Travels Through Jewish History

Can You Solve This Genealogy Question?

2011-12-10T22:38:00.000-08:00

I have a genealogy mystery question for you! Those who are interested in Sephardic Genealogy will know that traditionally Sephardic Jews often named their children following a strict naming pattern:

1. Firstborn son named after paternal grandfather
2. Second son after maternal grandfather
3. First daughter named after paternal grandmother
4. Second daughter after maternal grandmother
5. Next child after the paternal uncle or aunt,
6. Next child named after maternal uncle/aunt,
7. And so forth (Malka 77-78).

Yet, in the Portuguese Jewish cemetery of Amsterdam, we find a relatively larger number of men named Abraham v'Abraham (Abraham son of Abraham) while only 14 men who were Moses were Moses v'Moses (Moses son of Moses) (out of 27,764 records).

How might we explain why more men named Abraham seem to have been named for their fathers?

A prize will go to the person who posts the best answer below in the comments!

For answers to this question and others, join me for a two-part Jewish genealogy workshop in Seattle on Mercer Island on Monday Jan. 9th with the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State.
Part 1: Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews in the Americas, 1620-1820
Part 2: Tracing Family History Through Architecture.

RESOURCES CITED:
Malka, Jeffrey S. Sephardic Genealogy. Bergenfield, NJ: Avotaynu Inc., 2002.

Photo detail of the gravestone of Abraham, son of Benjamin Senior (1727) by Laura Leibman, from the Beth Haim Ouderkerk aan de Amstel

Rabbis of Renown: The Ramchal

2010-12-20T20:18:00.000-08:00

I am an unabashed fan of the Ramchal--Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707-1746). He is one of those authors whose works I return to again and again. Yet, I often feel like there are two Ramchals. There is the tzaddik who spawned the modern mussar (ethics) movement who work is taught in orthodox yeshivot around the world. Then, there is the sometimes heretical, messianic mystic studied by academics. Can these be the same person?

Recent publications of some of the Ramchal's mystical masterpieces (including 138 Openings of Wisdom and Secrets of the Future Temple: Mishkney Elyon) by Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum have begun to close this gap, by showing the importance of the Ramchal as a mystical thinker as well as ethical philosopher. In my own scholarship, I've tried to understand why the Ramchal became such a crucial figure for mainstream Judaism by looking to how he reveals the logic of mysticism and how he answers the fundamental theological questions of his era.

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707-1746) was born in Padua (Italy) and died in Acre, near Tiberius (Israel). In between, he settled in Amsterdam where he wrote many of his most famous works, including Mesillat Yesharim (The Path of the Just) and possibly Derech haShem (The Way of G-d). These works answered a basic need in the Sephardic community, particularly the questions raised by the large numbers of conversos arriving in Amsterdam due to late waves of the Inquisition. These are questions that still plague us today. Do our acts matter for salvation? How can we gain knowledge of God’s plan? What is the relationship between the physical realm and the spiritual? What is the meaning and purpose of life? If God is in charge of the universe, how can I have free will?

The Ramchal’s writings were (and are) powerful because they addressed the great questions and concerns of his day; moreover, his answers revealed that the major “threats” to Jewish practice were not as threatening as people might have thought. Thus it should not surprise us, that works like Mesillat Yesharim and Derech haShem were almost immediately accepted as central formulations of Jewish belief, despite the fact that the Ramchal authored other more controversial messianic manuscripts.

Ramchal Synagogue in Acre © Yourway

Like any good fan, as soon as there is another edition of one the Ramchal's books, I rush out to get it. Hence I was thrilled when my copy of the Ofeq Institute's Complete Mesillat Yesharim arrived. I own several other versions of Mesillat Yesharim, but this version is already by far my favorite. I suspect that the new Ofeq edition of The Complete Mesillat Yesharim (superbly edited and translated by Avraham Shoshana) will appeal to readers new to the Ramchal as well as fans like myself.

The edition has many strengths. First, the translation is lively and very readable. Second, the notes are excellent and insightful, but not intrusive. Third, the introduction is succinct and still helpful. Fourth, the book contains both the "dialogue" and "thematic" versions of this classic work.

It is this fourth element that will ensure the Ofeq edition is an immediate classic and is necessary to any serious study of the Ramchal. The "thematic version" is the one most commonly found in print, and is based on a revised version of the 1740 edition of Mesillat Yesharim from Amsterdam. The dialogue version is based on a 1738 manuscript in the Guenzberg Collection of the Russian State Library in Moscow. This "version" takes the form of a dialogue between a hakham (wise man) and a hasid (a pietist). Although the 1740 edition of Mesillat Yesharim was both generated from this dialogic text and is an abridgement of it, the manuscript was an independent work, not a "draft." One of the geniuses of the Ofeq edition is that it allows readers to toggle back and forth between the two versions and learn from the comparison. Indeed, there is a comparative study of the two versions at the end of the volume. At $35.99 (and 672 pages) this beautifully printed edition is a bargain.

If you are new to the Ramchal, you might find it helpful to read Derech haShem before trying Mesillat Yesharim. Likewise, I find that the Ramchal's more openly kabbalistic texts 138 Openings of Wisdom and Secrets of the Future Temple: Mishkney benefit both from an introduction to kabbalism and a thorough reading of his other works. Here are a few resources that people may enjoy:

Resources on the Ramchal

Internet Version of 138 Openings of Wisdom and Secrets of the Future Temple: Mishkney Elyon; Also available in book form.
Feldheim Editions of Ramchal's Works.
Ramchal in Spanish: El Camino de Dios; Mesilat Yesharim
Ramchal class by Rabbi Feldman
Ramhal Instiutute
Biography: Yirmeyahu Bindman's Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto: His Life and Works
Rabbi Kenneth Brodkin's (Kesser Israel) Class on Derech haShem

Keep This Classic Cemetery Open to the Public!

2010-12-14T20:19:00.000-08:00

Beth Haim Ouderkerk is the most magnificent and important of the historic cemeteries in the Jewish Atlantic World. It is the birthplace of the unique Sephardic sepulchral tradition that spread throughout Hamburg, London, Newport, New York, and the Caribbean in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

The cemetery opened in 1614, and some of the oldest (and most famous) stones imitate the coffin-shaped style found in medieval Spanish Jewish cemeteries and Sephardic cemeteries in the Ottoman Empire. These stones have been memorialized in paintings and drawings by Dutch artists like Romeyn de Hooghe (1645–1708) and Jacob van Ruysdael (1628/9-1682). By the final quarter of the seventeenth century, a distinctive tradition emerged in the cemetery: flat table stones with a predilection for elaborate carvings that often include death’s heads, angels, biblical scenes, the hand of God cutting down the tree of life, and heraldic images. Members of the Sephardic elite in the colonies imitated these stones, and often even imported stones from Amsterdam before their death. This incredible cemetery has been open to the public and available as an important heritage site for travelers and scholars from around the world. The site is also a priceless resource for genealogists.

Gravestone featuring Daniel and the Lions, Beth Haim Ouderkerk (Photo by L. Leibman, 2009)

The recent economic crisis is also hitting Beth Haim Ouderkerk. The lack of donations have created a situation where the annual municipal subsidies may be withdrawn. The lack of these funds will halt maintenance work and make it difficult to keep the cemetery open to the public.

You can help! As this tax season ends and you consider making charitable donations, keep Beth Haim Ouderkerk in mind. You can also support the cemetery by purchasing books about the cemetery. All proceeds go to the Beth Haim.

To learn more about this classic cemetery, please enjoy the most recent newsletter (Thank you to Dennis Ouderdorp for being willing to share it!):
De Castro Newsletter 17-1

All photos from Beth Haim Ouderkerk by Laura Leibman, 2009.

Masonic Jews

2010-10-05T10:16:00.000-07:00

Phil Belinfante recently asked me about a gravestone of one of his Jewish ancestors that had masonic symbols on it. The gravestone was that of Judah Cappé (1799-1878) of St. Thomas. The stone lies in the Jewish Cemetery in St. Thomas and features a Masonic square and compass with a G inside surrounded by a laurel (right). The square and compass are the most universal symbols of freemasonry: the tools are understood "emblematically" to "remind the Mason to square his actions by the square of virtue, [and] to circumscribe his passions and desires with a symbolic compass" (Morris 5). The "G" is stands for how God (or geometry) is at the center of freemasonry. Laurels are a sign of divine blessing (and victory) and are associated with the Scottish Rite.

Phil wanted to know (1) if it was common for Jews to be Masons during this era, and (2) if so, why?

The answer to the first question is relatively simple: yes. Many prominent Jews in the American colonies were masons and they often decorated their gravestones with Masonic symbols. Some joined regular lodges, others created Jewish-themed lodges, such as the King David's Lodge of New York, Newport, and Massachusetts. Men like Michael Moses Hays and Moses Seixas rose through the masonic ranks to become grand masters. Masonic symbols can also be found on ketubot (marriage contracts) and even the lintel for Temple Emanu-el in Curaçao (above left), as well as gravestones. Although some communities (such as Curaçao) had separate non-denominational masonic cemeteries, Jewish Masons tended to be buried in Jewish cemeteries and to show their affiliations with the masons through symbols on their stones.

The second question is more complicated: why be masons? Fraternal organizations in general were extremely popular starting in the eighteenth century. As historian Steven Bullock explains, freemasonry provided a welcome relief for Restoration Britons who otherwise were awash in religious and political factionalism: “doctrinal and sectarian differences were to be laid aside within the Masonic family.” The Masons expressly banned discussions that might lead to controversy, including quarrels about religion. Nor was religious belief used to define membership. Brotherhoods allowed Jews to forge business and social connections with the wider community of elites in their port towns. Moreover, Masonic rituals that lauded the Jewish origins of the group probably helped make Jews feel at least partially at home in the organization. Some masonic "secrets" (as well as the general interest in symbols) drew upon known mystical traditions, including kabbalism, which may have also made Jews feel an affinity for masonic rites.

Did being a freemason mean one was less devoted to Judaism? As Phil points out, "One would think being a Jew was enough of a full time ... life." While many orthodox Rabbis today would probably see freemasonry as antithetical to Judaism, at least some early American Jews seem to have believed that the two were compatible. Joseph Chayyim Mendes Chumaceiro (Amsterdam 1844-Curaçao 1905), who served as the Chazan for in Charleston, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Georgia as well as Curaçao, wrote an extended treatise on the evidences of freemasonry in "Ancient Hebrew Records." The degree to which Jews actively practiced both Judaism and freemasonry probably varied tremendously.

