Jacques Judah Lyons

He received his education in Suriname, and was rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese congregation there, Neveh Shalom, for five years.

He left Surinam in 1837 and went to Richmond, Virginia, where for two years he was rabbi of the Congregation Beth Schalom.

Lyons was among those who founded The Jews' (now Mount Sinai) Hospital; he was actively concerned in founding the Jewish Board of Delegates and Hebrew Free Schools and was superintendent of the Polonies Talmud Torah School, in connection with his own congregation.

For many years he was president of the Hebra Hased ve-Emet and of the Sampson Simpson Theological Fund.

Lyons was an ardent student and collected a library that is now in possession of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.