December 19, 2022 • 14 mins
With Hanukkah celebrations underway around the world, we're revisiting this previously-aired episode to talk about how Jewish holidays were celebrated in colonial America. 12 year-old Zachary joins us with questions about holidays and Jewish culture, and Andrew Porwancher, history professor with the University of Oklahoma, joins us to answer them!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
They're pretty arany and they thought so. Hi and welcome back to the Growing
Patriot Podcast. I'm Amelia Hamilton,back to walk you through some more colonial
(00:26):
American history. I hope everyone hada happy Thanksgiving. This week, we're
still talking about holidays, but withHanaka underway, we're going to be talking
about the holidays that Jewish colonists celebrated. Here's Zachary. Hello, miss Hamilton.
My name is Zachary and I'm twelveyears old. I had a question
for you about Honaka and the wayit was celebrated during colonial times. Which
(00:47):
colonial states are the highest Jewish populations. Also, what was the relationship between
the Jewish colonists and their non Jewishneighbors. Did this affect the way in
which Honaka was celebrated at the time. Finally, how differently was Hanakah celebrated
in the colonies that it is now. Thanks Those are such good questions.
(01:07):
Not only are they going to tellus a lot about the Jewish holidays,
but they'll tell us a lot aboutAmerican culture at the time. We've talked
in other episodes about how important religionwas, and this will add another really
important piece to that puzzle. Sothank you for such good questions, Zachary,
Should we just dive right in.I think so too. Well.
(01:37):
My name is Andrew Poor Luncher andI am a history professor at the University
of Oklahoma. Okay, great,thank you so much for joining us today.
With people all around the country celebratingHanaka this week, we got to
wondering how people celebrated different Jewish holidaysduring colonial times. So my friend Zachary
sent in some questions and which colonieshad Jewish populations during colonial times. Yeah,
(02:02):
it's a great question, zach.So there were in colonial times five
Jewish communities that could be found inthe country. The oldest was in New
York, and there were also Jewishpopulations in Newport, Rhode Island, in
(02:23):
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in Charleston,South Carolina, and in Savannah, Georgia.
And one of the things that's reallynotable about Jews going to those particular
places that those are cities, thoseare port towns on the seaboard, and
so at a time when most Americanswere living on farms in the countryside,
(02:44):
Jews were, you know, alittle bit different from a lot of other
Americans, and that they tended tocongregate in cities. Is there a reason
for that? Yeah, there is. So Historically Jews were more involved in
commerce and trade and finance instead ofagriculture, and so it was natural that
(03:08):
Jewish skills would be most valuable inport cities. Okay, that makes sense.
Kind of going along with that,what were the relationships between Jewish people
and their neighbors. So in Americain colonial times had arguably better relationships with
(03:30):
their gentile or Christian neighbors than theydid in a lot of Europe. And
so in Europe, Jews oftentimes wouldlive in Jewish ghettos, and there were
places in Europe where Jews would actuallylocked into their own Jewish districts at night.
And even in cities where the restrictionson Jews were not quite as severe
(03:55):
as that, Jews still, youknow, tended to live apart from the
rest of the population. If youlook at the American Jewish experience in colonial
times, Jews did tend to livenear each other because they needed to be
walking distance to a local synagogue.But we don't see quite the same level
(04:18):
of segregation, particularly in Newport,Rhode Island. We have records that suggest
that Jews were living side by side, alongside Christian neighbors. But it is
also important to understand, on theother hand, that America was not as
tolerant a place in the seventeen hundredsas it is today, and there was
(04:40):
still discrimination and prejudice against Jews.So did that affect the way people were
able to celebrate religious holidays. Thereare instances of Jewish cemeteries being desecrated or
Jewish synagogues being vandalized. I wouldnot say it was a common occurrence in
(05:04):
colonial times, but you know,Jews for the most part enjoyed pretty high
degree of religious liberty, and forthe most part we're free to celebrate their
holidays without interference. That's great tohear. So Zachary had asked how differently
(05:25):
Hanaka was celebrated, and when youand I talked about about that before the
episode, it sounds like it wasvery different. Yes, well, so
Hanaka historically has not been a majorJewish holiday. It was really one of
the more minor hull And in fact, you know, I have not come
across a single primary source from thecolonial era in America of anyone even mentioning
(05:49):
Hanka. Hanka really starts to becomemore popular in the nineteenth and into the
twentieth century and coincides with Christmas becomingan ever more important holiday for Christians,
and Hanaka became away for American Jewsto be a part of winter time celebrations
(06:14):
in their own right. And soJewish holidays like Russia Shanna the Jewish New
Year, and Doom Kapoor, theday where Jews atone for their sins today
are still the most important Jewish holidays. And in colonial times we're certainly the
most important Jewish holidays. And wecan find references in the primary sources from
(06:34):
colonial times to Yom Kapoor and Russiashanawere those celebrated differently in colonial times.
