July 4th is unquestionably a Jewish holiday, just as it is an American holiday for all Americans.

Once upon a time, I was giving a talk to the Daughters of the American Revolution.  My topic was the Jewish contribution to the Revolutionary War.  The ladies listened very carefully and when I was done speaking, I was approached by one of the women who introduced herself as “Sergeant Baskin.”  She said to me: “You are married to a Baskin girl!”  I retorted that I was quite aware of that.  She went on to say, “Well, we would like your wife, Kim, to be the first Jewish member of the Daughters of the American Revolution!”  I was somewhat taken aback, considering the history of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

The incident with the DAR led me on a quest for information about Kim’s family, but also other Jews who were instrumental in the independence and founding of our great Republic.

Jews were among the earliest settlers in the Americas.  Many of them were fleeing the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition.  On the same day that Columbus left for his first trip to the undiscovered New World, Jews were crowding the same harbor from which Columbus left to flee the edict from the Spanish Royal Court expelling all Jewish citizens from the realm.  Some of those Jews fled to Portugal, where they were treated even worse than in Spain, some fled to the East, others to Africa, and a sizeable group fled to the Caribbean islands, South America, and New York which was New Amsterdam under the jurisdiction of the Dutch.

The Jews in Brazil were forced to leave when the Dutch were forced out, succeeded by the Spanish.  The Jews who left South America were captured by pirates.  Those same fleeing Jews were recaptured by the French who told the Jews that they could go back to Europe, which would be a bad idea, or they could be taken to New Amsterdam where the Dutch were likely to be more favorable.  Unfortunately, when the Jews reached New Amsterdam, the antisemitic ruler of the city, Peter Stuyvesant, attempted to kick out the new immigrants,........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)