Letter of M. M. Noah, to the Bos. Mer. Journal

New York, June 18th, 1844.

Mr. Editor:-A late number of your paper contained the following paragraph:-

Jews.-It is said that the total number of Jews throughout the world is estimated at 3,163,700, aud [and] it is said that this number has never materially varied from the time of David downwards.

It has always been a subject of interest, although not of general inquiry, to ascertain as nearly as possible, the numerical force of the Jewish people in every part of the world, and looking forward to the speedy fulfillment of all the promises made to that peculiar and favored race in their restoration to the land of their ancestors. I have been at considerable pains to obtain a census, accurate as far as every country in Europe is referred to, but depending upon estimates, always below the actual number, of those residing in Asia and Africa, from which it appears that the Jewish nation number full six millions of people, divided and located as follows:-

In all parts of ancient Poland, before the partition of 1772 1,000,000

In Russia, comprehending Woldavia and Wallachia 200,000

In the different states of Germany 750,000

In Holland and Belgium 80,000

Sweden and Denmark 6,000

France 75,000

England 60,000

Italian States 200,000

All North and South America and West Indies 100,000

In the Mohametan States of Europe, Asia, and Africa 3,000,000

Persia, China and Hindoston [Hindu] 1,000,000

6,471,000

The above includes all who are actually known as professing and following the religion of their forefathers. It is impossible to ascertain the number of those residing in Catholic countries and concealing their religion from motives. The number in Spain who preferred outwardly embracing the Catholic faith to avoid banishment under Ferdinand and Isabella, is several hundred thousands, and are at this day connected with the first families in Spain and Portugal. In Asia and the Turkish dominions, I have made an estimate rather below their actual number. They are powerful in China, and on the borders of Tartary; likewise in Persia and the countries bordering on the Indian Ocean. In Abssinia and Ethiopa [Ethiopia] there are many communities of black Jews, and they have a separate congregation at Calcutta.

The number of the Jewish people dispersed in every part of the world will surprise no one who takes into consideration that for the last four hundred years they have been in a measure exempt from those persecutions which they suffered prior to the reformation; nor have they been included in the various wars which have for several hundred years desolated Europe and Asia. Naturally a pacific people, adhering at a very early age to their international marriages, exceedingly temperate in living, and continually active and energetic, their self-augmenting population from these causes must greatly have increased their numbers, and warrant the belief that they are at

this time as numerous as they were in the palmy days of David and Solomon.

There is another error in your paragraph which it may be well also to notice at this time. You state that the number of Jews has never materially varied from three millions, from the time of David downwards. Very nearly that number has been exterminated by wars and violence, from what may be considered the the commencement of their national troubles.

According to Josephus and contemporary writers there

were slaughtered in Caesaria, by the Syrians 20,000

In Jerusalem, occasioned by the insolence of a Roman soldier under the reign of Claudius 20,000

At Scitupolis 13,000

At Alexandria, in consequence of the rivalry of the Greeks and Egyptians 50,000

At Ascalon from the same cause 2,500

At Ptolemais 2,000

At Silucia, by the Syrians and Greeks 50,000

At the siege of Jerusalem by Pompey 12,000

BY an earthquake in Judea, 42 or 43 years before Christ 30,000

In consequence of a revolt occasioned by breaking a Roman

eagle placed in the portico of the temple, in the reign of Augustus 13,000

In a sedition suppressed by Varus, Governor of Syria 2,000

In an ambuscade before Ascalon, in the beginning of the war against the Romans 18,000

At the capture of Jaffa by Titus 15,000

At the siege of Jotapat 13th of Nero 40,000

Taking of Tariche, and at the naval battle on the lake Genserette 6,500

After this victory, Vespasian being in the tribunal at Tariche,

sent 6000 to Nero, to work at the Isthmus of the Mores-30,400

were sold at public vendue, and 12,000 old men, unable to

bear arms, were put to death 12,000

At the capture of Gamala by Titus 9,000

In a battle against Placidus, Lt. of Vespasian, near the village of Galara- 15,000

At the seige [siege] of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple by Titus 1,100,000

In the revolt of the false Messiah Barchechobas, and in

the several revolts under Adrian, Trojan, and Justinian 600,000

Add to this, that from the time of the adoration of the

golden calf, to the return of the ark, which had been

captured by the Philistines, there were destroyed 239,000

Making 2,248,000

This amount does not include neither the losses they met with in the wars anterior to the captivity, nor the persecutions and revolts in the time of the Emperors and the middle ages, nor the massacres which followed the Crusades, nor the proscriptions en masse which were so frequently renewed in different parts of the world, in the times of the invasions by the barbarians, and since their establishment in the Roman provinces. Under all these calamities and oppressions, the Jews like those vivacious plants which can resist the intemperance of all seasons, have been by divine interposition, enabled to sustain themselves amidst so many appalling obstacles, and have found in the strength of their laws, new principles of existence.

In pursuing the inquiry as to their numerical force, much interesting information has been obtained as to their various pursuits; and it is gratifying to learn that agriculture, their original occupation, claims a great portion of their attention. The plains of Nineveh Greece, Persia, Egypt, Lithunia [Lithuania], Ukraine and Moldavia, are full of Jewish agriculturalists [agriculturists]; they are, it is said, the best cultivators of the grape in Turkey; in all parts of the East they are dyers, workers in silk, weavers and blacksmiths; in Poland they are farmers, curriers, lace weavers, potters and silversmiths; and although the great body of the nation are still engaged in trade and commerce in every quarter of the world, with undiminished success, they are nevertheless receiving a more liberal education, and are cultivating a taste for the arts, many are pursuing the more enlightened and scientific professions with reputation, and are instituting reforms in the ceremonial parts of their religion, without invading any of its cardinal principles.

Wealth is not generally or equally diffused among the Jews, but the aggregate of their possessions constitutes them by far the most wealthy people on earth, and the enormous proportions are so located as to secure a very decided influence in the movements of every nation, making them, in a measure, the arbitrators of very important movements.

Although the Jewish people are entirely passive in relation to their restoration, and waiting the great advent with the same patience and humility which they have evinced for the last eighteen hundred years, relying with unabated

confidence on the promises and protection of that divine power which has ever been near them and with them, nevertheless there has been no period in their history in which Christians generally have taken more interest in their temporal and religious welfare, than they evince at the present time. This is the providential prelude to great events;-they know too little of each other; and a closer approximation, a mutual surrender of prejudices, and a greater reliance of Christians upon what constituted primitive Christianity, will at once show how slender is the line that divides us. I cannot avoid believing that the great triumphs reserved for Christianity will be in their agency and cooperation in restoring the Jews to their ancient heritage, for it cannot be politically accomplished without their aid, and if the second advent, so called, and so ardently desired by pious Christians is ever to come to pass, it cannot, I hardly conceive, take place until after the restoration is accomplished, and there is a throne to be occupied a nation to be governed, and the prophesies fulfilled.

I beg your pardon for thus occupying your space. I intended merely to correct the error in the census, but I have been led into other matters.

Respectfully yours,