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ceive far more publicity for his defenses o f the faith than did any
other American Jew o f his time.
JOURNAL IST IC ACT IV ITY
Despite the success o f his
Travels,
Noah wrote no other books.
He compiled a volume o f his newspaper columns (1820, rev.
1845), and he published an American edition o f Moses Samuel’s
translation o f the
Book ofjasher
(1840). But otherwise he confined
himself to pamphlets, published lectures, and the forum he liked
best: the press.13During his long tenure on New York’s newspa
per row, Noah edited some o f America’s leading dailies:
The New
York National Advocate, The Enquirer,
and
The Evening Star.
He also
edited the
Sunday Times and Noah’s Weekly Messenger,
one o f the
first Sunday newspapers in America, and one designed to be a
family newspaper, “received and approved in circles where no
Sunday publication had penetrated before.” 14 Noah rarely con
cerned himself with two trends revolutionizing American jour
nalism in his day: increasing speed and decreasing price. He left
the scoops and the scandal to the
Sun
and the
Herald',
meanwhile,
he concentrated on quality. “It is the business o f a newspaper,” he
wrote, “to tell its readers o f everything
new,
which transpires in
the world, and more especially o f that sort o f
newness,
which car
ries with it utility and value . . . It is our business, as editors, to
make known such occurrences as shall have an influence, and a
beneficial influence too.” 15
Noah remains best known for his Jewish writings: his pub
lished lectures, pronouncements, and newspaper articles that
aimed to improve both the image o f Jews in the eyes o f Gentiles,
and the condition o f Jews worldwide. As early as in his
Corre
spondence and Documents
(1816), echoing themes he had previ
ously expressed in private letters to government officials, Noah
trumpeted the loyalty and patriotism o f American Jews:
The citizens o f the United States, who profess the Hebrew
13 For a complete bibliography o f Noah’s writings, seeJacob Blanck,
Bibliography
o f American Literature
(New Haven, 1973), vol. 6, pp. 447-454; with the several
corrections noted in Sarna,
Jacksonian Jew,
p. 215.
14
Sunday Times and Noah’s Weekly Messenger
(March 28, 1852), p. 2.
15
New York Enquirerfo r the Country
(November 17, 1827), p. 2; Sarna,
Jacksonian
Jew,
pp. 5-6, 35-38, 77-80, 97-99.
SARNA /TH E LITERARY CONTRIBUTIONS OF NOAH
193