Ararat, established as a city of refuge for theJewish nation, was founded in 1825 byNew Yorkpolitician andplaywrightMordecai Manuel Noah, who purchased most ofGrand Island, a 27-square-mile (70 km²) island nearBuffalo, New York.^[1] It failed to be a Jewish city.^[2]

Noah led a ceremonious procession to the site and laid a markstone with the sayings inHebrew andEnglish:

"Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; Ararat, A City of Refuge for the Jews, Founded by Mordecai Manuel Noah, in the MonthTishrei, September 1825 and in the 50th year of American Independence."

The idea did not attract many followers and Mordecai Noah started to advocate the creation of a Jewish state in theLand of Israel, then a part of theOttoman Empire.

In his short story "Noah's Ark", British authorIsrael Zangwill retells the story of Ararat.

• Zionism
• Proposals for a Jewish state

• Oytsar Zichronosai, YD Eizenshteyn, NY 1930. (digitized and hosted at hebrewbooks.org)
• Mapping Ararat: An Imaginary Jewish Homelands Project Using augmented reality, this project animates Major Mordecai Noah's 1825 unrealized plan to transform Grand Island, New York into Ararat, a "city of refuge for the Jews."

• 1825 in Judaism
• Jews and Judaism in New York (state)
• History of New York (state)
• Populated places established in 1825
• Zionism in the United States
• Settlement schemes in the United States
• Jewish settlement schemes

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from May 2021