Let's turn back, then, to Judah Cappé. Judah was the son-in-law of Samuel Hoheb and the husband of Sara de Samuel Hoheb (ca. 1796-1863). According to the history of the Harmonic Lodge, they lived downtown at 22 Commandant Gade (right). Sara's gravestone indicated that they had four children that survived her death. As Judah's stone suggests, he was active in the masons. The Harmonic Lodge's records support this and indicate that key meetings were held at the Cappé house. Judah was also active in the Synagogue. When a fire destroyed the synagogue in 1831 and the community had to rebuild the structure, the Cappés held a dinner and ball at their house in honor of the laying of the first cornerstone in December of 1832 (Cohen 46). In spite of this support, the family does not appear to have been completely shomer shabbat (sabbath observant): Cohen notes that the auction houses owned by Judah and his father-in-law "ran their swiftest business on Saturdays." Yet, when Cappé's duties as "consul to the Netherlands" conflicted with religion, he chose Judaism: when the King's birthday fell on a Saturday, "Cappé moved the planned fireworks celebration to Sunday" (Cohen 60, 126, 254 fn63). Like many Jews in the Atlantic World (and today), Judah's religious beliefs and observances were complex.

Judah's tombstone is all in English, but pays allegiance to both his beginnings (in the Jewish community of St. Eustatius) and the heritage he left to his son, named for Judah's father-in-law Samuel Hoheb. The inscription reads

Sacred
to the memory of
JUDAH CAPPE
Born in the island of St. Lusiastius [Eustatius]
on the 9th of April 1799
And summoned hence on the 4th day
of November 1878
Aged 70 years and 8 months
This stone has been erected
as a mark of filial affection
by his son
SAMUEL

Here are a few more gravestones of Jewish Masons that people may enjoy.

Gravestone of thirty-first-degree Mason Isaac Moises Penso (1878). Temple Emanu-él section of Beit Haim Berg Altena, Curaçao

Gravestone of Grand Master Moses Michael Hays. Touro Cemetery, Newport RI. Although Hays helped start King David's Lodge and was the Grand Master in New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, there are no Masonic symbols on his tomb.

Does anyone else have a Jewish gravestone about which they have questions?

RESOURCES

Bullock, Steven C. Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730-1840. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996.

Chumaceiro, Joseph Chayyim Mendes. The Evidences of Free-Masonry from Ancient Hebrew Records. Augusta, GA: 1896; New York: Bloch, 1921.

Cohen, Judah. Through the Sands of Time: a History of the Jewish community of St. Thomas. Hanover: U. Press of New England, 2004.

History of the Harmonic Lodge, a Freemasons Lodge in the Virgin Islands. http://www.harmoniclodge.com/a_short_history_of_the_harmonic_.htm>

Margolinsky, J. 299 epitaphs from the Jewish cemetery in St. Thomas, West Indies, 1837-1916, with and index; compiled from records in the archives of the Jewish Community in Copenhagen. Copehagen: 1965.

Morris, S. Brent. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry. New York: Alpha, 2006.

Rabbis of Renown: Rabbi Haim Isaac Carigal

2010-08-09T18:55:00.000-07:00

Rabbi Carigal was born around 1729 and died in Barbados in 1777. He was one of the many emissaries that visited the American colonies from Europe and the Four Holy Cities in Israel (Safed, Hebron, Tiberias, and Jerusalem). These emissaries not only played an important role raising funds for yeshivot, but also brought learning to the edges of the Jewish diaspora.

Although Carigal lived for several years in London and Barbados, he is most famous among American Jews for having visited Newport (RI) in 1773, where he delivered a Shavuot sermon that became the first published Rabbinical address delivered in what would become the United States. He also became life-long friends with Ezra Stiles (affectionately known by me as the "Harriet the Spy of the Colonial World"), who took copious notes on their visits together and transcribed their letters back and forth. Today Carigal's sermon, along with Stiles' records comprise the two main textual resources we have on the Rabbi, his thoughts, and his life. We also have his will, written in Barbados shortly before his death at the young age of 48 (see below). These written sources are complemented by two objects that round out our sense of the Rabbi: a portrait commissioned by Stiles from artist Samuel King (above), and Carigal's elaborately carved gravestone that rests today in the Nidhe Israel cemetery in Bridgetown, Barbados (below).

Like many Jewish gravestones in the West Indies, the inscription for Carigal's stone is in three languages: Hebrew, Portuguese, and English. The Portuguese and English portions read:

Do muy Docto Erudito & Isigne
H.H.R. Refael Haim Ishac Carigal
Illustre Cabeca do K K de Nidhe
Israel en Berbados que O'Soberano:
Jues chamo desta Transitoria Vida
em 2da Fra 12 de Iyar 5537 que cor
responde a 19 de Mayo 1777 de
48 Annos de Idade
SBAGDEG

Here lyeth the remains of the Learned
& Revd Rabbi Ralph Haim Isaac Carigal
Worthy Pastor of the Synagogue NY
who departed this life on the 19 of May
1777 Aged 48 Years.

Although carved in a beautiful marble with care, the stone lacks many of the signature symbols found in the Nidhe Israel cemetery: there are no angels, the tree of life, no scenes of resurrection like those found on stones nearby. The restraint shown on the stone speaks to the Rabbi's origins in the Ottoman Empire: although Turkish stones are often gorgeous and elaborate (as Minna Rozen has shown), they do not tend to have images of humans and divine beings (angels, hand of God) found on the stones of the Jewish Atlantic World. Rabbi Carigal's "Turkishness" fascinated Stiles when the Rabbi visited Newport. Stiles was particularly intrigued by Carigal's hat and robes, which gave the Rabbi an "Oriental" air.

As I argue in my essay on the Shavuot sermon, Carigal was an important resource for early American Jews. His sermon was stepped in Sephardic tradition and relied upon the greater learning he had had while in Hebron. Marc Saperstein argues that Sephardic sermons underwent a shift from an older derush form to a newer “catenary” style during the eighteenth century. Carigal's sermon bridges these two forms (Saperstein 78; Leibman 80). Carigal's will also reveals his undying ties to the Holy Land and the family he left behind: he asks that most of his estate be sold and divided between his wife and son, but that "my books and wearing apparel be send to ... be remitted ... to my loving wife Hori Carrigal [in London] and my loving son David Carrigal of Hebron to be equally divided share and share alike." Rabbi Carigal is an important reminder of the sacrifices Sephardic luminaries made to bring learning to the Jewish Atlantic World.

Transcription by L. Leibman of the "Will of Rabbi Raphael Haim Isaac Carrigal May 27^th, 1777" (Barbados Department of Archives, Bridgetown, Barbados; RB6 25 pp. 111-12)

Entd May 27th, 1777
Barbados

In the Name of God Amen I Raphael Him Isaac Carrigal of the Parish of St. Michael in the Island abovesaid Raby being sick and weak in body but of a sound and perfect disposing mind and memory do make & publish this my last Will and Testament in manner and form following that is to say. First I recommend my soul to the Almighty God of Israel imploring his Divine Goodness to pardon my sins. Impris I direct all my just debts and funeral Expenses be first fully paid and Satisfied Item I direct all my books and wearing apparel be send to Mr. Abraham Levi Hemenes of London one of my Executors here after mentioned to be remitted by him to my loving wife Hori Carrigal and my loving son David Carrigal of Hebron to be equally divided share and share alike. Item I direct that all my estate real and personal might be sold by my Executors hereafter named and the moneys arising therefrom to be remitted to London to Mr. Abraham Levi Hemenes one of my Executors here after named to be remitted to my loving wife Hore Carrigal and my loving son David Carrigal of Hebron to be equally divided share and share alike between them both and Lastly I nominate and appoint my loving friends Abraham Massiah Isaac Lind and Matthias Lopez of this Island and Mr Abraham Levi Hemenes of the City of London Executors of this my said Will hereby revoking and making void all former or other Wills by me heretofore made. In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seal this seventeenth day of May one thousand seven hundred and Seventy Seven.

Rephael Haim Carrigal (Seal)

Signed Sealed published and declared by the said Testator as and for his last Will and Testament in the presence of
Abm Depriza Moses Depriza Moses Lopez Junr

Barbados By His Excellency
Moses Lopez Junr one of the Subscribing Witness to within written Will this day personally appeared before me and made oath on the Five Books of Moses that he was present and did see Raphael Haim Isaac Carrigal the Testator therein named (Since decd) sign Seal publish and declare the same as and for this last Will and testament ad that he was at the executing thereof of a sound and disposing mind an memory to the best of his this deponents and Belief given at Pilgrim this 27th day of May 1777
Edward Hay

Further Readings:
Karigal, Rabbi Haijm Isaac. “A Sermon Preached at the Synagogue in Newport,” Newport: S. Southwick, 1773.

Kohut, George Alexander. Ezra Stiles and the Jews. NY: Philip Cowen, 1902.

Leibman, Laura. "From the Holy Land to New England Canaan: Rabbi Karigal and Sephardic Itinerant Preaching in the 18th Century." Early American Literature 44.1 (March 2009).

Minna Rozen, Hasköy Cemetery: Typology of Stones. Pennsylvania: Center for Judaic Studies, 1994.

Saperstein, Marc. Jewish Preaching, 1200-1800: an Anthology. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989.

Singer, Rabbi Shmuel, "The Chacham for the Colonies: He Came from Hebron to the New World to Serve."

Stiles, Ezra. Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles, 3 volumes. Ed. F.B. Dexter. NY: C. Scribner's Sons, 1901.

Stiles, Ezra. Itinerancies. Ezra Stiles papers, Beinecke Library. Yale University.

Family Portraits

2010-06-30T20:32:00.000-07:00

Portraits of early American Jews tell us a lot about how Jews wanted to be seen and remembered. They also tell us about how Jews dressed and how they thought about family. Who was featured together in portraits? Where were the paintings hung? Over ten years ago, the Jewish Museum in New York featured an exhibit entitled, "Facing the New World: Jewish Portraits in Colonial and Federal America," the exhibition book for which is still a landmark in the field. Today, many early American Jewish portraits are available online through the Loeb Database of Early American Portraits at AJHS.

This summer I am teaching a MALS class on material culture in the Jewish Atlantic World. This week we've focused on portraits and representations of Jews between 1640-1840. I like to distinguish between portraits paid for by a patron (who had the power not only to choose his clothes and the painter, but also not to pay for the work if it wasn't to his liking), and paintings of Jews over which the sitter had little or no input or control. Examples of a portrait would be Gilbert Stuart's "Mrs. Aaron Lopez and Her Son Joshua" (1772/73) or Gerardus Duyckinck's "Portrait of Franks Children with Lamb" (ca. 1735). In contrast, an example of an unsolicited representation of Jews would be Pierre Jacques Benoit's "Shopkeeper and Tailor, Paramaribo, Surinam" (1839). Somewhere in between these extremes is Bernard Picart's Etchings of Amsterdam's Jews, an example of which I featured in my post on the House of the Rounds. Comparing these types of representations of Jews can help students understand the differences between how Jews were seen by others and how they wanted to be seen.

