Leeser, Isaac. Autograph Letter Signed written to his uncle Zalma Rehine, in English. Autograph address panel on verso.

(AMERICAN JUDAICA)

21st November

Philadelphia,

(1842)

A highly personal letter, where Leeser discusses his recovery from illness and the wedding of Grace Nathan (1809-87) to Jacques Judah Lyons (1813-77), to be held in two days’ time. Leeser expresses an interest in expanding the readership for The Occident in Baltimore, even though Baltimore's Jews “are all German.”

ᴥ Leeser was very close with his uncle Zalma Rehine (1757-1843), who had invited him to emigrate to America. Rehine was sufficiently Americanized that he had been part of a Richmond militia as early as 1793. Rehine was still a member when this volunteer company, known as the Richmond Light Infantry Blues, nearly confronted the British in the 1807 Chesapeake–Leopard affair while awaiting instructions from President Thomas Jefferson. Rehine was a founder of the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, the oldest synagogue in that city. For more than a decade this congregation met in his home above his store. Leeser lived with Zalma and his wife Rachel during his initial five years in America, where he learned English, American ways, and emerged as a young American Jewish leader under the security of this relationship.