This is backstory. I'm Ed Ayers.

In 1825, a Jewish American businessman named Mordecai Noah had a dream.

He was reading about the persecutions and the pogroms in Europe,

and he decided that the solution to their misery was a colony in New York State.

Now, European Jews never came to history as Zion,

but half a century later, tens of thousands of Jews began seeking refuge in America.

They settled in cities and communities across the country.

Today on backstory, we'll explore the place of Jews in American history.

We'll also look at how America has shaped Judaism from Yiddish pop music to Hanukkah.

In Atlanta, for example, they wrapped the Torah in an American flag for one of their celebrations.

A history of American Judaism. Today on backstory.

Major funding for backstory is provided by the Shia Khan Foundation,

the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation,

and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations.

From the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, this is backstory with the American History Guys.

Welcome to the show. I'm Brian Bello, and I'm here with Ed Ayers.

I'm Brian, and we're happy to welcome Yale historian Joanne Freeman to the show today.

She's filling in for Peter O'Rone. Hi guys. Hi Joanne. Hey Joanne.

We're going to begin the show on August 17th, 1790.

That day, President George Washington and his entourage paid a visit to the seaside town of Newport, Rhode Island.

There's a wonderful welcome, naturally, for George Washington, who was a hero everywhere.

This is Jonathan Sarna, a historian at Brandeis University.

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