Tag: Congregation Shearith Israel

Noah harbored no delusions about the status of American Jews, and his speech at the dedication of Shearith Israel’s new building in Manhattan, in 1818, was about the ancient longing of the Jewish people for Zion.

Shultz said she was fired on July 21, 2015, a day after returning from her honeymoon to her job as Program Director of Congregation Shearith Israel, a job she had held for 11 years.

Advantage Shearith Israel, in the ongoing court battles between the oldest congregation in NY City and America, and Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, the oldest synagogue building in America.

At stake are a pair of silver Torah ornaments worth over $7 million.

The rabbi encouraged his flock to “take measures for the relief of the famishing thousands of their fellow mortals in that unfortunate and destitute country, Ireland."

Unless otherwise indicated, all quotes are from “Necrology: Henry S. Hendricks (1892-1959)” by David de Sola Pool, Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society...

In 1927 Captain N. Taylor Phillips1 delivered an address before Congregation Shearith Israel in New York in which he recalled some of the history and traditions of early New York American Jewry. His recollections give fascinating insight into Jewish religious life in America when the community was still in its infancy.

Naphtali Moses Taylor Phillips, generally known as N. Taylor Phillips, was a descendent of one of America's first Jewish families. His great-great-great grandfather, Dr. Samuel Nunes (Nunez) Ribeiro and his great-great grandmother, Zipporah were among the first group of Jews to arrive in Savannah, Georgia in 1733. Zipporah married David Mendes Machado, who served as the chazzan of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York from 1737 until his passing in 1747.

Naphtali Phillips, the ninth child of Rebecca Machado and Jonas Phillips, was born in New York on October 19, 1773. His great-grandfather was Dr. Samuel Nunes Ribeiro, an escapee from the Portuguese Inquisition1 who became one of the first Jewish settlers of Savannah, GA.2 His maternal grandparents were Zipporah Nunes and David Mendes Machado.3 David Machado also escaped from the Inquisition in Portugal and served for a number of years as the chazzan and Torah teacher of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York.

Little has been written about the lives of Jewish women during colonial times. In general, historians have focused on the lives of men who were noteworthy during that era, primarily because more information is available about men who were publicly active than women who, more often than not, devoted the majority of their efforts to the home scene.