Tuesday, May 19, 2015

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: HOW COULD A JEW SAVE THE USA?




THE AMAZING STORY OF HAYM SALOMON

Just as Jews played a part in the discovery of the New World, they also played a major part in establishing the United States of America as a nation independent of Great Britain. Schools and textbooks, teachers and politicians rarely remember one of the key figures in the history of the American Revolution, the forgotten Jewish patriot and financial hero, Haym Saloman. As a businessman and broker, he was responsible for raising most of the money to finance the American Revolution and later to save the new nation from collapse. Dr. David Lewis searched for ten years to document the story of Haym Salomon which culminated in publishing a booklet entitled, Israel and the USA: Restoring the Lost Pages of American History (Springfield: Menorah Press, 1993).

When Salomon saw that Washington’s troops were starving with cold as well as hunger, he determined to do all he could to finance the Revolution. Salomon knew he must give his fortune to help America survive for the sake of his own people, because he believed that America would be a safe haven for the Jews until one day in the future when Jerusalem would again rise from the dust, and the Jews would return to their ancient homeland, never to wander again.

Robert Morris was the Superintendent of Finance. His diary for the years 1781-84 recorded some 75 transactions with Haym Salomon to carry on the war. After the war ended and Washington became President, Morris made one last appeal to Salomon, who was lying on his bed, dying of tuberculosis. Salomon got up from the bed and opened his brokerage operation, raising the money necessary to save the new nation from bankruptcy. He advanced to the government about $800,000 of his own money, but when he died penniless, at the age of 45, leaving a young widow and four children, nothing was left for them. Rachel Salomon tried to collect on personal loans made to Morris, Congress, and others, but was told that all papers related to her inheritance were lost. Mathematical and computer experts have calculated the sum owed to the heirs of Haym Salomon, based on $800,000 at seven percent interest, compounded quarterly over a period of 217 years, and the most conservative figure they gave was two-and-a- half trillion dollars! (Feldberg, Michael. 2004. Haym Salomon: the rest of the story.)

Salomon also played a prominent role in Philadelphia and in the national Jewish community affairs. Within five years of his arrival in Philadelphia, Salomon advanced from penniless fugitive to respected businessman, philanthropist, and defender of his people. He helped lead the successful fight to repeal the test oath which kept Jews and other non-Christians from holding public office in Pennsylvania.


Salomon was buried in Philadelphia in a grave which is now unmarked. However, the United States one-dollar bills all bear the mark of Haym Salomon. George Washington directed the engraving of the Jewish star of David over the eagle on the one-dollar bill to honor his friend for his incalculable gifts (Weiss, Duane, “Why We Honor Israel and the Jewish People,” speech, 1995). Also erected in Chicago in honor of the Jewish patriot was a bronze memorial with the figures of Robert Morris and Haym Salomon on either side of George Washington (Keller, Sharon R., ed. 1992, The Jews: A Treasury of Art and Literature). Haym Salomon, the son of a rabbi, was blessed with wealth, and he in turn blessed the United States of America with the money needed for her survival. 

(Excerpt from DESTINY OF THE JEWS, master's thesis by Nancy Petrey, May 18, 2004)

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