The Denver Jewish news., 1919-11-26
The Coming Of the Jew
ish Pilgrim Fathers
The TRIALS OF THE EARLY SET
TIERS ON AMERICAS SOIL
By HERMAN JACOBSON.


of colonization. Eager to cross swords
with their ancient enemy, the Span
lard. many Jews enlisted in the crews
of the Dutch and English pirates and
buccaneers that ventured forth on the
high seas for a tussle with the gold
laden Spanish galleons on their way
home from the New World. There is
reason to believe that there were Jews
in the cavalierly Drake and Raleigh
expeditions, as well as in the pratt
cal Morgan and Teach bloody raids.
They were. of course. not known as
Jews 1t was too dangerous in those
days to he jew. and to be found out.
If jew felt himself TO bear the re-
Uotest resemblance to Saracen. he
made his nondiscerning Christian
neighbor believe that he was n Sar-
acen: if he thought he would do bet
ter as an Italian he was an 1tal-
ian: if he thought it would
prove safer to be Turk. he
was a Turk But even as Jews. under
genuine Jewish names, one may find
our fOrefatherS III EngliSn cOloniai
records as early as 1924.
However, like the English settle
ments. planted early in the sixteenth
century, but which did not prove last
ing till 1920, Jewish settlers, tho scat
tered here and there in the North
American possessions of the various
nations. did not gain permanent
footing till 1864. And 1t was on
Dutch soil that our ancestors founded
their first permanent Jewish settle
ment.
The century and half preceding the
settlement of our fOrefathers in the
United States. are momentOus in Jew
ish history Spain had driven out all
of her Jewish population that would
not embrace the cross (1492) Eng
land had kept her doors closed to Jews
since the days of Edward I u29o)
France, after depriving them of their
possessions. sent them out in 1891:
ItnIy tolerated them In the hope that
they would be more easily converted
TO Christianity in the German prin-
cipaIities they were driven. harassed,
and prosecuted in a thousand fiendish
ways; in the Diaspora the horizon was
inrkening with the terrible clouds thnt
ended in the Chmelnitzky massacres.
Indeed. it was the expulsion from
Spain that struck the heaviest blow.
Jewish dignity and honor were drag
god in the dust Before that terrible
catastrophe. our forefathers every
where pointed with pride TO their
brethren In the Iberian Peninsula
the mobiles. the best in human life
lwelt there. Now the aristocracy OF
Israel was knocking at Ihe doors OF
nil countries in Europe, stretching out
"a hand for mOrsel of food. Lest
the more venturesome should avail
themselves of the newly discovered
lands, the Inquisition caused an eeict
10 be passed. forbidding the Jews to
settle in New Spain 14M). Some
Jews had found their way into the
Erench possessions of North Americi,
hut when Louis NH. who could have
rivaled Ferdinand and isabella in his
treatment of Jews. got intelligence or
IL he issued an cdict u615) expelling
Jews from French America. For
awhile the cdict was a dead letter,
hut when the French traders found
that the Jews got along with the
Italians. that the Indians respected
and trusted the Jewish traders more
than the French, the abominable docii-
Incnt was dug up and all the Jews
were driven out, to the last one of
them G724). And to strike terror Ill
the hearts of Jews among the other
nations. three Jews We're burned at
the stake along the north bank of the
Ohio river.
For n century and n half prior to
the permanent settlement in North
America, Jews were the outcast of
the world. with one exception-Hol-
land.
Like the English Pilgrim Fathers,
our Jewish Pilgrim Fathers found
their way into North America, in
directly. by wuy of Holland. The
Jews who had come to Holland, after
the Spanish expulsion. longed for n
home where they could retain their
customs and habits and, especially.
where they could speak the Spanish
language. which had been bred into
their blood for centuries. Holland was
in'mical to everything Spanish, for
she was then groaning under the
woke of the Inquisition. The Dutch
at last rebehed. A long and bitter
struggle ensued. from which Holland
! came out victorious (15SD and she