This is the opening prayer offered by Rabbi Joseph Silverman for “the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of the Jews in the United States, 1655-1905,” at Carnegie Hall, New York City, Thanksgiving Day, 30 November 1905. The prayer was published in the 14th issue of the Publications Of The American Jewish Historical Society (1906) and in a book The two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of the Jews in the United States, 1655-1905, also published that same year by the AJHS.

On 22 August 22 1654, Jacob Barsimson arrived in New Amsterdam after having left the Netherlands on July 8. Barsimson had been sent out by the Jewish leaders of Amsterdam, Dutch Republic to determine the possibilities of an extensive Jewish immigration to New Amsterdam. He is the first known Jewish immigrant to America. Jewish settlement in New Amsterdam began in September 1654.

In September 1654, 23 Jews arrived in New Amsterdam aboard the St Cathrien. The Jews had come from Recife in Northeast Brazil, where they lived under Dutch rule. The Portuguese captured Recife from the Dutch and expelled the Jews. When the Jews arrived the captain of the ship sued them for the money to pay for their passage. The local court sold their belonging and imprisoned two of the party.

Peter Stuyvesant the governor of the colony was not happy to receive the Jews. He described the Jews as “deceitful” and very “repugnant”. Stuyvesant asked permission from the Dutch East India Company, who the colony belonged to remove the Jews from the settlement. The board, which included several Jewish investors, refused and instructed the governor to allow the new Jewish settlers to remain in New Amsterdam.

The 23 Jews who arrived were not the first Jews to arrive in North America, but [this is] the first record we have of a group of men women and children arriving to make it their permanent home.

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“Opening prayer at the 250th Anniversary of Jewish Settlement in the United States — by Rabbi Joseph Silverman (1905)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

Joseph Silverman

Rabbi Joseph Silverman (1860 – 1930), born in Cincinnati, Ohio, was a prominent Reform movement rabbi and author in the United States. He attended the University of Cincinnati and received a Doctor of Divinity from the Hebrew Union College in 1887, from which he received his rabbinic ordination three years earlier. He was Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, Dallas, Texas, September 1884 to June 1885; rabbi of Congregation B'nai Israel, Galveston, Texas July, 1885 to February 20, 1888. While in Texas he was a circuit preacher to the Jewish communities in the vicinity of Dallas and Galveston, and aided in organizing many Sabbath schools and congregations. At the beginning of 1888, Silverman received an offer from Temple Emanu-El in New York City to serve as a rabbi of the leading Reform congregation in America. Silverman started at Temple Emanu-El on March 1, 1888, succeeding rabbi Gustav Gottheil. He was the first American born rabbi to serve in New York City. During the years of his career in New York, 1888-1922 he was also president (1900–1903) of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Eastern Council 1918- and was founder and president of the Emanu-El Brotherhood. He helped organize the Religious Congress of the World's Fair in Chicago, 1893, where his address on this occasion was titled, "The Popular Errors About the Jews." Silverman published many articles and books, including A Catechism on Judaism (1886) and The Renaissance of Judaism (1918). He was consulting editor of the Jewish Encyclopedia (Funk & Wagnalls). An article from The New York Times on April 21, 1912, quoted Silverman at a memorial service for victims of the RMS Titanic disaster as saying "Not God was responsible for this great disaster but the imperfection of human knowledge and judgment."

Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

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Manischewitz matsah box cover art issued in honor of the 1654 Tercentenary arrival of “23 [Jewish] souls big and little to New Amsterdam.” (Unknown artist, 1954) — in the collection of the American Jewish Historical Society, Boston, Mass. and New York, N.Y., American Jewish Tercentenary Celebration Collection, I – 11 : Series IV, Box 7, Folder 5

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17