The Jacques Judah Lyons Papers P-15, the personal records of a formidable hazzan, rabbi, and community leader who served for 38 years as Minister of Congregation Shearith Israel (the oldest congregation in the United States), offer remarkable insights into the history of the earliest Jewish communities in America. Lyons’ extensive career in Jewish communal service and advocacy included occupying positions in congregations in Suriname, Philadelphia, and New York.
Among the numerous compelling documents in this collection, an extract from a set of meeting minutes from a November 7, 1847 meeting of the trustees of Congregation Shearith Israel seems particularly apt for this season.
This extract details a resolution by the trustees that, in response to the Governor of New York appointing Thursday, November 25th as “a general day of thanksgiving,” the synagogue should be open on the afternoon of that appointed date, presumably to enable congregants to gather. The resolution also empowers Shearith Israel’s hazzan to enact a suitable arrangement for this special service and to “announce to the Congregation on the previous Sabbath the Celebration of the day.”
