(AMERICAN JUDAICA).

M.A. Berk

Boston

1846

(Huie, James A.) The History of the Jews from the Babylonian Captivity to the Present Time: Comprising their conquests, dispersions, wanderings, persecutions, commercial enterprises, literature, manners, customs, and forms of worship, with an account of the various efforts made for their conversion.

Rosenbach 584; unlisted by Singerman.

Summing up the contemporary state of American Jewry, the chronicler writes: “From the best information, it would appear that there are about fifty thousand Jews in the United States. From twelve to thirteen thousand of this number are supposed to reside in the city of New York; four thousand in Philadelphia; one thousand in Baltimore; and the rest are distributed through the Union as pedlars, or wandering merchants…A large body of Jews appear to be settled in South Carolina; in Charleston they have a very showy synagogue, and, what is a little remarkable, they have a fine organ, and have made and allowed some important changes in their former belief” (p. 401). Preceding this account are several fascinating testimonies concerning the present state of the exotic Jewish communities of the Crimea, the Ottoman Empire, Persia, Yemen, Afghanistan, India and Morocco. Also includes a detailed treatment of the rise of the Chassidic movement.