The First Jewish Americans at NYHistoric Soc-An Unexceptional & Lacking Exhibit

"The First Jewish Americans - Freedom & Culture in the New World" is an exhibit at the NY Historic Society. It is poorly executed and uninspiring.   The minimal noteworthy information was curated with trifling platitudes & unsubstantiated.  "Only a tiny fraction of the population, {Jews} significantly negotiated the freedoms offerred by the new nation & contributed to the flowering of American culture."  The details & artifacts disseminated did little to support "flowering" contributions.  The Hebraic books were so tiny as to be illegible and merely corroborated proof of early Jewish setters in the 17thC.  These items were not indicative of any import to the overall cultural mainstream.  "They {Jews} helped to broaden freedom and culture in the early U.S. leading the way to full social, cultural & political participation for millions of Jewish Americans, and many others, today."  The missed opportunity to explore Jewish influence on America, pre-Revolutionary War & the following decades was disappointing.  It seemed any ethnic group could have been substituted within the written context of the show.  Yes, Jews were persecuted & expelled from Europe & Spain in the early 16th & 17thC causing many to flee to S America.  From S American, Jewish migrants first arrived in New Amsterdamn in 1654, branching out to nearby urban centers.  It was noted most Jewish settlers became tradesmen while only a few took up farming.  Granted, the freedoms to worship openly was emancipating, referencing Jews as the "Chosen People" was inflammatory regardless of its comparison to the freedoms bestowed on other ethnicities.  I learned Alexander Hamilton's mother converted to Judaism when married to his stepfather. Hamilton studied in a Jewish school (prior to his immigration) & learned Hebrew.  George Washington addressed a "Hebrew Congregation" in 1790, "May the children of Abraham continue to merit & enjoy the goodwill from the other inhabitants."  Again, the Jewish population (as did others - not all) benefit from freedom of religion - the contributions made towards society seemed limited to trade & merchant occupations.  "Their struggles remade Jewish life as much as it remade America…"  This paltry exhibit felt like a high school term paper that would receive a C-.  It is not a substantive exploration of Jewish life in the context of Colonial America and not worth seeing.