One hundred and twenty years ago this month, a celebration was held at New York’s Carnegie Hall on Thanksgiving Day, celebrating 250 years of Jewish presence in the United States. It was the capstone of a week of festivities commemorating the founding of Shearith Israel in 1655, the first Jewish congregation in what was then called New Amsterdam.
The Shabbat before a packed house was to arrive at the world-famous venue, both a warning and a call to renewal were offered by Shearith Israel’s then-rabbi, Reverend Dr. H. Pereira Mendes. He was concerned about the rate of assimilation of the comfortable American Jewish community. “We see the tendency to lose Jewish individuality and to countenance intermarriage, which step [sic] leads invariably to laxity in home religious duty. Has God preserved us for 250 years only that the heritage of our fathers shall be sacrificed by our successors? Has he kept us alive these many years only to die out now?” he lamented, according to The New York Times’ report.
He then took the occasion to urge a recommitment to the covenant. “Men and women of Israel, God speaks to us at this moment. It is a historic, it is a divine moment. By the memories of our fathers and of our mothers, whose examples, teachings, wishes, surely are potent yet; let this solemn moment witness the renewal of our loyalty to God the Holy One, to holiness, with truth, righteousness, and justice.”
In addition to Mendes’ sermon and his synagogue’s customary recitation of the Jewish prayer of Hallel on Thanksgiving (a practice Shearith Israel maintains to this day), the highlight of the celebration was no doubt when Jacob Schiff, the prominent banker, read to the Carnegie crowd a letter from President Theodore Roosevelt.
Roosevelt began by noting that he doesn’t usually write letters for historic anniversaries. “I am forced to make a rule not to write letters on the occasion of any celebration, no matter how important, simply because I cannot write one without either committing myself to write hundreds of others or else running the risk of giving offense to worthy persons.” But on this day, he was making an exception.
He broke with his usual habit because “the lamentable and terrible suffering to which so many of the Jewish people in other lands have been subjected makes me feel it my duty, as the head of the American people, not only to express my deep sympathy for them, as I now do, but at the same time to point out what fine qualities of citizenship have been displayed by the men of Jewish faith and race, who, having come to this country, enjoy the benefits of free institutions and equal treatment before the law.” Jews, he understood, had found a haven in America from the persecution that had plagued them for centuries.
The president then recounted how from the start, Jews have positively contributed to the American project: “Even in our colonial period the Jews participated in the upbuilding of this country, acquired citizenship, and took an active part in the development of foreign and domestic commerce. During the Revolutionary period they aided the cause of liberty by serving in the Continental army and by substantial contributions to the empty treasury of the infant republic. During the Civil War thousands served in the armies and mingled their blood with the soil for which they fought.”
Though Roosevelt possessed an affinity for the pro-assimilationist play “The Melting Pot,” he on this occasion expressed his admiration for the balance American Jews have struck to loyalty to their faith and commitment to America’s flourishing, admiring how “while the Jews of the United States, who now number more than a million, have remained loyal to their faith and their race traditions, they have become indissolubly incorporated in the great army of American citizenship, prepared to make all sacrifices for the country, either in war or peace, and striving for the perpetuation of good government and for the maintenance of the principles embodied in our Constitution.”
The former Rough Rider who had overcome a sickly youth sensed in the American Jewish community kindred spirits, a by-their-bootstraps diligence and devotion to contributing positively to the societal project. “In a few years,” he admiringly reflected, while focusing on the recent wave of Jewish immigrants, “men and women hitherto utterly unaccustomed to any of the privileges of citizenship have moved mightily upward toward the standard of loyal, self-respecting American citizenship; of that citizenship which not merely insists upon its rights, but also eagerly recognizes its duty to do its full share in the material, social and moral advancement of the nation.”
Roosevelt’s words continue to ring true. His letter is worthy of remembrance as America celebrates Thanksgiving once more and looks ahead to its own 250th anniversary. Now, as then, all Americans, regardless of their faith, can recommit to the privilege of being in “the great army of American citizenship,” standing for truth, righteousness, justice and the material, social and moral advancement of our covenantal country.
Rabbi Dr. Stuart Halpern is Senior Adviser to the Provost of Yeshiva University and Deputy Director of Y.U.’s Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought. His books include the newly released “Jewish Roots of American Liberty,” “The Promise of Liberty: A Passover Haggada,” “Esther in America,” “Gleanings: Reflections on Ruth” and “Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land: The Hebrew Bible in the United States.”
