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View Full Version : Mazel Tov: 350 Years of Jews in America


FadeTheButcher
09-03-2004, 01:49 PM
From what I gather, Jews were forced on the colony of Georgia. There was initially quite a bit of resistance to the prospect of Jews settling around here.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1206435/posts

In a way, catching a ride is how it all began. Fleeing the threat of Portuguese violence, 23 Jewish refugees boarded the Sainte Catherine, a ship that was setting sail for New Amsterdam. They arrived in the Dutch colony almost exactly 350 years ago on Sept. 12, 1654.

They were hardly welcomed with open arms, at least not by the governor, Peter Stuyvesant, who tried to expel these "blasphemers of the name of Christ." But enough of his superiors in the Dutch West India Company thought otherwise: the Jews were allowed to stay, becoming the founding members of what would grow into the North American Jewish community.

The next three centuries witnessed an amazingly rich and complex American Jewish history: an encounter that would forever invest new meaning in the adjectives Jewish and American. This history and the 350th anniversary itself are being celebrated in New York this year, beginning on Tuesday with a concert at the 92nd Street Y that opens the first annual New York Jewish Music and Heritage Festival. The festival continues in 15 venues around the city, lasting through Sept. 14, and the Y's celebrations will stretch throughout its entire 2004-5 season.

As a wide variety of events will convey, the story of American Jews became a tale of the passage from the periphery to the center, from immigrant yearning to mainstream achievement. And the journey ultimately transformed this country's Jews as deeply as it did the aspects of American culture they helped to invent. The diverse community today reflects all that was gained in transition but also what was lost in the process of normalization, as a diaspora people laid its roots and built a home more comfortable and secure than almost any other in its history. . .

VanSpeyk
09-05-2004, 02:51 PM
I recall reading some time ago about the governor Peter Stuyvesant and specifically his anti-Jewish feelings. If I recall correctly he asked his superiors in Holland to allow him to expell the Jews, but it was refused. I think that had something to do with Jewish influence, but I'm not sure. I'll try to find something on the internet.

OK, found it.


At any rate, we can be certain that Jews arrived in New Amsterdam out of some combination of choice and chance, because Director General Peter Stuyvesant greeted the unexpected influx with something less than glee but more historically verifiable than legend. He promptly prohibited what he termed the "abominable" Jews from purchasing homes, practicing crafts, selling at retail, trading with other settlements or with Indians, joining the local militia, holding public religious services, voting, or holding office. Meanwhile, he dashed off a letter to his superiors at the Dutch West India Company asking that the "deceitful race -- such hateful enemies and blasphemers of the name of Christ -- be not allowed further to infect and trouble this new colony." '

http://www.baraita.net/blog/archives/2003_09.html

Now, why was it refused again?

(Stuyvesant's plea failed to allow for the fact that Holland's Jewish community was not only powerful but included several of the Company's investors.)

I am quite interested in the history of Jews in Amsterdam. I know that Jewish influence goes back a long time and that it contiunes to this day (Jewish mayor, for example). When I have time I'll definetly explore the subject.