Early History of Jewish People in Connecticut

In 1659, Jewish peddlers from New Amsterdam, New York, traveled up the Connecticut River by boat to sell their wares and then went to Hartford.  They sold their manufactured goods for provisions and livestock to take back to Manhattan.  By 1669, at least two of these peddlers had settled in Hartford.  The names "David a Jew," and "Jacob a Jew" are included in the list of families in Hartford, with Quantity of grain in possession of each, dated March 9, 1669.

The early Jewish settlers faced a great difficulty in Connecticut.  A single man who wanted to marry had to choose a Gentile wife or travel to find a Jewess.  A man who wanted to do this would usually have to travel to New york or New Port Rhode Island.  Jews were not welcomed and were discriminated against because of their religion.

Connecticut was a Puritan colony where the state and the Congregational Church were one.  Even Christians of different denominations were not tolerated.  There was a code of New Haven and of Hartford that declared it illegal to give food or shelter to Quakers and Adamites.  In 1708, the Toleration Act was passed in Connecticut.  This permitted freedom of worship.  By the early 1770s, the Jewish peddlers opened up butcher, grocery and dry goods shops in Hartford and other small Connecticut towns.

The first recorded group of Jews to set up worship in New Haven was around September 13, 1772.  The following information was taken from a diary of Ezra Stiles:

"A family of Jews settled here they came from Venice, went to the West Indies and remained there.  There were three brothers, with an aged mother, a widow and her children...being in all 10 or 8 soul Jews, with 6 or 8 negroes."  The family was worshipping by themselves in a room where there were lights and a suspended lamp.  They almost had a synagogue, because you need 10 for this.  The Italian Jewish family stayed only a few years in New Haven.

In 1775, Jacob Pinto lived in New Haven.  Ezra Stiles, Yale's president from 1778-1795, described Jacob as the "only Jew in town."  Jacob married a Christian woman named Thankful and they had three sons: Abraham, Solomon and William.  All three of them graduated from Yale and served in the Continental Army.

Also, Ralph and Isaac Isaacs were brothers who lived in New Haven.  They, too, were recorded as Yale graduates.

In 1840, the first community of Jewish people was formed.  Connecticut's first official Jewish congregation, "Mishkan Israel" was formed and was dedicated in 1843.  The first location of this congregation was in a rented hall in the Brewster Building.  By 1856, there was a purchase of a synagogue building on Court Street.  Many innovations were introduced into this liberal reform temple.  A choir, a family pew and an organ.