Eli Faber is professor of history at John Jay College in New York. He received his Ph.D. in American history from Columbia University and is the author of A Time for Planting: The First Migration, 1654–1820 and Jews, Slaves and the Slave Trade: Setting the Record Straight. He is the editor of American Jewish History, the quarterly scholarly journal of the American Jewish Historical Society.
Jewish women in colonial America led varied lives, with some occupying traditional roles as mothers and wives and others remaining single. Some ran their own businesses and others worked as servants for Jews with more money. Both in and out of the synagogue, women played a crucial role in early American Jewish communities.
