2. The Messiah of New York – Dr Ali Azzali

 These believers are convinced that they have a personal responsibility to hasten this coming of the ‘rapture’ in order to fulfill biblical prophecy. Their agenda calls for a war in the Middle East against Islam  and the taking of the entire Holy Land by Jews, with the total expulsion of all Christians and other gentiles.

Jimmy Carter¹

 With this second article, we intend to continue the examination of the historical and political roots of Zionism, a colonial ideology derived from biblical millenarianism of Puritan origin and long used to mobilize support for the creation of a Jewish nation-state in Palestine. The object of this study will be the genesis of American Zionism as a synthesis of the encounter between secularized Jewish messianism and political millenarianism of Anglo-Saxon origin in the pioneering figure of Mordecai Manuel Noah (1785-1851).
 
In a speech given in December 1916 at the London University Society, on the occasion of the twenty fifth anniversary of Leon Pinsker's death, the well-known English writer Israel Zangwill, a close associate of Theodor Herzl, in citing the founding fathers of the Zionist movement, mentioned three  names: a Russian, a Hungarian and an American. The latter, Mordecai Manuel Noah, although almost  unknown, was compared in importance to the better-known Pinsker and Herzl. Zangwill writes:  Pinsker's Auto-Emancipation, published in 1881, was a "brilliant anticipation of much later history and literature and its brilliance was not that of flowers or of jewels but of fire ... It was a great book. Yet Herzl, when he wrote his Judenstaat, in 1895, had probably never heard of it … I said that Pinsker was the father of Auto-Emancipation. But it is a wise child that knows his own father […]. Before Pinsker, there had been the American Sephardi, Mordecai Manuel Noah, who, in 1825, not only planned a great Jewish colony on an island in the State of New York, but actually bought land for it, and issued an invitation to the ghettos of Europe to flock to his Ararat, and even held the Dedication Service — as readers of my story, 'Noah's Ark', may remember.””²

René Guénon, Mordecai Manuel Noah and the Hypotheses on the Origins of Mormonism

At the end of a previous study³, it was said that the first movement of agricultural settlement in Palestine was carried out by Christian, European and American settlers, inspired by the millennial concept of “return to Zion”. In this context, the first American consul in Jerusalem⁴, Warder Cresson (1798-1860), was mentioned as a true pioneer of gentile Zionism. Born in Philadelphia in 1798 to a family of Quakers and educated according to the strict principles of Quakerism, Cresson grew up working on the family farms and then successfully started his own farm after marriage. Restless in character, he soon broke with the family religious tradition, which he did not fail to condemn in the 1830 pamphlet Babylon the Great Is Falling! The Morning Star, or Light from on High. He then went through a deep religious crisis that led him to join various "restorationist" movements of millennial inspiration; Cresson became a Shaker, a Mormon, a Seventh-day Adventist, and a follower of Alexander Campbell. The real turning point in his life, which led him to move to Jerusalem and eventually convert to Judaism, came in 1840 following his meeting with Rabbi Isaac Leeser (1806-1868) and reading the writings of Mordecai Manuel Noah, who claimed that the Jews would soon return to Palestine⁵. 

In an article published in Études Traditionnelles in 1940, entitled The Origins of Mormonism⁶, René Guénon, in analyzing the origins of the American sect, pointed out that the Book of Mormon, the text "revealed" to the "prophet" Joseph Smith, was a plagiarism of "a kind of novel in biblical style" entitled Manuscript Found, written by Presbyterian pastor Solomon Spalding (1761-1816). Guénon writes: "The subject of this book concerns the history of the North American Indians, who were portrayed as the descendants of Patriarch Joseph; it was a protracted account of their wars and their supposed migrations, from the time of Zedekiah, king of Judah, to the fifth century AD. This account was supposed to have been written by various successive chroniclers, the last of whom, named Mormon, is said to have deposited it in an underground hiding-place." It was, therefore, an investigation of the ten lost tribes of Israel, who were allegedly exiled from the Kingdom of Israel after its conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, around 722 BC. In this regard, the French scholar states: "We know that some tried to find the traces of these tribes in England, and there are even Englishmen who claim the honor of this origin for their nation; others sought these same tribes much farther afield and as far as even as Japan. What is certain is that there are very old Jewish colonies at some regions of the East, notably Cochin in southern India, and also China, which claim to have been established there since the time of Babylonian slavery. The idea of a migration to America seems much more unlikely, and moreover has occurred to others than Spalding; in fact there is a rather remarkable coincidence to be noted here." Guénon, at this point, refers to that Mordecai Manuel Noah quoted above who was a source of inspiration for Warder Cresson: "In 1825, a Jew of Portuguese origin, Mordecai Manuel Noah, former consul of the United States in Tunis, bought an island called Grand Island, situated in the Niagara River, and issued a proclamation urging all his co-religionists to come and settle on this island,  to which he gave the name of Ararat. On September 2 of the same year, the foundation of the new city was celebrated with great pomp; now, and this is what we wish to draw attention to, the Indians had been invited to send representatives to this ceremony in the capacity of descendants of the lost tribes of Israel, and they were also to find a refuge in the new Ararat. This project came to nothing, and the town was never built. About twenty years later, Noah wrote a book in which he advocated the re-establishment of the Jewish nation in Palestine and, although his name may be almost forgotten today, he must be regarded as the real promoter of Zionism”.

The Book of Lehi and the Exodus of the Lost Tribes to the Americas

According to Joseph Smith, the revelation of the Book of Mormon preceded the inauguration ceremony of the Ararat colony by two years. Smith recounts that on September 22nd, 1823, the angel Moroni visited him and showed him how to find a text engraved on gold plates by the prophets of an ancient Israelite-American civilization identified with the ten lost tribes of Israel: "The book focuses largely on the family of Lehi, a Jew who flees Jerusalem at the beginning of the Babylonian Exile and leads a colony to the Americas. After Lehi’s death, his family divides into several American Israelite tribes, which the extant text distills into two principal warring factions—the Lamanites (named for Lehi’s rebellious eldest son Laman) and the Nephites (named for Lehi’s pious younger son Nephi). Smith delivered the book’s opening narratives about Lehi’s exodus from Jerusalem to the Americas shortly after beating his own hasty exodus from upstate New York to northern Pennsylvania, to escape enemies who coveted the golden plates”⁷.  Five years later, on April 6, 1830, Joseph Smith received a new revelation that promoted him to the prophet of a new religion, the Church of Christ, later known as the Church of Latter-day Saints⁸. The tenth of the thirteen articles of faith revealed to the founder and inspired by a Judeo-Christian syncretism can rightly be defined as proto-Zionist: "We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory."⁹ Steven Epperson writes: “[according to the Book of Mormon] In the penultimate days leading to the messianic kingdom, two great gatherings of scattered Israel were to occur. First, the "remnants" or "seed" of the families of the Nephites would gather to Zion, the "New Jerusalem," to be reared in the Americas. Then Judah along with those of Israel long since scattered in the "north countries" (Eth. 15:11) would again be established and restored in Israel with Jerusalem as their capital. The Book of Mormon repeatedly asserts that Israel's restoration depends on realizing the territorial terms of the covenant not in its conversion to, or identity with, the church...."¹⁰ The context in which Mormonism manifested itself in its early stages (1827-28) has been termed "American proto-Zionism," a set of initiatives aimed at uniting the world's Jews in a New Jerusalem¹¹ in the United States. 

