Judah Monis

Background

Judah Monis was born on February 4, 1683, in Algiers or Italy.

Education

Monis was educated in the Jewish schools of Leghorn and Amsterdam. On June 29, 1720, he submitted to the Corporation of Harvard College the draft of a Hebrew grammar, and, in consequence, at the Commencement of the same year, he received the degree of M. A.

Career

After a residence in Jamaica, Monis went to New York, where he was made a free citizen on February 28, 1715/16, his occupation being given as that of a merchant. In later years, however, he is described as "sometime Rabbi of the Synagogue in Jamaica, and afterward in New York. " He appears next in Boston or Cambridge. About two years later, he was baptized publicly and with great solemnity in the College Hall at Cambridge. Soon after that, he was appointed instructor of Hebrew in Harvard College for one year. This appointment was renewed from year to year until 1760 when he resigned his instructorship and retired to Northborough, Massachusetts. Of his life in Cambridge certain pertinent facts are known. He owned property, kept a shop even while teaching at Harvard, acted on one occasion as Spanish interpreter to the government, was nominated to be a justice of the peace, and when pressed by straitened circumstances petitioned the legislature for a grant from the public treasury to supplement his meager income. The records of Harvard College contain references to his successive reappointments, to occasional increases in his salary, to regulations regarding attendance at his classes, to a quarrel with one of his colleagues over the use of a classroom, to assistance granted to him in connection with the publication of his grammar, and to a promise of support in defense of his privilege of exemption from taxes. His name appears also on the pamphlet issued in 1744 by the Harvard officials against the Rev. George Whitefield. He died there four years later.

Achievements

• Monis is chiefly noted for the circumstance that he was the first in several things the first Jew to receive a degree from Harvard, the first teacher at Harvard to bear the title of instructor, and the author of the first Hebrew grammar published in America.

Religion

Before his death, Monis professed his firm belief in the Christian religion and left the bulk of his estate as a permanent fund for poor widows of Christian ministers. Though there was some misgiving as to the sincerity of his conversion, he was at once allowed by the First Church of Cambridge to partake with its members at the Lord's Supper. Later, he joined that church as a member. He continued, however, throughout his lifetime to observe the seventh day as the Sabbath.

Connections

In January 1723/24, Monis married a Christian woman by the name of Abigail Marrett.

Wife:

Abigail Marrett

28 February 1701 - 27 October 1760

References

• Some further notes on Judah Monis
• A discourse had in the College-Hall at Cambridge, March 27. 1722. Before the baptism of R. Judah Monis. By Benj. Colman, V.D.M.