Savannah's Jewish Revolutionary Hero

Mordecai Sheftall

Savannah had many Revolutionary heroes either live or die here. But none quite as unique as Mordecai Sheftall. Mordecai lived between 1737 and 1797. He was the son of Benjamin and Perla Sheftall who came to Savannah on either the William or Sarah two ships in 1733 that brought the first Jewish settlers of Georgia. Mordecai was Benjamin and Perla’s son and a successful merchant and real estate dealer in early Savannah history. He was active in the colonial cause from the earliest days of the fomenting of the American Revolution. When the War inevitably came between the colonists and the British, he was appointed commissary-general and eventually the “Deputy Commissary of Issues in South Carolina and Georgia.”  He was given the rank of colonel to carry out these duties and this made him the highest ranking Jew to serve in the continental Army. Mordecai not only served but he also gave of his fortune for the upkeep of the soldiers under his command.
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Unfortunately Mordecai was taken prisoner by the British early in the War. Along with his son Sheftall Sheftall (no misprint) who served as his assistant he was eventually released in a prisoner exchange. But this was not before his fortune of land and tannery factory were confiscated and destroyed.  He would petition the new government for the money he had given his soldiers after the War but was denied, leaving him in bad financial straits.

Mordecai was not only a Jew by ethnicity but a Jew by heart too. He had a room in his home which served as the house of worship for the Congregation Mickve Israel. After the War this Congregation would build what is the only Gothic Synagogue in the United States (1773) on land he deeded to the congregation. The congregation is the third oldest in America. He served five years as its president.
Sheftall also donated land for the first major Jewish cemetery in Georgia on August 2, 1773. It was called the Sheftall Cemetery. This burial ground was in use for one hundred years. Today it is located in a secluded back street behind Garrison Performing Arts School.

Sheftall died on July 6, 1797, He never regained the fortune he had before the War but he remained one of the leading citizens of Savannah, serving on civic boards and as the leader of the Savannah Jewish Community.

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Mickve Israel Synagogue

Old Jewish Burial Ground