The Colony of Ararat

As we have seen, Mordecai Noah in 1825 had in mind a homeland for the Jewish people "with a Sanhedrin of seventy members" when he founded the colony of Ararat in New York State. The choice of the name "Ararat" evoked not only the biblical (Genesis 8:4) resting place of Noah's ark, to indicate the temporariness of the choice with respect to Jerusalem and the significance of its mission, but "Ararat was the resting place of Noah's ark (Genesis 8:4). Noah also knew of a tradition linking Ararat to Arzareth, the home of the "lost ten tribes" (IV Ezra 13:45). Since he associated the tribes with the Indians, and saw America as their home, Ararat was an obvious name for his colony”.¹² Richard H. Popkin argues that the American homeland mentioned in Noah's plans was to be a decisive step toward a reunification of the tribes and a prelude to a "return" to Palestine: "In his discourse at the consecration of the synagogue Kahal Kadrah Shearith Israel on April 17, 1818 he advanced the view that America could serve a critical role in future Jewish history. ‘Until the Jews can recover their ancient rights and dominions, and take their ranks among the governments of the earth, this is their chosen country; here they can rest with the persecuted of every line, secure in person and property, protected from tyrrany and oppression and participating of equal rights and immunities.’ The Jews could rest in America, learn arts, trades and farming, until events would lead to their restoration in Palestine. Noah at this time saw the break-up of the Turkish Empire in Europe as the signal that Jewish emancipation was at hand. He sent his synagogue discourse to Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and John Adams, and elicited from them important statements about the special character of the American Constitutional separation of church and state."¹³ A few months before the colony's inauguration in 1825, John Adams wrote: "I really wish the Jews again in Judea, an independent nation, for, as I believe, the most enlightened men of it have participated in the amelioration of the philosophy of the age; once restored to an independent government and no longer persecuted, they would soon wear away some of the... peculiarities of their character."¹⁴ The encouragement received from the founding fathers of the United States¹⁵ served as a stimulus for the colonial project in New York State. It is also necessary to mention the influence exerted on Noah by the colony founded by the American Society for Meliorating the Condition of the Jews in New York, an "asylum" aimed at the conversion and "improvement" of Jewish immigrants and inspired by the suggestions of Protestant millenarianism, in this case Huguenot: "Theologically, Noah and the missionaries also had much in common. Both agreed that America was destined to play a special role in the Divine plan. Both agreed that the millennium was imminent, but in some ways dependent upon Jews. Both agreed that Jews and Christians should respect one another. And both agreed that it was up to Jews to take immediate appropriate action to ensure that they qualified for final restoration to the promised land. […] Noah’s thinking had obviously been shaped by the evangelical Protestantism ofhis day—to such an extent, that he even shared many Christian views on the nature of world Jewry and how to improve it. Through Ararat, he sought to incorporate some of these Christian ideas into a framework which was staunchly Jewish."¹⁶ Nevertheless, " In one respect at least, Noah was a typical Jew: missionaries and missionizing raised his hackles. Whether he was right or wrong, he was convinced, as were many of his fellow Jews, that Jewish converts to Christianity lacked integrity. Editor and publisher Noah forebore to express this contempt publicly, knowing full well as he did that vast numbers of Christians were dedicated to the saving of souls, for them a sacrosanct task. […] Yet Noah, truly realistic, differed from most American Jews in his evaluation of the dominant Protestantism. His objectivity is almost startling: Jews and Christians had much in common: even the evangelical Christian societies were not to be condemned forthwith: they furthered knowledge of the Old Testament. Christianity and Judaism were historically and religiously close: Christianity was a daughter religion; much that the younger faith taught was Jewish; the two could work together. Who knows, Christians might yet become Unitarians or even Jews!"¹⁷ The founding of colonies was a practical solution to social problems: "All over the western world, reformers came to view colonies—especially, but not exclusively, American frontier colonies—as the best solution to the problems posed by minority, deviant, and oppressed groups. Rather than attempting to create an equitable pluralistic state, they proposed to create insulated communities where each individual group could flourish on its own. Many Jews found the idea alluring. In America, a myriad of proposals for Jewish colonies emerged in the buoyant, self-confident years which followed the end ofthe War of 1812. The country’s underdeveloped areas seemed like the ideal place for Jews to settle. Moses E. Levy tried to induce Jews to migrate to Florida, where he owned vast tracts of land. Samuel Myers of Norfolk, Virginia, privately advocated a broader immigration-colonization plan, one which involved the frontier areas west of the Mississippi. William D. Robinson, a Christian, later publicly advocated a very similar project in his Memoir Addressed to Persons of the Jewish Religion in Europe on the Subject of Emigration (1819). Even The American Society for Meliorating the Condition of the Jews put forward a colonization scheme."¹⁸

