Mordecai Sheftall

The order arrived slightly late, and his father became worried that the ship holding the tefillin and s'farim got lost at sea or was captured by an "enemy" vessel.

"[6] Sheftall went into business by the time he was seventeen, and was making a nice profit buying, tanning, and then selling deerskin.

By his mid twenties, he was doing business with companies from the Caribbean, Charleston, and Philadelphia, making substantial sums of money.

From the outbreak of the Revolution, Sheftall was prominently identified with the Patriot cause, vocally opposing the 1765 Stamp Act imposed by the British Parliament.

He became chairman of "the Parochial Committee," organized to regulate the internal affairs of Savannah, and composed of patriots opposed to the royal government; his appointment has been taken by some to indicate the level of high standing Sheftall enjoyed among both Jews and Gentiles.

[14] When the British attacked Savannah in late 1778, Sheftall not only took an active part in its defense, but he also advanced considerable sums of money (including loans) for the American cause.

[13][10] On the ship, he refused to eat the pork the British gave to him, due to his keeping of kosher dietary restrictions.

The British had seized his property during their occupation of Savannah, and his loans that he gave for the defense of Georgia were never paid back.

[18] For several years, the only Jewish place of worship in Savannah was a room fitted up by him in his own house, where services were held until about 1774.

In 1773, he deeded a piece of land for the purpose of erecting a synagogue, but the project was abandoned owing to the incipient war with Great Britain.