March 1: The First American Jewish Publication

Solomon Henry Jackson published the premier edition of The Jew, America’s first Jewish periodical, on this date in 1823. The publication, which was opposed to Christian missionary societies, lasted two years, 24 editions. Jackson was an immigrant from England who married a Protestant woman. He established the first Hebrew printing press in New York City in the 1820s and published the country’s first Passover Hagadah (1837) and first Hebrew prayer book, The Form of Daily Prayers, According to the Custom of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews (1826). The Jew was largely theological and dedicated to refutations of Christian beliefs and dogmas. To read more about Jackson, click here.

“I am . . . a man as yourselves, whom you have unwarrantably attacked — a Jew! A citizen of the United States! and an inhabitant of New-York who, standing on the defence of his religion, on the defence of his people and kindred, which, and whom you have, and do unfairly, wantonly, and unmanly attack, calls on you to guard.” —Solomon Henry Jackson