Archive:Spanish and Portuguese Jews in the United States: Difference between revisions
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=== Dress === | === Dress === | ||
Traditionally, Spanish-Portuguese clerical attire consists of [[Clerical clothing|canonical robes]], a [[top hat]], and/or [[Tricorne|tricorn]] depending on the specific community and occasion.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our tradition |url=https://www.esnoga.com/en/traditions/ |access-date=2026-05-20 |website=Portugees-Israëlietische Gemeente |language=en-US}}</ref> | Traditionally, Spanish-Portuguese clerical attire consists of [[Clerical clothing|canonical robes]], a [[top hat]], and/or [[Tricorne|tricorn]] depending on the specific community and occasion.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our tradition |url=https://www.esnoga.com/en/traditions/ |access-date=2026-05-20 |website=Portugees-Israëlietische Gemeente |language=en-US}}</ref> | ||
=== Traditionalism === | |||
Spanish-Portuguese communities place a heavy emphasis on the preservation of Western Sephardic liturgical customs and religious traditions, despite the fact that Spanish-Portuguese communities in the US have always included [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazim]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-05-19 |title=Our Minhag {{!}} Congregation Shearith Israel- Manhattan Orthodox Synagogue |url=https://www.shearithisrael.org/about/our-minhag/ |access-date=2026-05-20 |language=en}}</ref> | |||
== Modern communities == | == Modern communities == | ||
Revision as of 17:32, 20 May 2026
Template:Short description Template:Draft topics Template:AfC topic Template:AfC submission Template:AfC submission
Spanish-Portuguese Jews are the oldest Jewish community in the United States.[1][2]
History
Template:Further The first Jews to arrive in North America were 23 Sephardim fleeing the Portuguese conquest of Dutch Brazil in 1654.[3][4]
Customs
Language
Despite the name, most Spanish-Portuguese in the United States do not speak Spanish nor Portuguese, and any vestiges of either language remain only in the Hebrew pronunciation and traditional liturgy.[7] An example, Benjamin Nathan Cardozo, a notable Spanish-Portuguese lawyer and traditionalist, "confessed in 1937 that" after centuries in British North America, "his family preserved neither the Spanish language nor Iberian cultural traditions".[8] His ancestors had lived in England, the British colonies, and the United States since the 17th century.
Some Spanish table songs, most famously Bendigamos, are still sung by many Spanish-Portuguese.[9][10]
Dress
Traditionally, Spanish-Portuguese clerical attire consists of canonical robes, a top hat, and/or tricorn depending on the specific community and occasion.[11]
Traditionalism
Spanish-Portuguese communities place a heavy emphasis on the preservation of Western Sephardic liturgical customs and religious traditions, despite the fact that Spanish-Portuguese communities in the US have always included Ashkenazim.[12]
Modern communities
Historical communities
- Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim (Reform)[13]
- Touro Synagogue (Reform)[14]
- Congregation Mickve Israel (Reform)[15]
- Touro Synagogue (Orthodox, Ashkenazi)[16]
- The Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas (Reform)[17]
Institutions and organizations
- Jewish Theological Seminary of America - Founded by R' Sabato Morais and R' Henry Pereira Mendes[18]
- Orthodox Union - Founded by R' Henry Pereira Mendes[19][20]
- Hebra Hased Va’Amet (Hebrew Benevolent Society) - Oldest active Jewish philanthropic organization in New York City[21]
- Gomez Foundation for Mill House - Runs the Gomez Mill House museum[22]
Notable individuals
- Rabbi David de Sola Pool - Former rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel
- Judah Touro - Businessman and philanthropist
- Benjamin N. Cardozo - Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
- Isaac Harby - Advocate for Reform Judaism
- Lee Cohen Harby - Writer
- Jacob De Cordova - Politician
- Judah P. Benjamin - Politician and lawyer
- Moses Jacob Ezekiel - Sculptor
- Edwin Warren Moïse - Lawyer, Confederate officer, and Adjutant-General from South Carolina
- Francis Salvador - Politician and revolutionary
- David Levy Yulee - Politician and lawyer
- Emma Lazarus - Poet
- Rabbi Isaac Leeser - Religious leader
- Rabbi Sabato Morais - Co-founder of the Jewish Theological Seminary
- Rabbi Henry Pereira Mendes - Co-founder of the Orthodox Union and Jewish Theological Seminary
- Haym Salomon - Founding Father and merchant
- Rabbi Marc D. Angel - Rabbi emeritus of Congregation Shearith Israel
- Rabbi Meir Soloveichik - Current rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel
- Rabbi Hayyim Angel - Former rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel and professor at Yeshiva University
- SFC Yosef Malachi Guedalia - IDF soldier and victim of the October 7th massacre[23]
- Rabbi Shalom Morris - Rabbi of Bevis Marks Synagogue[24]
- Rabbi Joseph Dweck - Senior rabbi of the Spanish-Portuguese community of the United Kingdom
- Hazzan Gershom Mendes Seixas - First native-born Jewish religious leader in the United States
- Maud Nathan - Labor activist, suffragist, and social worker
- Jacob Lumbrozo - Colonial Maryland physician, farmer, and trader
- CPT Uriah P. Levy - First Jewish Commodore of the United States Navy
- Lawrence Ferlinghetti - Poet
- William Pereira - Architect
- Abraham Pais - Physicist and science historian
- Josh Pais - Actor
- Josephine Lazarus - Essayist, book critic, transcendentalist, and Zionist
- Solomon Nunes Carvalho - Painter, photographer, author, and inventor
- Isaac Lopez Brandon - One of the earliest recorded Jews of African descent in the United States
- Jao de la Porta - Merchant
- Jean Lafitte - Pirate and privateer
- Vic Seixas - Tennis player
- Theodore Solomons - Explorer and early Sierra Club member
- Arthur Hays Sulzberger - Publisher of the New York Times from 1935-1961
- Rabbi Isaac Touro - Religious leader and British Loyalist
- Hazzan Jacques Judah Lyons - Religious leader, composer, historian
- Judah Monis - First Hebrew instructor in North America
- David L. Lopez - Builder, industrialist, slaveowner, and philanthropist
- Aaron Lopez - Merchant, slave trader, and philanthropist
- Morris Lazaron - Reform rabbi and writer
- Joel Rinaldo - Founder of Joel's Bohemia
- Benjamin Nathan - Investor, philanthropist, and murder victim
- Henri Castro - Diplomat and Texas empresario
- Mordecai Manuel Noah - Sheriff, playwright, diplomat, journalist, and utopian
- Daniel De Leon - Socialist writer and unionist
- Lewis Charles Levin - Founder of the Know Nothings
See also
References
- ↑ "Introduction: Origins of the American Jewish Community" (in en). https://jwa.org/article/introduction-origins-of-american-jewish-community.
