 Benjamin was the first U.S. senator to profess the Jewish faith . In 1845 , David Yulee , born David Levy , had been sworn in for Florida , but he had renounced Judaism and eventually formally converted to Christianity . As an adult , Benjamin was a nonobservant Jew , who was not a member of a synagogue and took no part in communal affairs . He rarely spoke of his religion publicly , but was not ashamed of it . Some of the stories told of Benjamin that touch on his faith come from Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise , who related that Benjamin delivered an address in a San Francisco synagogue on Yom Kippur in 1860 , though whether this occurred is open to question as Wise was not there and it was not reported in the city 's Jewish newspaper . One quote from Senate debate that remains " part of the Benjamin legend " , according to Evans , followed an allusion to Moses as a freer of slaves by a Northern senator , hinting that Benjamin was an " Israelite in Egyptian clothing " . Benjamin is supposed to have replied , " It is true that I am a Jew , and when my ancestors were receiving their Ten Commandments from the immediate hand of deity , amidst the thunderings and lightnings of Mount Sinai , the ancestors of my opponent were herding swine in the forests of Great Britain . " 
