Edwin Wolf II and Maxwell Whiteman, The History of the Jews of Philadelphia from Colonial Times to the Age of Jackson
Jonathan D. Sarna, American Judaism
Overview
Congregation Mikveh Israel developed among Jewish settlers in colonial Philadelphia and followed the Spanish and Portuguese rite. Its members organized worship, charity, burial, kosher food, and religious education while participating in the city’s commercial and civic life. The congregation included Jews of varied backgrounds, showing how Sephardic liturgy could provide an institutional framework beyond strictly Iberian ancestry. Its leaders corresponded with other Atlantic communities and supported communal causes during periods of war and political change. Mikveh Israel became a durable center of Jewish organization in the early United States.
