Abraham
Lincoln: Friend of the Jews but Not Jewish
By
Shelomo Alfassa
(December
24, 2008) In the last few years, many rumors have circulated
on the Internet, the one I am focusing on concerns the
issue of whether or not President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
was of Jewish extraction. The
subject was injected back into the media and popular
Internet culture in December 2008 when an article published
in an old synagogue bulletin by Rabbi Jeff Kahn,1
began to circulate again. The article was entitled
"Was Lincoln Jewish?", and mentioned that
when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, rabbis across
the USA eulogized the murdered President and Jewish
communities observed the shivah (the formal Jewish period
of mourning) in his honor. This of course is nothing
exceptional, as it was not (and is not), unusual for
rabbinical leaders to call on their congregations to
pray for the welfare of their leaders or their country
during times of crisis.
Examination
of the Myths
When
Lincoln was murdered, New York's Congregation Shearith
Israel, then the largest Jewish congregation in America,
was grief-stricken, as was the entire country.2
One of the most established catalysts to the myth
that Abraham Lincoln was Jewish may be found in a eulogy
of him, spoken on April 28, 1865 by Rabbi Isaac M. Wise
(founder of the Reform movement) which was subsequently
published in The Israelite of Cincinnati, Ohio. The
newspaper transcription reads "…The lamented
Abraham Lincoln, believed to be bone from our bone and
flesh from our flesh. He supposed to be a descendant
of Hebrew parentage. He said so in my presence."3
Yet, even if Lincoln may have mentioned at one time
that he was descendant of Hebrew parentage, this would
be nothing extraordinary. Many Christians feel they
were descendants of the Jews. Further, historian Bertram
W. Korn,4
author of American Jewry and the Civil War, declared,
and "Lincoln is not known to have said anything
resembling this [to Isaac Wise] to any of his other
Jewish acquaintances."5
We
do not have a speech or any other sort of transcript
from Lincoln himself indicating any connection to Judaism.
Additionally, if we did find anything to indicate Lincoln
stated he was "descendant of Hebrew parentage,"
we still would never know if Lincoln stated it as a
respectful nicety to Jews in his presence, or if he
stated it because he truly believed his ancestors were
Jews-something a multitude of Christians can claim-as
it's well established that Christianity developed as
a split from Judaism.
Jewish
Prayer & Jewish Patriotism
In
May 1762, during the height of the French and Indian
War, the Jews of New York engaged in a service of "solemn
humiliation before the Almighty." As they also
did on May 17, 1776, as Rabbi Gershom Mendes Seixas
prayed that "God soften the heart of the [British]
oppressor."6
During the War of Independence (Revolutionary War),
Jews from New York City; Richmond, Virginia; Charleston,
South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia, fled to Philadelphia
seeking refuge from the British. There, they engaged
in prayers led by their rabbi, praying for the new nation
to be safe and free. In 1789, General George Washington
proclaimed November 26 as a national Thanksgiving to
God for protecting the colonies and its people from
the British war machine. Jewish congregants heralded
this call from Washington and institute many prayers,
including a Prayer for the Government and the reading
of special Psalms on the occasion.7
During the War of 1812, President Madison called upon
all Americans to pray and fast, and the Jews in the
young United States did; they prayed not only for peace,
but for the safety of the President himself.
When
President William Harrison died in office, Congregation
Shearith Israel of New York draped their synagogue furniture
in black as a sign of mourning
8 and respect for a man who was a known devoted
Christian. On January 4, 1861, when Abraham Lincoln
appealed for fasting and prayer so that the calamity
of disunion did not occur,9
Jews issued poignant prayers in observance of the President's
call.10
It's only natural that Jews (who also were fighting
and suffering during the bloody Civil War), would observe
Lincoln's call for humility and repentance.
In
Judaism, one does not have to be Jewish to be mourned
over. Many Jews wept and prayed after Presidents James
Garfield (1881), William McKinley (1901) and later John
F. Kennedy (1963) were assassinated. In modern times,
Jews have mourned as a community for their government
leaders and their country, such as when the Space Shuttles
exploded and when other tragedies shook their lives,
such as the attacks by Islamic terrorists on September
11, 2001.
Lincoln
and His Christianity
Abraham
Lincoln was not a typical Christian of the period. One
biographer even reports that there were claims the young
Lincoln wrote an essay "against Christianity, Jesus
Christ, and the Bible," which was read and discussed
until his friend tore it up and burned it;11
still, there is no evidence indicating that this is
even true. It was reported that Lincoln originally rejected
the New Testament as a book of divine authority12
and on many occasions that he denied Jesus was the Son
of God as Christianity dictates.13
We also know that Lincoln did not use the word Jesus
or Christ as often as most Christians of the period
did as a matter of demonstrating their allegiance to
that faith. Even so, on some occasions he was known
to have used the phrase "Our Lord" which referred
to the Christian leader.14
We also know that Lincoln was a "constant reader
of the Bible" according to a biography. Abraham
Lincoln: Redeemer President says that in adult life,
Lincoln suffered too many doubts to be a member of a
church, despite the political gains to be made by doing
so. Lincoln had little religion as a young man, but
demonstrated he was (or became) a devout Christian in
his later years. Journals of visiting Swedenborgian
missionaries record and confirm that Lincoln was an
interested student:
