The Nutmeggers: The Jewish Community of Connecticut, Part 2 – The Towns and Cities Hartford Hartford is home to the first and largest Jewish community in the state of Connecticut. The earliest mention of a Jew in the state was David the Jew, of Hartford, who was fined 20 shillings for illegal trading in 1659. Afterwards, there were scattered references to the small Jewish…
Highlight from the John Herzog Collection of Jewish Bonds: An 1822 Russian Bond with Nathan Rothschild’s Signature In July 2018, the Center for Jewish History received a rare collection of Jewish bonds and financial paper in support of settlement in the land of Israel and later the State of Israel. The collection was donated by financier John Herzog, Chairman Emeritus of Herzog, Heine, Geduld,…
The Nutmeggers: The Jewish Community of Connecticut, Part 1 – History of Connecticut Jewry The first reference to a Jew in Connecticut was to “David the Jew.” In 1659, he was fined 20 shillings by the city of Hartford. His crime: going into houses when the household heads were absent and trading with the children. In the decades that followed, there were several scattered…
Highlight from the Sidney Lapidus Collections of Judaica: Discourse on the Restoration of the Jews AJHS Board Chairman and CJH Board Treasurer Sidney Lapidus is not only a dedicated and generous philanthropist, but also a great collector of Anglo-American political treatises and essays and lawbooks on slavery, many of which he has donated to his alma mater, Princeton University, and to the Schomburg Center…