The Founding of New Canaan and the Proclamation to the Jews

For the day of the inauguration, Noah commissioned a foundation stone embossed with a Hebrew inscription from Deut. VI, 4 ("Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is one"), then: "Ararat, a city of refuge for the Jews, founded by Mordecai M. Noah in the month of Tizri, 5586 (September 15, 1825) and on the fiftieth anniversary of American independence."¹⁹ The original intention was to lay the stone on Grand Island, but transportation problems necessitated a sudden change of plans. The inauguration party was then held in the nearby city of Buffalo, New York, and began with cannon fire from the local Masonic lodge²⁰: "Today, in the fiftieth year of American independence, was to be founded a republic within the republic,—a haven of religious freedom within the haven of political liberty. A new, if self-appointed, redeemer had arisen in Zion. By ten o'clock the military and Masonic companies had lined up before the Masonic Lodge. Within an hour the procession, led by Grand Marshal Colonel Potter on a prancing steed, was moving. The tramp of soldiery, of national, state and municipal officers, advanced to the spot where the corner stone of a new Canaan was to be laid. Behind the band and the vanguard filed stewards, apprentices and representatives of their associated crafts, master masons, senior and junior deacons, senior and junior wardens, masters and past-masters of Lodges, members of the reverend clergy, more stewards bearing the symbolic corn, wine and oil, and a principal architect, with square, level and plumb, flanked on either side by a Globe, and backed by a Bible. There must have been, too, in this paradoxical pageantry, a sprinkling of the Chosen People for whom this new Promised Land, this Ararat, had been chosen… And now all eyes were fixed upon a portly gentleman of forty, proudly erect of carriage, florid of face, keen of eye, sandy-haired over fleshy cheeks and an eagle's beak, who strode just ahead of the rear guard of Royal Arch Masons and Knights Templar”.²¹ For the occasion, Noah borrowed a stage costume from Richard III, equipped with a gold medallion, from the local theater to take on the role of "Judge of Israel." The picturesque procession, in which the leader of the Seneca nation²², Red Jacket, took part, made its way to the Protestant Episcopal Church of St. Paul, on whose altar the foundation stone was placed. The rector of the church, Pastor Addison Searle, led the service where Passages from the Prophets and Psalms were recited, followed by a prayer and blessing in Hebrew. At the conclusion of the service, Mordecai Noah addressed his "Proclamation to the Jews" to the crowd: "Whereas, it has pleased Almighty God to manifest to his chosen people the approach of that period when, in fulfillment of the promises made to the race of Jacob, and as a reward for their pious constancy and triumphant fidelity, they are to be gathered from the four quarters of the globe , and to resume their rank and character among the governments of the earth; And Whereas, the peace which now prevails among civilized nations, the progress of learning throughout the world, and the general spirit of liberality and toleration which exists together with other changes favorable to light and to liberty, mark in an especial manner the approach of that time , when ‘peace on earth good will to man’ are to prevail with a benign and extended influence, and the ancient people of God, the first to proclaim his unity and omnipotence, are to be restored to their inheritance , and enjoy the rights of a sovereign independent people! Therefore, I , Mordecai Manuel Noah , citizen of the United States of America, late Consul of said States to the City and Kingdom of Tunis, High Sheriff of New York, Counsellor at Law, and by the grace of God, Governor and Judge of Israel, have issued this my Proclamation, announcing to the Jews throughout the world, that an asylum is prepared and hereby offered to them, where they can enjoy that peace, comfort and happiness which have been denied them through the intolerance and misgovernment of former ages; an asylum in a free and powerful country remarkable for its vast resources, the richness of its soil, and the salubrity of its climate; where industry is encouraged, education promoted, and good faith rewarded, ‘a land of milk and honey ’, where Israel may repose in peace , under his ‘vine and fig-tree’, and where our people may so familiarize themselves with the science of government and the lights of learning and civilization, as may qualify them for that great and final restoration to their ancient heritage, which the times so powerfully indicate."²³ After listing the agricultural and commercial opportunities offered by the Grand Island²⁴ area, Noah took on inspired and prophetic tones, bordering on messianism: 

"In His name do I revive, renew and reestablish the government of the Jewish Nation, under the auspices and protection of the constitution and laws of the United States of America; confirming and perpetuating all our rights and privileges , — our name , our rank , and our power among the nations of the earth, — as they existed and were recognized under the government of the Judges. And I hereby enjoin it upon all our pious and venerable Rabbis, our Presidents and Elders of Synagogues, Chiefs of Colleges and brethren in authority throughout the world, to circulate and make known this, my Proclamation , and give it full publicity, credence and effect.”²⁵ At this point, the judge of Israel issued decrees addressed to the entire Jewish people, starting with the proclamation of a world census and the concession, to those who wished to do so, to remain in the diaspora, albeit with the commitment to help those who intended to emigrate to Ararat. This was followed by an invitation to those Jews in the ranks of some army to "conduct themselves with bravery and fidelity." Israel's judge then ordered neutrality to be maintained in the Greco-Turkish conflict, since many Jews found themselves "under the oppressive dominion of the Ottoman Porte." Noah then reserved a thought for " our pious brethren in our holy city of Jerusalem (to which God restore us as soon as possible)" who were to be guaranteed maintenance through constant bestowal of annual donations. This was followed by precepts of a religious nature, including the definitive abolition of polygamy "still existing in Asia and Africa," as well as admitting into the ranks of the Jewish people the Karaites, the Samaritans, "the black Jews of India and Africa, the Beni Israel of the Malabar coast" and "all who may partake of the great covenant and obey and respect Mosaical laws". His invitation then extended to the "American Indians,"²⁶ "being in all probability the descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel.” Noah wished to make them aware of their origins and reunite them "with their brethren of the chosen people." Isaac Goldberg comments: "The theory that the American Indian is of Semitic descent is an outcropping of the greater theory concerning the Lost Tribes of Israel. […] It was not so many years before the issuance of this proclamation that the Governor and Judge of Israel, in his speech of 1817, had looked down upon the Indian as ‘the savage of the wilderness, whose repast is blood, and whose mercy is death.’ What had caused this volte-face?"²⁷ The costs of the project would be borne by Diaspora Jews, each of whom would be taxed three shekels of silver per year " for the purpose of defraying the various expenses of re-organizing the government, of aiding emigrants in the purchase of agricultural implements, providing for their immediate wants and comforts, and assisting their families in making their first settlements; together with such free-will offerings as may be generously made in the furtherance of the laudable objects connected with the restoration of the people and the glory of the Jewish nation."²⁸ Finally, a Judge of Israel was to be appointed every four years by the Israelite Consistory of Paris, on the basis of the votes by proxy of all the Jewish congregations in the world. The Judge then concluded his Proclamation with the appointment of commissioners chosen, without their knowledge, from among the most authoritative rabbis of the main European countries²⁹ with the task of appointing agents in charge of setting up local emigration societies. The ceremony ended with a blessing and a wish for peace. "The day had been greeted with gunpowder; it ended with music, cannonade and libation. The ceremonies over, a salute of twenty-four guns was fired by the artillery. The band burst into a medley of popular airs, after which the procession returned to the Masonic Lodge. Here disbanding, Masons and military, ready now no doubt for the real business of the day, repaired to the Eagle Tavern."³⁰ A couple of days later, Noah returned to New York and the corner stone was set aside in the back of the church that had housed it and then became, thanks to the interest of B'nai B'rith, an artifact in the collection of the Buffalo Historical Society.  It soon became clear that no Jews would seek asylum in Ararat, and within a year the whole project was abandoned. The impossible synthesis between integration and segregation typical of Noah's colonial project ended in failure.

