INFRASTRUCTURE As did the Pilgrims, the Quakers and the Cavaliers so too did the Jews. They came to the new lands seeking fortune and freedom of worship. They brought with them their religion. Pictured on the left is a miniature Holy Ark of the private synagogue of Joseph Simon which he brought with him when he settled in Lancaster.

They brought their customs and experiences and by 1775 they had formed Synagogue communities in New York (1706), Savannah (1735), in Philadelphia (1742), Charleston (1749), Newport (1763), and Montreal.

They brought soap manufacturing to Rhode Island, the whale sperm oil industry (candles) to Newport, the Indigo industry to South Carolina and some were with George Washington in the expedition across the Alleghanies and the subsequent creation of land development companies in that area.

There were some anti Jewish mindsets especially in New Amsterdam, in Maryland-which accused "Ye Jew doctor" Jacob Lumbozo of blasphemy, and in Lancaster where Joseph Simon’s trading post was attacked by a group calling itself "God’s Klansmen" led by William Penn, Jr.

A Franks and David ship "Matilda" brings the Liberty Bell to America.

There were about 2,500 Jews in the colonies at the time of the formation of the Continental Congress. They had experienced the hope and freedom in the air and the opportunity on the ground. They began to take America to heart as a special land and although there were divisions within their ranks the majority enlisted in revolt for independence and against Monarchy.