Salomon I. (Jacob) Cohen. Elements of the Jewish Faith.

(AMERICAN JUDAICA).

William W. Gray for H. Cohen

Richmond, Virginia

1817

Singerman 271.

The first Jewish Catechism in America. The author notes that the lack of understanding of Judaism among youth is the principle reason why he composed this work. Yet it was intended not just for Jews, for as Prof. David Ruderman writes “except for its denunciation of Christian missionaries, Cohen’s catechism with its English translation, seems to be nothing more than an innocent, uncontroversial presentation of the Jewish faith meant for both Jewish and Christian eyes.” D. B. Ruderman, Jewish Enlightenment in an English Key: Anglo-Jewry’s Construction of Modern Jewish Thought, p. 250. Cohen’s work was indeed shared with American non-Jews. The Jewish merchant David Isaacs, in his correspondence with Thomas Jefferson sent the President a copy of the book (see University of Virginia exhibit (2001), To Seek the Peace of the City: Early Jewish Settlement in Charlottesville). In 1818 Rebecca Gratz offered a copy to her friend Maria Fenno Hoffman, wife of the Attorney General of New York, Ogden Hoffman (see E. Wolf & M. Whiteman, The History of the Jews of Philadelphia, p. 304). Jacob Marcus Rader lists Cohen’s work as one of the Jewish educational books available to Rebecca Gratz when she began operating her Sunday School in Philadelphia (see United States Jewry, 1776-1985, Vol. 1-2, p. 393). See also, N. Drachler (ed.) A Bibliography of Jewish Education in America - Jewish Education in the United States Prior to 1900 pp. 337-47 for a list of Jewish educational materials in America in chronological order.