George Washington's history with the Jews of the US

It’s been three years since the passing of my close friend, noted Jerusalem collector Ezra Gorodesky, who had a unique connection with George Washington. Recently, I asked my two great-nieces and their families visiting from the US if they knew anything about Washington and the Jews, and I received a wonderful answer from one of the young men: “When my grandfather and his family visited the oldest synagogue building in the US, the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, he told me that he sat in the chair where president George Washington had sat when he visited Touro.”

My wife and I and our children visited the synagogue a half century ago, but our guide did not tell us where Washington sat.

“Gregorius Washington,” as Eliezer Ben-Yehuda rendered his name in an 1889 HaZvi newspaper story, has always occupied a special place in the hearts of American Jews. The first president of the United States was specifically recalled in Jerusalem in the spring of 1889.

For his local readers, Ben-Yehuda focused on the activities in the US as the centennial celebration of the inauguration of Washington as the first American president was being planned. Highly significant was the fact that he was the first American leader to underline the significance of religious freedom for the Jews. Moreover, his public assertion of full citizenship for American Jewry was unparalleled. This was written in his letter sent to the congregation in Newport after his visit there in 1790.

When Washington died in 1799, one can imagine that the close-knit early American population was hard hit by his loss. As the commander-in-chief, he guided the American colonial army to victory, banishing the British from American shores. He served as the country’s first president with great distinction and was beloved by all Americans.

A 1784 painting by Charles Willson Peale titled ‘George Washington at the Battle of Princeton.’ (credit: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS)

His request had been to be buried in a new tomb. The locale he chose was in the family estate of Mount Vernon, in Virginia, near what became Washington, DC. However, he died before this burial site could be constructed. A congressional delegation, appointed by the next president [John Adams], decided that Washington’s remains would rest in the then existing family tomb, located high on a hill overlooking the Potomac River.

Soon after their first leader’s death, American citizens felt that they wanted to pay honor and respect to him. Citizens from all the states began to flow to the grave near Mount Vernon. Initially, they came in small numbers, but soon the numbers grew, including foreign visitors as well.

To identify the burial area more precisely, a simple wooden sign was fashioned. Inscribed on it: “President George Washington interred here in the family tomb.”

It was only in 1831 that a more elaborate resting place for this great American leader was constructed, so the wooden sign was no longer needed. Considered an important piece of memorabilia, the sign was given a new life. After being cut into 13 pieces, each piece was presented to the governors of the original 13 states.

Actually, the history of one of the 13 is known because of Ezra Gorodesky. The fragment of the burial sign given to the governor of the state of Pennsylvania was ultimately shaped into a small cup decorated with the painted image of Washington.

Pennsylvania authorities presented the cup to a retiring naval admiral, a native of the state. The admiral’s son had it shaped into a foot cup with Washington’s portrait painted on it. As we know, historical memorabilia is not always viewed as important. Thus the admiral’s son sold it to an antique dealer in the early 20th century. The cup was placed on display by the dealer in an original colonial American home.

When Gorodesky was a young man in Philadelphia, he sought old treasures and saw the cup on display in one of the old homes. Most inquisitive back then in 1946, he asked what the cup was and how much it would cost to purchase it. “Five dollars,” was the answer.

When he first told me this story, he said. “I barely had enough coins in my pocket to purchase it, but I had to have that cup. It was so important to me. I gave him what I had, but it did not add up to $5. So I told him, ‘Hold on to the cup; I will be back tomorrow to complete my purchase.’”

The next day, the historic sale was made.

When he made aliyah to Jerusalem in 1960, he brought the cup with him, always displaying it proudly so that visitors would ask about it. When I first met him in 1978, Gorodesky had become a renowned collector of Judaica, specifically carrying the label “a kitchen archaeologist.”

Gorodesky perfected a technique of opening the bindings of old books in which he discovered Hebrew manuscripts from the 17th to the 20th century. Stories on his finds have referred to him as opening the “Genizah” of the last 400 years. As an advocate of preservation of manuscripts and memorabilia, he gifted over 1,000 rare items to the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem.

Gorodesky was a Jerusalem resident for 60 years, but he realized that the best place for his Washington cup was Mount Vernon, the home and museum of the first president. Initially, he placed it on loan there for seven years. Then, at the age of 75, he presented the cup to Mount Vernon. On permanent display there, the cup is one of the few items linking the original burial place of America’s own George Washington discovered, thanks to Ezra Gorodesky.