"An Act of High Treason Against the Divine Majesty"

The reactions from the American Jewish communities were fierce and no epithets were spared; according to Noah, such a response from his American co-religionists was "due to the fear that the conduct of the emigrants might bring them into disrepute."  "As late as October 5, 1825, Noah was writing to Alvan Stewart, ‘We have not as yet been able to fix upon any definitive plans relative to Grand Island, waiting to see the effect produced in Europe. Although I think the land worth more than 50 per cent advance on the purchase, I am sure it will bring more yet …’”³¹ The response from Europe was not long in coming and was at the hands of the "most learned and devout Abraham de Cologna, Knight of the Iron Crown of Lombardy, Chief Rabbi of the Jews and President of the Consistory of Paris", appointed without his knowledge as commissioner by the American Judge of Israel. The Chief Rabbi of France, who in addition to himself also represented the position of the Chief Rabbis of the United Kingdom, refused Noah's invitation in a very significant letter, translated into several languages, addressed to the journalistic spokesman of the French government in which he condemned the lawfulness of "political-national" projects in the name of the Jewish people considered as "an act of high treason against the Divine Majesty". De Cologna, after expressing his gratitude for the space given to his remarks and his willingness to stick to reason and truth, writes: " The French and English papers have lately announced the singular project of a Mr. Noah, who calls himself the founder of the city Ararat, in the United States of North America. Certainly if Mr. Noah was, as he is supposed to be, the proprietor or occupier of a great extent of uncultivated land, and confined himself to the engagement of men without fortunes to run the risk of colonizing with him, promising them at the same time mountains of gold, nobody would think of disputing his right to follow the fashion of sending forth projects; but Mr. Noah aspires to play a much more elevated character. He dreams of a heavenly mission; he talks prophetically; he styles himself a judge over Israel; he gives orders to all the Israelites in the world; he levies the tax upon all Hebrew heads. In his exaltation he even goes so far as to make the central Jewish consistory of France his Charge d'affaires, and he honours the President of this body with the noble rank of 'Commissioner of Emigration.' The whole is excellent; but two trifles are wanting; first, the well authenticated proof of the mission and authority of Mr. Noah. Secondly, the prophetic text which points out a marsh in North America as the spot for reassembling the scattered remains of Israel. To speak seriously, it is right at once to inform Mr. Noah, that the venerable Messrs. Herschell and Mendola, Chief Rabbis at London, and myself, thank him, but positively refuse the appointments he has been pleased to confer upon us. We declare that according to our dogmas, God alone knows the epoch of the Israelitish restoration, that he alone will make it known to the whole universe by signs entirely unequivocal, and that every attempt on our part to re-assemble with any politico-national design is forbidden, as an act of high treason against the Divine Majesty³². Mr. Noah has doubtless forgotten that the Israelites, faithful to the principles of their belief, are too much attached to the countries where they dwell, and devoted to to the Governments under which they enjoy liberty and protection, not to treat as a mere jest the chimerical consulate of a pseudo-restorer. "As however justice requires some consideration to the absent, we should be sorry to refuse him the title of a visionary of good intentions. Accept, Mr. Editor, the assurance of the distinguished and respectful sentiments with which I remain your most humble servant, The Grand Rabbi. DE COLOGNA."³³ As if that were not enough, the Chief Rabbi of Bordeaux declared him a charlatan, a judgment that was later shared by Judah Jeitteles, leader of the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah) in Austria, who subjected him to a harsh satire in the pages of the magazine Bikkure Halttim.

Political battles

Following the failure of Ararat, Noah concentrated his political and journalistic career efforts in support of Andrew Jackson, the founder of the Democratic Party, and the seventh President of the United States of America (from 1829 to 1837), with whom he had personal patronage relations. However, "Andrew Jackson’s battle against the Bank of the United States forged the Jacksonian movement. It became the issue that divided politicians, inspired the masses, and led to the creation of the Whig Party. It also brought about the political downfall of Mordecai Noah. Noah was too sophisticated to view the Bank of the United States as its enemies saw it: a sprawling monster extending its tentacles deep into the bowels of American society.”³⁴ For this reason, Noah and his newspaper The Evening Star became opponents of Jackson and Martin Van Buren and promoters of the financial lobby represented by the Whigs.³⁵

The "Discourse on the evidences of the American Indians being the Descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel"

Freemasonry³⁶ and millennialism³⁷ were not the only elements in common between the founder of Mormonism and Mordecai Noah³⁸, although the latter regarded the new religion as "error and illusion" and referred to Joseph Smith's converts as "tricksters" and worse. As we saw above, the two shared the belief that the "American Indians" were among the lost tribes of Israel. Noah devoted a significant discourse to this theme in 1837 at the Mercantile Library Association in New York entitled: Discourse on the evidences of the American Indians being the Descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel.³⁹ The theory that lost tribes had taken refuge in America was certainly not new, it had already been supported by several scholars starting with the Belgian Johannes Fredericus Lumnius (1533-1602) in his work De extremo Dei iudicio, et Indorum uocatione (Venice, 1569).⁴⁰ As Albert Montefiore recalls, this idea had also spread to Cromwell's England: "It was only the recently discovered New World, so it was believed, in which there were no Jews. Then came a curious story, brought by English missionaries from North America, of the identity of the American Indians with the Lost Ten Tribes and if any one doubted the genuineness of this identification, his doubts must have been dissipated by the almost simultaneous accounts brought to England by Manasseh ben Israel of the discovery by a Jewish traveller in South America of Jewish tribes among the Red Indians there. Manasseh ben Israel was the self-appointed emissary of the Jews of the Continent who, after preliminary talks with English diplomatists in Holland, had come to England to negotiate the readmission of avowedly Jewish communities. His object was Closely related to that of the Millenarians and their sympathizers. He also believed that the Messiah could not appear until the Jews were scattered in all the countries of the world. Convinced by the stories he had heard that they were to be found in America, knowing that Jews were scattered in all other regions of the three older continents, it seemed that if only Jews were settled in England also, prophecy would be fulfilled and the Messiah could set out on his journey. Manasseh had a personal interest or -hope in this fulfilment. His wife claimed descent from King David, and as the Messiah, so it was foretold, would come of the same ancestry, perchance one of his sons would be the appointed one.”⁴¹ Mordecai Noah's theory told of great emigrations that took place after the exile: "It is clearly evident, therefore, that the tribes, in their progress to a new and undiscovered country, left many of their numbers in China and Tartary, and finally reached the straits of Behring, where no difficulty prevented their crossing to the north-west coast of America, a distance less than thirty miles, interspersed with the Copper Islands, probably frozen over; and reaching our continent, spread themselves in the course of two thousand years to Cape Horn; the more hardy keeping to the north, to Labrador, Hudson's Bay and Greenland, the more cultivated fixing their residence in the beautiful climate and rich possessions of Central America, Mexico and Peru."⁴² To confirm his thesis, Noah cited "the religious beliefs and ceremonies of the Indians" and first and foremost the belief in one God.⁴³ The importance of the speech is certainly not based on its ethnological contribution, but on the fact that it offers the speaker the opportunity to expound his nationalistic belief in the "restoration" of the Jewish people in Palestine and the benefits that England and France would derive from it:

