Mordecai Sheftall And The Wages Of War

The War for American Independence posed great hardships for many on the patriot side. The heat of the Philadelphia summer that plagued the Founding Fathers as they gathered to declare independence, or the harsh cold endured by Washington's troops as they wintered at Valley Forge, are but two such instances. Mordecai Sheftall, the leading Jewish citizen of Savannah, Georgia, an ardent patriot, was one of those who paid an extraordinary price for independence.

Mordecai Sheftall's father, Benjamin, a deeply religious Jew, was an original white settler of the Georgia colony, having arrived in 1733. Benjamin Sheftall married his first wife, Perla, in 1734 and Mordecai was born in 1735. Perla died a year later and, in 1738, Benjamin married Hannah Solomons, with whom he had several more children.

Despite the opportunities presented by the new colony, Benjamin Sheftall never became wealthy; son Mordecai fared far better. By age 21, Mordecai acquired land for cattle raising and, by age 25, purchased a warehouse and wharf on the Savannah River.

Like his father, Mordecai Sheftall was a devoted and observant Jew. Savannah had only six Jewish families, but in 1771 Mordecai found a Jewish bride, Frances "Fannie" Hart, whom he "imported" from Charleston, South Carolina. Mordecai became a founding subscriber to Congregation Mickve Israel in Savannah and provided the community with land for its first Jewish cemetery. Sheftall was the Jewish representative among the original five incorporators of the Union Society, a non-denominational philanthropic association formed by Savannah's religious organizations to assist widows and poor children.

Like a majority of his co-religionists, Mordecai Sheftall cast his lot with rebellion against British rule. In 1776, Sheftall was elected chairman of the revolutionary committee that assumed control of local government in Savannah. In 1777, he was appointed Commissary General of Purchases and Issues to the Georgia militia and was thus responsible for supplying the colony's soldiers with food, clothing and materiel. Sheftall often reached into his own pocket to purchase supplies for the volunteers.

In 1778, having proven his skill and selflessness as Commissary General of Georgia, General Robert Howe appointed Sheftall to the post of Deputy Commissary General to the federal troops stationed in Georgia and South Carolina. Before Congress could confirm his role, however, he was captured in December 1778, along with his fifteen-year-old son, Sheftall, in the battle to prevent Savannah from falling to British troops. Some of the outnumbered patriots escaped by swimming across the Savannah River, but the younger Sheftall could not swim. His father would not abandon him. With 185 other Americans, they were captured and imprisoned.

The British interrogated the Sheftalls under great duress, depriving them of food for two days. At one point, they were almost bayoneted by a drunken British soldier. Still refusing to provide information about the American's sources of supplies and refusing to renounce the patriot cause, father and son were transferred to the dank prison ship "Nancy," where the British deliberately offered Mordecai no meat other than pork, which he refused. After several months, the elder Sheftall was paroled to the town of Sunbury, Georgia, where he was kept under close British surveillance; his son remained on the "Nancy." At Mordecai's urging, Mrs. Sheftall took her other children to the relative safety of Charleston.

Separation from family weighed heavily on Mordecai. Through the intervention of friends, he was finally able to arrange for his son's parole to Sunbury under the same restrictive conditions on his own freedom of movement. Things looked promising when American military pressure on Savannah forced the British garrison to withdraw from Sunbury, but freedom for the Sheftalls did not follow.

Local Tories began to beat and even kill patriots in Sunbury, especially parolees like the Sheftalls. Father and son managed to flee on an American brig headed for Charleston and a hoped for reunion with their family, but were captured by a British frigate and transported to Antigua, where they remained prisoners until the Spring of 1780. In June, both Sheftalls were paroled once more. They headed for Philadelphia, to which Mrs. Sheftall and the children had fled, yet again, for safety. There, despite his own financial hardships, Mordecai helped fund a new synagogue for Congregation Mikve Israel.

Mordecai spent the remainder of the war in Philadelphia, seeking to help both the American cause and his own financial condition by financing a privateer to capture and loot British vessels. His investment does not seem to have paid off; on its very first voyage, the ship ran aground. In 1783, when the war ended, Mordecai returned with his wife and children to Savannah, where the family resumed its life for several generations. The state of Georgia granted him several hundred acres of land in recognition of his sacrifices on behalf of independence. When he died in 1797 at the age of 62, his beloved home city of Savannah buried him with full honors in the Jewish cemetery he created.

