Israel Baer Kursheedt^{[1, 2]}

1766 - 1852  (86 years)

• Name	Israel Baer Kursheedt  [3, 4]
  Arrival	1766	Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts   [3]
  	from NY
  Born	6 Apr 1766	Germany   [3]
  Gender	Male
  Alt. Birth	Abt 1770	Germany   [5]
  Census	25 Sep 1850	New York, New York (Manhattan), New York   [5]
  	1850 US
  Name	Isreal B. Kursheedt  [5]
  Reference Number	3686
  _UID	1C6DECCA5B2E47C0A4E108C1B92C7F7BFC2E
  Died	30 Apr 1852	New York   [3, 6]
  Person ID	I3686	aojd-demo
  Last Modified	11 Nov 2011

  
  

  Family	Sarah Abigail Seixas,   b. 10 Feb 1778, Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut ,   d. 4 Aug 1854, New York  (Age 76 years)
  Married	18 Jan 1804  [3, 4, 7]
  Children	1. Elkaleh Kursheedt,   b. 18 Dec 1805, New York ,   d. 27 Dec 1883, New York  (Age 78 years)
  Last Modified	11 Nov 2011
  Family ID	F1289	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  (Research):AJLLJ Portrait Database 5 Aug 2011 At thirty years old, Isarel Baer Kursheedt arrived in the United States from Germany, where he had been attending the yeshiva of Rabbi Nathan Ben Simeon Adler of Frankfurt, a famed cabalist, Talmudist, and ascetic. Adler used to call Kursheedt chakham, wise man, and indeed it has been suggested that Kursheedt was probably the most Talmudically knowledgeable person in the United States at that time. He was certainly the first Ashkenazi to arrive with such an impressive textual mastery. While his understanding of Jewish law was to play a significant role throughout his life, it was success in business that he was seeking across the Atlantic. He arrived in Boston with letters of introduction to Moses Micahel Hays, wealthy merchant and the leader of the city's Jewish community. He soon left Boston for New York with letters now to Isaac Moses, parnas of Shearith Israel, who helped get Kursheedt started as a merchant. He quickly became close with Shearith Israel's hazzan, Gershom Mednes Seixas, who was, no doubt, enthralled by Kursheedt's Jewish learning. In 1804 he married Seixas' daughter Sarah Abigail, who some believe was her father's favorite. The couple had he nine children, including future leaders of American Jewry Asher and Gershom. Kursheedt became increasingly involved in Jewish communal institutional life, helping in the upkeep of the cemetery and with Jewish education. Despite his traditional education, Kursheedt was reform minded, and found himself at odds with a number of influential members of Shearith Israel's elite. And though his learning was widely respected, this did not mean that he won every battle. For instance, in 1809 Kursheedt and a number of other congregants attempted to pass a rule limiting the number of Mi she-Berakh prayers to three per person. These are prayers said for those called to the torah, for which it was customary to make a donation, and which was linked to an elaborate system of public displays of wealth. His attempts were in vein, the old system remained. In1812 the family moved to Richmond where had been given a post as a hazzan, which he held for the next twelve years. During this period, Sarah communicated extensively with her father, an epistolary record in the possession of the American Jewish Historcial Society. Meanwhile, Kursheedt developed something of a friendship with Thomas Jefferson and visited him at Monticello. When he returned to New York, Kursheedt became caught in the middle of the Ashkenazi-Sephardi tensions within New York's Jewish community, coming to the fore as increasing numbers of German Jews arrived. He helped establish an Ashkenazi minyan, or prayer group. When the adjunto, or Sephardi board of elders, tried to prevent them from meeting, Kursheedt and fifteen other members sent a letter to the board, informing them that they were splitting off. This was the birth of B'nai Jeshurun, New York's second synagogue, where, again, Kursheedt dedicated himself to institutional and educational development. [8]

  
  

• Sources

  [S81] Joseph, Anne - Research Database, Anne [Goulding] Joseph, (Shared with David M. Kleiman in Montreal, Quebec, Canada 18 March 2009). [S285] AOJD & Heritage Muse, Inc., David M. Kleiman, (AOJD-online.net. Heritage Muse, Inc. 165 West End Ave. New York, NY 10023 [email protected]). [S4] FAJF-Stern, Rabbi Malcolm Stern, (3rd edition updated and revised. n.c.: Genealogical Publishing Company for the American Jewish Archives, 1991.), PG. 147 KURSHEEDT (Reliability: 3). [S38] Stern, Malcolm: American Jewish Genealogy Trees. [S40] 1850 United States Federal Census, Ancestry.com, (Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005 United States of America, Bureau of the Census, Seventh Cen sus of the United States, 1850, Washington, D.C.: Nationa l Archives and Records Administration, 1850), YEAR: 1850; CENSUS PLACE: NEW YORK WARD 15 WESTERN HALF, NEW YORK, NEW YORK; ROLL: M432_552; PAGE: 83; IMAGE: 168. (Reliability: 3). [S94] Bevis Marks Records, Part III. [S4] FAJF-Stern, Rabbi Malcolm Stern, (3rd edition updated and revised. n.c.: Genealogical Publishing Company for the American Jewish Archives, 1991.), PG. 264 SEIXAS (2) (Reliability: 3). [S294] Loeb Jewish Portraits Database, (http://www.loebjewishportraits.com/home.html), KURSHEEDT, ISRAEL BAER (Reliability: 3).