Moses Elias Levy

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Moses Elias Levy (July 10, 1782 – September 7, 1854) (In Arabic :موسى إلياس ليفي) was a Moroccan-American businessman and ardent social and religious reformer. Born into an elite Sephardic Jewish family in Morocco, Levy migrated to Gibraltar as a child and later established himself as a merchant-shipper in the Caribbean with extensive business dealings in England, Europe, and the Americas. After amassing a fortune, Levy ended his business career in favor of a life centered on philanthropic causes.^[1] In 1821 he immigrated to the Florida Territory in the United States where he established a large agrarian refuge for Jews who were suffering under repression in Europe. Although the number of Jews fell far short of expectations, at least five Jewish families made their way to Levy's Pilgrimage Plantation—located in north central Florida—making this the first agrarian Jewish settlement in the United States (1822–1835).^[1] The plantation was destroyed by fire during the onset of the Second Seminole War (1835–1842). Levy, a slaveholder, was also unusual in his advocacy of the gradual emancipation of slaves. He wrote "A Plan for the Abolition of Slavery" while in London in 1828, achieving celebrity during the height of the antislavery campaign.^[1][2][3] Levy was instrumental in leading a series of inter-religious debates in elite venues where he challenged Christians to end antisemitism.^[4] Since Jews had never before entered the public sphere in England, and certainly never openly questioned the status quo, these public meetings created a furor in London. Widespread international press coverage referred to these protests as the "Extraordinary Movement of the Jews."^[4] Levy was the father of U.S. Senator from Florida David Levy Yulee.