Disir
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There are no photographs, no paintings, no drawings of what Moses Elias Levy looked like. He could have had one made if he wished to self-aggrandize his own memory. Levy was against that sort of vanity. He had wanted his legacy to be his epitaph. A friend described him, when he was already an elderly man of 70, as being 5'6" tall, rotund with a friendly demeanor. Two years later, he died. He was buried, a Jew in a Virginia Episcopalian farmer's private cemetery. Levy was estranged from his two sons, distant from his daughters and sister in St. Thomas. He died, not amongst his people.
If there was a headstone, it has been lost to time. His extraordinary dreams, his hopes, his efforts for a safe home for his people, the Jewish people, were long lost. They were lost in the ruins of his plantation, burned by the Seminole Indians, amidst the huge tract of swamp and mixed scrub land he owned in North Central Florida. His leadership role was quickly forgotten by British Jewry struggling for emancipation. Contradictorily, he was an abolitionist, unknown among the slaves he never freed. Yet he was championed by the British Evangelical Christians who feted the Jew who hated slavery. They too forgot him… ironically …fortunately.
He was quickly forgotten by everyone except for his money. Once his estate was settled, he became a footnote to his son.
Levy' son, David Levy Yulee, is well remembered. Yulee is honored by the State of Florida.
The son became the first United States Congressman and later Senator of Jewish heritage in American history. He was also buried in a Christian cemetery but as a Christian.
Moses Elias Levy was born July 10, 1782 in Mogador, Morocco. His father was Eliahu Ha'Levi ibn Yuli a Shab as-Sultan (a court Jew) to Mohammed ben Abdallah, Sultan Sidi Muhammed III.
A thousand years before Levy was born, recently converted Berber Muslim raiders crossed the narrow Straits of Gibraltar from Morocco. The Berber raiders came, as they had historically for hundreds of years, to plunder the weakening Christian Visigoth kingdom on the Peninsula. In an astonishing victory, they defeated King Roderic in 711. Recognizing weakness and opportunity, reinforcements from North Africa rushed over. Two thirds of Iberia was quickly conquered. The Emirate of Cordoba was established over time and eroded over time.
2. January 2, 1492, Granada, the last Muslim Emirate, fell. The struggle to drive out the Muslim invaders is celebrated annually in Spain, Moros y Cristianos.34
Jews lived on the Iberian Peninsula since Roman times. Compared to life in the Christian world, they were mostly tolerated in the Muslim territories. Some Jews rose to positions of great influence as "court" advisors, physicians, merchants. Jewish life in Muslim Spain, with distinct limitations and periodic, horrific oppressions, flourished. It became known as the "Golden Age" of Spain.567
The re-conquest of Granada united Spain under one Catholic ruler. The Muslims were granted toleration in the peace treaty. Toleration for Muslims was quickly abandoned. Toleration for Jews was never a consideration. Within six months, Jews were ordered, as they had been throughout the Reconquista, to convert, leave or die. July 31, 1492 the Alhambra Decree went into effect.8 Three days later, August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus left on his first Voyage of Discovery.
Moses Elias Levy's family left for Morocco.
Spanish Jews were considered by the Moroccan Sultans superior in education, ability and reliability than the native Berber Jews and Jewish tribes of the interior of Morocco. Jews had been part of Morocco since Carthaginian times. Biblical legends identify Jewish life in Morocco even earlier, to the fifth century B.C.E.
Moses Elias Levy - Proto-Zionist Abolitionist Societal Reformer Educational Reformer American Jewish Pioneer Florida Jewish Frontier developer Freemason Jewish Religious Idealist Author Lecturer Slave Holder
This guy is rather interesting. He did that whole picking and choosing religious thang. It is lengthy.
If there was a headstone, it has been lost to time. His extraordinary dreams, his hopes, his efforts for a safe home for his people, the Jewish people, were long lost. They were lost in the ruins of his plantation, burned by the Seminole Indians, amidst the huge tract of swamp and mixed scrub land he owned in North Central Florida. His leadership role was quickly forgotten by British Jewry struggling for emancipation. Contradictorily, he was an abolitionist, unknown among the slaves he never freed. Yet he was championed by the British Evangelical Christians who feted the Jew who hated slavery. They too forgot him… ironically …fortunately.
He was quickly forgotten by everyone except for his money. Once his estate was settled, he became a footnote to his son.
Levy' son, David Levy Yulee, is well remembered. Yulee is honored by the State of Florida.
The son became the first United States Congressman and later Senator of Jewish heritage in American history. He was also buried in a Christian cemetery but as a Christian.
Moses Elias Levy was born July 10, 1782 in Mogador, Morocco. His father was Eliahu Ha'Levi ibn Yuli a Shab as-Sultan (a court Jew) to Mohammed ben Abdallah, Sultan Sidi Muhammed III.
A thousand years before Levy was born, recently converted Berber Muslim raiders crossed the narrow Straits of Gibraltar from Morocco. The Berber raiders came, as they had historically for hundreds of years, to plunder the weakening Christian Visigoth kingdom on the Peninsula. In an astonishing victory, they defeated King Roderic in 711. Recognizing weakness and opportunity, reinforcements from North Africa rushed over. Two thirds of Iberia was quickly conquered. The Emirate of Cordoba was established over time and eroded over time.
2. January 2, 1492, Granada, the last Muslim Emirate, fell. The struggle to drive out the Muslim invaders is celebrated annually in Spain, Moros y Cristianos.34
Jews lived on the Iberian Peninsula since Roman times. Compared to life in the Christian world, they were mostly tolerated in the Muslim territories. Some Jews rose to positions of great influence as "court" advisors, physicians, merchants. Jewish life in Muslim Spain, with distinct limitations and periodic, horrific oppressions, flourished. It became known as the "Golden Age" of Spain.567
The re-conquest of Granada united Spain under one Catholic ruler. The Muslims were granted toleration in the peace treaty. Toleration for Muslims was quickly abandoned. Toleration for Jews was never a consideration. Within six months, Jews were ordered, as they had been throughout the Reconquista, to convert, leave or die. July 31, 1492 the Alhambra Decree went into effect.8 Three days later, August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus left on his first Voyage of Discovery.
Moses Elias Levy's family left for Morocco.
Spanish Jews were considered by the Moroccan Sultans superior in education, ability and reliability than the native Berber Jews and Jewish tribes of the interior of Morocco. Jews had been part of Morocco since Carthaginian times. Biblical legends identify Jewish life in Morocco even earlier, to the fifth century B.C.E.
Moses Elias Levy - Proto-Zionist Abolitionist Societal Reformer Educational Reformer American Jewish Pioneer Florida Jewish Frontier developer Freemason Jewish Religious Idealist Author Lecturer Slave Holder
This guy is rather interesting. He did that whole picking and choosing religious thang. It is lengthy.
