HAYM SALOMON:

How a Jewish Man Saved America and the 4^th of July

N 1975, the United States Postal Department issued a stamp honoring a man named Haym Salomon for his contribution to the cause of the American Revolution. This stamp was uniquely printed on the front and the back. On the glue side of the stamp, the following words were printed in pale, green ink. “Financial Hero - Businessman and broker Haym Salomon was responsible for raising most of the money needed to finance the American Revolution and later to save the new nation from collapse.” I personally have one of these stamps. Historians who have studied the story of Haym Salomon all agree that without his “contribution to the cause” there would be no America today.

Haym Salomon bought and sold financial papers to raise money for Robert Morris who was the Superintendent of Finance for the Continental Congress. He believed that America would be a safe haven for the Jews. But this son of a rabbi, also believed that one day in the future, Jerusalem would rise from the dust, the Jews would return to their ancient homeland, and Israel and Jerusalem would once again be the home of the wandering Jew. Salomon determined to do all that he could to finance the Revolution so that America could survive until that future time when his people would once again fill the streets of Jerusalem.

From one crisis to the next, Robert Morris went to Haym Salomon for help, and Salomon always responded. Haym Salomon gave his entire personal fortune of over $800,000 (equivalent to many millions of dollars in today’s currency) to the cause of the Revolution. This debt was never repaid. He died sick and penniless at the age of 45, January 6, 1785, leaving behind a young widow, Rachel, and four children all under the age of seven.    Rachel tried for months after Haym’s death to collect on personal loans that he had made to Robert Morris, to the Congress and others. She was requested to turn all her securities and certificates over to the State Treasurer of Pennsylvania for evaluation. After several months she made further inquiries and was informed that all of the papers relating to her inheritance had been “lost.”

Haym Salomon was buried in Mikveh Israel Cemetery in Philadelphia in a grave which is now unmarked.   Since we don’t know which his grave is, we cannot even pay our respects at his graveside, nor can we erect a marker.

But the story of Haym Salomon doesn’t end with an unmarked grave. There is a plaque on a brick wall bordering the cemetery that was placed by Haym’s great-grandson, William Salomon in 1917. It says, “To the Memory of Haym Salomon … interred in this Cemetery the location of the grave being now unknown…”

Was it just a coincidence that the year this plaque was erected (1917) was the same year of the Balfour Declaration issued by the British which begins, “His majesty’s Government views with favor the establishing in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”?  Was it just a coincidence that in 1975, when the U.S. Postal Department issued the stamp honoring Haym Salomon, is the same year that the Israeli government issued a stamp honoring Harry Truman, the American president who was the first head of state to recognize Israel?

As Haym Salomon believed, America has been that save haven for the Jewish people and Israel has been reborn. As we celebrate America, may we remember the great debt we owe to Haym Salomon. While we may not be able to repay him personally, we can honor him by standing firm in our support and prayers for a strong and secure Israel and a united Jerusalem under the rule of Haym’s Salomon’s spiritual descendants, the Jewish people. Happy 4^th of July!

By Dr. Richard Booker, Founder/Director,

Institute for Hebraic-Christian Studies

Salomon, Haym (1740-1785), American Jewish financier and patriot, born in Poland. He arrived in America about 1772, and established himself in NYC as a merchant and broker. He associated himself with the cause of independence in the American Revolution and was twice imprisoned by the British. In 1778, he escaped to Philadelphia, where he became a successful broker, the financier of the Revolution. Salomon helped to negotiate subsidies from foreign governments for the conduct of the war and made substantial personal loans to the U.S. government. These loans were never repaid.