Moses Elias Levy: Difference between revisions

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{{For|the early Pennsylvania settler|Moses Levy (Pennsylvanian)}}
 
'''Moses Elias Levy''' (1782 in [[Essaouira|Mogador]], [[Morocco]] – September 7, 1854 in [[White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia|White Sulphur Springs]], [[Virginia]]) (In Arabic :'''موسى إلياس ليفي''') was a Moroccan-American businessman and ardent social and religious reformer. Born into an elite [[Sephardic Jewish]] family in Morocco, Levy migrated to Gibraltar as a child and later established himself as a [[slave merchant]] in the Caribbean with extensive business dealings in England, Europe, and the Americas. After amassing a fortune, Levy ended his business career in favor of a life centered on philanthropic causes.<ref name=Monaco>{{Cite book|title=Moses Levy of Florida Jewish Utopian and antebellum reformer|last=Monaco|first=C. S.|date=2005|publisher=Louisiana State University Press|isbn=0807130958|oclc=799705796}}</ref> In 1821 he immigrated to the Florida Territory in the United States where he established a large agrarian refuge for Jews who were suffering under repression in Europe. Although the number of Jews fell far short of expectations, at least five Jewish families made their way to Levy's Pilgrimage Plantation—located in north central Florida—making this the first agrarian Jewish settlement in the United States (1822–1835).<ref name=Monaco /> The plantation was destroyed by fire during the onset of the Second Seminole War (1835-1842). Levy, a slaveholder, was also unusual in his advocacy of the [[Gradual emancipation (United States)|gradual emancipation]] of slaves. He wrote "A Plan for the Abolition of Slavery" while in [[London]] in 1828, achieving celebrity during the height of the antislavery campaign.<ref name=Monaco /><ref>{{Cite book|title="Moses Elias Levy," in Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition|last=Monaco|first=C. S.|publisher=Greenwood Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-313-33142-8|location=Westport, Connecticut|pages=425–426}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Monaco|first=Chris|date=1998|title=Moses E. Levy of Florida: A Jewish Abolitionist Abroad|journal=American Jewish History|volume=86|issue=4|pages=377–396|doi=10.1353/ajh.1998.0029|s2cid=162206934|issn=1086-3141}}</ref> Even more importantly, Levy was instrumental in leading an unprecedented series of inter-religious debates in elite venues where he challenged Christians to end antisemitism.<ref name=Monaco2>{{Cite book|title=The rise of modern Jewish politics : extraordinary movement|last=Monaco|first=C. S.|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780415659833|oclc=798437915}}</ref> Since Jews had never before entered the public sphere in England, and certainly never openly questioned the status quo, these public meetings created a furor in London. Widespread international press coverage referred to these protests as the "''Extraordinary Movement of the Jews''."<ref name=Monaco2 /> Levy can now be seen as a Jewish social activist without parallel in early nineteenth-century Britain and America.
 
==Life==