Jewish American Heritage Month is a time to celebrate the contributions Jewish Americans have made to America since the arrival of the first Jewish immigrants in New Amsterdam in 1654.
Every year since 1980, Congress and the president have acted together to declare an official observance to recognize the contributions of Jewish Americans to American society. Since 2006, Congress and the President have proclaimed that the month of May is Jewish American Heritage Month. On April 30, 2021, president Joseph R. Biden Jr. issued this year’s proclamation. In his statement, President Biden reminds Americans that: “The Jewish American story, and the story of our Nation as a whole, is fueled by faith, resilience, and hope. It is a story defined by a firm belief in possibilities, the resolve to make real the promise of America for all Americans… ”
In recent years, posts on this blog have highlighted a number of Jewish firsts in American life – the first Jewish judicial officer, the first Jewish legislator, and the first Jewish person to practice law in Pennsylvania.
In this post, I would like to discuss the life of Joshua Montefiore. Montefiore was a soldier, an adventurer, an activist for a more humane approach to colonization, and a prolific author. Among his accomplishments, he was also the first Jewish author to have a law book published in the United States.