"'Our prophet Isaiah has a noble reference to the dispersed tribes and their redemption, which may be here appropriately quoted. I use his language, the Hebrew, which from its peculiar associations should be always interesting to you.’ Here Noah quoted in Hebrew from Isaiah, Cap.XI, xi: and translating, ‘And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, etc.’ Possibly, the restoration may be near enough to include even a portion of these interesting people (the Indians). Our learned Rabbis have always deemed it sinful to compute the period of the restoration ; they believe that when the sins of the nation were atoned for, the miracle of their redemption would be manifested. My faith does not rest wholly in miracles—Providence disposes of events, human agency must carry them out. That benign and supreme power which the children of Israel have never forsaken, has protected the chosen people amidst the most appalling dangers, has saved them from the uplifted sword of the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Medes, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans, and while the most powerful nations of antiquity have crumbled to pieces, we have been preserved, united and unbroken, the same now as we were in the days of the patriarchs—brought from darkness to light, from the early and rude periods of learning to the bright reality of civilization, of arts, of education and of science. The Jewish people must now do something for themselves; they must move onward to the accomplishment of that great event long foretold, long promised—long expected; and when they do move, that mighty power which has for thousands of years rebuked the proscription and intolerance shown to the Jews, by a benign protection of the whole nation, will still cover them with his invincible standard. My belief is that Syria will revert to the Jewish nation by purchase, and that the facility exhibited in the accumulation of wealth, has been providential and peculiar gift to enable them, at a proper time, to re-occupy their ancient possions by the purse-string instead of the sword. We live in a remarkable age, and political events are producing extraordinary changes among the nations of the earth. Russia, with its gigantic power, continues to press hard on Turkey. The Pacha of Egypt, taking advantage of the improvements and inventions of men of genius, is extending his territory and influence to the straits of Babelmandel on the Red Sea, and to the borders of the Russian Empire; and the combined force of Russia, Turkey, Persia, and Egypt, seriously threaten the safety of British possessions in the East Indies. An intermediate and balancing power is required ) to check this thirst of conquest and territorial possession, and to keep in check the advances of Russia and Turkey and Persia, and the ambition and love of conquest in Egypt. This can be done by restoring Syria to its rightful owners, not by revolution or blood, but as I have said, by the purchase of that territory from the Pacha of Egypt, for a sum of money too tempting in its amount for him to refuse, in the present reduced state of his coffers. Twelve or thirteen millions of dollars have been spoken of in reference to the cession of that interesting territory, a sum of no consideration to the Jews, for the good will and peaceable possession of a land, which to them is above all price. Under the co-operation and protection of England and France, this re-occupation I jof Syria within its old territorial limits, is at once 'reasonable and practicable. By opening the ports of Damascus, Tripoli, Joppa, Acre, etc., the whole of the commerce of Turkey, Egypt and the Mediterranean will be in the hands of those, who even now in part, control the commerce of Europe. From the Danube, the Dniester, the Ukraine, Wallachia and Moldavia, the best of agriculturalists would revive the former fertility of Palestine. Manufacturers from Germany and Holland; an army of experience and bravery from France and Italy; ingenuity, intelligence, activity, energy and enterprise from all parts of the world, under a just, tolerant and a liberal government, present a formidable barrier to the encroachments of surrounding powers, and be a bulwark to the interests of England and France, as well as the rising liberties of Greece. Once again unfurl the standard of Judah on Mount Zion, the four corners of the earth will give up the chosen people as the sea will give up its dead, at the sound of the last trumpet. Let the cry be Jerusalem, as it was in the days of Saracen and the lion-hearted Richard of England, and the rags and wretchedness which have for eighteen centuries enveloped the persons of the Jews, crushed as they were by persecution and injustice, will fall to earth ; and they will stand forth, the richest, the most powerful, the most in- telligent nation on the face of the globe, with incalculable wealth, and holding in pledge the crowns and sceptres of kings. Placed in possession of their ancient heritage by and with the consent and co-operation of their Christian brethren, establishing a government of peace and good will on earth, it may then be said, behold the fulfillment of prediction and prophecy; behold the chosen and favored people of the Almighty God, who in defense of his unity and omnipotence, have been the outcast and proscribed of all nations, and who for thousands of years have patiently endured the severest of human sufferings, in the hope of that great advent of which they never have despaired : and then when taking their rank once more among the nations of the earth, with the good wishes and affectionate regards of the great family of mankind, they may by their tolerance, their good faith, their charity and enlarged liberal views, merit what has been said in their behalf by inspired writers, ‘Blessed are they who bless Israel.’”⁴⁴

The Damascus Affair

The uproar caused by the Damascus Affair of 1840⁴⁵ spread first to the United Kingdom and then throughout Europe, raising above all the indignation of the Protestant world, which saw in the defense of the Jewish minority in Palestine a justification for its political intervention in the Near East and the containment of the claims of Catholic France. The decisive intervention of Moses Montefiore and Palmerston with the Khedive and the Sultan will mark the emergence of a new oligarchy with territorial claims in the Holy Land. Noah was at first cautious about taking a stand as he "suspected British motives in leading the Damascus Affair protest. As a Jewish leader, he knew from personal experience that charges of antiSemitism could be manipulated. He feared that British outcries might be designed more to embarrass imperialist France than to help suffering Jews."⁴⁶ He understood, however, the political advantages that would derive from the event, so much so that on August 19, 1840, addressing a large crowd during a protest demonstration in New York, he said: "When the news of the Damascus cruelty first reached me, and with it the impression it had made in every direction, I confess to you that I saw not the sufferings of the Jews—I heard not their groans—I felt not at the moment for the anguish they had suffered. I saw at once the finger of the Almighty in this— another sign shadowing forth the great events to come. I saw only results and said to myself, God be praised—this is a great event—the Jews are accused of murder—accused of shedding Christian blood for the festival of the Passover. Enquiries will be set on foot—their innocence will be made known—their sacred religion defended—friends will be raised up for them in every directioncivilized governments will interpose a shield for their protection—the Muslims finding them powerfully supported, will no longer oppress them—the sympathy of every good Christian will be exerted in their behalf—they will be free—they will appreciate this benevolent interference—they will feel as the nation felt of old—the promise God made to them will be fulfilled—they are his people and he has sworn to protect them—the Redeemer will yet come to Zion— everything is leading to this result.”⁴⁷

The “Discourse on the Restoration of the Jews”

