be
dedicated first in an Agency
forum and only then in a
WZO forum.
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•
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