Occident, and American Jewish Advocate, The.
The First Successful Jewish Periodical In America
[Judaica]. The Occident, and American Jewish Advocate. Volume I, Numbers 1-11 (April 1843/5603-February 1844/5604), N.P. [Philadelphia].
8vo.; three-quarter morocco, marbled boards; light loss to extremities; hinges repaired; hinges starting.
Boxed together with:
Lesser, Isaac, ed. The Occident, and American Jewish Advocate. A monthly periodical devoted to the diffusion of knowledge on Jewish literature and religion. Volume VI, Numbers 1-6, 10-11 (April 1848/5608-February 1849/5609). Philadelphia: Published at 371 Walnut Street.
8 vols., 8vo.; wrappers; some loss to spines; some covers darkened and/or detached.
The first eleven issues, including a list of the first subscribers (pp. 214-16); along with several later numbers; includes, among other items of interest, an early biographical sketch of Grace Aguilar contributed by A.M. Hall at the request of Aguilar’s mother (pp. 203-05).
With The Occident, its founder and editor Isaac Leeser sought to unify Jews of the American Diaspora, providing a life-line uniting the far flung cities and rural communities of American Jews in search of a bonded identity. Collecting new and previously published material, it served as a philosophical reader, a classifieds listing, a bell ringer for births, weddings and deaths, and the beacon of religious light by which American Jews could see their way within secular society. Not at all surprisingly, a goodly percentage of the articles are strictly religious in nature, such as interpretations of Biblical readings, reports on scholarship, and news from Jewish societies. But Leeser, forever vigilant about the obligation of Jews to secure a foothold in American culture, paid equal attention to the secular aspects of Jewish experience: There are pieces on “Jewish Children Under Gentile Teachers,” and surveys of Jewish communities in the United States and abroad: “The Jewish Congregation in Charleston,” and “The Jews in China.” There are also short, heart-warming (if sometime apocryphal) tales, like the one about the Rothschild matriarch who was determined to remain in her clean and humble dwelling in the Frankfort on Maine ghetto long after her sons had risen to fame and fortune: “she would only leave for the tomb the modest dwelling that had served to cradle this name, this fortune, and these children” (p. 23).
The July 1848 issue includes an early biographical sketch on Grace Aguilar, composed before the publication of her second book. Leeser’s introduction to it merits quoting in full:
As we have hitherto said so little of Miss Aguilar, for lack of materials, we applied to her mother for a sketch of her life, and she has sent us preliminarily, the following written for the Art-Union, by Mrs. Hall; and as everything is so interesting with reference to one who will be more appreciated hereafter, we give it an insertion in the Occident.
The essay, which covers two pages, is dated November 1, 1847, and signed “A.M.H.” A foundational work in American Jewry; individual issues of The Occident turn up only occasionally; runs of this scope, rarely.
The Occident folded in 1869; The Jewish Record picked-up its mission in 1874, continuing until 1886.
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