It was in 1831, following the political developments brought about by the rebellion of the Khedive of Egypt Mehmet Ali and the First Ottoman-Egyptian War (1831-1833), that Mordecai Noah became a proponent of a nationalistic "restorationism" inspired by the policies of the Anglo-Saxon evangelicals led by the Earl of Shaftesbury. Jonathan Sarna writes: "Missionary organizations had set themselves up in Jerusalem. Holy Land news pushed its way into the religious and secular press. Improved sailing vessels sent tourists and pilgrims scurrying to religious shrines. The same vessels brought a growing stream of Palestine emissaries back to the United States. Meanwhile, behind the scenes in the Middle East, the great powers competed for influence, often with tacit missionary assistance. Turkey, which had dominated the region for centuries, seemed in danger of imminent collapse. As other countries gathered around eager to pick at the spoils, war loomed ominously on the horizon."⁴⁸ In this regard, the speech that Noah gave in New York, on two separate occasions in 1844, entitled Discourse on the Restoration of the Jews⁴⁹, can be considered as his political testament.⁵⁰ It is also significant to recall that the events were held at the Brooklyn Tabernacle, a central Presbyterian church that later became a "non-denominational evangelical megachurch"⁵¹ and among those present "were Bishop Hughes, the Catholic prelate of New York, and many Protestant missionaries, whose interest had already been piqued by new restorationist ideas emanating from Britain. The president of the London Society for the Promotion of Christianity Amongst the Jews, Lord Shaftesbury, and other evangelicals had concluded that Jewish restoration was a necessary precondition both for conversion and redemption. American evangelicals, who had trouble converting Jews anyway, found the doctrine alluring. Noah aimed to convince these Christians that their new restorationist interests and his interests were thoroughly compatible⁵². To this end, he praised Christianity’s founder, denied Jewish culpability in the crucifixion, and found many kind words for ‘that religion which is calculated to make mankind great and happy.’”⁵³ In fact, the Discourse takes the form of a political appeal addressed to the various Christian denominations inspired by those millenarian and revolutionary ferments that were emerging in the New World: "extraordinary events shadow forth results long expected, long prophesied, long ordained; commotions in the state and division in the Church; new theories put forth, new hopes excited, new promises made; and the political events in Syria, Egypt, Turkey, and Russia, indicate the approach of great and important revolutions, which may facilitate the return of the Jews to Jerusalem, and the organization of a powerful government in Judea, and lead to that millennium which we all look for, all hope for, all pray for." To promote the alliance, Noah adduces long-winded historical-political justifications aimed at dispelling accusations on the Christian side, which, in the Protestant Reformation, finally found "its liberal and tolerant light."⁵⁴ Criticism, however, attempts at evangelization and the appointment of "a converted Jew as bishop of Jerusalem" in reference to Lord Shaftesbury's choice in 1841 of Michael Solomon Alexander as the first Protestant bishop of the Holy Land. At this point, the invitation becomes a religious duty to the Great Architect: " But, my friends, why not ask yourselves the great and cardinal question whether it is not your duty to aid in restoring the chosen people as Jews to their promised land? Are we not the only witnesses of the unity and omnipotence of God? Are we not the only witnesses of the truth of the Bible, preserved as such by the great Sovereign Architect of the world?" This is shown by the fact that "In almost every page of the Bible we have, directly and indirectly, in positive language and in parables the literal assurance and guarantee for the restoration of the Jews to Judea." After mentioning countless Bible verses in support of his thesis, Noah considers the favorable political situation:

" Within the last twenty-five years great revolutions have occurred in the East, affecting in a peculiar manner the future destiny of the followers of Mohammed, and distinctly marking the gradual advancement of the Christian power. Turkey has been deprived of Greece, after a fearful and sanguinary struggle, and the land of warriors and sages has become sovereign and independent. Egypt conquered and occupied Syria, and her fierce pacha had thrown off allegiance to the sultan. Menaced, however, by the superior power of the Ottoman Porte, Mehemet Ali was compelled to submit to the commander of the faithful, reconveying Syria to Turkey, and was content to accept the hereditary possession of Egypt.

Russia has assailed the wandering hordes of the Caucasses. England has had various contests with the native princes of India, and has waged war with China. The issue of these contests in Asia has been marked with singular success, and evidently indicate the progressive power of the Christian governments in that interesting quarter of the globe. France has carried its victorious arms through the north of Africa.

Russia, with a steady glance and firm step, approaches Turkey in Europe, and when her railroads are completed to the Black Sea, will pour in her Cossacks from the Don and the Vistula, and Constantinople will be occupied by the descendants of the Tartar dynasty, and all Turkey in Europe, united to Greece, will constitute either an independent empire, or be occupied by Russia, who, with one arm on the Mediterranean, and the other on the North Sea, will nearly embrace all Europe. The counterbalance of this gigantic power will be a firm and liberal union of Austria with all Italy and the Roman States, down to the borders of Gaul: but the revolution will not end here. England must possess Egypt, as affording the only secure route to her possessions in India through the Red Sea; then Palestine, thus placed between the Russian possessions and Egypt, reverts to its legitimate proprietors, and for the safety of the surrounding nations, a powerful, wealthy, independent, and enterprising people are placed there by and with the consent of the Christian powers, and with their aid and agency the land of Israel passes once more into the possession of the descendants of Abraham. The ports of the Mediterranean will be again opened to the busy hum of commerce; the fields will again bear the fruitful harvest, and Christian and Jew will together, on Mount Zion, raise their voices in praise of Him whose covenant with Abraham was to endure forever, and in whose seed all the nations of the earth are to be blessed."

More than half a century ahead of Theodor Herzl's Zionist project, Mordecai Noah's solution included as a first step: "… to solicit from the Sultan of Turkey permission for the Jews to purchase and hold land; to build houses, and to follow any occupation they may desire, without molestation and in perfect security. There is no difficulty in securing this privilege for them. The moment the Christian powers feel an interest in behalf of the Jewish people, the Turkish government will secure and carry out their views. [...] The Jews are, at this day, the most influential persons connected with the commerce and monetary affairs of Turkey, and enjoy important privileges, but hitherto they have had no protecting influence, no friendly hand stretched forth to aid them. The moment the sultan issues his Hatti Scherif; allowing the Jews to purchase and hold land in Syria, subject to the same laws and limitations which govern Mussulmen, the whole territory surrounding Jerusalem, including the villages Hebron, Safat, Tyre, also Beyroot, Jaffa, and other ports of the Mediterranean, will be occupied by enterprising Jews. The valleys of the Jordan will be filled by agriculturists from the north of Germany, Poland, and Russia. Merchants will occupy the seaports, and the commanding positions within the walls of Jerusalem will be purchased by the wealthy and pious of our brethren." 

Noah has no doubts, the fate of the United States is manifest:

"... but has it ever occurred to you, my friends, that the eighteenth chapter of Isaiah might possibly have reference to America in connexion with the restoration of the Jews? Indulge me a moment in examining that short but singular chapter. ‘Ho to the land’ (it is translated wo, but evidently erroneously: it is Ho, or Hail) – ‘Hail to the land, shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.’ The prophet, in this vision, was in Palestine, having Europe on his right, Africa on his left, and in front the Mediterranean Sea, and on looking down on the northern coast of Africa, speaks of a land ‘which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.’ That land is America [...]Come, therefore, to our aid, and take the lead in this great work of restoration. Let the first movement for the emancipation of the Jewish nation come from this free and liberal country. Call to mind that Moses was the first founder of a republican form of government, and that the first settlers on this continent adopted the Mosaic laws as their code, and strictly enforced them.”