- ↑ "Congregational History | Congregation Shearith Israel- Manhattan Orthodox Synagogue" (in en). 2022-05-19. https://www.shearithisrael.org/about/our-history/congregational-history/.
- ↑ "Jews in Colonial New York" (in en). https://www.philipsemanorhall.com/blog/jews-in-colonial-new-york.
- ↑ "The New York Historical" (in en). https://www.nyhistory.org/blogs/new-yorks-first-jews-came-from-brazil.
- ↑ e, e (2016-05-19). "Kedoshim and Canonicals 5776" (in en-GB). https://www.sephardi.org.uk/kedoshim-and-canonicals/.
- ↑ "‘A Most Beloved Part of Our Service’:The Slow Procession to the Ark in a Sephardic Synagogue – Covering Religion". https://coveringreligion.org/2023/03/06/a-most-beloved-part-of-our-servicethe-slow-procession-to-the-ark-in-a-sephardic-synagogue/.
- ↑ "Shearith Israel, Oldest Synagogue Here, Rich with Hoary Memories" (in en-US). https://www.jta.org/archive/shearith-israel-oldest-synagogue-here-rich-with-hoary-memories.
- ↑ Aviva Ben-Ur (2009). Sephardic Jews in America: A Diasporic History. New York: NYU Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-8147-8632-1. https://books.google.com/books?id=JZQwMhgF8VkC&pg=PA86. Retrieved on 2016-02-19.
- ↑ "London Sephardi Music - Bendigamos" (in en-US). https://sites.google.com/site/londonsephardimusic/table-songs/bendigamos.
- ↑ "Bendigamos | jewishmusic" (in en). https://jewish-music.huji.ac.il/en/node/23713.
- ↑ "Our tradition" (in en-US). https://www.esnoga.com/en/traditions/.
- ↑ "Our Minhag | Congregation Shearith Israel- Manhattan Orthodox Synagogue" (in en). 2022-05-19. https://www.shearithisrael.org/about/our-minhag/.
- ↑ "Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue (U.S. National Park Service)" (in en). https://www.nps.gov/places/kahal-kadosh-beth-elohim-synagogue.htm.
- ↑ "Touro Synagogue" (in en-US). http://tourosynagogue.com/about-us/ourhistory/.
- ↑ "History of CMI - Congregation Mickve Israel". https://www.mickveisrael.org/history-of-cmi.html.
- ↑ "The Touro Synagogue - Newport, RI" (in en-US). 2025-05-28. https://www.thetourosynagogue.org/.
- ↑ "Our Historic Synagogue" (in en-US). https://synagogue.vi/our-historic-synagogue/.
- ↑ "History of JTS - Jewish Theological Seminary" (in en-US). 2015-09-29. https://www.jtsa.edu/history-of-jts/.
- ↑ Levine, Dr Yitzchok (2013-09-11). "Reverend Henry Pereira Mendes: Orthodox Stalwart (Part I)" (in en-US). https://www.ou.org/life/community/reverend-henry-pereira-mendes-orthodox-stalwart-part/.
- ↑ Markovitz, Eugene (1966). "Henry Pereira Mendes: Architect of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America". American Jewish Historical Quarterly 55 (3): 364–384. ISSN 0002-9068. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23875623.
- ↑ "Fiftieth Anniversary of the "Hebra Hased Va Amet" Hebrew Benevolent Society." (in en-US). The New York Times. 1852-11-12. ISSN 0362-4331. https://www.nytimes.com/1852/11/12/archives/fiftieth-anniversary-of-the-hebra-hased-va-amet-hebrew-benevolent.html.
- ↑ "Gomez Mill House: An American Treasure". https://www.gomez.org/about.html.
- ↑ Staff, ToI (2023-10-12). "Sgt. First Class Yosef Malachi Guedalia, 22: ‘A very gentle, sweet person’" (in en-US). The Times of Israel. ISSN 0040-7909. https://www.timesofisrael.com/sgt-first-class-yosef-malachi-guedalia-22-a-very-gentle-sweet-person/.
- ↑ "RABBI SHALOM MORRIS" (in en-GB). https://www.sephardi.org.uk/about/rabbis/rabbi-shalom-morris/.