Mordecai M. Noah (1785-1851)

Politician, Playwright, Journalist, and Jewish

Mordecai Manuel Noah was the first distinguished Jewish diplomat and the first well-known Jewish playwright in American history. In the early nineteenth century, he was appointed United States Consul to the Kingdom of Tunis. He had a successful term, but upon his release, he devoted his time to other interests. His dismissal gave him the time he needed to pursue writing and take up the Zionist cause. His most famous play, She Would be a Soldier, premiered in 1819. In his pre-Zionist work, he attempted to found a Jewish homeland in Grand Valley along the Niagara River, as a temporary refuge until the future return to Zion. On September 25, 1925, he purchased the land and held the founding ceremony of the Jewish city, called Ararat. His vision of a Jewish safe haven was never fulfilled, but it was used by early Mormons to create a Christian Zion in America.