Below are some resources for other teachers who are interested in having students analyze early Jewish portraits in class.

Sylvan Barnet’s General Questions Art Historians Ask About Art
1. What is my first response to the work? (Later you may modify or even reject this response, but begin by trying to study it.)

2. Where and when was the work made? Does it reveal qualities attributed to the culture? (Don't assume that it does; works of art have a way of eluding easy generalizations.)

3. Where would the work originally have been seen? (Surely not in a museum or textbook.)

4. What purpose did the work serve? To glorify a god? To immortalize a man? To teach? To delight? Does the work present a likeness, or express a feeling, or illustrate a mystery?

5. In what condition has the work survived? Is it exactly as it left the artist's hands, or has it been damaged, repaired, or in some way altered? What evidence of change do I see?

6. What is the title? Does it help illuminate the work? Sometimes it is useful to ask yourself, what would I call the work?

Specific Questions I Ask about Portraits
1. Was the portrait commissioned by the sitter (or the sitter’s family) or was it created without the sitter’s input?

2.Does the portrait emphasize or elide ethnic identity?

3. What social type does the sitter represent? (There may be more than one.) How do you know?

4. What is the class/social rank of the sitter? How does the painter establish the rank of the sitter? Does the social standing of the painter tell us anything about the social rank of the sitter?

5. What objects does the sitter hold or have around him/her? What message do these objects convey?

6. Is anyone else present in the portrait? Do these people help construct a communal identity for the sitter or emphasize the sitter as defined by specific relationships?

7. What is the sitter wearing? How do the clothing help establish the sitter’s identity?

8.If possible, look at another portrait by the same artist of a non-Jewish patron.What differences do you notice? What is the significance of the differences? [For example you could compare Gilbert Stuart's portrait of Sarah and Joshua Lopez to that his portrait of Christian Stelle Bannister and her son John].

9.If a child is in the portrait is (s)he presented as a “little adult” or as a child?

10.If you feel comfortable thinking about styles of art, in what style is the portrait made?

Resources for Finding Portraits from the Jewish Atlantic World

A. ELECTRONIC

Database of Early American Jewish Portraits (Mainly New York, Newport, but you can also search by colony through the keywords)
Surinam Mapped Out Collection (Suriname; Try Browsing Keyword "Joden")
Portrait of Sarah Solis Carvalho by Solomon Nunes Carvalho (sometimes of Barbados) ca. 1856
Collections of the Jewish Museum, London (England)
Jewish Historical Museum Amsterdam Collections (Amsterdam, Curacao, Suriname)
Images by Benoit of Suriname (Suriname); Most Famous Example

B. PRINT

Belisario: Sketches of Character (Jamaica, London)
Rembrandt's Jews (Amsterdam)
Reframing Rembrandt: Jews and the Christian image in seventeenth-century Amsterdam by Michael Zell (Amsterdam)
Bygone Barbados (Barbados)
Facing the New World: Jewish Portraits in Colonial and Federal America

The Magic of Probate Records

2010-05-27T18:53:00.000-07:00

Most of us don't just want to know the names of people in the past, we want to know who they were, how they lived, what mattered to them most, who they considered family. Probate records are one important key to unlocking these mysteries. Probate records sound boring: who wants to sit around reading wills or estate inventories? I hope to show that probate records are actually a goldmine waiting to be excavated.

When I was recently in Barbados, I managed to convince my father we NEEDED to go the Department of Archives to look at probate records. I was interested in historical research, and he was interested in family history, and for both of us, probate records provided a lot of answers to our most urgent questions.

My father knew his great-grandfather's name and date of death, but he didn't know anything about how he died, what kind of life he led, or how he felt about the family he left behind. Probate records helped my father answer these questions. By finding his great-grandfather's will, he found out he owned a small plantation, had a small amount of livestock, and a carriage. The size of the plantation and the basic holdings told us their lot was not as glamorous as that of the owners of large plantations, nor as desperate as the poor whites known as "Red Legs." We discovered our ancestor cared about his children, all of whom were mentioned by name in the will, and to whom he chose to leave equal portions to "share and share alike" after his death rather than trying to consolidate wealth with his eldest son. Although we didn't find out what precisely caused his death, we did find out that he knew he was going to die reasonable amount of time before he did, suggesting that he wasn't carried off in a sudden illness. We also found out the name of plantation. With this information in hand, we looked up the deed to the plantation and found out the exact location of the family property, the date the family sold it, and the amount of the sale after debts were paid. This gave us a sense of what our great (great) grandmother had taken as a nest egg to the United States as a young woman.

Intrigued? I'd like to offer a few general suggestions on where to find probate records and what to look for when you find them, and then I'll turn to some specific examples from Barbados to talk about the significance of what people say in their wills.

1. Where to find probate records. In order to locate probate records, you will need to know when and where someone died. In the United States, probate records are usually found in the court records of the county in which the person died. Sometimes these records have either been moved to state archives (if they are early and fragile) or are available in state archives in duplicate form. Many state archives have good websites with information about what records they possess and provide research services at a small cost. (See the resources at Mass. Archives as an example.) For more specific tips on how to find the exact document once you have located the correct archive, see these Probate Research Steps. If you don't live near the archive (or even after you get there), don't be afraid to ask someone who works there for help. Some places have printed excerpts of probate records: while these are useful, I'd encourage you to look for (or order) the original document. Although they are better than nothing, synopsis often leave out personal information: precisely the details that will help you understand who the person was and what mattered to them most. If you can't read the handwriting, don't despair: there is often a later (nineteenth century or early twentieth century) transcription. These are different than synopses as they are complete and they are usually much easier to read. If there is no transcription, try my early American handwriting game to get up to speed on reading early American handwriting. You may also find the common name and abbreviation quizzes to be helpful.

2. What you may find. Probate records vary tremendously by location, date, and the wealth of the deceased. The best case scenario is that the estate will be inventoried. This provides you with a complete list of household items owned by the deceased (see image at the top of the page). Other common features are statements about the deceased's religious beliefs, a list of real property and prized personal possessions, suggestions for how they should be commemorated, the executor of the will, and a list of heirs (and their relationship to the deceased). Sometimes what people aren't given is as important as what they are given: for example, in one will I saw, a child who had married against his parents wishes was left a dollar, while other children were given vast quantities of money. Here are some examples of what you might find:

Religious Statements
Sometimes these are stock phrases, so it is worth looking to see what the "norm" is for the era. For example in eighteenth-century Barbados, many wills included some sort of religious aspirations for after death, but in the nineteenth century, religious statements were less common (my great-great-great grandfather's will had none). Here are some examples from those who did:

From the will of Abigail Henriques (15 August 1755, Barbados): "First I recommend my Soule unto the hands of Almighty God in hope of his infinite mercy to obtain forgiveness of my sins and a joyfull resurrection with my breathren the Israelites, my body to the Earth to be buryed at the discretion of my Executors here after named." This statement interested me, as resurrection motifs can also be found on the gravestones at the Synagogue.
From the will of Rabbi Raphael Haim Isaac Carrigal (27 May 1777, Barbados): "First I recommend my soul to the Almighty God of Israel imploring his Divine Goodness to pardon my sins." Notice how similar this is to Abigail's phrasing, suggesting a stock motif.

Prized Personal Possessions

From the will of Rabbi Raphael Haim Isaac Carrigal (27 May 1777, Barbados): "I direct all my books and wearing apparel be send to Mr. Abraham Levi Hemenes of London one of my Executors here after mentioned to be remitted by him to my loving wife Hori Carrigal and my loving son David Carrigal of Hebron to be equally divided share and share alike." In order to earn his living in the colonies, Rabbi Carrigal had lived apart from his wife and son for many years. Since he was a hocham (scholar), it isn't surprising that Rabbi Carrigal prized his books, but it is touching that he wanted to make sure that his clothes were sent back to to his family! When Carrigal was in Newport, Ezra Stiles made note of Carrigal's distinctive Turkish dress, which was also featured in the portrait Stiles commissioned from Samuel King after Carrigal's death.

Suggestions for how they should be Commemorated

From the Will of Sarah Belifante (4 Nov. 1785, Barbados): " I then direct that my body be interred after the Custom of the Hebrew Nation and that a white marble stone to cost eighteen pounds sterling money of Great Britain be placed over my grave I then give to the poor of the Hebrew Nation in the island the sum of twenty five pounds current money of this island to be divided amongst them at the discretion of my executors." Notice that Sarah is interested in her legacy on a variety of levels: through how she should be buried, the type of gravestone to be used, and by leaving tzedakah for the poor.

Executor of the Will
Who the deceased designate to take care of their real and personal property after their death can say a lot about who they trust most. Rabbi Carrigal takes care to mention that he appoints his executors because they are his "loving friends." Likewise when Sarah Henriquez (1774 Barbados) appoints "Rachel Henriquez sole Executrix of this my Will," she does so only after noting that Rachel is her "dearly beloved friend."

Lists of Heirs
My father and I were touched that our great (great) grandmother received an equal share in the will, even though she was one of the youngest children in the family. It is worth comparing a list of descendants with those who are left money. Do the obvious people get the largest amounts of money? If the deceased has no children, who does she see as her closest kin? Sarah Henriquez left her entire estate to "Rachel Henriquez of the same Parish & Island Spinster [and] her heirs." The fact that Sarah and Rachel share the last name suggests that they were related, yet Sarah identifies Rachel as her "dearly beloved friend," not as a relative. More historical research would be useful to determine to whom else Sarah might have left her possessions.

I hope this post helps people see what gems can be found in Probate Records and encourage people to find records from their own ancestors!

Happy Mother's Day from Barbados

2010-05-09T18:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day from Barbados! Photos in are from Nidhe Israel Synagogue, Huntes Garden, St. Nicholas Abbey, Bridgetown, and other locations on the island. Music is the Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in D Major, Czech Radio recording. All photos by Laura Leibman and Stevan Arnold.

Slideshow Version

Video Version

Early American Mikvaot (Ritual Baths)

2010-04-24T21:44:00.000-07:00

There is probably no less understood element of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Jewish life in the American colonies than the ritual bath or mikveh. The ritual bath was an essential part of early modern Jewish society, and indeed remains so today for orthodox Jews today. Over the past several years, I have studied numerous early American mikvaot. The findings from this research are being published this month in the journal Religion in the Age of Enlightenment (AMS Press) in an article entitled, "Early American Mikvaot: Ritual Baths as the Hope of Israel."

