In April 1818, a synagogue dedication in New York did not remain within the walls of the synagogue.

The address delivered at the consecration of the newly rebuilt synagogue of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York, then the city’s only Jewish congregation, was printed in newspapers and circulated well beyond the congregation itself. Excerpts appeared in papers in Delaware and Pennsylvania, offered to readers under headings such as “The Jews.” In one reprinted passage, Mordecai Manuel Noah declared that “between two good men professing different faiths, no difference exists; both are born equal — both have a right to worship the Almighty in his own way.” From there, the text traveled farther still. It reached Virginia, where it came to the attention of Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson read the address. In a letter dated May 28, 1818, he thanked Noah for the discourse and remarked that he had learned from it “valuable facts in Jewish history which I did not know before.” He went on to reflect on religious intolerance,........

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