Footnotes

¹ Jimmy Carter, Our Endangered Values, New York: Simon and Schuster, 2005, p.39

² Isaac Goldberg, Major Noah: American-Jewish Pioneer, Philadelphia, 1936, p. 213-4.

³ Stefano Azzali, From Puritanism to Zionism. History of a metamorphosis, in "Eurasia-rivista di studi geopolitici" n. 2/2024 p. 97.

⁴ He was appointed first American consul in Jerusalem in 1844, only to have his appointment revoked eight days later.

⁵ “By 1844 Cresson became convinced that G-d was about to gather the Jewish people in Jerusalem as a prelude to the “end of days.” He wrote, “God must choose some medium to manifest and act through, in order to bring about his designs and promises in this visible world; …This medium or recipient is the present poor, despised, outcast Jew … G-d is about gathering them again [in Jerusalem].” He decided he had to move to Jerusalem to personally witness this great event Jerusalem to personally witness this great event”. Yitzchok Levine, Warder Cresson: From Shaker to Quaker to Orthodox Jew, “The Jewish Press”, September 25 2007, https://personal.stevens.edu/~llevine/cresson.pdf

⁶ René Guénon, Miscellanea, New York, 1976, pp. 129-141.

⁷ Don Bradley, American Proto-Zionism and the "Book of Lehi": Recontextualizing the Rise of Mormonism, Utah State University, 2018, p. 8. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/7060

⁸ "Following several angelic visions, Joseph Smith and five others officially organized the Church of Christ in the home of Peter Whitmer Sr. on April 6, 1830, in the city of Fayette, New York, according to the laws of the state. On May 3, 1834, the name was changed to the Church of Latter-day Saints. On April 26, 1838, following a divine revelation, the official name became The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormonismo#cite_note-26

⁹ https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/article/articles-of-faith

¹⁰ Steven Epperson, Mormons and Jews, Salt Lake City:, 1992, p. 30.

¹¹ "Noah had entertained the name ‘New Jerusalem’ for his colony, but he decided on ‘Ararat,’ as it was not to become a long-term home for the Jews but rather a fortunate, if impermanent, haven. It was, he claimed, ‘an asylum’ in which Jewish refugees might restore themselves physically and regenerate themselves intellectually in preparation for ‘that great and final restoration to their ancient heritage.'" Michael Weingrad, Messiah, American Style: Mordecai Manuel Noah and the American Refuge, AJS Review, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Apr., 2007), p. 77

¹² Jonathan D. Sarna, The Roots of Ararat: An Early Letter from Mordecai M. Noah to Peter B. Porter, American Jewish Archive, (April 1980), p. 55, note 7.

¹³ Richard H Popkin, Abbé Grégoire and the Paris Sanhedrin, "Modern Judaism", Vol. 2, No. 2 (May, 1982),pp. 133-4

¹⁴ Dan Cohn-Sherbok, The Politics of Apocalypse, Oxford, 2006, p. 41

¹⁵ "Jefferson replied: 'Your sect, by its sufferings, has furnished a remarkable proof of the universal spirit of religious intolerance inherent in every sect, rejected by all when weak, and practiced by all when in power. Our laws have applied the only antidote to this vice, protecting our religious rights, as well as our civil rights, putting them all on an equal footing." Madison, in turn, wrote to Noah: 'Having always regarded liberty of opinion and religious worship as belonging equally to every sect, and its sure enjoyment as the best human disposition to bring all, either to the same way of thinking, or to that mutual charity which is the only proper substitute, I observe with pleasure the view you give of the spirit in which your sect partakes of the common blessings offered by our government and our laws." John Adams replied: "I would like your nation to be admitted to all the privileges of the citizens of every country in the world. This country has done a lot. I would like him to do more and to obliterate all narrow ideas about religion, government, and commerce." Richard H. Popkin, op. cit., p. 134.

¹⁶ Jonathan D. Sarna, Jacksonian Jew. The Two Worlds of Mordecai Noah, New York, 1981, p.70

¹⁷ Jacob R. Marcus, United States Jewry, 1886-1985, Vol 1, Detroit: Wayne State Univ. Press, 1989, page 471

¹⁸ Jonathan D. Sarna., op. cit., pag. 62.

¹⁹ "Ararat". History of Buffalo. Retrieved August 31, 2021

²⁰ Mordecai Noah's family Masonic tradition is recorded since his famous ancestor Jonas Phillips: "Born in Germany, Rhenish Prussia, near Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1736, the son of Aaron Phillips. Brought early to London he was trained, among other things, to the skill of the Shohet, or ritual slaughterer. In November, 1756, he landed at Charleston, then Charles Town, South Carolina. Of independent character, he early involved himself in the separatist activities of the American patriots. He was, or very soon became, a Free Mason. Freemasonry, leaning so heavily upon the Hebrew ideology, held out a strong attraction for the Jews, and they were, if not in too great numbers, identified with that organization from the time of its first appearance in this country." Isaac Goldberg, op. cit. cit., p.9.

²¹ Ibidem, pag. 191

²² The Seneca are a tribe of Native Americans from North America.

²³ A.B. Makover, Mordecai M. Noah. His Life and Work from the Jewish Viewpoint, New York, 1917, pp.48-9.

²⁴ Ibid., p. 52: " The asylum referred to is in the State of New York, the greatest State in the American confederacy. […] From its location is pre-eminently calculated to become, in time, the greatest trading and commercial depot in the new and better world. To men of worth and industry it has every substantial attraction; the capitalist will be enabled to enjoy his resources with undoubted profit, and the merchant cannot fail to reap the reward of enterprise in a great and growing republic”.

²⁵ Ibid., pp. 52-3.

²⁶ "Those who know best the public and private economy of the Indians are firmly convinced that they are the direct descendants of the Israelites, and my research confirms me in the same belief."

