Introduction to the 350th Anniversary of the American Jewish Experience

Three hundred and fifty years ago on September 1654 twenty-three Jews arrived in New Amsterdam. They were greeted by an earlier Jewish arrival, Asser Levy von Swellum, who had come from Germany. I had Professor Cecil Roth for Jewish history at Queens College. He used to say whenever Jews come to a new land, there is always a Jew ahead of them. The Jews had been on one of seven ships that had left Brazil to go to Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The Dutch had lost a war to the Portuguese and had agreed to return northern Brazil to their rule. The Marranoes, secret Jews, under Portuguese rule had practiced their religion under the tolerant Dutch. The return of the Portuguese meant the return of the auto-de-fe and the burning of relapsed Christians.

One of these seven ships had been blown off course, was attacked by pirates, and was rescued by a French naval ship. The French naval ship then put the rescued Jews on a French merchant ship that ferried them to New Amsterdam, the chief port of the Netherlands. The French captain triple charged the Jews for the passage.

When the French merchant ship arrived, the French captain wanted to be paid of course. He wanted the Dutch authorities to arrest the Jews and hold them in jail until he was paid. The Dutch then asked the captain if he would pay for their confinement. Jail was then a profit-making institution and the captain said no.

Then the captain decided to seize the goods of the Jews and sell them at auction. The Jews asked the Dutch authorities to postpone the auction until after the end of the Jewish high holidays so could bid on them. The Dutch agreed and for the first time Judaism was legally recognized as a religion in the New World.

The gentiles clubbed together to bid low on the seized goods of the Jews. The gentiles then returned the items they had won at auction to the Jews. Thus, we have an ecumenical gesture of the Jews being welcomed to New Amsterdam. Asser Levy, the earlier arrival, went on board ship to convince the crew to accept the money for the cost of the regular passage of the ship. They agreed and the ship left. Asser Levy went on to became the first kosher butcher and the first Jewish war veteran in New World.

New Amsterdam, New Netherlands became New York City in the colony of New York in 1664. Come and learn more about the origins and development of the oldest Jewish community in the United States as we begin a yearlong celebration of the arrival of the Jewish people in America.

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©Philip Shoenberg