RECOLLECTIONS THE FIRST JEWISH PERIODICAL IN AMERICA

...In our case, this is hardly necessary, since the name of "Jewish Advocate" amply shadows forth that we mean to devote our pages to the spread of whatever can advance the cause of our religion, and of promoting the true interest of that people which has made this religion its profession ever since the days of the great lawgiver, through whom it was handed down to the nation descended from the stock of Abraham...

...We also request the respective presidents and secretaries of our American congregations especially to send us a condensed account of their first establishment, and of any thing of interest connected with them...

...We dreaded, moreover, that despite of the greatest care which we could bestow, articles might at times gain admission which would be, to say the least, not very beneficial, if not injurious, in their tendency...

...We shall not object to controversial articles, if written temperately and candidly...

...With regard to the course we intend to pursue we would gladly leave our work to speak for itself...

...We ourseif will endeavour to state nothing but the truth...

...We throw ourseif then upon the kindness of our friends and the friends of Israel, with the request that, if they are pleased with this specimen, they will not only honour us with their own support, but induce their neighbours to do so likewise...

...One of the measures of the vigor of a society is the character and quality of its publications...

...and we ask no more in return...

...we will endeavour to prove that we are not their inferior in an honest zeal, and an ardent love for our good cause...

...We know and feel that there is something noble both in our race and in our creed...

...we dislike exceedingly the promises which every candidate for public favour always makes, and leaves them not rarely unaccomplished...

...Despite his limited means and modest educational qualifications, he determined that his first endeavor would be the founding of a j o u r n a l which, in the a b s e n c e of unity, would foster a sense of common concern and create a forum for clarification and discourse...

...and that these, with unwearied attention and close labour, shall be devoted to the advancement of the religious interests of the whole Jewish people, and the instruction and entertainment of those who may look for the same in the pages of the Occident...

...but we would as a rule prefer that our correspondents would not preserve too strictly their incognito, even if at first assumed...

...The i n i t i a t i v e was t a k e n by a single individual — Isaac Leeser of Philadelphia — who established a monthly magazine which he called The Occident and American Jewish Advocate...

...our task a pleasant one...

...we shall therefore not so much give original articles as those which contain something instructive, even if we should have to lay some old works under contribution...

...Nevertheless, it is with unfeigned diffidence that we now proceed to execute our plan...

...We know that absolute freedom from error is unattainable...

...In the preceding years, Leeser had failed in an attempt to bring the handful of existing congregations together into a national Jewish organization which would be able to engage the urgent needs of a growing American Jewry...

...We purpose to give accounts of public religious meetings of sufficient general interest whenever attainable...

...We believe that it is owing to this fact that so many journals in the various branches of human knowledge have of late years been started, and what is more, have won their way to the favour of the public...

...We thought then, and still think, that newspaper knowledge is at best but superficial...

...and we trust that we shall be judged leniently by all our readers where they may not be able to agree with us altogether, or where they may widely differ from us...

...and in carrying on a controversy, when such a warfare is necessary, a prudent deference to the opinion of an adversary, a cautious avoiding of harsh epithets, and above all, a manly candour, will much more readily insure the victory, or at least the respect of opponents, than hasty expressions, crude denunciation, and vehement philippics, though the provocation be ever so great...

...We flatter ourseif that our public course is sufficiently well known not to require any detailed statement of what we think...

...It presents vignettes out of the American Jewish past...

...I NISSAN 5603 APRIL 1843 NO...

...RECOLLECTIONS THE FIRST JEWISH PERIODICAL IN AMERICA EDITED BY LEON JICK Recollections is a monthly column edited by Leon Jick, Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University...

...We mean to accord the same charity to others...

...Every subscriber will be of advantage...

...But in order to satisfy those chiefly who are personally unacquainted with us, we will briefly state that we shall endeavour to give circulation to every thing which can be interesting to the Jewish inhabitants in the western hemisphere...

...We hope to make our periodical the vehicle of bringing merit before the public...

...and we offer our pages to congregations and societies as a medium of giving publicity to their intended assemblings and of their transaction, at a moderate compensation: this latter course is considered necessary to avoid any undue claims upon the space we mean to devote to novelties in which all our readers are alike interested...

...In conclusion we will state that it is owing to a strict sense of duty that we have embarked in this difficult enterprise...

...But by de grees it became manifest to us, that the age is more inclined to receive information in the detached manner in which journals treat the same, than by the slow process of deep research, which formerly was considered the road to knowledge...

...In subsequent issues, it is our hope to make available a series of documents from the annals of American Jewish history which will, we hope, be both interesting and instructive...

...but on no account can our pages become the vehicle for violent denunciation or unfounded aspersions...

...We trust that this material will help make MOMENT — like the Occident — an i n s t r u m e n t which may ( in Isaac Leeser's words) "advance the cause of our religion and promote the true interest of that people which has made this religion its profession ever since the days of the great lawgiver . . . " THE OCCIDENT, AND AMERICAN JEWISH ADVOCATE VOL...

...The new journal became a c r u c i a l instrument in t he building of American Jewish life in the decades which followed...

...If requested, the authorship of any article shall be kept a secret...

...and it shall not be our fault if the first be misjudged and the other misunderstood...

...and we therefore expect that a useless secrecy will not be too pertinaciously persevered in...

...but in our days, the towering giants, who rise above the whole people in the might of their intellect, like the first king of Israel did in stature above the nation that he was called upon to govern, are few, whilst the multitude has a taste for knowledge, and a vast many have made such progress in science, or useful information, that the charge of general ignorance with one or more branches of knowledge cannot be urged against them...

...and that, though the stream be in this manner more shallow than when it flowed between confined banks, still it is diffused over a much wider space, and penetrates in little rills, branching off from the parent river, into many a sequestered nook where formerly the waters of science did not and could not reach...