I began to investigate early American mikvaot during a research trip focusing upon the early Jewish community in Newport, RI; my fascination with the subject is both academic and personal. As an academic, I am deeply interested in the daily lives of early American Jews, and mikveh provides important insights into the habits and behaviors of early American women. My intrigue with early mikvaot was also arises out of my own experiences as a Jew. As an orthodox woman in a small city, I have sometimes served as a volunteer balanit (mikveh attendant). When I left to do research one summer in Newport, I told the other mikveh attendants I would find out about early mikvaot. This turned out to be more challenging than I'd thought. Although I was told by tour guides in Newport that women in colonial times probably immersed in the ocean, this struck me as incredibly unlikely. In the summer, the Narragansett bay would hardly be the most modest place to immerse; in the winter the temperature drops well below zero, making ocean immersion also extremely uncomfortable if not deadly. Would early American Jews have cared enough to build a mikveh?

Textual evidence suggests yes. Mikveh use by women was required by Jewish law and was seen as essential to the continuance of a Jewish community. As one Jew in eighteenth-century Philadelphia noted, negligence of the mikveh by women was “highly criminal,” and if such negligence was deemed widespread, other communities might not only “pronounce heavy anathemas against us,” but also might “avoid intermarriages with us, equal as with [a] different nation or sect, to our great shame and mortification” (Marcus 1958: 135). From this colonist's point of view, lack of regular use of the mikveh by women had a negative impact on the family as a whole since offspring “born from so unlawful cohabitation are deemed bene niddot [children conceived during the menstrual period], which makes this offense the more hoeinous [heinous] and detestable, in as much as it effects not only the parents, but their posterity for generations to come“ (Marcus 1958: 135). Indeed the mikveh is considered so essential to Jewish life that some Rabbinical authorities gave it higher precedence than building a synagogue or buying a Torah scroll (Lesches 33).

Archaeological evidence also supports the theory that early American Jews built mikvaot. On the downside, there is little evidence from the United States. Although a spring runs under the Touro Synagogue and there are underground cisterns next to the synagogue, most mikvaot from early U.S. Jewish communities were built in what were (or became) dense urban centers. As neighborhoods changed and mikvaot were abandoned, later structures were built on top of them. Not surprisingly then, most remains of early mikvaot in the Americas are in the Caribbean—the most famous examples being in St. Eustatius and Willemstad, Curaçao (right). Other important mikvaot include the first American mikveh in Recife (Brazil), two mikavot in Paramaribo (below), and the recently rediscovered and excavated mikveh in Barbados (image at top). Archaeological digs of the early synagogue in Jamaica may have located a structure there as well that was a mikveh. As I argue in my RAE article, the unique features of these structures should be understood in relationship to the early mikvaot in Amsterdam.

Mikveh at Neve Shalom Synagogue Complex (Paramaribo, Suriname).
Quite possibly the oldest bor al gabei bor (one pit on top of another pit) mikveh in the Americas.
Recently renovated.

Interested in learning more about the Amsterdam mikvaot? There is a great article online by Jerzy Gawronski and Ranjith Jayasena. For more on early American mikvaot check out the first issue of RAE. Interested in supporting mikvaot in some of Americas oldest Jewish communities? Consider Chai Membership for Suriname or donate to the construction of the new mikveh in Newport, RI. In the meantime, enjoy the photos posted here!

Works cited
Lesches, Schneur Zalman.Understanding Mikveh Montreal: Rabbi S.Z. Lesches, 2001.

Marcus, Jacob Rader. American Jewry. Documents Eighteenth Century.

Photo credits
Top photo of the Barbados mikevh by and courtesy of Karl Watson, 2008. Features archaeologist Michael Stoner. Fisheye effects added by Laura Leibman.

Second Image of an excerpt of a letter from Rabbi Karigal (Barbados) to Aaron Lopez (Newport), asking "me advise como está el Baño" (can you tell me how is the mikveh going) suggesting a mikveh was being (re)built in Newport. From the Collection of Menashe Lehman, printed in “Early Relations Between American Jews and Eretz Yisrael.” Algemeiner Journal 3 March, 1992 : B3.

All other photos by Laura Leibman.

Jewish Heritage Travel: The Gomez House

2010-04-14T23:44:00.000-07:00

One of the great gems of Jewish American architecture stands just north of New York City near the Hudson River in Marlboro. Built in 1714, the Gomez Mill House was originally the trading post and home of Luis Moses Gomez. The house is the oldest Jewish dwelling in the United States and is a fine example of Dutch colonial architecture. Like many other early Jewish homes throughout the American colonies, the Gomez Mill House contained both living space and work space, a tradition that can be seen in other early iconic Jewish buildings like the Penha house in Curacao.

The Gomez House likewise reflects the opportunities available to Jewish settlers in the colonies. Although a refugee of the Spanish Inquisition, Luis Gomez was able to purchase the land for the house because he had obtained denizen papers from Queen Anne of England. In addition to the Mill House, Gomez owned a home and prosperous store in Manhattan. Gomez's denizen rights also allowed him to purchase the land that would serve as the first cemetery for Shearith Israel, for which he served as the parnass.

Today the Mill House has been lovingly restored by the Gomez Foundation for Mill House. Included in the house are examples of early American furniture and early Jewish ritual artifacts, including a Dutch hanukkiyah. Also on display are the denizen papers that allowed Luis Gomez to make his fortune. The grounds are lovely, so you may want to pack a lunch. Directions from Manhattan are posted on the house's website.

Educators and those interested in the history of American domestic architecture may find the section on Dutch Colonial Architecture in Rachel Carley's Visual Dictionary of American Domestic Architecture (pages 33-39) helpful to compare to the floorplan and design elements found at the Mill House. Those interested in studying the furniture may find Early American Furniture: A Practical Guide for Collectors by John Obbard will enrich their understanding of the early American aesthetic.

The Mill

The Mill House, First Story Dates to Era of Gomez Ownership

Fireplace in the Front Room of Gomez House, Dates to Era of Gomez Ownership. Fireplaces were a key element of Early American architecture and provided not only a source of heat, but also a place to cook. In some early houses, fireplaces were large enough to sit inside.

Denization Papers Given to Luis Moses Gomez by Queen Anne

All Photos by Laura Leibman, 2007.

Passover Recipes from the Caribbean

2010-03-24T22:22:00.000-07:00

Surinamese Charoseth (from Dennis Ouderdorp)

Dennis writes, "The basis of Surinamese Charoseth is always ground coconut and sweet red wine. From family to family and from generation to generation, there are variations in the recipe. My family had the tradition of Surinam cherries to simmer before adding this to the charoseth. In the Netherlands, there are no cherries to be found of this taste, so it all disappeared. The Charoseth of my Grandma again differs with mine. But my mother still finds my Charoseth delicious. And that's what Passover is all about. The quantities Charoseth I make are not only for the Passover Seder alone. We were always accustomed to make the Charoseth for the whole week to eat with Matzot."

Ingredients:
• 400 grams of ground coconut
• sweet red wine (half a bottle)
• raisins
• plums (dried)
• apricot (dried)
• cinnamon (powder or cinnamon sticks)
• ginger powder (ginger jelly isn’t easy to find kosher for Passover!)
• dates

If you don't like one of the ingredients, then it can be replaced by one of these (or they can be added, why not!):
• peach
• pineapple

Cinnamon must be present in the recipe. This is not only for the taste, but also to keep the Charoseth from going sour.

Tips:
Ground coconut. Do not do buy a whole coconut, it will take you way too much time to grind the coconut flesh yourself.

Let the hard dried fruit stand 1 night in water in the refrigerator. This is to soften the fruit.

Day of preparation:
Cut all the fruit up finely.
Making the Charoseth shouldn't take more then 10 to 15 minutes (excluding the cutting and the preparations): Add the ground coconut in a saucepan. Add the wine and simmer on a low heat. Keep stirring so the coconut does not get stuck to the saucepan. Add slowly more and more coconut and wine. The balance must remain. Once you feel that the coconut and the wine are well balanced (not too dry nor too wet), add the other fruits. Keep stirring. Don’t bring it to boil, but maintain a nice balance (not too dry nor too wet). Remove from the heat. Put the Charoseth into a large bowl. Mix the cinnamon powder well through the Charoseth or place the cinnamon sticks in the Charoseth. This is not just for the taste, but also to keep it from going sour. Let the Charoseth cool off in the refrigerator.

Do not serve it too cold! If one takes the Charoseth out at the beginning of the Seder, it will be delicious once you get to the Seder-meal.

************************************************************************************

Gremshelish (Dutch Matza Fritters) from Recipes from the Jewish Kitchens of Curacao
6 matzas
Water
4 eggs, separated
Grated lemon rind
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup plus 1 T. sugar
4 T. oil
pinch of salt
1-2/3 cups raisins
1 cup ground almonds
oil for frying
cinnamon/sugar mixture

Soak the matzas in water until soft. Drain and crush to a fine texture

Beat egg yolks with grated rind, cinnamon, sugar, oil and salt.
Add matzas, raisins, and almonds to the yolk mixture and blend well. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into the yolk mixture.

Fry by tablespoons in hot oil until golden brown. Drain well on paper towels and sprinkle with a cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Like this recipe? Order the book Recipes from the Jewish Kitchens of Curacao for $15.00 from the Snoa at giftshop@snoa.com.

Photo Credits:
Top: Surinam Cherries, photo by Laura Leibman
Middle: Wild Pineapples from Jodensavanne (Suriname), photo by Laura Leibman
Bottom: Fried Matza from http://chewonthatblog.com

Jewish Heritage Travel: Newport, RI

2010-03-24T21:35:00.000-07:00

Newport is one of those towns of breath-taking beauty that everyone should visit at least once in their lives. At the end of the nineteenth century, anyone who was anyone in New York society had a "cottage" (mansion) in Newport. Today, the Newport Preservation Society offers tours of many of the most elegant of these homes, along with colonial gems like the Hunter House.

Before the Revolutionary War, Newport was a crucial port of call on early trade routes. It was also home to one of the most important early American Jewish communities. The collapse of the economy following the war meant many members of the Jewish community left, but many fine examples of colonial architecture remain in the town, including homes of several prominent Jewish families. The Newport Historical Society offers a wide range of tours of local landmarks. Walking tours of Jewish Newport are also available through the Touro Synagogue, America's oldest synagogue and a national historic site. Military history buffs will want to visit Fort Adams.

Interested in visiting Newport? I recommend the Inn on Bellevue. The rates are reasonable and the location is superb. If you are staying for at least a week, it is worth asking if there is a special "extended stay" rate. Those with more to spend may want to try The Hotel Viking or the Hyatt Regency Newport Hotel & Spa, located on magnificent Goat Island.