²⁷ Goldberg, op. cit., pp 198-9

²⁸ Ibid., p. 201

²⁹ “I do hereby name as Commissioners, the most learned and pious Abraham de Cologna, Knight of the Iron Crown of Lombardy, Grand Rabbi of the Jews and President of the Consistory at Paris; likewise the Grand Rabbi Andrade of Bordeaux; and also our l earned and esteemed Grand Rabbis of the German and Portugal Jews, in London, Rabbis Herschell and Meldola; together with the Honorable Aaron Nunez Cordoza, of Gibraltar, Abraham Busnac, of Leghorn , Benjamin Gradis of Bordeaux; Dr . E. Gans and Professor Zunz of Berlin , and Dr . L eo Woolf of Hamburg…”

³⁰ Isaac Goldberg, op. cit. cit., p. 203

³¹ Ibid. pag. 206

³² Albert Montefiore writes: "And belief in the return one day of the Jews to Palestine is one of the dogmas of traditional Judaism. Yet it must be admitted that the return in this religious sense is largely an academic one— a return some day as a precursor or an accompaniment of the millennium. To many Jews, perhaps to most Jews, the Jewish people will return to Palestine in God’s good time. To them the restoration to Palestine and the appearance of the Messiah are parts of one whole that cannot be separated. To many to hasten that time, even to help towards it, is almost blasphemy." Albert Montefiore Hyamson, Palestine: a Policy, London, 1942, pp. 16-7

³³ . Isaac Goldberg, op. cit. cit., pp. 208-9

³⁴ Jonathan D. Sarna, op. cit. cit. pag. 92

³⁵ "Noah was also especially close to the Whig Party’s Jewish supporters. Jewish Whigs presumably comprised the wealthier branch of the community, those who suffered from the economic dislocations attributed to the Bank War. Jews may also have voted Whig to identify with higher status ethnic groups which tended to vote in opposition to the pro-Catholic Democrats. Whatever the case, Jewish Whigs received surprising attention. “Let him [Martin Van Buren] take the followers of St. Peter,” an 1838 Whig pamphlet proclaimed, “we are content with the followers of Moses.” As it happened, in that particular 1838 election many ofthe “followers of Moses” refused to vote at all, since election day conflicted with Passover (April 10, 1838).." Jonathan D. Sarna, op. cit. pp. 100-101.

³⁶ "The relationship between Mormonism and Freemasonry began early in the life of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Smith's older brother, Hiram, and possibly his father, Joseph, Sr. were Freemasons while the family lived near Palmyra, New York. […] By the 1840s, Smith and several prominent Latter Day Saints had become Freemasons and founded a Masonic Lodge in Nauvoo, Illinois on March 15, 1842. Soon after joining Freemasonry, Smith introduced the temple endowment ceremony including a number of symbolic elements that were very similar to those in Freemasonry. Smith remained a Freemason until his death; however, later leaders in the movement have distanced themselves from Freemasonry. In modern times, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has clarified in its ‘Now You Know’ series that its members may become Freemasons." From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormonism_and_Freemasonry

See also: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2019-12-0210-joseph-smith-and-masonry?lang=eng

³⁷ "The message of this [Joseph Smith's purported 1823] revelation turned upon a reading of the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, which deals with the coming of a messianic kingdom of righteousness and peace, the gathering of the dispersed of Israel, and the ending of enmity between Judah and Ephraim." Steven Epperson, op. cit., p. 21.

³⁸ For a detailed study of the parallels between Ararat and Mormon Zion, see: https://olivercowdery.com/gathering/ararat2.htm

³⁹ Noah, Mordecai, Discourse on the Evidences of the American Indians being the Descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel, 1837. Accessible at: https://olivercowdery.com/texts/noah1837.htm

⁴⁰ Antonio Virgilio Castiglione, Los judíos en América antes de Colón, "Revista de la Junta de Estudios Históricos de Tucumán", p.10. Text available at: 

https://www.acaderc.org.ar/wp-content/blogs.dir/55/files/sites/55/2020/02/judiiosenamerica.pdf

⁴¹ Albert Montefiore Hyamson, Palestine: a Policy, London, 1942, p. 21

⁴² Noah, Mordecai, op. cit. pp. 5-6

⁴³ “This opinion is founded --

1st. In their belief in one God.

2d. In the computation of time by their ceremonies of the new moon.

3d; In their divisions of the year in four seasons, answering to the Jewish festivals of the feast of flowers, the day of atonement, the feast of the tabernacle, and other religious holydays.

4th In the erection of a temple after the manner of our temple, and having an ark of the covenant, and also the erection of altars.

5th. By the division of the nation into tribes with a chief or grand sachem at their head

6th. By their laws of sacrifice, ablutions, marriages ceremonies in war and peace, the prohibitions of eating certain things, fully carrying out the Mosaic institutions; -- by their traditions, history, character, appearance, affinity of their language to the Hebrew, and finally, by that everlasting covenant of heirship exhibited in a perpetual transmission of its seal in their flesh.”

Noah, Mordecai, op. cit., pagg. 8-9

⁴⁴ A.B. Makover, op. cit. cit., pp. 66-70

⁴⁵ see Stefano Azzali, Theodor Herzl e il Sultano, in "Eurasia-rivista di studi geopolitici" n. 1/2024 p. 58

⁴⁶ Jonathan D. Sarna, op. cit., p. 124

⁴⁷ Ibidem.

⁴⁸ Ibid., p. 153

⁴⁹ Noah, Mordecai, Discourse on the Restauration of the Jews, 1845. Accessible at: https://olivercowdery.com/texts/noah1837.htm#Noah1845

⁵⁰ In the Preface to the text, Noah clarifies his intentions: "I confidently believe in the restoration of the Jews, and in the coming of the Messiah; and believing that political events are daily assuming a shape which may finally lead to that great advent, I considered it a duty to call upon the free people of this country to aid us in any efforts which, in our present position, it may be deemed prudent to adopt, and I have the most abiding confidence in their good-will and friendly feelings in aiding to restore us to liberty and independence."

⁵¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Tabernacle

⁵² “Noah in his dream of Restoration had the sympathy of the evangelicals. These religionists were sure that the Jews would be restored to the land of their fathers because of the biblical promises. Ultimately, said these Christians, all Jews will come to Jesus; he will then reappear and usher in the Millennium. (There are variations of this grand design.) To a degree, Jewry went along with this Restoration concept. The Jewish Messiah will yet make his appearance, but there will be no conversion of Jews -- it is the Christians and all the nations who will come to Judaism, as the Bible has promised. Though Noah's Restoration hopes were dependent on the Holy One -- Blessed Be He -- who would one day implement his promises to his people, they could give him a helping hand. With God's help, hut also with Jewish muscle and money, and with the benevolence of the Great Powers, the Palestine state would yet rise again from its ashes.” Jacob R. Marcus, op. cit., p. 476

⁵³ Jonathan D. Sarna, op. cit., p. 156

⁵⁴ "The Jews, my friends, were but the instruments of a higher power, and in rejecting Jesus of Nazareth we have a great and overwhelming evidence of the infinite wisdom of the Almighty. Had they acknowledged him as their Messiah at that fearful crisis, the whole nation would have gradually sunk under the Roman yoke, and we should have had at this day paganism and idolatry, with all their train of terrible evils, and darkness and desolation would have been spread over the face of the earth. But the death of Jesus was the birth of Christianity, the Gentile Church sprang from the ruins which surrounded its primitive existence; its march was onward, beset with darkness and difficulties, with oppression and persecution, until the sun of the Reformation rose upon it, dissipating the clouds of darkness which had obscured its beauties, and it shone forth with a liberal and tolerant brightness, such as the Great Master had originally designed it."