The 1740 Naturalization Act allowed an easy path to citizenship for Protestant immigrants to the colonies. While Catholics were excluded altogether, the Act exempted Quakers and Jews from part of the required oath and profession of faith. It offered Jewish colonists the first real opportunity for British citizenship. Then, in 1753, a law that opened citizenship to Jews living in England was passed but immediately repealed due to a public anti-Semitic backlash. Opponents then asked for a list of Jews who had attained citizenship since the 1740 Act. This list provides such a summary of Jewish naturalizations in Jamaica and the British American colonies from 1740 to 1752. Despite a push to overturn the 1740 Act, the move to repeal it was decisively defeated in Parliament.

This gives the number of Jewish naturalizations in four colonies: 151 in Jamaica from 1740 to 1750, one in South Carolina in 1741 (though names are not listed here, this was Joseph Tobias, who in 1750 became the president of the first synagogue established at Charleston), 26 in New York from 1741 to 1748, and 6 in Pennsylvania from 1747 to 1752.

“It is heartening beyond words to spend a day where the focus is set upon works of peace and human achievement…. The years of crisis… have left no more bitter heritage than the homelessness and landlessness of millions. Yet the people of Israel, who have combined the loftiest idealistic vision with the greatest practical vigor, have proven that the human spirit – even under the cruelest suffering – has a power of endurance which no tyranny can extinguish.

            Israel is a land of many paradoxes, yet it has an inner strength and harmony which few nations of our time possess. Prime Minister Ben-Gurion observed some years ago: “If you don’t believe in miracles here, you aren’t a realist.”

John F. Kennedy first visited Palestine in 1939, and was an early and steadfast supporter of Israel. As a presidential candidate in 1960, he boldly declared, “Israel is here to stay.” President Harry Truman had formally recognized Israel within minutes of its Declaration of Independence on May 14, 1948, but Kennedy became the first U.S. president to create a military alliance and to openly supply arms to Israel.

This remarkable collection of speeches and letters by President George Washington is notable for including all of his annual messages to Congress (the forerunner of modern state-of-the-union addresses), including his first inaugural, and the response of Congress to each. It also includes letters from religious groups, state legislatures, municipal organizations, and a variety of other societies to the President and his response. Finally, it includes Washington’s letter of resignation as commander in chief of the armies of the United States and his farewell orders to the armies, both from late 1783.

Because it includes addresses from the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, and from the Hebrew Congregations of Philadelphia, New York, Charleston, and Richmond, along with Washington’s responses, and was “published according to Act of Congress,” it is the first official publication of the United States government relating to American Jews.

Historic subscriber list at front, with Revolutionary War names of note, including Samuel Adams, General Henry Knox, and a large group of Harvard University tutors and students.

“I am willing to join the federation for the introduction of an international auxiliary language to promote understanding, peace, and cooperation among nations.”

Einstein was a lifelong champion of efforts to eliminate of the nationalist divisions that leaders erected between peoples, often to deadly effect. Esperanto, the “international auxiliary language,” was an easy to learn, politically neutral language invented by L.L. Zamenhof, a Polish ophthalmologist, in the 1870s-1880s. His goals, to transcend nationalism and create harmony and peace in the world community, were certainly shared by Einstein — and pilloried as a Jewish conspiracy by Adolf Hitler. Considering the date of the pledge, Einstein was taking an early stand against the Fascist future into which Europe was about to descend.

A unique and important artifact of his childhood.

To the Workers of Israel, celebrating the historic decision of the United Nations General Assembly authorizing the establishment of a Jewish state in the land of Israel.

Golda Meyerson (she would change her name to Meir in 1956), promotes the idea of Mapam (the Marxist United Workers’ Party) joining Sharett’s Mapai (Workers’ Party) government. Hazan, the recipient, was one of Mapam’s co-founders.

The “struggle for the flag and symbol” in the British army.