Ironically, the first Jews that turned up in New Amsterdam, in 1654, arrived after a four-month journey in which they were escaping religious persecution. These twenty-three Sephardic Jews arrived seeking refuge from the persecution that trailed them for over one hundred and fifty years. Stemming back to the Spanish Inquisition, Sephardic Jews emigrated from Portugal and Spain in the late fifteenth century. A mass Jewish Migration occurred in which Jews primarily settled in Ottoman Territories, The Netherlands, Holland, and other Dutch colonies. In 1633, the Dutch seized the coastal territory of Brazil and some Jews migrated to the New World seeking fresh opportunities, but when the Portuguese re-conquered the coastal territory of Pernambuco, the Jews were forced to leave. A small group of these Jews arrived by boat to the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam and requested permission to stay. Peter Stuyvesant, the Director-General of New Amsterdam, initially denied them refuge. However, many of the investors of the Dutch West India Company were Jewish, and their influence enabled the Sephardic Jews to stay.

Stuyvesant, his council, and the residents of New Amsterdam did not make it easy for Jews to reside in the Dutch Colony. Municipal impediments were placed on the Jews to prevent them from enjoying the benefits of citizenship. Appeals by the Jews to the directors of the Dutch West India Company succeeded in enabling the minority to own land, trade with Indians, sell at retail, and rights to burghership. Over time they were granted rights pertaining to religion such as a Jewish burial place (1656), and eventually, under a more tolerant English rule, a Jewish community formed around Mill Street surrounding a synagogue and a Hebrew school.

"Permit all persons of what religion so ever, to inhabit [New York without harassment] for and by reason of their differing in matter of religion"1 [1674-Orders from the Duke of York to Governor Andros of New York]

The establishment of a Jewish community on Mill Street was quite an accomplishment considering the disregard of the cultural barriers that previously separated Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jews. Sephardic Jews, also known as Spanish or Oriental Jews, developed different customs than those of their Ashkenazic or European counterparts. However, in the New World, these previously separated sects mixed effortlessly and united to form one community that prayed at the same synagogue.

Shearith Israel, which was founded in 1654 by Sephardic Jews, was the first Jewish congregation to be established in North America. This congregation erected its first synagouge in 1730, in the heart of Mill Street, and until 1825 it was the only Jewish congregation in New York City. As time went on, an influx of Ashkenazic immigrants arrived from overseas and created a clear majority within the Jewish community, but both sects continued praying together and the synagogue remained Sephardic because it was the Sephardics who founded it.

Social Advantages of New York City

Religious Advantages of New York City

Economic Advantages of New York City