Yeah, as far as you know, as far as we know, you
know, there's there are a lotof striking similarities. One of the differences
(06:56):
between the Jewish American experience today versuscolonial times as you have a wider range
of the kinds of religious observance thatwe see. So, for instance,
there are Orthodox Jews where the servicemight be strictly in Hebrew, and there
might be a Reform Jewish synagogue wherethe service is largely in English, and
(07:20):
you don't have quite as wide rangeof different kinds of Jewish denominations in colonial
times, and so that might beone difference. And another difference which might
be interesting to your listeners is thata lot of the Jews who settled early
America were not from Eastern Europe,and so the style of prayer was in
(07:43):
this what's known as the Serfardic style, which refers to Jews from Spain and
Portugal. And in colonial times inthe New York Synagogue they would actually say
a prayer in Spanish for King Georgethe Third. But once the revolution started,
that the habit that they kicked.And as for non religious holidays,
(08:03):
would Jews celebrate those with their nonJewish neighbors. Sure, so one there
is an example of that in thein not that I found in colonial times,
but rather shortly after independence in seventeeneighty nine, George Washington issues a
proclamation and he calls on Americans toreserve the fourth Thursday of November for a
(08:30):
day of Thanksgiving. And and thisyou know, becomes a recurring national holiday,
and people in their different religious denominations, including Jews, he did George
Washington's call and went to their respectivehouses of worship and prayed for the preservation
(08:54):
of the country and the preservation ofthe newly ratified constitution. The Constitutional Convention
had been just two years earlier,in the Constitution had been ratified into law
a year earlier. And then thesereligious communities went into their communities in the
cities at large and gave charity tothe poor. And so this was one
(09:18):
way in which Jews and their nonJewish neighbors were taking part of a shared
American experience. Yeah, I lovethat. And then one other thing I
wanted to talk to you about thatis right in your wheelhouse. I think
I told you about two of myfavorite kids, Sadie and Jack, who
(09:39):
have been on this podcast before,and they might end up being your biggest
fans, I think after listening tothis one, because they have a favorite
founding father who is Alexander Hamilton,and I know he is someone that you
have been studying a lot. Andif you could tell us a little bit
about why Alexander Hamilton connects to thisepisode today, I would love that.
(10:03):
Sure. Well, I share Sadieand Jack's interests in Alexander Hamilton. We're
all on the same team here.So for the last several years, since
even before the Hamilton Musical hit Broadway, and he became the most popular founding
father on a book about Alexander Hamilton'srelationship to Judaism, and there is some
(10:30):
evidence in the historical record that Hamiltonmay indeed have been born and raised Jewish.
She had a mother named Rachel Levine, which is a quintessentially Jewish name.
