Harby, Isaac. The North American Review. Vol. XXIII. New Series Vol XIV.

Detailed and most positive report by the North American Review, the first literary magazine in the United States, founded in Boston in 1815 by Nathan Hale, of two pamphlets issued by Isaac Harby of Charleston, South Carolina: “The Constitution of the Reformed Society of Israelites, for Promoting True Principles of Judaism According to its Purity and Spirit” (see Singerman 416). And: “A Discourse, Delivered in Charleston… before the Reformed Society of Israelites, for Promoting True Principles of Judaism According to its Purity and Spirit. On their First Anniversary” (see Singerman 418). Commences the anonymous review: “We remember very few pamphlets of greater interest than these.” The writer records much detail of the reforms that Isaac Harby sought to introduce to synagogue life, moreover the reviewer notes his own experience having attended a synagogue service one Sabbath morning. Lengthy extracts from Harby’s pamphlets then follow: “Wishing for some further details of information to present to our readers…we applied for materials to the author of the Discourse under review. They were promptly furnished…and we are persuaded the reader will be much more gratified with them in their original form.” Subsequently, some two pages of detailed information is presented by Harby concerning the Jews of America, their motivations for settling in the United States and specific background about Harby’s family themselves, their patriotic views and their military service. Isaac Harby was the leading voice behind the spirit of Reform in Charleston. Not only were his writings favorably reviewed here, but Harby was to receive supportive correspondence from no less an admirer than Thomas Jefferson. See C. Reznikoff and U.Z. Engelman, The Jews of Charleston (1950) p. 134.