Public-domain ebook
Language: en3,479 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Judaism·Short Stories·History - American
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #22915.
The New Land is a collection of historically flavored narratives that trace the contributions of Jewish individuals to the formation of the United States. It opens with a lyrical preface that frames the Jewish experience as a pilgrimage toward a promised haven, then moves into a series of “stories that really happened,” each introduced by a personal note from the author to her grandchildren. The first tale places three Jews aboard Columbus’s Santa Maria, using a dramatized night‑watch scene to explore the hopes and fears of a people fleeing the Inquisition. Subsequent chapters shift to early colonial New Amsterdam, Revolutionary‑era New York, and other pivotal moments, each anchored in period details such as a mizrach on a Dutch hearth or a barmitzvah in a fledgling settlement.
The voice is that of a mid‑twentieth‑century storyteller who blends earnest reverence with a modest, almost conversational style, drawing on contemporary Jewish periodicals for source material. The prose is straightforward, occasionally poetic, and reflects the didactic tone of early‑1900s historical pamphlets. Readers who enjoy compact, fact‑tinged sketches of lesser‑known figures, particularly those interested in Jewish American heritage, early colonial history, or the human side of iconic events, will find this work both informative and evocative.
The opening · free to read
When your grandfather tells you a story, do you ever interrupt him to ask: "But is it all true?" And doesn't he often answer: "I don't know," or "I don't know when it's really true, and when it begins to be like a story book." And so, when you read through my little book--if you do read right through it to the very last page--you may wonder whether all my history stories really happened.
Yes--and no! I do know that cross old Peter Stuyvesant of New Amsterdam hated our people, but I never found any record of the Jewish boy who wanted to play with the governor's niece, pretty Katrina. The histories tell us how gallant young Franks became the friend of George Washington, but none of them mention that the Jewish soldier saved a Tory from the angry mob.
You understand now, don't you? So I'm going to turn the page right away that you may read for yourselves of the three Jews who whispered together on the deck of the "Santa Maria," as Columbus and his crew crossed the Sea of Darkness in search of a New Land.
E.E.L.
NOTE: The author expresses her thanks to the editors of The Hebrew Standard and The Jewish Child in which the stories, "In the Night Watches" and "A Place of Refuge," originally appeared.
CONTENTS.
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