Jewish World Review

A Government's Flawed Morality
07.04.2006

Israel's founding fathers took pride in proclaiming that the Jewish state would represent a safe haven and ensure that those who shed innocent Jewish blood would pay a bitter price. Were they aware how those who inherited their leadership mantles had acquiesced to a return to Jewish powerlessness, they would turn over in their graves.

In the wake of the recent terrible provocations, the IDF has been obliged to temporarily reenter Gaza. It is tragic and outrageous that we had to reach this point. Had we taken resolute action when the Kassams were first being fired into Israel instead of undermining our credibility by endlessly making empty threats, the terrorists would never have had the chutzpah to behave as they did.

Despite the dramatic erosion of security since prime minister Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement was implemented, our leaders and have yet to bite the bullet.

The scenario we are experiencing was predictable, and alternative options should have been on the table a long time ago. Yet even now our leaders remain hesitant, make contradictory statements, squabble among themselves and clearly lack a strategic plan. Instead of being assertive, they give the appearance of being apologetic and of being hostage to the Americans, who under such circumstances must try to restrain us.

THE EXTENT to which the IDF has been conditioned to operate under terms of engagement that dramatically inhibit its ability to strike back at terrorists was exemplified by OC Air Force Maj.-Gen. Eliezer Shkedy, who told the Jerusalem Post:"If we know that a terrorist who is in the midst of firing a Kassam aimed to kill, is holding his son's hand, we will not fire."

If that is the approach of the IDF, we have truly lost the plot. To hold back from eliminating a terrorist directly engaged in a potentially lethal act of terror directed against civilians is not a manifestation of morality or humanity. It reflects utter confusion and the application of false values which violate the primary obligation of a government to defend the lives of its citizens. It means we are adopting the flawed morality of the bleeding hearts who consider that the well-being of human shields deliberately positioned to defend those seeking to kill us warrants a higher priority than the life and limb of our own citizens.

THE REALITY is that Israel implements a more humane approach to warfare and the protection of non-combatants than any other democratic country. Our military cemeteries testify to the young Israelis who died because of our reluctance to maximize the firepower of the IDF out of concern for the well-being of innocent civilians.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stands at the crossroads. This is his moment of truth, his litmus test of his leadership. No one envies the difficult decisions that the burden of office imposes on him.

Olmert should set aside the controversies relating to convergence and uprooting settlements and call on Israelis to unite and confront the barbarians at the gate. We can revert to our internal disputes after we have secured the safety of the nation.

The Palestinians must be made to realize that having now crossed all red lines, our patience has been exhausted and they will now be obliged to pay the consequences for their murderous acts. Olmert must tell the world that despite Israeli concern about possible civilian casualties, as of now all human shields and those in proximity to terrorists initiating attacks against us are at risk. The responsibility for casualties, even innocent bystanders, will rest entirely with the terrorists and the Palestinian leaders who enable them to carry out their barbaric acts. And if by doing this we will create a new wave of international anti-Israeli condemnation, so be it.

The time has come to soberly recognize that what is now at stake is the very future of the state. If the premier fails to demonstrate that we are resolved to utilize maximum deterrent power, our future prospects are grim. We will see more rockets transforming Sderot into a ghost town and other Israeli cities, including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, will soon also be targeted. Kidnappings and murders openly sanctioned by the Hamas government will become the order of the day. Terrorists are already boasting that they will soon also be launching chemical and biological weapons against us.

Reluctance to take tough responses will strengthen Hamas and other radicals in their belief that if they maintain the course and continue the terror, their oft-stated intention to wear us down in stages by increasingly eroding the quality of our lives will ultimately succeed.

THE PRIME minister and his cabinet must stop making grandiose threats. Olmert should now regard Winston Churchill rather than Neville Chamberlain as a role model. If the terror onslaughts against our civilians continue, the policies of restraint and appeasement must be substituted by a clear instruction to the IDF to maximize targeted assassinations and ensure that the heads of the snake - the Hamas leaders who orchestrate the evil - are primary targets. When Moshe Ya'alon was IDF chief of General Staff, he initiated this process and very soon afterward, terrified Hamas leaders were begging for a truce.

The message to the Palestinians is simple: All who orchestrate or partake in the killing of Israelis will ultimately themselves be killed. Despite all the rhetoric about sanctifying shahids and the prospects of virgins in heaven, the vast majority of Hamas activists and other terrorists prefer to dispatch others to "paradise" rather than transform themselves into martyrs.

Jerusalem Post 

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