...With regard to our object, we state candidly, that the plan of a religious periodical did not originate with ourself, nor did we approve of it when it was first suggested to us...

...but proper care will go a great way to render it less frequent than would otherwise be the case...

...We shall leave every one to form his own judgment of our sentiments from what we shall offer to the public...

...Formerly there were a few great thinkers, whilst the many were in a measure uninformed...

...I N T R O D U C T O R Y R E M A R KS It is a time-honoured custom, that when an Editor appears for the first time before the public, he is to state something of the course he means to pursue, and of the subjects he intends laying before his readers...

...Leeser concluded that the only hope for response lay with concerned individuals who would act on behalf of a fragmented community which was unable to mobilize its resources...

...But we trust, that we shall be kindly supported by many valuable contributors and correspondents, who, it is to be hoped, will offer their assistance as soon as they see that we are fairly embarked in our laborious undertaking...

...The absence of a single sustained periodical prior to 1843 was a symptom of the weakness of American Jewry — small in n u m b e r s , deficient in i n t e l l e c t u al leadership, lacking in the will for self expression...

...This then is our object...

...We regret being compelled to say this much even on the pecuniary part of our undertaking, but it will strike every one as unavoidable...

...we like zeal...

...Moreover, had our days glided along hitherto ever so happily, and had no interruption been offered to our march in improvement, we should nevertheless not be able, without being guilty of unpardonable presumption, to measure ourself with those men of exalted talents, laborious research, and wonderful acquirements, who have shed so brilliant a lustre on the Jewish name in every part of Germany, France, Holland, and the Russian and Austrian dominions...

...but it must be tempered with discretion...

...Add to this a well-founded distrust in our own powers of conducting so laborious a work in .a manner satisfactory to ourself (not to mention others), and befitting the grave object on which it has to treat: and there will be sufficient reason why we hesitated so long offering our services in a department where it was alleged by many intelligent persons that our labours might be rendered useful with the blessing of God...

...far from it...

...Its ap^ °arance marked the beginning of a nt v era in which goals were articulated, efforts were described and encouraged, alternatives were debated, tasks were undertaken...

...It is barely necessary to add that no communication can be inserted, except under rare circumstances, where the author's name is not known to us...

...and we earnestly entreat all those who may favour us with their literary assistance never to send us any thing which may require contradiction or amendment in a future number...

...This reason induced us to announce our plan, in the full persuasion, that, having been so often kindly received by our friends in various publications, much more so at times than we had any idea of, we should be sure of a favourable consideration for our well-intended labours, if even they should fall short of that point of excellence which deserves to be rewarded by the approbation of a discerning public...

...and we will therefore briefly state our object in assuming the editorship of this new periodical, and of the course it is our firm determination to pursue...

...But this general view may, perhaps, not be sufficiently detailed for many whom we would gladly number among our readers...

...for, to make a paper or magazine really interesting to the general public, much matter must be admitted which is more pleasing in its nature than instructive, and the variety, which is to be constantly furnished, will naturally prevent long and continuous articles being given, although they might be extremely rich in information, even such as the people stand most in need of...

...With these remarks we give our first number to the public, with the firm assurance, that we shall omit no opportunity of satisfying their demand upon the labours and defending the religion which we profess...

...On one thing we are resolved, to do the best we can, in the full reliance upon that aid from above which is never withheld from those who honestly fulfil their duty...

...Although we profess a strict impartiality, we have opinions of our own which we shall not hesitate to avow with becoming firmness upon every proper occasion...

...hence our friends will see the necessity of the rule that they must be known to .us at least...

...In reproducing these " r e m a r k s " in the first issue of MOMENT, we intend not only to present a nostalgic memoir from the American Jewish past, but also to illustrate the extent to which (despite obvious distinctions in style and context) the experiences of the past relate to the concerns of the present...

...Such a regular series would serve as the best history of the American Jews, who have always been hitherto in too small numbers, and have happily been always unmolested, to fill any large space in the history of the country independently of its other inhabitants...

...knowing, as we do, the limited extent of our education, and the fact that the greater part of our life has been devoted to active business or official pursuits, and been interrupted by several painful attacks of sickness, which have rendered selfimprovement by close study altogether impossible...

...Should such a work fall into improper hands, it might be conducted on principles which the Jewish community ought not to approve of, and disseminate doctrines which would be injurious to our rising generation...

...and we believe that the price which we demand is sufficiently low for nearly all the friends of our religion in America...

...Even then (the total Jewish population of North America was well under 50,000), unity could not be achieved...

...At a crucial t i m e , the Occident of Isaac Leeser became the classroom and the meeting hall of a developing American Jewish community...

...and that it depends altogether upon our religious community to rende...

...More than that no man can do, and, therefore, this alone can our friends expect from the Editor...

...The first issue of the Occident published in Nissan, 5603 — April, 1843, opened with the "Introductory Remarks" of the editor...

...We do not mean that articles intended for us should be written tamely, without life or spirit...

...Local o r g a n i z a t i o n s (in this instance synagogues, since no other Jewish organizations existed) could not be moved to respond to needs which transcended their narrow institutional interests...

...The appearance in that year of a monthly journal signified g r o w i n g strength and selfconsciousness...

...and our readers may be assured that we shall refer to this subject as rarely and then as briefly as possible...

...we wish to be useful in a department where attainment of success is very difficult, and where failure would carry with it no disgrace, any farther than having been too bold in undertaking that for which our forces were insufficient...

...We mean to be responsible for whatever we insert...

...We therefore will be compelled .to follow our contemporaries in the old world at a respectful distance, and make use of their labours, whenever accessible to us, for our own enlightenment and the instruction of our readers...