All Photos by Laura Leibman, 2007.
Top: Cliff Walk
Second: The Breakers
Third: Fort Adams
Bottom: Touro Synagogue

Passover in the Colonies

2010-03-20T21:59:00.000-07:00

What's wrong about self-pity, anyway?

...I told myself,
"Pity should begin at home." So the more
pity I felt the more I felt at home
(Elizabeth Bishop, "Crusoe in England").

If I am ever tempted to "feel at home" in the weeks leading up to Passover, all I have to do is think of the Jews in the colonies. At least after I finish my cleaning, I can drive to the local supermarket and buy matzoh and an entire range of packaged kosher l'pesach products. I can even order food from Nosh Away in Seattle (and I often do) and they will send me a complete seder package, often for less than it would cost me to make it myself. Although early American Jews often had servants (or slaves) to help them clean, getting ready for passover would have been much harder for Jews in the American colonies.

First, there was the question of food. Early American families had a difficult time getting the food they needed even when it wasn't passover. Colonies were rarely self sufficient: as one historian notes, " the inability to produce livestock, meat, flour and lumber in the West India islands laid the basis for one of the most serious commercial problems of the mercantilist empires" (Gould 473). Fortunately, many of the Jews in the colonies were merchants or had merchants in their extended families. They shipped all sorts of items: hard woods, sugar, rum, candles, oil, leather, fur, wheat, liquor, tobacco, and yes, food. Some of this food included the basic things needed for survival. Other was food was for show or was used as status symbols. Pineapples, for example, traveled north from Suriname and the tropics, and became a symbol of hospitality prominently featured in Newport architecture.

Pineapples, are lovely, but it is hard to make a seder out of them. Two items were probably more on the minds of colonists: maztoh and meat. Today when I want to get kosher meat in Portland, Oregon, I can either buy it at the local butcher or get it shipped in frozen in bulk through NW Kosher. The latter is cheaper, but I need to plan several weeks ahead and if I order something interesting (e.g. bison), I may not get it the first time I ask. Many of the communities in the Caribbean had beef shipped from New York, Philadelphia, or Newport. One can well imagine that it took much longer for their meat to arrive than mine, and since freezing it wasn't an option, it was almost certainly salted. One colonist described salted beef as "the most important commodity of all," for Jews and non-Jews alike (Mandelblatt 19).

The kosher beef trade was an important part of early American Jewish life. Aaron Lopez and other Jews in Newport exported kosher meat to Jamaica, Barbados, and Suriname. Michael Gratz of Philadelphia sent beef to Barbados and probably Curacao. In 1752, New York's Shearith Israel devised a seal to "attest to the ritual purity of meat exported from the city under their supervision." There is a fine example of an early Kosher Certificate in Eli Faber's A Time for Planting: The First Migration, 1654-1820 (p. 68). Shearith Israel hired a shochet and paid him a yearly stipend. Philadelphia's Mikveh Israel likewise hired a slaughter. Even so, kosher meat was in such short supply that in New York fines were imposed upon anyone who bought meat on erev Shabbat or immediately before holidays with the intent to sell it abroad. (Faber 51, 69-70, 120).

Matzoh was another story. Matzoh production was often a local affair, though it was sometimes imported. In larger communities, matzoh production was supervised and controlled by the Rabbi, Chazzan, or Parnassim. In these communities, matzoh was available for purchase, but was also distributed in large quantities free to the poor. The Touro Foundation still owns an eighteenth-century matzoh board on which the congregation made its matzot (below). Even so, a lot of planning was in order: many of the colonies did not produce wheat, so presumably months before the holiday began, congregations and individuals would need to arrange for wheat to be shipped from other locations. Sometimes people did import already baked matzoh: Aaron Lopez once ordered 250 pounds of maztot from New York, probably for the use of his (large) extended family. Shearith Israel also distributed haroset to its congregants, and (as unlikely as it sounds) Aaron Lopez once exported haroset to Jews in the West Indies (Rader 978-979)

Matzoh Board (Eighteenth Century)
During the colonial period, this board was used at Touro Synagogue (Newport, RI)
to prepare the dough for Matzoh (unleavened bread) used in the Passover season.
Image courtesy of the Library of Congress,
Religion and the Founding of the American Republic Exhibit, "America as a Religious Refuge"

Prayer books were often imported from Amsterdam and London, though starting in 1761 an English siddur was available out of New York. Haggadot were probably imported from Amsterdam, which was well known for its elaborate, illustrated editions. A Venice hagaddah published in 1609 and then 1629 became the prototype for many Sefardi haggadot of the era. Likewise the Ashkenazi haggadah published in 1695 in Amsterdam (later known as the "Amsterdam Haggadah") was widely imitated and reprinted. You can read more about these and other early haggadot at the Library of Congress website. These haggadot and other Jewish publications out of Amsterdam were highly influential and were even imitated on the gravestones produced by the Amsterdam community and exported to the colonies.

If I have time in between cleaning, I will suggest some activities for students. In the meantime, I hope you have a happy and kosher pesach!

Seder Haggadah shel Pesah (Passover Haggadah) (Venice, 1629).

The illustrations on these printed pages of the Venice Haggadah
depict events in the life of the patriarch Abraham.
The binding of Isaac is illustrated in the woodcut on the bottom left.

Works Cited:

Eli Faber, A Time for Planting: The First Migration, 1654-1820. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1992.

Clarence P. Gould, ‘Trade Between the Windward Islands and the Continental Colonies of the French Empire, 1683–1763’,Mississippi Valley Historical Review 25: 4, 1939.

Bertie Mandelblatt, "A Transatlantic Commodity: Irish Salt Beef in the French Atlantic World," History Workshop Journal 63: 18-47.

Jacob Marcus Rader, The Colonial American Jew, 1492-1776. Detroit: Wayne State U.P., 1970.

Image at Top of Page: Seder Haggadah shel Pesah (Passover Haggadah)
(Amsterdam, 1695). Moses (right and above) and Aaron,
his older brother and the founder of the Jewish priesthood,
are depicted on the title page of the Amsterdam Haggadah.

Photos by author: Pineapple photo taken of wild pineapples at Jodensavanne (Jew's Savannah) in Suriname; Pineapple architectural motif taken at the William Hunter House, Newport RI. The Hunter House was right next door to "The Lantern" (now destroyed), the home of Jacob Rodriguez Rivera, one of Newport's most important Jewish settlers.

Genealogy: Some Resources for the Jewish Atlantic World

2010-03-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

Many of the people who I have met who are interested in the Jewish Atlantic World either live in Jewish communities in these locales today or have ancestors from them, or both. So, I thought I'd spend a post doing what my younger (and hipper) colleagues call a "shout out" to all the family tree hunters, and provide a list of some of the resources that I have found (and see if readers have any others to add). Genealogy is key to the work I do, and it is hard to imagine how difficult it would be to do my research without the great work of genealogists past and present. In upcoming posts I will provide some resources specific to certain communities, but for now, here are some general resources that I have found essential:

1. Malcolm Stern's First American Jewish Families: 600 Genealogies, 1654-1988. Now available in a searchable online form at American Jewish Archives. Advantages: This is an important starting point for understanding the family trees of many of the first Jewish settlers in the U.S. colonies. Drawbacks: some of the information is incorrect, and although there is some information from the Caribbean and Europe, at times it feels like if someone moved to the West Indies, they fell off the map (or literally off the family tree).

2. Americans of Jewish Descent. A fully searchable online database of about 6,125 names of the founders and their descendants. Advantages: This fabulous resource updates and corrects much of Stern's work and incorporates other resources such as gravestones, portraits, and documents. Drawbacks: this database is still in production, so some of the areas (e.g. the Caribbean) aren't as strong as I am sure they will be down the road. You'll want to keep checking back if they don't list the person you are looking for yet.

3. Sephardicgen. Resources put together by Jeffrey S. Malka, author of the invaluable Sephardic Genealogy: Second Edition. Discovering Your Sephardic Ancestors and Their World. Advantages: Fabulous tips on how to get started, Sephardic names, and resources like family trees. Drawbacks: some of the links are broken, and you will still want to buy the book, which really is more of an advertisement than a drawback.

4. Sephardim.com. Resources put together by Harry Stein. Advantages: Sephardic names search engine and tons of great resources. Disadvantages: the homepage sings to you and is a bit hard to search.

5. Isaac S. and Suzanne A. Emmanuel's History of the Jews of the Netherlands Antilles and Rabbi Emmanuel's Precious Stones. These books sit on my desk and hardly a day goes by when I don't look up someone in one of them. Advantages: has marriage, death, and biographical data on most of the members of the Jewish community of Curacao and related islands. Disadvantages: Out of print and extremely expensive (Precious Stones is a bit cheaper). Worth every penny.

6. Jewish names in Suriname between 1666 and 1997. This is a list of the most common names in the Jewish Atlantic World. Advantage: Succinct. You will find there are a lot of lists of Sephardic names that aren't specific to the Jewish Atlantic World and that means wading through many names you will never see. This list has most of the important names you will need to know. Disadvantages: some families didn't make it to Suriname.

7. Geraldine Lane's Tracing Your Ancestors in Barbados. A Practical Guide. She even has a companion website. Also check out Lane's online databases for Tombstones, Plantation Records, and Slave Compensations. Advantages: This book is basically a researchers' fantasy: it tells you what resources are available, where, and what to do to prepare before you look for them. If someone would take the time to make a book like this for every place I go to do research, I would be in heaven. Disadvantages: a lot of the information is specific to Barbados and wouldn't help you with other communities.

8. Former British Colonial Dependency Slave Registers, 1812-1834. A fully searchable database of over three million slaves in the British colonies. Advantages: makes it possible to track African American ancestors in a way not easily done in the past. Jewish slave holding is a huge controversy, but Jewish-Black relations are an important part of colonial history . Disadvantages: this may be a better resource on slave owners than the slaves themselves. As such, it may provide some people with information they'd rather not know.

9. Trace Your Dutch Roots. A Dutch Genealogical Guide in blog format. Advantage: most of the Jews in the Atlantic World at some point lived in or were related to people in Amsterdam and the Dutch colonies, and this website provides access to some awesome resources. The blog is in English and lists which resources are available in English.

I hope this helps people get started! If you know of other key resources, please leave a comment! Also I am going to start posting photographs and resources related to specific famous families from the colonies, so if you have a family you'd like to hear more about, let me know!

My great-grandmother's little bamboo box that contained her mother's treasures from Barbados,
including tin types, marriage certificates, locks of hair, and an odd assortment of collectibles.
Where did your family members hide their treasures?

Image at top: Author's great-great grandmother, who was born in Barbados.
Courtesy of Stevan and Elizabeth Arnold and the little bamboo box.

