Join us for a special Liberty 250 lecture by Zachary Edinger, Sexton (Shamash) of Congregation Shearith Israel.

This talk explores how New York's small Jewish community experienced the American Revolution and emerged fundamentally transformed by it. The Revolution forced every member of the community to make difficult choices. Some fled with the Patriot cause, others remained loyal to the Crown, families were divided, even as the synagogue itself continued to function under British occupation. By examining the lives of figures such as Gershom Mendes Seixas, Myer Myers, Uriah Hendricks, and the Gomez and Hays families, together with the stories preserved in Shearith Israel's ritual objects and archival documents, we gain a more nuanced understanding of Jewish life during the conflict than the familiar narrative of Patriots versus Loyalists.

For the Jews of America, the Revolution's lasting significance lay not only in political independence, but also in the emergence of a distinctly American Judaism. In the years following 1783, Shearith Israel consciously reshaped its communal identity, embracing the language and ideals of republican government while maintaining its historic Sephardic traditions. Jews increasingly came to understand themselves as equal participants in the American civic experiment. The Revolution did not erase the congregation's Sephardic heritage; rather, it redefined how that heritage would flourish within a new nation founded on civil and religious liberty.*

This lecture will take place in-person and via Zoom.

Tickets

In person | $10
Museum Members | FREE
Virtual only | FREE

Biography

Zachary Edinger has served as the Sexton (Shamash) of Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of New York, since 2011. A graduate of Fordham Law School and Queens College (CUNY), he previously worked at Morgan Stanley and with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development before entering full-time service to the congregation.

A lifelong New Yorker, Zachary was raised at Shearith Israel, where his family has been active since the mid-nineteenth century. In addition to overseeing the synagogue's religious and daily operations, he is responsible for the care and management of Shearith Israel's historic collections, including its archives, ritual objects, and other artifacts. In that capacity, he has worked closely with museums and academic scholars on exhibitions, research projects, and loans from the congregation's collection.

He also organizes the annual Memorial Day ceremony at Shearith Israel's Chatham Square Cemetery, held in partnership with the Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York. The ceremony is one of many ways the congregation honors its Revolutionary-era heritage and the generations of Americans buried in its historic cemeteries.