She was not born Jewish, butshe may have converted to Judaism to
marry a Jewish merchant in the Caribbeannamed Johan Levin. And what's striking about
(10:52):
Alexander Hamilton's childhood is that his motherenrolls him in a Jewish school, where
we know he begins rudimentary study ofthe Torah of the Hebrew Bible as a
child. When he was little,his teacher would put him on a table
so they would be eye level,and he would recite to her the Ten
Commandments in the original Hebrew. Andwhat's so interesting about this is that we
(11:15):
can't find any recorded instance of aChristian child attending a Jewish school anywhere in
the world at this time. Andso the fact that Alexander Hamilton went to
a Jewish school is compelling evidence thatthe local Jewish community likely considered him to
be one of their own. Andalthough Alexander Hamilton, in leaving behind the
(11:37):
Caribbean, left behind any Jewish identityhe might have had, and he certainly
presents himself as a Christian, inhis adult life in America, Hamilton develops
closer ties to the American Jewish communitythan any other Founding father. So well,
(11:58):
so this takes variety of forms.So Hamilton attends King's College what gets
renamed Columbia after the war in NewYork, and in his capacity as an
alumnus of Columbia, Hamilton changes thecharter so that the office of the college
(12:18):
presidency is open to people of allreligious backgrounds. And Hamilton is also involved
with putting the first Jew on theboard of an American college. In his
capacity as a lawyer, he becomesa legal advocate for nearly every prominent English
member of New York City. AndHamilton is also collaborating with Jewish merchants and
(12:43):
finance fears in creating the modern Americanfinancial system. Well that's what I love
about history. It's centuries later andthere's still so many things to learn.
Absolutely absolutely, well, thank youso much for taking the time to walk
us through this today. I reallyappreciate it. Sure my pleasure. Thank
(13:03):
you for having it. So therewe go, all about Jewish holidays and
colonial times and even a little extrahistory about Alexander Hamilton. What else could
(13:24):
you want in an episode? I'mwishing all of my Jewish listeners are very
happy Hanukkah and we will see everyonenext week. Until then, remember you
can visit us at Growing Patriots onInstagram, Twitter, and Facebook or at
growing Patriots dot com to find theepisode, coloring pages, videos, and
lots of other resources. You canalso order the books there. Remember it's
(13:46):
a good time to get that holidayshopping in until next week. See you
then, ready stay and they boughtso we would go handover America, landover,
(14:07):
America, landover,
They're pretty arany and they thought so. Hi and welcome back to the Growing
Patriot Podcast. I'm Amelia Hamilton,back to walk you through some more colonial
(00:26):
American history. I hope everyone hada happy Thanksgiving. This week, we're
still talking about holidays, but withHanaka underway, we're going to be talking
about the holidays that Jewish colonists celebrated. Here's Zachary. Hello, miss Hamilton.
My name is Zachary and I'm twelveyears old. I had a question
for you about Honaka and the wayit was celebrated during colonial times. Which
(00:47):
colonial states are the highest Jewish populations. Also, what was the relationship between
the Jewish colonists and their non Jewishneighbors. Did this affect the way in
which Honaka was celebrated at the time. Finally, how differently was Hanakah celebrated
in the colonies that it is now. Thanks Those are such good questions.
(01:07):
Not only are they going to tellus a lot about the Jewish holidays,
but they'll tell us a lot aboutAmerican culture at the time. We've talked
in other episodes about how important religionwas, and this will add another really
important piece to that puzzle. Sothank you for such good questions, Zachary,
Should we just dive right in.I think so too. Well.
(01:37):
My name is Andrew Poor Luncher andI am a history professor at the University
of Oklahoma. Okay, great,thank you so much for joining us today.
With people all around the country celebratingHanaka this week, we got to
wondering how people celebrated different Jewish holidaysduring colonial times. So my friend Zachary
sent in some questions and which colonieshad Jewish populations during colonial times. Yeah,
(02:02):
it's a great question, zach.So there were in colonial times five
Jewish communities that could be found inthe country. The oldest was in New
York, and there were also Jewishpopulations in Newport, Rhode Island, in
(02:23):
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in Charleston,South Carolina, and in Savannah, Georgia.