Cemetery Cats

2010-03-16T22:02:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to the felines of the Atlantic World: those sun-loving souls who spend their days (and nights) lounging in the cemeteries that grace the Atlantic Rim. This week I feature two cemetery cats: Wunzie (Newport) and Iyar (Ouderkerk aan de Amstel) as well as their sepulchral companions, the lions carved onto Beth Haim Ouderkerk gravestones.

Cat Number One: Wunzie. Officially, Wunzie lives down the street from the Trinity Church Cemetery in Newport, RI. Last time I was in Newport, however, Wunzie spent most of her time sunning herself on table stones and chasing bugs among the upright markers. A black and white DSH (domestic short hair: veterinary speak for "cat mutt") with a sparkling personality, Wunzie likes to ham it up for the camera.

Interestingly enough, Wunzie isn't the only "Anglican by choice" to hang around Trinity. Not all of the conversos who arrived in Newport from the Iberian Peninsula returned to Judaism. One of Aaron Lopez's cousins, for example, named James Lucena decided to become an Anglican instead. James eventually returned to Portugal (and Catholicism), but his son John Charles Lucena married a non-Jewish woman and was buried in an Anglican cemetery in London. Here are a few shots of Wunzie in her favorite haunt. If anyone in Newport knows how Wunzie is doing, let me know!

Wunzie Modeling a "Table Stone," Trinity Church (Anglican) Cemetery, Newport RI

Wunzie Catching a Bug, Trinity Church (Anglican) Cemetery, Newport RI

Cat Number Two: Iyar. Iyar is an official graveyard cat of the historic Portuguese-Jewish cemetery in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel in the Netherlands. She lives in the Caretaker's House with her younger cat companion and her master, Dennis Ouderdorp, who knows more about Jewish Cemeteries than anyone I have ever met. (Because I lack social graces, I only have a picture of Dennis's cat, and not Dennis himself.) Named for the Hebrew month of Iyar (meaning "Rosette" or "blossom"), Iyar is the matriarch of the cemetery. You will notice that like Wunzie, Iyar is a black and white DSH. Coincidence? I think so. The day I was in Ouderkerk ann de Amstel it was pouring rain, so I don't have quite as many photos of Iyar as I'd like, but here is another of her on one of the flat Sephardic table stones.

Iyar on an unidentified Table Stone, Beth Haim Ouderkerk

Iyar and her companion aren't the only cats in Beth Haim Ouderkerk. Although the earliest gravestones at Beth Haim Ouderkerk are free of images of living things, by the 1650s the use of vegetation appears, followed by death’s heads and human hands in the 1660s. By the 1680s animals, angels and biblical scenes with humans appear. One of the most popular animals to grace the stones are lions, several styles of which can be found in the cemetery. Lions are an important Jewish symbol, and often appear on Jewish ceremonial art, such Arks, Torah crowns, and menorot. The JHOM speculates that, "It is possible..that these lions, particularly those on many Torah Ark doors and curtains, are symbolic replacements of the original cherubim that once adorned the Ark of the Tabernacle in the Mishkan (portable Temple in the wilderness) and the Temple in Jerusalem." Lions—associated with the tribe of Judah and the Davidic monarchy—evoked the messiah and hence are an important eschatological reference. Lions are also associated with the Spanish-Portuguese name "Leon" (literally "lion") and are a common heraldic symbol (for example they are found on the coat of arms for "Castile and Leon," Spain and the Netherlands). Many of the lions in Beth Haim Ouderkerk are on heraldic lions (for example above right, gravestone of Benjamin Senior Teixeira, 1744). They can also be found, however, in biblical scenes, such as the one below depicting Daniel and the lions.

Detail of Gravestone Depicting Daniel and the Lions, Beth Haim Ouderkerk

Photo Credits: All Photos Laura Leibman, 2007-2009. Courtesy of Beth Haim Ouderkerk aan de Amstel.

Gravestone Symbols: The Hand of God

2010-03-15T20:43:00.000-07:00

According to Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed, belief in the corporeality of God is a heresy. Why then do gravestones from the Jewish Atlantic World often feature the hand of God cutting down the tree of life? In even more extreme cases, God was presented on gravestones as a fully anthropomorphized figure, such as on the gravestone of Samuel Senior Teixeria (Amsterdam 1717), and the gravestones of Yosiyahu Raphael Castillo (Barbados, 1698) and Esther Hana de Meza (Cassipora Cemetery, Suriname 1745).

The Hand of God has a long history in Jewish art. One of the earliest examples has been found in the wall paintings of the Synagogue at Dura Europos. Created around 244 CE, the synagogue at Dura Europos (Syria) was uncovered by archaeologists in 1932. The rich wall paintings were remarkably well preserved, because the synagogue had been filled in with dirt in an effort to protect the town from a Persian attack in 256 CE. Although at first the artwork made archaeologists skeptical skeptical that the structure was Jewish, today the wall decorations are considered one of the most famous examples of early synagogue art. Many of the frescoes are widely reprinted, particularly a Purim Procession featuring Mordechai. Less commonly reprinted, and perhaps more troubling, is the Akeidah (binding of Isaac) scene from above the Torah niche which features the hand of God staying the sacrifice (figure above at right).

Whereas the hand in the Dura Europos fresco prevents a death, the hands featured on the tombstones from the Jewish Atlantic World usually represent a life being ended. The motif can also be found in Kabbalistically-influenced Jewish cemeteries in Eastern Europe from the same era, though more commonly a flower is being picked, rather than a tree cut down. This is probably an illustration of the verse from Shir haShirim (Song of Songs) 6:2, “My beloved has gone down into his garden…to gather lilies.” Ruth Ellen Gruber provides an example from the Sadagora Cemetery in the Ukraine of the flower motif. The cut flower motif can also be found on gravestones in the Jewish Atlantic World, usually for those who died young, and occasionally the hand of God is replaced either by a putto (as in the example at the left from the gravestone of Marius Penso (1889, Beit Haim Berg Altena, Curacao; photograph Laura Leibman) or the angel of death (see example below)

Although cut flowers also represent a life cut short, the cutting of the tree has a slightly different resonance. As scholar Aviva Ben-Ur notes, the tree of life has particular importance in Jewish mysticism. As "an ancient, widespread symbol representing the `promise of immortality and everlasting youth,'" the tree of life "variably signifies in Jewish tradition Judgment, the return to Edenic paradise, the future Temple, and Messianic Jerusalem" (Still Life: Sephardi, Ashkenazi, and West African Art and Form in Suriname’s Jewish Cemeteries, 56).

Detail of Gravestone of David Raphael Hoheb (1756)
Old Sephardi Cemetery, Paramaribo, Suriname.
Photo by Laura Leibman.

Scholars have offered several explanations for the hand of God motif including Kabbalism, conversos' Catholic upbringing, the antinomian ("against the law") influence of the messianism practiced by Sabbatai Tzvi, and the lack of religious rigor in the colonies. I am curious what explanation seems most likely to readers of this blog.

Book Review: Houses of Life

2010-03-06T22:40:00.001-08:00

I have a new favorite book: Joachim Jacobs' Houses of Life: Jewish Cemeteries of Europe. This book is a must have for anyone interested in either Jewish History, Genealogy, or Gravestone Art. Several things make this book fantastic: one, it provides a history of European Jewish cemeteries from the early Roman period through today. Two, it is beautifully illustrated: in addition to featuring some of the most important artwork created about these cemeteries (including the cover illustration by Chagal and the Prague Cycle), it is richly illuminated by the photographs of Hans Dietrich Beyer. I also appreciated the range of cemeteries they uncovered: although I own a book by Minna Rosen on the Haskoy Cemetery in Istanbul, I liked being able to see the photographs of that cemetery next to ones from the same era from elsewhere in Europe and hearing how it differed stylistically from other Sephardic cemeteries. The city maps with the cemeteries highlighted are awesome, as are the archival photographs.

Although some of the ground covered in this book has also been explored by Hannelore Kunzl in Judische Grabkunst von der Antike bis heute, Jacobs' book will have the strong advantage for most American readers of being in English. Given the large number of color photographs and images and the large number of communities and cemeteries it covers, this book is extremely well priced at $65 USD. Several communities in the Jewish Atlantic World are covered in the work including London, Sepharad (Iberia), Amsterdam, and modern Portugal.

My favorite piece of trivia from the book is that several European Jewish cemeteries had a stable or fenced-in pen for the bechorim (first-born kosher animals that couldn't be eaten except by Cohenim). What a great solution to a vexing problem!

Death Rituals: House of the Rounds

2010-03-06T20:33:00.000-08:00

As my twin sister will attest, since an early age I have had an extreme fear of dead bodies. Once I was asked to be part of the women's chevra kaddisha in Portland, and although I was (briefly) tempted, I had to decline, as I knew I would never sleep again. I am not sure why this is. When I say I am afraid of "dead bodies," I mean dead people. Although I like live animals much better, I am not completely freaked out by dead animals: when I worked as a veterinarian's assistant, I had to deal with dead pets all the time. Sure I cried a lot, but once when asked to do so, I had to lump it and wash and prepare a dead schnauzer for an open casket funeral. It made me sad (and I felt like I needed to be paid more), but I went home, tucked myself into bed, and slept just fine. Dead people, however, are something else. I don't even like to work in cemeteries with recent burials, which for some reason I find more "creepy." Conveniently my research is mainly before the civil war, so I can usually avoid this problem. Kabbalah would say I am right to be wary of recent graves: according to Jewish mysticism there are at least three parts of the soul (nefesh, ruach, and neshama). After death these three parts of the soul suffer different fates, and the nefesh remains in the grave with the body until the body turns to dust. While in the grave, the nefesh undergoes the “pangs of the grave” (hibbut ha-kever). This means as well as being ritually impure, cemeteries are unhappy places.

Research interests aside, my fear of dead bodies is unfortunate, as one of the most important duties in Jewish life is to take care of the dead and prepare them for burial. Judaism has many rituals to help transition the body and soul of the deceased. In the Jewish Atlantic World one of the important places where these rituals took place was the "House of the Rounds" (Casa de Rodeos or Rodeamentos). This building served the same purpose as the tahara house in Ashkenazi cemeteries: it is where the ritual washing of the body occurred. A good depiction of this ritual was memorialized by the Prague Burial Society, which commissioned a series of paintings that depicted the various rituals performed by the Chevra Kaddisha (burial society) from sickbed to burial. In the Spanish-Portuguese rite, the eighteen members of the burial society also made seven circuits (hakafot) around the coffin.

