{"id":95943,"date":"2023-11-16T09:09:30","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T14:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=95943"},"modified":"2023-11-29T11:12:59","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T16:12:59","slug":"first-jewish-thanksgiving-prayer-published-in-a-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/first-jewish-thanksgiving-prayer-published-in-a-newspaper.html","title":{"rendered":"First Jewish Thanksgiving Prayer Published in a Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, Jane Hampton Cook writes about a Jewish Thanksgiving prayer, written by Rabbi Isaac Touro in 1765 amid the turmoil over the Stamp Act. Jane is a presidential historian and author of \u201cWar of Lies: When George Washington Was the Target and Propaganda Was the Crime.\u201d Her works can be found at <\/em>Janecook.com<\/em><\/a>. She is also the host of <\/em>Red, White, Blue and You<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Rabbi Isaac Touro (1738-1783) knew that Thanksgiving in 1765 was taking place in the context of much turmoil in Rhode Island and the other colonies in America. After all, King George III and Parliament had passed a new law on 22 March 1765, called the Stamp Act, which required the colonists to pay taxes by buying stamps for almost all paper documents. The king\u2019s purpose behind this levy, which was the first internal tax imposed on the American colonies, was to pay for Britain\u2019s debt incurred from the French and Indian War in America and the Seven Years\u2019 War in Europe.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:<\/a>
Illustration: portrait of Isaac Touro, by Gilbert Stuart, 1767. Credit: Peabody Essex Museum; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Concluding that the Stamp Act was unconstitutional, many colonists argued that Parliament could not tax them because America\u2019s colonies were not represented by members of Parliament. In their view, the only powers that could tax them were their colonial legislative assemblies. The Stamp Act conflict led to protests and mob violence that targeted the stamp collectors hired by the governors. Many protestors hung straw effigies of their stamp collectors from poles or trees. Some of them paraded a coffin bearing the stamp collector\u2019s name through town.<\/p>\n

This article reported on a Stamp Act protest in New York city with a gallows and an effigy of the stamp collector.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Pennsylvania Gazette (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 31 October 1765, page 13<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reported:<\/p>\n

About 7 o\u2019clock in the evening two companies appeared, one of them in the Fields, where a moveable gallows was erected, on which was suspended the effigy of a man who had been honored by his country with an elevated station, but whose public conduct (supposed to aim at the introduction of arbitrary power, and especially in his officiously endeavoring to enforce the Stamp Act, universally held by his Majesty\u2019s faithful and loyal subjects in America, to be unconstitutional and oppressive) has unhappily drawn upon himself the general resentment of his country. The figure was made much to resemble the person it was intended to represent; in his hand was a stamped paper, which he seemed to court the people to receive; at his back hung a drum, on his breast a label, supposed to allude to some former circumstances of his life. By his side hung, with a boot in his hand, the grand Deceiver of Mankind, seeming to urge him to perseverance in the cause of slavery. While the multitude gathered round these figures, the other party, with another figure [effigy] representing the same person, seated in a chair, and carried by men, preceded and attended by a great number of lights, paraded through most of the public streets in the city, increasing as they went, but without doing the least injury to any house or person. They proceeded in this order to the coach-house at the fort [Fort George], from whence they took the lieutenant-governor\u2019s coach, and fixing the effigy upon the top of it, they proceeded with great rapidity towards the Fields.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Living up to its well-deserved nickname \u2013 \u201cRogue Island\u201d \u2013 Samuel Ward, Rhode Island\u2019s governor, was the only colonial governor who didn\u2019t attempt to implement the Stamp Act. Despite the turmoil caused by the Stamp Act, Governor Ward issued a proclamation calling for a day of Thanksgiving to be set aside on the last Thursday of November.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Newport Mercury (Newport, Rhode Island), 18 November 1765, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Realizing that he needed to underscore his loyalty to King George III after defying the Stamp Act, Governor Ward called for the \u201cpreservation of His Majesty\u2019s most precious life, and the restoration of his health, and the safe delivery of our most gracious queen of another prince.\u201d He also called upon ministers to meet \u201cat their usual places of public worship, in order to render unto Almighty God, their most sincere and cordial thanks, for His great goodness and mercies to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: the interior of the Touro Synagogue, Newport, Rhode Island, built in 1763. Declared a National Historic Site in 1946, it is still in use today. Credit: National Park Service Digital Image Archives; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Newport, Rhode Island, Isaac Touro read the governor\u2019s proclamation. Touro was a religious leader who took his responsibility seriously. Two years earlier, he had led his congregation in dedicating the \u201cnew synagogue in this town.\u201d The ceremony had included a \u201chandsome procession, in which were carried the books of the law to be deposited in the ark\u201d as well as prayers for the first family and solemn music. Newport\u2019s newspaper had described the new synagogue as \u201cthe most perfect of the temple kind perhaps in America, and splendidly illuminated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Newport Mercury (Newport, Rhode Island), 5 December 1763, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The edifice \u201ccould not but raise in the mind a faint idea of the majesty and grandeur of the ancient Jewish worship mentioned in scriptures.\u201d As brilliant as his new synagogue was, Touro understood that many of the Jews under his care had come to America under duress. Many of them had fled persecution by the inquisition in Portugal and Spain. In Europe, Jews were frequently targeted and imprisoned for practicing their faith and traditions. Instead of building synagogues, Jews in Spain and Portugal had to pretend they were Catholic. Instead of anti-Semitic laws, America, especially Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, had offered Jews something they didn\u2019t have in Europe: tolerance.<\/p>\n

Answering Governor Ward\u2019s call for Thanksgiving in 1765, Touro wrote a Thanksgiving prayer in Hebrew. He translated it into English and sent it to the editor of the Newport Mercury<\/em>. He led his synagogue in the prayer of Thanksgiving to God in spite of the turmoil caused by the Stamp Act.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Newport Mercury (Newport, Rhode Island), 2 December 1765, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Touro\u2019s prayer, printed in full below, is the first Jewish Thanksgiving prayer published in a newspaper.<\/p>\n

\u201cUniversal Lord! And Lord of Lords, Great God, powerful and tremendous, exalted above all Exaltation! We are this day assembled in thy presence, to sing praises, and to give thanks for all thy mercies and goodness, which thou hast bountifully bestowed on us, in that the land hath yielded her increase, and the trees of the field their fruits.<\/p>\n

\u201cWherefore, Lord our God, and God of our Fathers, extend thy compassion and thy mercy unto us, and unto all who depend upon us. Suffer not thy people to stand in need of sustenance. Grant, we beseech thee, that we may enjoy internal peace in this land; and that peace may subsist between all states and potentates; that thy holy word, spoken by the prophet, may be fulfilled: \u2018And I will give peace in the land.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cBe graciously pleased to grant that we may hear glad tidings of our neighbors who inhabit round about us.<\/p>\n

\u201cSave and prosper our most gracious sovereign, King George the Third, and all the Royal family.<\/p>\n

\u201cPoint out to all the king\u2019s counselors, and to the high court of Parliament, the secrets of wisdom; and direct their consultations to the safety and welfare of the whole British Empire. Lord, preserve them; and grant that we may in our days behold \u2018how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings; that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good; that publisheth salvation: that sayeth unto Zion, thy God reigneth.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cLord, let this be thy will. Amen.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> Touro Synagogue, Newport, Rhode Island, built in 1763 \u2013 the oldest surviving synagogue in the U.S. Credit: Kenneth C. Zirkel; Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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