MORDECHAI MANUEL NOAH

In the early decades of the 19th century, American, and American Jewish interest in active Jewish Restoration to its homeland was first aroused. This “nationalist” idea was best personified by Philadelphia-born Mordechai Manuel Noah, playwright, editor, and diplomat. As editor of the National Advocate in 1818, he was the recipient of a letter written by President John Adams in which he stated his hope that the nation of Israel will soon return to its homeland. Noah made it a point to acquaint himself with many of the Palestinian emissaries who came to the US as well as with the organizers of halukkah. In the 1820s, he declared the island of Ararat in upstate New York as a place of refuge for Jews where they would all be gathered and eventually brought to the Land of Israel. And as he considered the indigenous Americans to be descended from the ancient Israelites, indigenous Americans were invited to participate. The project failed, however, and thereafter, he advocated the immediate settlement of the ancient Jewish homeland.