Editing Ezra Stiles (section)

===Scholarship===
[[File:Ezra_Stiles_by_Nathaniel_Smibert_1756.jpeg|thumb|A 1756 portrait of Stiles]]

==== Semitic scholarship ====
Stiles struck up a close friendship with [[Haim Isaac Carigal]] of Hebron during the [[Rabbi]]'s 1773 residence in Newport.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Rabbi from Hebron and the President of Yale |url=http://hebron.org.il/history/363 |access-date=2022-06-02 |website=the Jewish Community of Hebron |language=en}}</ref> Stiles' records note 28 meetings to discuss a wide variety of topics from [[Kabbalah]] to the politics of the [[Holy Land]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Geffen |first=Rabbi David |date=2021-05-13 |title=Hebron Rabbi Spoke on Shavuot in 1773 Newport |url=https://www.atlantajewishtimes.com/hebron-rabbi-spoke-on-shavuot-in-1773-newport/ |access-date=2022-06-02 |website=Atlanta Jewish Times |language=en-US}}</ref> Stiles improved his rudimentary knowledge of [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], to the point where he and Carigal corresponded by mail in the language.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Stiles |first1=Ezra |url=http://archive.org/details/andthejews00stilerich |title=Ezra Stiles and the Jews; selected passages from his Literary diary concerning Jews and Judaism |last2=Kohut |first2=George Alexander |date=1902 |publisher=New York, P. Cowen |others=University of California Libraries}}</ref> Stiles' knowledge of Hebrew also enabled him to translate large portions of the Hebrew [[Old Testament]] into English. Stiles believed, as did many Christian scholars of the time, that facility with the text in its original language was advantageous for proper interpretation.

==== Native American scholarship ====
Stiles conducted research on the Native Americans of New England. In 1761, he visited a Native American village in [[Niantic, Connecticut]], where he recorded notes on the traditional construction methods of [[wigwam]]s. Stiles additionally documented information on the languages and petroglyphs of New England's Native peoples. According to archaeologist Edward J. Lenik, Stiles "produced one of the most important early records of petroglyphs and American Indian life in New England."<ref name=":0" />