Moses Elias Levy (July 10, 1782 – September 7, 1854) (In Arabic :موسى إلياس ليفي) was a Moroccan-American businessman and ardent social and religious reformer. Born into an elite Sephardic Jewish family in Morocco, Levy migrated to Gibraltar as a child and later established himself as a merchant-shipper in the Caribbean with extensive business dealings in England, Europe, and the Americas. After amassing a fortune, Levy ended his business career in favor of a life centered on philanthropic causes. In 1821 he immigrated to the Florida Territory in the United States where he established a large agrarian refuge for Jews who were suffering under repression in Europe. Although the number of Jews fell far short of expectations, at least five Jewish families made their way to Levy's Pilgrimage Plantation—located in north central Florida—making this the first agrarian Jewish settlement in the United States (1822–1835). The plantation was destroyed by fire during the onset of the Second Seminole War (1835–1842). Levy, a slaveholder, was also unusual in his advocacy of the gradual emancipation of slaves. He wrote "A Plan for the Abolition of Slavery" while in London in 1828, achieving celebrity during the height of the antislavery campaign. Levy was instrumental in leading a series of inter-religious debates in elite venues where he challenged Christians to end antisemitism. Since Jews had never before entered the public sphere in England, and certainly never openly questioned the status quo, these public meetings created a furor in London. Widespread international press coverage referred to these protests as the "Extraordinary Movement of the Jews." Levy was the father of U.S. Senator from Florida David Levy Yulee.
Life
Moses Levy was the son of Eliahu Ha-Levi ibn Yuli, who served as an undersecretary to Sultan Mohammed ben Abdullah, and his wife, Rachel, who was from Tangiers, one of three wives in a plural marriage. Rachel was said to have spoken fluent Spanish. The Ibn Yuli family descend from Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Spain. They were elites who served as court officials and advisers to the sultans of Morocco.
In 1790, the family fled to Gibraltar, where Moses Levy grew to young adulthood. At eighteen Levy—having dropped the Yuli surname—left the region for the Danish Virgin Islands, where he established himself as a leading merchant in Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas. In 1803 he married Hannah Abendanone (1786–1872), the daughter of a local merchant, David Abendanone, and his wife, Rachel. They had four children. The youngest, David Levy Yulee (1810–1886), became the first Jew elected to the United States Senate, representing Florida. Moses Levy's firm of Levy & Benjamin pursued an extensive trade throughout the Caribbean. Philip Benjamin, his cousin and business partner, was the father of Judah P. Benjamin, future Confederate Secretary of State. Levy eventually left this firm and ran his own business centered in San Juan, Puerto Rico and then Havana, Cuba. His friendship with Alejandro Ramirez, the superintendent of Cuba and the Floridas, was influential in expanding Levy's business horizons. At one time Levy supplied General Pablo Morillo's massive expeditionary forces in Venezuela with food, munitions, and other supplies.
Influenced by evangelical culture, in 1816 Levy underwent a spiritual epiphany, an event that was at least partially attributable to a rancorous and long-failing marriage. After a rare, formal divorce granted by the Danish king (1818) Levy abandoned a flourishing business in favor of a life devoted to what he called the "sacred cause" of reform. His plans included an "asylum" for Jews who were then suffering extensive abuse in post-Napoleonic Europe. Despite his wealth, Levy feared it would lead to sin.
In 1820, he purchased 53,000 acres of land in what is now Lake City, Florida, near the St. John's River. He later bought more land in what is now Alachua County and Marion County, Florida, establishing a sugar plantation called Hope Hill.