An important American-Jewish image

In 1989, I discovered an important American-Jewish image. Unearthed in Jerusalem at the National Library, that drawing has come to be referred to as the “George Washington Seder.” In the late 1980s, I sought more “original information and eulogies” about the death of Emma Lazarus in 1889.

I studied the American Hebrew newspaper to which she was one of the first contributors and, more importantly, where she wrote the famous sonnet now at the base of the Statue of Liberty. I was able to study that newspaper very closely because the National Library in Jerusalem owns many of the original copies of that weekly, from its initial decade of publication.

A big surprise for me I found in the Passover issue, April 19 1889 – a drawing which the paper had commissioned by local artist Arthur Meyer.

Depicted is a Seder in a New York home for the holiday that year. Centrally located is a powerful portrait of Moses holding the Ten Commandments.

The participants in the festive meal are deeply involved in the reading of the Haggadah, and they are dressed in the fashion of that era, some wearing formal hats and some large oriental type kippot. Different parts of the Passover story and Seder ritual are sketched in small circular drawings on each of the four corners. Collecting the hametz, stealing the afikoman, and a full Seder plate depiction occupy three of the corner drawings. The fourth has become the most unique image of this 19th century artwork. In the right upper corner, a female worker opens the door for Elijah. On the wall next to her is a picture of George Washington.

THE US was all aglow in April 1889 with the upcoming centennial celebration of the inauguration of George Washington later that month. President Benjamin Harrison was coming from Washington to New York for the festivities, since New York was the site of that great American historical event in 1789. Excitement reigned among all sectors of the population.

The Jews of the United States comprised a small percentage of the population in 1876 when the centennial of the country was celebrated in Philadelphia. At that time, the B’nai B’rith organization commissioned a statue by American Jewish sculptor Moses Ezekiel on Liberty Rising. The sculpture was situated in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia for over 80 years.

Now it adorns the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in downtown Philadelphia.

By 1889, with the growing American Jewish population, fueled by the large annual immigration from Eastern Europe, American Jews wanted to celebrate with all their fellow citizens the centennial of president George Washington. “What to do?” was the question. A most interesting solution presented itself.

The Jewish merchants of New York came up with an inventive solution. Throughout the Jewish areas of the city were advertisements stating that for every ten pounds of matzah purchased before Passover, the buyer would receive a free picture of George Washington. Not only did most Jews possess a picture of Washington, but they proudly hung it in their homes. Our Jewish ancestors too were a part of this important American historical moment. Also to prove further how deeply committed the Jews were to their American heritage, a young Jewish woman was selected to read her essay on George Washington before president Benjamin Harrison.

When I compiled and edited the American Heritage Haggadah for publication in Jerusalem in 1992 by Gefen Publishing, I chose to include this unknown image of Passover memorabilia which I unearthed in Jerusalem. I am very proud that the new National Library has that issue of the American Hebrew, as well as my American Heritage Haggadah, which I gifted to the library 32 years ago.

Since Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat and I are natives of Atlanta, I believed it was important for Jews around the world to recognize him in a different manner other than his noted political prowess. In addition, as the presidential director of domestic affairs of the US, he and his (late) wife had hosted president Jimmy Carter and his wife at a Seder in their home.

In his introduction to the Haggadah, Eizenstat wrote: “In 1889, on the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration as America’s first president, the George Washington Seder was held. During that centennial year, free pictures of Washington were given for every purchase of ten pounds of matzah. As seen in the illustration in the American Heritage Haggadah by David Geffen, our first president is shown near the door awaiting Elijah’s arrival. What a wonderful integration of Americana with Judaica!”

In our extended family, residents of the US and Israel, we now read on President’s Day the words of our beloved and noted ancestor Rav Tuvia Geffen in tribute to George Washington, written on February 22, 1940, the president’s birthday. The diary entry in Yiddish was translated into English by my aunt, Helen Geffen Ziff: “This day should be held in high regard by Jews. This is the day when George Washington, the founder of the American government, was born,” Rav Tuvia wrote. “The United States is the only land today where Jews are safe and secure. Therefore, we are thankful to the father of our country and thankful to God who blessed the world at that time with such a great man as George Washington.”■