Advanced Search

First Jews in the US


Leslie Tanner asked:

I was wondering who the first Jewish immigrant was to come to the United States to live? What year? Did they have family? Also who was the first Jewish person born in the U.S.? Thank you.



AskTheRabbi.org answered:

I referred your question to one of today's foremost Jewish historians, Rabbi Berel Wein. He said, that as far as he is aware, this information is not known. What he could tell me though, was that the first Jews to settle in what is now the US were Sephardic Jews who came from the West Indies in the 1650's. The first family to settle in Philadelphia (whether they were the first in the US, Rabbi Wein did not know) was the Seixas family.


Similar Questions
History > Misc.
The Ten Commandments
Torah as History Book?
Garden of Eden - Adam and Eve
Died Without Sin
Book of Cures
King David’s Family Tree
Second Temple Destruction
Flag of the Tribe of Menasheh
Noah’s Wife
What are the Nephilim?
Twelve Tribe Descendants
Star of David - Magen David
Aliya after 1948
Origin of the Word Jew
Mark of Cain
The Age of Judaism
Nations
A Round-Trip to Sinai
Noah's Ark
The Rainbow Reminder
The Sin of the Ten Spies
Long Lives
The Flood and the Fish
Forty and the Flood
Lot's Wife
Sanhedrin Cases
The Star and Shield of David
Hammurabi vis-à-vis Torah
Polish Legislation and Holocaust Denial
Names of Months
A Symbol from Mt. Sinai
Cain's and Abel's Twin Sisters
Korach and Moses
Died Without Sin
Rainbows
Black Death
What Year Is It?
Famous Converts
Noah’s Ark’s Ecosystem
Moses' Sons
Protection During Festivals
Pre-Shabbat Siren
Revolutionary War and Jewish Patriotism
Have a question?
 
Gateways - Your Key to Jewish Continuity

AskTheRabbi.org is a service of the Gateways Organization © 2024
Technical problems? Please contact the AskTheRabbi Support team