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Discourse, Delivered at the Consecration of the Synagogue [K. K. Sh'erit Yisra'el] in the City of New York on Friday, the 10th of Nisan, 5578, Corresponding with the 17th of April, 1818

Noah, Mordecai M.

New York: C. W. Van Winkle, 1818. First edition. Softcover. Octavo. 47, [1, blank]pp. Sewn at spine. Lacking plain wrappers. Faint foxing throughout, else a nearly fine, crisp copy.

The author's first publication expressing his view on the origins and responsibilities of American Jewry, being a transcript of the address delivered at the consecration of the new synagogue building of Shearith Israel, the oldest Jewish congregation in America, founded in 1745. His address received written responses from Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and James Madison, which were published in his 1819 book, Travels in England, France, Spain, and the Barbary States. A man with an astonishing and varied career, Mordecai Manuel Noah (1785-1851) was an American sheriff, playwright, diplomat, and journalist. He served as American consul in Tunis after 1813, where he was able in to assist in the rescue of a number of American sailors being held captive. Despite this success he was recalled in 1815, controversially, under the claim by the Madison administration that his religion was an impediment to his duties. Among the most prominent American Jewish lay leaders of the early 19th century, he is perhaps best known for his idealistic but ultimately failed attempt in 1825 to create a refuge community solely for Jewish Americans on land he purchased on New York's Grand Island, in the Niagara River. Predating modern Zionism by many decades, he styled this project "Ararat," after the mountain on which Noah's Ark came to rest in the biblical account. "After the failure of the Ararat experience, Noah turned more strongly to the idea of Palestine as a national home for Jews" (EJ, 2nd ed., vol. 15, p. 291). From 1821-1823 he served as the 16th Sheriff of New York County (the borough of Manhattan); the Surveyor of the Port from 1829-1833; and a judge of the Court of General Sessions in 1841. As a newspaper publisher and journalist, Noah founded the New York Enquirer in 1826, and the Evening Star in 1834. In the realm of more imaginative literature, he is considered the first major Jewish American playwright. Noah was featured as a character in the Ben Katchor graphic novel "The Jew of New York" (1999), and Gore Vidal's "Burr" (1973).

Noah's cultural pride and surpremely optimistic view of his people's destiny is emphatically expressed in the present discourse: "Never were the prospects for the restoration of the Jewish nation to their ancient rights and dominion more brilliant than they are at present. There are upwards of seven millions of Jews known to be in existence throughout the world, a number greater than at any period of our history, and possessing more wealth, activity, influence, and talents, than any body of people of their number on earth... Let us then hope that the day is not far distant when, from the operation of liberal and enlightened measures, we may look towards that country where our people have established a mild, just, and honourable government, accredited by the world, and admired by all good men" (p. 27). Nearly Fine. Item #52523

References: Enc. Jud. 12, cols. 1198-99; Shaw & Shoemaker, no. 45110; Singerman, 290.

Price: $9,500.00