Jacob de la Motta
Jacob de la Motta, a physician, was born in Savannah, Georgia. Raised in Charleston, he earned his medical degree in Philadelphia and served as an army surgeon during the War of 1812. Discharged in 1814, he lived in New York, returned to Savannah, and spent his final years in Charleston. Active in civic, medical, and Jewish community work, he was president of Charleston’s Orthodox synagogue and was appointed South Carolina’s receiver general by President Benjamin Harrison. De la Motta’s correspondence with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison indicates his advocacy for the protection and maintenance of Jewish rights.
Entries in the Posen Library by This Creator
Primary Source
Discourse Delivered at the Consecration of the Synagogue of the Hebrew Congregation Mickve Israel, in the City of Savannah, Georgia, 21 July 1820
Related Guide
Rabbinic Scholarship, 1750–1880
Despite the challenges of the early modern period, rabbinic scholarship flourished in Central and Eastern Europe in the latter half of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century.