THE BEGINNING OF AN AMERICAN COMMUNITY IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL
American Jewish pilgrimages to Palestine, made by both prominent and ordinary American Jews, began around the 1830s. Such pilgrimages would often raise their communal status in the Jewish community back in the United States. Among the earliest of the more prominent pilgrims were: Mendes Cohen of Baltimore, first American to explore the Nile; William Pollock of New York, a Halukkah activist, who went in 1834; Simeon Abrahams, Halukkah activist, earned an honorary rabbinical degree in Jerusalem in 1848; James Nathan, leader in the Jewish community, who visited the Temple Mount area; and Edwin de Leon of South Carolina who as American Consul-General in Egypt in the 1850s also protected American missionary work in Jaffa.
The beginning 
of a settled American community, however, had an unusual start. In 1844, Warder Cresson, a Quaker from Philadelphia, had just been appointed American consul of Jerusalem. He had gone to Palestine in that capacity and also as missionary in order to convert Jews to Christianity, but on his way there, a rumor had circulated in the halls of Congress that he was mentally unstable. When Cresson reached Jerusalem, he was informed that his appointment had been withdrawn. Undeterred, he set about preaching the gospel. However, he became enamored with the piety of the local Jews in spite of conversion attempts by the Christian missionaries as well as the constant oppression by the Turkish rulers, who had controlled Palestine since 1516, and the Arab settlers. By 1848, therefore, he became Jewish and adopted the name, Michael Boaz Israel. He returned to the States the following year to settle some family affairs, and four years later, he went back to Palestine – permanently. Thus, the first American Jew to make aliyah was a convert to Judaism, and American Jews would make aliyah ever since. In 1852, Cresson, now Israel, attempted to establish, with the support of a Jewish-Christian Society in England, a Jewish farm settlement in Emek Rephaim in Jerusalem as a model for future Jewish farm settlements. It was unsuccessful.
From 1854-60, the Jerusalem neighborhood Mishkenot Shaananim was built. The building of this neighborhood, the bulk of which was paid for through the last will and testament of Judah Touro, the son of Isaac Touro and New Orleans businessman, was led by the British philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore, and Gershom Kursheedt, member of the New Orleans City Council, chief executor of the Touro will, and son of Israel Baer Kursheedt.
of a settled American community, however, had an unusual start. In 1844, Warder Cresson, a Quaker from Philadelphia, had just been appointed American consul of Jerusalem. He had gone to Palestine in that capacity and also as missionary in order to convert Jews to Christianity, but on his way there, a rumor had circulated in the halls of Congress that he was mentally unstable. When Cresson reached Jerusalem, he was informed that his appointment had been withdrawn. Undeterred, he set about preaching the gospel. However, he became enamored with the piety of the local Jews in spite of conversion attempts by the Christian missionaries as well as the constant oppression by the Turkish rulers, who had controlled Palestine since 1516, and the Arab settlers. By 1848, therefore, he became Jewish and adopted the name, Michael Boaz Israel. He returned to the States the following year to settle some family affairs, and four years later, he went back to Palestine – permanently. Thus, the first American Jew to make aliyah was a convert to Judaism, and American Jews would make aliyah ever since. In 1852, Cresson, now Israel, attempted to establish, with the support of a Jewish-Christian Society in England, a Jewish farm settlement in Emek Rephaim in Jerusalem as a model for future Jewish farm settlements. It was unsuccessful.From 1854-60, the Jerusalem neighborhood Mishkenot Shaananim was built. The building of this neighborhood, the bulk of which was paid for through the last will and testament of Judah Touro, the son of Isaac Touro and New Orleans businessman, was led by the British philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore, and Gershom Kursheedt, member of the New Orleans City Council, chief executor of the Touro will, and son of Israel Baer Kursheedt.
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