Saving Monticello : The Newsletter
The latest about the book, author
events, and more
Newsletter Editor - Marc Leepson
Volume XII, Number 8 August
1, 2015
THE MIKVEH ISRAELS: The
Levy family had close associations with two pioneering American Hebrew
congregations called Mikveh Israel. Last month I included a terrific photo by
SM Newsletter subscriber Lorri Mills of the inside of Mikveh Israel in
Savannah—the third oldest Jewish congregation in America. Uriah Levy’s great
great grandfather, Dr. Samuel Nunez, was among the founders of Mikveh Israel in
Savannah.
Dr. Nunez, a physician who opened
the first pharmacy in Georgia where he specialized in making medicines out of
imported and native-grown herbs, was a close friend of the founder of the Methodist
Church, John Wesley. Dr. Nunez also was a crypto Sephardic Jew who had escaped
the Spanish Inquisition in Lisbon with his family, fled to London, and came to
the colony of Georgia with several other Jewish families in June of 1733.
Samuel Nunez helped found Mikveh
Israel in Savannah (above) in July 1735. To this day the congregation uses the Torah
that was brought to Savannah by Dr. Nunez and the other Jews who settled the
city in 1733.
Uriah Levy’s immediate family worshipped at
Mikveh Israeli in Philadelphia, where he was born in 1792. Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia
was founded in 1740 and bills itself as the “Synagogue of the American
Revolution,” the “oldest formal congregation in Philadelphia,” and the
“oldest continuous synagogue in the United States.”
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As I noted in Saving
Monticello, Uriah Levy’s maternal grandfather, Jonas Phillips, was
instrumental in raising funds to purchase a new building for Mikveh Israel
synagogue in Philadelphia in 1782. He later was elected the president of the Congregation.
As the head of the congregation, Jonas Phillips (a Revolutionary War patriot
who served in a local militia unit) invited George Washington to attend the
dedication ceremonies of its new building.
I had had the pleasure of taking part in ceremonies in 2011
dedicating a statue to Uriah Levy outside Mikveh Israel. The Congregation is in
Center City Philadelphia not far from many historic sites, including Christ
Church, the Betsy Ross House, Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell—and the National Museum of American Jewish
History.
We were in
Philly last month for a wedding and I took these pics of the statute:
EVENTS: Nothing scheduled for the month of August, as
I am concentrating on my next book, a biography of Barry Sadler, the Green
Beret Army Sergeant who wrote and performed “The Ballad of the Green Berets,”
the No. 1 song of the year 1966.
If you’d like to arrange an event for any of my books, email
marc527psc@aol.com For more details on upcoming events, go to http://bit.ly/SMOnline,
the “Author Events” page on my website, www.marcleepson.com
Facebook,
Twitter: If you’re on Facebook, please send me a friend request. If
you’re on Twitter, I’d love to have you as a follower.
Gift
Ideas: If you would like a
personally autographed, brand-new paperback copy of Saving Monticello, e-mail me at Marc527psc@aol.com
Or go to http://marcleepson.com/signedbooks.html
to order copies through Second Chapter Books in Middleburg, Virginia. We also
have copies of Desperate Engagement, Flag, Lafayette
