David Mendez Machado

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David Mendez Machado (1695–1747) was a Portuguese-born Jewish religious leader who served as hazzan (minister) of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York. Born to a family of Marranos (secret Jews) in Lisbon, he escaped the Portuguese Inquisition, came to Savannah, Georgia, with its first Jewish settlers in 1733, and later moved to New York. His descendants included Commodore Uriah P. Levy, the journalist Mordecai Manuel Noah, and several generations of the Phillips family.

Early life

Machado was born in Lisbon to a Marrano family that outwardly professed Christianity while secretly practicing Judaism. Escaping the Inquisition, he went to England, where he joined the group of Jewish emigrants bound for the new colony of Georgia, arriving in Savannah in 1733. In Savannah he married Zipporah, daughter of the physician Samuel Nunez.

Hazzan of Shearith Israel

Soon after his marriage Machado left Savannah for New York, where he became hazzan of Congregation Shearith Israel, the city's only synagogue, a Spanish and Portuguese congregation. Having been raised under the Inquisition, he had to learn much of Jewish observance as an adult. Besides leading services, he kept the congregation's school and supervised the kashrut of meat.

Death and family

Machado died in New York in 1747 and was buried in the congregation's cemetery at Chatham Square. He had two daughters: Rebecca (born 1746), who married the merchant Jonas Phillips in 1762, and Sarah, who married a Mr. Moses of Charleston. Through Rebecca his descendants included her son Naphtali Phillips, Commodore Uriah P. Levy, Mordecai Manuel Noah, Henry M. Phillips, Jonas B. Phillips and N. Taylor Phillips.

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