And one of the things that's reallynotable about Jews going to those particular
places that those are cities, thoseare port towns on the seaboard, and
so at a time when most Americanswere living on farms in the countryside,
(02:44):
Jews were, you know, alittle bit different from a lot of other
Americans, and that they tended tocongregate in cities. Is there a reason
for that? Yeah, there is. So Historically Jews were more involved in
commerce and trade and finance instead ofagriculture, and so it was natural that
(03:08):
Jewish skills would be most valuable inport cities. Okay, that makes sense.
Kind of going along with that,what were the relationships between Jewish people
and their neighbors. So in Americain colonial times had arguably better relationships with
(03:30):
their gentile or Christian neighbors than theydid in a lot of Europe. And
so in Europe, Jews oftentimes wouldlive in Jewish ghettos, and there were
places in Europe where Jews would actuallylocked into their own Jewish districts at night.
And even in cities where the restrictionson Jews were not quite as severe
(03:55):
as that, Jews still, youknow, tended to live apart from the
rest of the population. If youlook at the American Jewish experience in colonial
times, Jews did tend to livenear each other because they needed to be
walking distance to a local synagogue.But we don't see quite the same level
(04:18):
of segregation, particularly in Newport,Rhode Island. We have records that suggest
that Jews were living side by side, alongside Christian neighbors. But it is
also important to understand, on theother hand, that America was not as
tolerant a place in the seventeen hundredsas it is today, and there was
(04:40):
still discrimination and prejudice against Jews.So did that affect the way people were
able to celebrate religious holidays. Thereare instances of Jewish cemeteries being desecrated or
Jewish synagogues being vandalized. I wouldnot say it was a common occurrence in
(05:04):
colonial times, but you know,Jews for the most part enjoyed pretty high
degree of religious liberty, and forthe most part we're free to celebrate their
holidays without interference. That's great tohear. So Zachary had asked how differently
(05:25):
Hanaka was celebrated, and when youand I talked about about that before the
episode, it sounds like it wasvery different. Yes, well, so
Hanaka historically has not been a majorJewish holiday. It was really one of
the more minor hull And in fact, you know, I have not come
across a single primary source from thecolonial era in America of anyone even mentioning
(05:49):
Hanka. Hanka really starts to becomemore popular in the nineteenth and into the
twentieth century and coincides with Christmas becomingan ever more important holiday for Christians,
and Hanaka became away for American Jewsto be a part of winter time celebrations
(06:14):
in their own right. And soJewish holidays like Russia Shanna the Jewish New
Year, and Doom Kapoor, theday where Jews atone for their sins today
are still the most important Jewish holidays. And in colonial times we're certainly the
most important Jewish holidays. And wecan find references in the primary sources from
(06:34):
colonial times to Yom Kapoor and Russiashanawere those celebrated differently in colonial times.
Yeah, as far as you know, as far as we know, you
know, there's there are a lotof striking similarities. One of the differences
(06:56):
between the Jewish American experience today versuscolonial times as you have a wider range
of the kinds of religious observance thatwe see. So, for instance,
there are Orthodox Jews where the servicemight be strictly in Hebrew, and there
might be a Reform Jewish synagogue wherethe service is largely in English, and
(07:20):
you don't have quite as wide rangeof different kinds of Jewish denominations in colonial
times, and so that might beone difference. And another difference which might
be interesting to your listeners is thata lot of the Jews who settled early
America were not from Eastern Europe,and so the style of prayer was in
(07:43):
this what's known as the Serfardic style, which refers to Jews from Spain and
Portugal. And in colonial times inthe New York Synagogue they would actually say
a prayer in Spanish for King Georgethe Third. But once the revolution started,
that the habit that they kicked.And as for non religious holidays,
(08:03):
would Jews celebrate those with their nonJewish neighbors. Sure, so one there
is an example of that in thein not that I found in colonial times,
but rather shortly after independence in seventeeneighty nine, George Washington issues a
proclamation and he calls on Americans toreserve the fourth Thursday of November for a
(08:30):
day of Thanksgiving. And and thisyou know, becomes a recurring national holiday,
and people in their different religious denominations, including Jews, he did George
Washington's call and went to their respectivehouses of worship and prayed for the preservation
(08:54):
of the country and the preservation ofthe newly ratified constitution. The Constitutional Convention
had been just two years earlier,in the Constitution had been ratified into law
a year earlier. And then thesereligious communities went into their communities in the
cities at large and gave charity tothe poor. And so this was one
(09:18):
way in which Jews and their nonJewish neighbors were taking part of a shared
American experience. Yeah, I lovethat. And then one other thing I
wanted to talk to you about thatis right in your wheelhouse. I think
I told you about two of myfavorite kids, Sadie and Jack, who
(09:39):
have been on this podcast before,and they might end up being your biggest
fans, I think after listening tothis one, because they have a favorite
founding father who is Alexander Hamilton,and I know he is someone that you
have been studying a lot. Andif you could tell us a little bit
about why Alexander Hamilton connects to thisepisode today, I would love that.