“The Seven Circuits,” Bernard Picart (1673-1733), c. Royal Library of the Hague

Picart's eighteenth-century drawing depicts one such ceremony in the House of the Rounds in Amsterdam's Beth Haim Ouderkerk. The original seventeenth century tahara house was replaced in 1705 by the current building which still stands and was renovated in 1966 (below). One of the thoughtful features of this house was the wooden extension for Cohenim. Although most Jews could visit the dead after burial, those descended from the priestly family (Cohenim) are not permitted to walk in cemeteries. As Joachim Jacobs notes in his fabulous book Houses of Life, the extension allowed the Cohenim to "follow the hakafot through a window, without being under the same roof as the dead person (69)" Near the house, and right next to the entrance to the cemetery by the canal, is the separate section for the Cohenim that allowed them to see their relatives' graves without entering the cemetery proper.

Exterior of the Beth Haim Ouderkerk House of the Rounds;
the Cohenim's wooden extension (black) is on the left (Photo L. Leibman)

Interior of the House of the Rounds today with the
Death's head and washing stations shown in Picart's drawing (Photo L. Leibman)

New Cohenim Section near the House of the Rounds,
Beth Haim Ouderkerk (Photo L. Leibman)

Many other cemeteries in the Jewish Atlantic World used a House of the Rounds in the cemeteries. Few remain today, though two exquisite examples occur in Curaçao, one in the older Jewish cemetery (Beit Haim Bleinheim), and one in the newer Jewish cemetery (Beit Haim Berg Altena). Like Amsterdam's Beth Haim Ouderkerk, the older Jewish cemetery in Curaçao paid attention to the special needs of the Cohenim and even built a special house from which they could visit the dead and yet not violate Jewish law. The presence of the House of the Rounds is an important ritual element of the Jewish Atlantic World.

House of the Rounds, Beit Haim Bleinheim, Curaçao (Photo L. Leibman)
House of the Cohenim, Beit Haim Bleinheim, Curaçao (Photo L. Leibman)

House of the Rounds, Beit Haim Berg Altena, Curaçao (Photo L. Leibman)

Early American Letters: Abigail Levy Franks

2010-02-22T19:40:00.000-08:00

In the 1730s-40s, Abigail Levy Franks (1696-1756) wrote a series of letters to her family. Like many letters, these range from mundane to heart wrenching: in the letter below to her son Naphtali, she wrote of her shock and despair on learning of her daughter's secret marriage to a non-Jew: "Good God Wath a Shock it was when they Acquanted me She had Left the House and Had bin Married Six months I can hardly hold my Pen whilst I am writting it. . . . My Spirits Was for Some time Soe Depresst that it was a pain for me to Speak or See Any one." These letters have been superbly collected and edited by Edith B. Gelles in The Letters of Abigaill Levy Franks, 1733-1748. A brief biography of Abigail Levy Franks is available online at the Center for Jewish History.

When reading colonial American letters, it helps to know why early Americans wrote. The eighteenth century is the age of the what is called the "familiar letter"—that is, “a mode of letter writing devoted to the expression of affection and duty among kin, family and friends.” Letters were not merely a way to communicate news: they provided a way to “pursue...claims to social refinement and upward mobility" (Dierks, “The Familiar Letter and Social Refinement in America,” 31.) Letter writing manuals like The Young Clerk's Guide (1708) and The Secretary's Companion (1728) provided scripts for people to follow in order to display their social graces appropriately; handwriting guides helped the writer learn to display her refinement visually. Letters were so popular a genre that many early American novels are written in an epistolary form: that is, as a sequence of letters (for example Hannah Foster's The Coquette [1797]).

Those who want to try their own hand at decoding Abigail's handwriting below may find my Early American Handwriting Game a helpful starting place.

Abigail Franks (1696-1756) to
Naphtali Franks (1715-1796).
Letter, June 7, 1743 [written from "Flatt bush"].
Courtesy of the American Jewish Historical Society,
New York and Newton Centre, Massachusetts (25)

Synagogue: View from the Gallery

2010-02-18T23:04:00.000-08:00

One of the standard features of the synagogues of the Jewish Atlantic World is a women's gallery: a balcony supported by columns on two or three sides of the synagogue.

The concept of using a balcony for a women’s section comes from descriptions of the Temple: although at first there was no roof to the Women’s Court, a balcony on top of pillars was added later and screened in with latticework.

In the synagogues in Amsterdam, London and the new world sometimes latticework was used (as in the Esnoga and Bevis Marks) and sometimes a railing was used (as in Jamaica and Newport's Touro Synagogue). In Antiquity, latticework in synagogues was used to represent the firmament: the division between heaven and earth. The view from the women’s balcony in the synagogue, then, was paradoxically both elevated and restricted: through the geometric pattern of the lattice, the women viewed the service as if looking down through the firmament to earth.

Here are some views from the Balcony along with a haunting video of Vanessa Paloma singing the Ladino song "El Dio Alto" from the balcony of the Esnoga.

Vanessa Paloma in the Balcony of the Esnoga

The Balcony of Kahal Kadosh Shaare Shalom, Jamaica

The View from the Balcony of Neve Shalom Synagogue, Suriname

The View from Below:

Looking up at the Balcony in Mikve Israel (the "Snoa"), Curacao

View from the ground floor of the Touro Synagogue including of balconies HABS, Library of Congress)

Book Review: The Knell of Parting Day

2010-02-17T22:52:00.000-08:00

A few years ago at the Conference for the Association for Gravestone Studies, some of us were lamenting that there weren't more books available on Jewish cemeteries. While a few old standards were available, they tended to be out of print, hard to find, and extremely expensive. The situation is starting to change, and one fine example of where the field is headed is Marilyn Delevante's The Knell of Parting Day: A History of the Jews of Port Royal and the Hunt's Bay Cemetery.

Portuguese Jews first settled on the island of Jamaica between 1530-1640, during the era of Spanish occupation. After the English conquest of the island, the community was able to openly worship as Jews and settled primarily in Port Royal and later in Spanish Town and Kingston. The Hunts Bay Cemetery served the historic community of Port Royal. As in Venice, Amsterdam, and Curacao, the deceased were carried by boat across the water to the cemetery.

This richly illustrated volume is a show case of the kind of new work being done in gravestone studies. In addition to a complete list of transcriptions and translations of the inscriptions from the cemetery and accompanying photos of the stones, the book provides a history of the Jews of Jamaica and Port Royal and places them within the larger story of the Sephardic diaspora. Attention is paid in chapter ten to the types and symbolism of the images used on the stones. Throughout the book are high quality color photographs by Jono David, whose online galleries of Jewish cemeteries are worth viewing.

This is the sort of book that will non-specialists will find fascinating and researchers will find invaluable. Copies can be purchased from the author for $35.00 US (softcover) or $45.00 U.S. (hardcover) at http://www.thejewsofjamaica.com/site2/purchase/purchase_index.html.

In the meantime, you may enjoy looking at this picasa web album of stones from the cemetery.

Grave Matters: Converso Funerary Art

2010-02-16T21:37:00.000-08:00

When Isaac Lopez was buried in 1762, he joined the remains of many of his extended kin and other members of the Yeshuat Israel [Salvation of Israel] congregation. The Hevra kadisha (Burial Society) of Newport washed his body and prepared it for burial. The leader of the burial society then led the men in seven circuits around the body (Emmanuel PRECIOUS STONES 81). These circuits not only embedded the dead into the memory of the community, but also helped transition the deceased from the world of the living to the world to come.In Judaism, seven is a holy number symbolizing God, completion, and the covenant.One sign of this covenant was separation.

Jewish law requires that Jews be buried separately from their gentile neighbors, and in 1677 the Jews of Newport purchased and established a burial ground at the edge of town on the corner of what is now Kay Street and Bellevue Avenue (Gradwohl 20). The cemetery was far from both the town’s Protestant cemeteries, and the houses and businesses of most Jewish residents. After being prepared for internment, Isaac’s body was brought here and buried. A year later a gravestone was erected and “unveiled.”

Like the seven circuits made by mourners around the coffins of the dead, the gravestone laid over the tomb had a redemptive quality: it, like other stones in the cemetery, embedded the deceased in the Jewish community of Newport for all eternity, but also insisted upon the interrelatedness of Spanish, Portuguese, Jewish, and Colonial worlds of Isaac’s family. Like many of the Jews buried in the Touro cemetery, Isaac’s father Moses (1706-1767) was a converso or “crypto-Jew”; that is, he was a descendent of Jews who had been forced to convert to Christianity and who had for centuries practiced Catholicism in public, and a form of Judaism in private.

Moses Lopez had come to Newport to escape a late wave of the inquisition in Portugal after his New Christian relatives denounced him for “Judaizing.” Moses was the older half-brother of Aaron Lopez, one of Newport’s most famous merchants. When Moses came to the Americas, he gave up his Portuguese Christian name (José Lopez Ramos) for a Hebrew one (Moseh) and its English equivalent (Moses). His wife was his first cousin Rebecca Rodriguez Rivera (? -1793), whose father Abraham Rodriguez Rivera (? -1765) had escaped the Spanish inquisition and fled to England and later Newport (Rodrigues Pereira 568, 579). Moses was naturalized in New York in 1740/41 and most (or all) of his children were born in Newport (Stern 175). Several of Moses and Rebecca’s children died young, but only the stones of Isaac (1762) and Jacob (1763) remain.

Acknowledgments:
This entry is an excerpt from a conference presentation given at the American Studies Association Conference in 2007. Research was funded by NEH and a Ruby Grant.

Colonial Houses: Home of a Hero

2010-02-15T21:06:00.000-08:00

Scharlooweg 55, also known as "Beau Senior," is one of the few houses to exist both in Curacao and in miniature form in the Netherlands in a small town called "Madurodam." Built in 1875 for the Senior family (one of the major Jewish families in Curacao), the home was sold in 1915 to Joshua and Rebecca Levy Maduro family, members of another major Sephardic family on the island. It was the boyhood home of their only son, George John Lionel Maduro (1916-1945), who fought for the Dutch resistance in WWII, and died in Dachau concentration camp of typhus. After his death, his parents commemorated him by building the miniature city Madurodam in in Scheveningen, The Hague, in the Netherlands. A small version of his childhood home resides in the town.

Replica of 55 Scharlooweg in Madurodam

"Beau Senior" is typical of the Jewish houses built in the Scharloo neighborhood of Curacao in the nineteenth century. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, most Jewish families lived in Punda (Willemstad) a few blocks away from the synagogue, in Landhuizen (plantation homes) inland, or in Otrobanda across the entryway to the bay. Starting in the late nineteenth century, Jewish families began to build houses across the Waaigat in Scharloo.

These houses tended to be neo-classical in design with a U-shaped plan surrounding an enclosed patio. This architectural style was both influenced by Latin American architecture and the discovery and excavation of Pompeii. As in Pompeii, the true grandeur of the house was only accessible to those allowed inside. The front of the house often belied the large house that lay behind it (see plan below). Even so, the front facade was an important way of showing social prestige: the monumental pediment above the doorway, the front columns, and the elegant grey and white tiles leading to the entryway all displayed luxury and good taste.

