“A Southern Jew” (Solomon Cohen of Savannah?). Autograph Manuscript essay sent to Isaac Leeser, written in English.

(AMERICAN JUDAICA)

Tamuz, 5606 /

n.p

July, 1846

The article, entitled: “A Short Essay on the Truth of the Jewish Religion” appeared in the Occident (Vol. 4, pp. 169-175). The author argues that the unity of God is of the utmost importance to religion and firmly rooted in the Bible.

The pseudonymous correspondent “A Southern Jew” sent Leeser a letter from Savannah that appeared in the Occident in 1843 (Vol. I, no. 5). “A Southern Jew” advocated that “the establishment of public journals, and periodicals by the Jews in Europe and this country, must be productive of much good, not only in advocating, and illucidating [sic] our holy faith, but in collecting and disseminating information on the dispersed of Israel.” This individual might well be Solomon Cohen, a correspondent of Leeser from Savannah - indeed, a comparison of the handwriting shows similarity. Cohen (1802-75) was a lawyer from South Carolina, who moved to Savannah where he served in the state legislature. A slave-owner, Cohen nevertheless spoke in favor of reconciliation with the North in 1860. During the Civil War he was Postmaster for the Confederacy. In 1866 Cohen was elected to the U.S. Congress, but as a former Confederate official, he was not admitted.