The New Land

The New Land, by Elma Ehrlich
Levinger

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Levinger
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Title: The New Land Stories of Jews Who Had a Part in the Making of
Our Country
Author: Elma Ehrlich Levinger

Release Date: October 8, 2007 [eBook #22915]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
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THE NEW LAND
Stories of Jews Who Had a Part in the Making of Our Country
by
ELMA EHRLICH LEVINGER
"A new world, with great portals far outflung, Holding a hope more
sweet than time had sung, To which the Jew, of life's high quest a part,
A pilgrim came, the Torah in his heart. A land of promise, and
fulfillment too; Where on a sudden olden dreams came true.... Here
grew we part of an ennobled state, Gave and won honor, sat among the
great, And saw unfolding to our 'raptured view The day long prayed for
by the patient Jew."
From "The Jew in America," by Felix N. Gerson

New York Bloch Publishing Company "The Jewish Book Concern"
1920
Copyright, 1920, by Bloch Publishing Company

TO Grandmother and Grandfather Levinger THESE "STORIES
THAT REALLY HAPPENED" ARE AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATED

A LETTER TO MY READERS.
Dear Boys and Girls:
When your grandfather tells you a story, do you ever interrupt him to
ask: "But is it all true?" And doesn't he often answer: "I don't know," or
"I don't know when it's really true, and when it begins to be like a story
book." And so, when you read through my little book--if you do read
right through it to the very last page--you may wonder whether all my
history stories really happened.
Yes--and no! I do know that cross old Peter Stuyvesant of New
Amsterdam hated our people, but I never found any record of the
Jewish boy who wanted to play with the governor's niece, pretty
Katrina. The histories tell us how gallant young Franks became the
friend of George Washington, but none of them mention that the Jewish
soldier saved a Tory from the angry mob.
You understand now, don't you? So I'm going to turn the page right
away that you may read for yourselves of the three Jews who
whispered together on the deck of the "Santa Maria," as Columbus and
his crew crossed the Sea of Darkness in search of a New Land.
E.E.L.
NOTE: The author expresses her thanks to the editors of The Hebrew
Standard and The Jewish Child in which the stories, "In the Night
Watches" and "A Place of Refuge," originally appeared.

CONTENTS.
PAGE
IN THE NIGHT WATCHES 9 The Three who came with Columbus.
WHEN KATRINA LOST HER WAY 14 A tale of the First Jewish

Settlers of New Amsterdam.
A PLACE OF REFUGE 33 How the Wanderer came to Rhode Island.
"DOWN WITH KING GEORGE" 39 How Isaac Franks, of the
American army, first heard the Declaration of Independence.
THE LAST SERVICE 52 The story of a Rabbi who lived in New York
when it was captured by the British in 1776.
THE GENEROUS GIVER 68 The story of a Jewish money-lender of
the Revolution.
ACROSS THE WATERS 88 A story of the City of Refuge planned by
Mordecai Noah.
THREE AT GRACE 105 The story of the first Jewish settler in
Alabama.
THE LUCKY STONE 122 The adventures of Uriah P. Levy, the first
naval officer of his day.
THE PRINCESS OF PHILADELPHIA 140 The story of Rebecca
Gratz and Washington Irving.
A PRESENT FOR MR. LINCOLN 160 How President Lincoln set out
for Washington and how he returned.
THE LAND COLUMBUS FOUND 173 The story of the tablet placed
upon the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.

THE NEW LAND
IN THE NIGHT WATCHES
The Three Who Came With Columbus.
For a while there was no sound save the soft swish-swish of the waves

as the "Santa Maria," the flagship of Columbus, ploughed its way
through the darkness. The moon had long since disappeared and one by
one the stars had left the sky until only the morning star remained to
guide Alonzo