Isaac Pinto (1720–1791) was a Jew, who emigrated to the Province of New York when he was 20. When he arrived in the States, he became a member of Congregation Shearith Israel, the oldest Jewish congregation in America. At the time, Shearith Israel was the only synagogue in New York. Pinto became a crucial figure in the colonial history of the United States. Pinto prepared the first siddur, or Jewish prayerbook, published in America, which was also the first English translation of a siddur. He saw the inability of colonial Jews to read Hebrew and the need for a readable siddur.