Historic Cemeteries of New Orleans). He was the second Jewish U.S. Senator from Louisiana, the first having been Judah P. Benjamin (1853–1861), and the third Jewish Senator overall, the others being Benjamin and David Levy Yulee of Florida (1845–1851, 1855–1861). However, both Yulee and Benjamin married Christian wives, and did not openly practice Judaism afterward. Jonas was the first practicing Jew in the Senate. Jonas was also the first Ashkenazi Jew in the Senate; while the two previous Jewish senators were of Sephardic descent, as were the majority of U.S. Jews at the time, today American Jews are overwhelmingly Ashkenazi, as are the majority of Jewish elected officials. See also List of Jewish members of the United States Congress References Sources Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress 1834 births 1911 deaths Jewish American military personnel American people of English-Jewish descent Democratic Party members of the Louisiana House of Representatives Confederate States Army officers People of Louisiana in the American Civil War Jewish United States senators Democratic Party United States senators from Louisiana Jewish Confederates 19th-century American politicians Jewish American state legislators in Louisiana