Jacques Judah Lyons (August 25, 1814 - August 12, 1877) was a Surinamese-born American

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

. He was a co-founder of the

Mount Sinai Mount Sinai ( he , הר סיני ''Har Sinai''; Aramaic: ܛܘܪܐ ܕܣܝܢܝ ''Ṭūrāʾ Dsyny''), traditionally known as Jabal Musa ( ar, جَبَل مُوسَىٰ, translation: Mount Moses), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is ...

Hospital.

Biography

Lyons was a son of Judah and Mary Lyons, and born in Surinam on August 25, 1814. He received his education in Suriname, and was rabbi of the

Spanish and Portuguese Portuguese and Spanish, although closely related Romance languages, differ in many aspects of their phonology, grammar and lexicon. Both belong to a subset of the Romance languages known as West Iberian Romance, which also includes several othe ...

congregation there, Neveh Shalom, for five years. He left Surinam in 1837 and went to

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, where for two years he was rabbi of the Congregation Beth Schalom. In 1839 he was elected rabbi of the Spanish and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

Congregation Shearith Israel The Congregation Shearith Israel (Hebrew: קהילת שארית ישראל ''Kehilat She'arit Yisra'el'' "Congregation Remnant of Israel") – often called The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue – is the oldest Jewish congregation in the Unit ...

, New York City, in succession to Isaac Seixas, and served the congregation thirty-eight years, successfully combating every movement to change the form of worship in his congregation. Lyons was among those who founded The Jews' (now

) Hospital; he was actively concerned in founding the Jewish Board of Delegates and Hebrew Free Schools and was superintendent of the Polonies Talmud Torah School, in connection with his own congregation. For many years he was president of the Hebra Hased ve-Emet and of the Sampson Simpson Theological Fund. Lyons was an ardent student and collected a library that is now in possession of the

Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studie ...

. In 1857, in connection with the Rabbi Dr. Abraham de Sola of Montreal, he prepared and published a Hebrew calendar covering fifty years, together with an essay on the Jewish calendar system. Lyons died in New York City on August 12, 1877.

References

External links

Guide to the Papers of Jacques Judah Lyons (1813-1877)
at the

American Jewish Historical Society The American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) was founded in 1892 with the mission to foster awareness and appreciation of American Jewish history and to serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation and ...

, New York. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lyons, Jacques Judah 1814 births 1877 deaths American Orthodox rabbis American people of Portuguese-Jewish descent American people of Spanish-Jewish descent Burials at Beth Olom Cemetery Spanish and Portuguese Jews Surinamese emigrants to the United States Surinamese Jews Surinamese people of Portuguese descent Surinamese people of Spanish descent Surinamese rabbis 19th-century American rabbis