On April 8, 1730 1730, 23 Sephardic Jews from Recife, Brazil, founded Congregation Shearith Israel. The rise of the Spanish Inquisition caused Jews in Brazil to feel endangered following the expulsion of the Dutch from the country by the Portuguese in 1654. Thus, thousands of Jews left Brazil to avoid the Inquisition, some heading back to Amsterdam, while others left for the Caribbean. They then boarded the Saint Catarina to New Amsterdam, or modern-day New York City, after being captured by Spanish privateers at sea in September 1654. Despite the fact that Peter Stuyvesant, the governor of New Amsterdam, initially did not accept these Jews because of his overt antisemitism, they battled and won the right to live in the colony in 1655.For less than 10 years, Jews lived in New Amsterdam with limited rights, as they were not allowed to publicly practice Judaism or engage in retail work and trade. When New Amsterdam became the British colony of New York in 1664, most of the original Jews who had escaped from Brazil returned to the Netherlands. The remaining Jews, as few as they were, continued to organize religious services and were granted land for burial that eventually became the Chatham Square Cemetery. Additionally, there is evidence of a synagogue existing around 1695, located on Beaver Street near Mill Street. By 1700, the synagogue was located in a house on Mill Street, and its congregation consisted of 20 families. Official records from the synagogue referred to its earlier constitution in 1706, but there are no detailed records. Records recorded by the synagogue’s leadership began in 1728, written in English and Portuguese. On the seventh day of Passover in 1730, the congregation of the original Mill Street synagogue consecrated its first official house of worship, Shearith Israel. The lot on Mill Street had been purchased two years earlier and was remodeled and reconsecrated in 1818. Congregation Shearith Israel was not only the first synagogue in the United States but also the only synagogue in New York from its origin in 1654 until 1825. During this time, the synagogue functioned as the main religious source for all Jews in New York. Though the original members of the Shearith Israel congregation were Sephardic Jews, Ashkenazi Jews were quick to join as well. The synagogue was run according to Spanish and Portuguese customs, yet the congregation was a mix of Ashkenazim from Poland, Germany, and other European countries, as well as Sephardim. By 1784, records show that a majority of the congregation was Ashkenazi, but leaders remained primarily Sephardic. During the 19th century, as the American-Jewish population increased, Congregation Shearith Israel played a prominent role in Jewish New York life. Along with consecrating other cemeteries and synagogues, Shearith Israel founded the Jewish school Polonies Talmud Torah in 1802, in response to the establishment of the New York City Public School system. In the 19th century alone, Congregation Shearith Israel moved to three different buildings on three different streets. The final location, West 70th Street on the Upper West Side, has been home for the congregation for over 100 years. As an Orthodox synagogue with Sephardic roots and customs, it embodies Jewish values of chesed, tzedakah, and religious devotion.Upon the arrival of Sephardim from the Middle East at the beginning of the 20th century, Shearith Israel helped orchestrate the settlement of the immigrants. Additionally, members of the congregation were involved in the founding of many organizations, such as the New York Stock Exchange, Mount Sinai Hospital, the American Sephardi Federation, and the Sephardic House.