Ararat, City of Refuge

Ararat, established as a city of refuge for the Jewish nation, was founded in 1825 by New York politician and playwright Mordecai Manuel Noah, who purchased most of Grand Island, a island near Buffalo, New York. It failed to be a Jewish city.

Noah led a ceremonious procession to the site and laid a markstone with the sayings in Hebrew and English:<blockquote>Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; Ararat, A City of Refuge for the Jews, Founded by Mordecai Manuel Noah, in the Month Tishrei, September 1825 and in the 50th year of American Independence.</blockquote>The idea did not attract many followers and Mordecai Noah started to advocate the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine, then a part of the Ottoman Empire.

In his short story "Noah's Ark", British author Israel Zangwill retells the story of Ararat.

See also

• Zionism
• Proposals for a Jewish state

References

External links

• Oytsar Zichronosai, YD Eizenshteyn, NY 1930. (digitized and hosted at hebrewbooks.org)
• Mapping Ararat: An Imaginary Jewish Homelands Project Using augmented reality, this project animates Major Mordecai Noah's 1825 unrealized plan to transform Grand Island, New York into Ararat, a "city of refuge for the Jews."