(10:03):
Sure. Well, I share Sadieand Jack's interests in Alexander Hamilton. We're
all on the same team here.So for the last several years, since
even before the Hamilton Musical hit Broadway, and he became the most popular founding
father on a book about Alexander Hamilton'srelationship to Judaism, and there is some
(10:30):
evidence in the historical record that Hamiltonmay indeed have been born and raised Jewish.
She had a mother named Rachel Levine, which is a quintessentially Jewish name.
She was not born Jewish, butshe may have converted to Judaism to
marry a Jewish merchant in the Caribbeannamed Johan Levin. And what's striking about
(10:52):
Alexander Hamilton's childhood is that his motherenrolls him in a Jewish school, where
we know he begins rudimentary study ofthe Torah of the Hebrew Bible as a
child. When he was little,his teacher would put him on a table
so they would be eye level,and he would recite to her the Ten
Commandments in the original Hebrew. Andwhat's so interesting about this is that we
(11:15):
can't find any recorded instance of aChristian child attending a Jewish school anywhere in
the world at this time. Andso the fact that Alexander Hamilton went to
a Jewish school is compelling evidence thatthe local Jewish community likely considered him to
be one of their own. Andalthough Alexander Hamilton, in leaving behind the
(11:37):
Caribbean, left behind any Jewish identityhe might have had, and he certainly
presents himself as a Christian, inhis adult life in America, Hamilton develops
closer ties to the American Jewish communitythan any other Founding father. So well,
(11:58):
so this takes variety of forms.So Hamilton attends King's College what gets
renamed Columbia after the war in NewYork, and in his capacity as an
alumnus of Columbia, Hamilton changes thecharter so that the office of the college
(12:18):
presidency is open to people of allreligious backgrounds. And Hamilton is also involved
with putting the first Jew on theboard of an American college. In his
capacity as a lawyer, he becomesa legal advocate for nearly every prominent English
member of New York City. AndHamilton is also collaborating with Jewish merchants and
(12:43):
finance fears in creating the modern Americanfinancial system. Well that's what I love
about history. It's centuries later andthere's still so many things to learn.
Absolutely absolutely, well, thank youso much for taking the time to walk
us through this today. I reallyappreciate it. Sure my pleasure. Thank
(13:03):
you for having it. So therewe go, all about Jewish holidays and
colonial times and even a little extrahistory about Alexander Hamilton. What else could
(13:24):
you want in an episode? I'mwishing all of my Jewish listeners are very
happy Hanukkah and we will see everyonenext week. Until then, remember you
can visit us at Growing Patriots onInstagram, Twitter, and Facebook or at
growing Patriots dot com to find theepisode, coloring pages, videos, and
lots of other resources. You canalso order the books there. Remember it's
(13:46):
a good time to get that holidayshopping in until next week. See you
then, ready stay and they boughtso we would go handover America, landover,
(14:07):
America, landover,
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