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Friday, March 4, 1M
PURIM America 1763
"A Merry Purim and a Good
Haman,” wrote the Jewish shop
keeper Meyer Josephaon from
the Pennsylvania frontier to his
Philadelphia friend Michael
Gratz on March 5, 1763. Joseph-
son, points out Dr. Jacob R. Mar
cus, director of the American
Jewish Archives in Cincinnati,
obviously had in mind the Chris
tian greeting, “A Merry Christ-
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mas and a Happy New Year.”
Wanting to be a good American,
however, he made up an Amer
ican Jewish Purim greeting of
his own. It was, of course, a
rather curious greeting since
“good Haman” was none other
than the scoundrel who wanted
to kill off all the Jews of Persia.
Purim, a joyous festival marked
by gay festivities, feasting, sa
tirical skits and masqueraded,
marks the rescue of the Jews
from Haman, their oppressor in
ancient Persia. Forever commem
orated in the biblical Book of
Esther, the holiday, recalling a
triumph over anti-Jewish hatred,
has long been a favorite amongst
Jews, and Meyer Josephson,
Jewish shopkeeper in Colonial
America, was no exception.
Not to be outdone in the cel
ebration of Purim was another
eighteenth-century Ame r i c a n
Jew, Joseph Darmstadt, a Rich
mond, Virginia, merchant. An
active member of the community
and Grandtreasurer of the Vir
ginia Grand Lodge of Masons,
the former Hessian sutler was
well known for his wit. In
March, 1789, he was invited to
attend a Purim party given by
his friend Jacob I. Cohen, whose
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wife’s first name was Esther,
after the Queen of Persia. Ac
tually Esther Cohen had been
bom a Christian, and her name
had originally been Elizabeth,
but she took the Jewish name
when she became a convert to
Judaism. Darmstadt, as it hap
pened, was unable to attend the
Purim party held at the Cohen
home on March 12, 1789, but he
sent a poem to commemorate the
occasion and to enhance the fes
tivities. It was difficult for this
immigrant to write good English,
but he persisted, nonetheless. His
effort to write what he thought
was English poetry has been
preserved and reads in part:
“Why is it sure a drohl a/air,
Out of 365 days in a year,
Not to find one day which is
feet (fit)
To give a body a diner to eat?
Then you find your only
satisfaction,
Then you make us drink and
sing,
Because you think like Ahasuerus
the King
What—have not I Queen Esther’s
plasure
And besides, silver, gold, and
treasur.
Therefore at my ease
1 can invite wen I please.
All thes I say and no more.
May He who knows us all bless
you as before.
And keep you many Purim
marry (merry).
And 1 will drink your health in
a glass of cherry.
J am, with respect,
Yours most humble
serv.,
J. Darmstadt."
Darmstadt’s effusion may very
well be one of the oldest pieces
of poetry by an American Jew.
It testifies to the spirit in which
the Jews of Colonial America,
small in number though they
were. Joined in good fellowship
—with plenty to drink—to com-
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memorate their Purim festival
and perpetuate their ancient faith
and traditions.
Such incidents are preserved
for posterity in the American
Jewish Archives on the Cincin
nati campus of the Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Re
ligion. The Archives contains a
vast collection of material about
Jewish life in early as well as
contemporary America.
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