The Reciprocal Impact of Jews and America

Title: Jews in the New World: History, Halachah, and Hashkafa
By: Rabbi Moshe Taub
Mosaica Press

The story of Torah-observant Jews in America goes back to the very roots of the country. To paraphrase Emma Lazarus’s “New Colossus,” the homeless, tempest-tossed Jews escaped the Spanish Inquisition, pogroms, and inroads being made toward assimilation by finding refuge through the golden door of this new world. And, as always, the Jews brought with them the strength of their faith, their ancient conflicts, and the unswerving hope to prosper on these new shores.

Culled from his articles in Ami Magazine, in this first volume in a series of books about Jewish history, halacha, and hashkafa in America, Rabbi Moshe Taub combines his renowned research skills and his literary erudition to paint a vivifying picture of the Jews’ sojourn in America. Focusing on the early years of that history, from the Jewish community of Recife and Barbados, until the great immigration of the late 1800’s, Rabbi Taub masterfully guides readers through some of the fierce debates over such topics as etrogim (122), kashrut (137), mechitza (174), and turkeys (185), and colorfully informs us of trivia-game-worthy firsts, like the first Jewish community in the Western Hemisphere (17), the first Jew in America (42), the first rabbi in America (71), the first Hebrew/ English siddur (83), the first halachic responsa concerning America (123), and much more.

An expert educator, Rabbi Taub’s chapters are kept short to make the book an easy read. Written in a friendly, casual style, the book often feels like a Shabbos table conversation with a knowledgeable, beloved uncle with a love of those small details at the base of world events, and a penchant for sharing his passion for history and Jewish thought. He does not shy away from historical controversies, like a pair of tefillin found in Pittsfield, Mass., which the Mormon Church has used to support their belief that Jews have lived in America since before the Common Era (47). Ultimately, he argues, they more likely belonged to a Jewish soldier stationed there in 1780.

The story of the Jews in America has not always been a smooth one. Intermarriage, battles with non-traditional movements, and public infighting within the Torah-observant communities have continued to plague the Jewish nation since the Roman exile began. In a chapter titled “An Early Breakaway Minyan” (131-7), Rabbi Taub describes in detail a halachic disagreement regarding a shochet between a scholar by the name of Rabbi Yehudah Mittleman and his shul’s rav, Rabbi Avraham Yosef Ash. Seamlessly weaving in current newspaper sources, contemporary halachic literature, and the relevant history of that time period, the author presents their arguments in a clear, lucid style despite the fact that the main details of this disagreement have been lost to history. The chapter presents a great example of where Rabbi Taub’s talent shines, presenting complicated halacha with an admitted murky history in an exciting, clear, and concise style.

The book is recommended to anyone fascinated by the ironies and serendipities that make up early Jewish-American history. Hopefully, future volumes in this series will contain pictures, glossaries, indices, and appendices that will flush out the history and halachic debates sparked by democracy, slavery, labor laws, civil liberties, civil rights, and more. In Rabbi Taub’s words (189), “Regardless of our many mesorahs from rebbeim and parents regarding how to celebrate our ‘Thanksgiving’ to America, we most certainly all thank HaKadosh Baruch Hu for gifting us and the world with this amazing country. May her best days lie ahead.”