The first concerns burial practices observed in Charleston. Not uniquely American by any means, but I think it's interesting to see that it was also practiced in America:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWdM1pv4bKExNwU6mRdUKOq3qytZNnJeU9JhFkGcN2CGUpGbfqndtfSm6nN-cVoqfhQkuX7JCVvKbtWonTPbdF3b57hNRZ6L1Je4bhcjrRheCmhOSwHNOf7R4abaW4FfgbOk7s/s1600/jews1795.jpg)
The second is a joke at the expense of Quakers and Jews, although I think the Quakers come out a little better:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgowqqByc6IJNtgjegDazGBWCfmEMuo8Bc-5HO4FH0wL6JiAynLhW122dJTs2s0rxv9Eb-iAuLcf63Jb34ed2mmCbLH-_HVsFoeo0oagrWgnFJ_FsoZ-WAxpSfER5OZzDLd5hCx/s1600/jews1794.jpg)
Finally, although this has nothing do with America at all, here is a 1739 mock advertisement by Jonathan Swift in the Gentleman's Magazine for a work on "Composing and Resolving Anagrams," written "by a Professor of universal learning, and a descendent of the renown'd cabalist Rabbi Levi ben Iarchi."
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0xejiWpSyHptWtrCTYZQbj8yK5VC8Ln5bbDuMZhu04yCWIhk1iXd1KBoUQwRQkG-euHxoZHSNJGGk8I8sy0ST3586I80vcBdklrIqJcoYCrJWBhWvxNkMcHm3wEsyp0Qp0wMU/s1600/Levi+ben+Iarchi.jpg)
"Terra sancta" is still a custom at Shearith Israel.
ReplyDeleteA nice little book which mentions the subject is "Chronicles of the Frigate Macedonian" by James T. de Kay.