USA: The Jewish promised land

in many respects, we Jews found our promised land when we first stepped foot on American soil (Boston, 1649, Solomon Franco), and later when we came in larger numbers during the 1800s (250,000 Jews by 1880). For the first time, Jews had a home country devoid of a history of Jewish expulsion or systematic Jewish bloodshed. For the first time in history, Jews had a country that — from the beginning — gave de jure acknowledgement to the right to practice to Judaism and the right to be an equal citizen as a Jew. One Jew — Haym Solomon — quickly recognized the opportunities that the liberal values of the American Revolutionaries might afford future Jews. Solomon put his money where his thoughts were and gave $20,000 to George Washington's army, making him the largest financier of the American Revolution.