Our two oldest signed documents:
The Alsbacher Testament of 1839 and the 1840 Petition. 
Which one should we know about?

Below: the Alsbacher Document on display at the Maltz Museum
(The original is at the Cleveland History Center of the WRHS)

About our oldest signed documents

In Cleveland on April 1, 1840 the Israelitic Society, our first community organization, petitioned City Council for a Jewish section of the city cemetery. Their 1840 Petition, written for them in English, is an example of vision and unity. Some of its signers helped start the next two Jewish organizations: Congregations Anshe Chesed and Tifereth Israel.

In Unsleben Bavaria on May 5, 1839 Moses Alsbacher was about to lead a party of 19 Jews to Cleveland. The Jews staying behind signed a farewell card that urged the Alsbacher Party, going to a land of tempting freedom, to keep their Jewish faith and pass it on to their children. Written in German, Hebrew and Yiddish, it is known as the Alsbacher Document.

Which one should we know about?

Both, of course. The Alsbacher Document as it closed one old-country chapter in our history, and the 1840 Petition as it marks our Jewish community's beginning, German-speaking Jewish pioneers in a new world.

The Alsbacher Document, discovered in 1936, has been described in history books and in the Jewish press. Web searches show how often its story has been told: 20 times by our Cleveland Jewish News alone, and many pages of search engine "hits". Since 2005 it has been at the start of the Maltz Museum core exhibit, where it has been seen by about 30,000 visitors each year.

The 1840 Petition is almost unknown. Safe in the archives of Cleveland's City Council, it was not discovered until 2017. Its story has been told only on these pages. Web searches will find no other mention of it. It is not on public display anywhere. This historic document deserves a place in our community's story.

    •  The Discovery (and display) of the 1840 Petition