A celebration at this time of the two hundredth anniversary of the settlement of Jewish people in New Jersey can not be defended in historic fact. Mr. Jacques Rieur at the recent meeting held in Montclair opened the history of the Jews in that section of New Jersey with Isaac Moses of Passaic, whose parents settled there in 1734. This Isaac Moses was so far as is known in no sense a Jew. He was an altogether different person from the Jewish Isaac Moses born in Germany in 1741/2, who figures with his uncle and father-in-law Hayman Levy in so many patriotic ways in American history of revolutionary times. Incidentally, this Isaac Moses of Giessen has to be carefully distinguished from a contemporary name-sake in New York with whom he is often confused. This third Isaac Moses, a cordwinder or cobbler was one of the poorest Jews of the city whom the community had to support for many years, at the same time as the distinguished Isaac Moses living in his fashionable, expensive home at 21 Wall street, was one of the founders of the Bank of New York, and one of the largest owners of real estate in New York. It is dangerous to judge by such Biblical names as Isaac Moses, else we might be claiming Juda Jacobs from the colonial period as an early American Jew. Juda Jacobs was not a Jew, nor a man, but a Christian woman, the daughter of Andrew Nodene of Yonkers, and wife of Cornelius Jacobs.
If the Jews of New Jersey wish to commemorate the settlement of Jews in that state, as they should, the opportunity is presented to them by the Two Hundred and Fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of Aaron Louzada in Bound Brook, N. J., in 1684. Aaron Louzada settled in Bound Brook after retiring from business in New York. There he built a house which was known as the Jew House, until in 1700 he purchased Rockowackhand, the Codrington homestead. The “Jew House” was inherited by Aaron’s daughter Catherine, the wife of John R. Myers, and after her by her daughter, through whose invitation it became the headquarters of Lord Corawallis and his staff in the spring of 1777. It was torn down early in the nineteenth century.
It would be well for New Jersey Jewry to take note of this two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of their settlement.
D. de Sola Pool. March 1, 1934.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
