Kursheedt, Gershom (1817-63). Autograph Letter Signed written to Isaac Leeser, in English.

Gershom Kursheedt was one of the most distinguished and active Jews of 19th century America. His grandfather was Israel Baer Kursheedt, a European-trained Torah scholar, who though a layman, was the closest Colonial America had to an ordained rabbi. Gershom’s father was Gershom Mendes Seixas, who was hazzan, the learned lay leader, in New York’s Congregation Shearith Israel. Gershom settled in New Orleans in 1838, where he was active in both local and communal religious life, and, as we see in the present letter, a dear friend and ally of Isaac Leeser, with whom he shared common cause. In an 1848 letter to Leeser, Kursheedt revealed that he has “but one ambition in life, and that is to elevate the character of our people in the eyes of God and man.” (See Libo & Hoffman, The Seixas-Kursheedts and the Rise of Early American Jewry (2001) p. 51.) - Even without his saying so we would have realized this, for Gershom Kursheedt toiled to produce a vibrant Jewish life both in America and abroad, joining Sir Moses Montefiore on missions to Eretz Israel on multiple occasions. - Notably, it was Kursheedt who persuaded his New Orleans friend, the childless Judah Touro, to leave his vast fortune to Jewish causes.