Simplified Floorplan of 55 Scharlooweg based on Winkel, Scharloo p. 295

The galleries were like European sitting rooms, furnished with mahogany and wicker furniture. In contrast, the Sala was mainly for show and were decorated with pianos, long narrow mirrors, and chandeliers. As in Pompeii, the patio was open to the sky. It was decorated with plants. Furniture in the bedrooms was monumental and made of hardwoods.

Bedroom furniture owned by the Maduros of Scharloo now in landhouse Rooi Catochi. (S.A.L. Mongui Maduro Foundation)

In the dining room was often a fontein, a small basin and water container for hand washing. Cupboards made of mahogany housed dishes and glasses. You can read more about Scharloo architecture and "Beau Senior" in P. Pruneti Winkel's Scharloo.

Fontein owned by Shon Serafina Maduro-Jesurun, now in landhouse Rooi Catochi. (S.A.L. Mongui Maduro Foundation)

Holidays: Purim

2010-02-14T23:20:00.000-08:00

The book of Esther was particularly popular amongst conversos on the Iberian Peninsula. Many conversos kept the fast of Esther even when they kept few other Jewish holidays or traditions. New Christian women tended to identify with Queen Esther: like the Queen, many conversas had to submit to a gentile husband, either literally or figuratively (Catholic Spain).

Once conversos left the Iberian Peninsula and were free to practice Judaism openly, Purim remained an important holiday. The Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam contains many fine examples of richly illustrated Megillot, one of which is featured in the video below. The reading is from the Portuguese Esnoga.

Gravestones from the Jewish Atlantic World also feature scenes from the story of Esther. It was not uncommon for stones to feature Biblical scenes, particularly ones related to the name of the deceased. The detail of the stone at the top of the page is from the gravestone of Mordechay Hisquiau Namias de Crasto (1716) Beit Haim Blenheim, Curaçao. For the full stone and the inscription, see below. A similar scene appears in Beth Haim at Ouderkerk aan de Amstel on the stone of Moses de Mordechai Senior (1730) (left).

Classroom Resource:
Gravestone of Mordechay Hisquiau Namias de Crasto (1716) Beit Haim Blenheim, Curaçao. This is one of the finest examples of gravestone art from the Jewish Atlantic World. Ask students what they think the different images mean and why they belong together on one stone. Why do you think the carver (or the family who requested the stone) chose this particular scene from the book of Esther?

Questions for Readers:
Do these stones surprise you, and if so how?

Book Review: Purim and the Persian Empire

2010-02-14T21:31:00.000-08:00

I am one of those freaks who reads Herodotus' History of the Persian Wars every year. Ok, not every year: this year I am on sabbatical, but of the past fifteen years, I have read it a good twelve times. We are about to change the syllabus for our freshman humanities program at the college where I teach, but Herodotus is still on it, so it is safe to bet I will be teaching and reading it for many years to come.

As an orthodox Jew, I have also been reading each year a book that is new to our revised syllabus: the Megillas Esther. Starting next fall in our humanities course, right after we read Herodotus' account of why the small but heroic Greeks were able to take down the mighty Persians, we will turn to the Persian city of Persepolis, the Cyrus Cylinder, and the books of Esther and Ezra. According to Rabbi Yehuda Landy, we'd probably want to look at the ancient city of Susa as well.

Rabbi Landy is the author of the recently released Purim and the Persian Empire. In it, Rabbi Landy makes extensive connections between archeological finds in the Middle East and the Megillas Esther. Although archeology is always an interpretative "science," Rabbi Landy takes a now mainstream approach and argues that King Achashverosh was Xerxes (I) and that the story of Purim took place at his palace at Shushan (Susa).

Rabbi Landy's magnificent volume is sure to delight Jewish readers of almost any age and educational background. My favorite page was the plan of the palace on page 26 which connects each room to the line that references it in the Megillah; my children (ages 2 and 4) loved the full-page color photographs of the glazed bricks featuring members of the royal guard. They also loved the photos of the excavated jewelry and golden drinking cups. When we finished looking at the book and talking about the story of Esther, they asked to go through it "again" and kept picking it up and asking about it over the course of the weekend. They found the Persian writing (page 41) particularly funny.

I also loved the book: it opened my eyes onto a whole new view of the book of Esther and that curious king Achashveros. In Herodotus' Histories, Xerxes comes across as a rather crazy despot, famous for having ordered the Hellespont River to be lashed three-hundred times for disobedience. Placing Xerxes in the context of the book of Esther makes for a more nuanced and interesting view luxuries that "corrupted" and softened the Persian Empire. It also made me look forward to listening to the Megillah this year with new ears and eyes.

Classroom Resources: Iberian Peninsula Crossword Puzzle

2010-02-14T21:18:00.000-08:00

Looking for a way to reinforce students' understanding of key vocabulary words? Try a crossword puzzle! (Or you may just want to try it yourself to test your own knowledge!)

Download the puzzle here or make your own at The Teachers Corner.net.

Answer Key:

Classroom Resources: Gravestones 1

2010-02-13T23:53:00.001-08:00

One of the goals of this website is to make more resources on early American Jews easily available to classroom teachers.

Recently I visited the class of Holly Litwin at Portland Jewish Academy. Her fifth grade students were studying the American colonies. Holly was noticing how few resources there were for young students on Jewish life in the colonies. One of the activities we did while I was there was an analysis of gravestones from Jews in the colonies. I choose three stones: one for a small Jewish boy (Isaac Lopez), one from a slave owned by the boy's uncle (Aaron Lopez), and one by a man from Curacao (Gabriel A Levy).

I included an example of a slave's stone because slavery had come up as a topic in their general studies of the colonies. Years ago the Nation of Islam proposed that Jews were responsible for the slave trade. This allegation is clearly false. It is important for students to understand, however, that almost every aspect of the economy in the colonies was tied to slavery either directly or indirectly: Jews often were prohibited from selling slaves, but some men (like Aaron Lopez) did have slave ships. You can read more about this issue in a wonderful book by Eli Faber called Jews, Slaves, and the Slave Trade: Setting the Record Straight, that clears up a lot of misconceptions about Jewish involvement in the slave trade. Holly's students were interested in the fact that some Jews owned slaves, and some students were sad about it. I wondered if I was right to bring it up at all?

One of the things that makes gravestones from the Jewish Atlantic World so fascinating is that they often contain "graven images"; that is, images traditionally considered forbidden by Jewish law. We talked about what the second commandment said, and why Jews in the colonies might have wanted to make gravestones with these images anyway. We also talked about colonial diseases. Students broke into groups and answered the questions on the first page about one of the three stones. Then we got back to together as a class and talked about each one of the stones in turn.

Here is the Gravestone Handout we used. Feel free to use it in your own class.

If you are interested in learning more about why scholars are interested in gravestones and how to analyze them, see my Gravestones Study Guide on my Indian Converts Collection website.

Question: If you teach young students about early American Jews, would you bring up the issue of slavery? Why or why not?

The Adventuresome Traveler: Introduction

2010-02-13T22:56:00.001-08:00

I traveled a fair amount as a child: my parents often worked in the tropics in countries like Bonaire, Panama, Australia, and Kenya. Occasionally we did things I wouldn't want to do today: for example, swim in the Panama Canal in an area inhabited by crocodiles, or get stuck in the mud in a game park near an electric fence designed to keep the wild animals in. Mainly we had fun.

Today I usually travel for work. Sometimes my research takes me to air conditioned libraries and archives; other times it takes me to far-away places where I am studying historical objects for my work, like gravestones, synagogues, houses, and ritual baths. I consider myself an "adventuresome but not stupid" traveler: that is, I don't mind going to unusual places, but I don't tend to take unnecessary risks. I don't mind luxurious hotels, but that isn't where I tend to stay: I am often on a budget, though not one so extreme that I will stay in a complete dive. I also keep kosher, so I often have an eye towards what there is to eat when you get there.

If you are interested in traveling in the footsteps of early American Jews, this column will give you some insights into where to go, where to stay, and what to bring. Want to hear about a particular place? Here are some places I have done research recently: Suriname, Curacao, Jamaica, Newport, Panama, and Amsterdam.

The Adventuresome Traveler: Suriname

2010-02-13T21:44:00.001-08:00

Interested in taking a vacation to a Jewish Heritage spot off the beaten track? Try Suriname! This former Dutch colony used to be the Las Vegas of the colonial world, and was once an important sugar plantation community. Merchants from as far away as Newport, Rhode Island came to the colony to revel and make their fortunes. It was also the home of many important early American Jewish families who lived both on sugar plantations and in the main city of Paramaribo. They built synagogues in the typical Dutch Caribbean style with rich mahogany and sand floors. One of these exquisite synagogues is still in use in Paramaribo: the synagogue complex includes a museum, one of the earliest still-functioning mikvaot in the Americas as well as elaborately-carved gravestones transferred from one of the early cemeteries.

Looking for a place to stay? The Krasnapolsky is located in a safe neighborhood a block and a half from the Neve Shalom Synagogue. It has internet access and a helpful staff. The airport is quite a ways outside of Paramaribo, so you will want to arrange ahead of time with the hotel for transportation. Across the street from Krasnapolsky is a wonderful bookshop that has a wide range of English titles. Take a look at Cynthia McLeod's novel The High Price of Sugar: it's about the Jewish colonist families in Suriname.

If you keep kosher, you may want to inquire with the synagogue about renting the Shabbos apartment that has a kitchen. You'll also want to bring lots of packaged goods with you: fresh fruits and vegetables are easy to get, but many of the imported items at the local stores are from Asia, not the United States, and items with hechshers aren't as easy to buy here as in other parts of the Caribbean.

If you stay in Paramaribo, you will want plan to spend a day to traveling downriver by boat to the ruins of Jodensavanne, or "Jew's Savannah." This was the location of one of the earliest Jewish settlements in the Americas and was once a thriving plantation community. The site has been excavated by the Jodensavanne Foundation and the cemetery and synagogue ruins are easily accessible. The travel agency on the first floor of the Krasnapolsky can help you arrange a trip with a reliable guide.

Getting to Suriname isn't easy: flights are infrequent from the United States, and if you haven't traveled recently in the tropics you will need to get vaccinated (particularly if you plan to go to Jodensavanne). Suriname also requires a visa, even for Americans. The application form has a few surprises. Also be careful if you plan to change planes in Trinidad/Tobago: they are very strict about the amount of time they require for transfers and have no problems with keeping visitors an extra day as a penalty for "illegal transfers."

All of these hurdles are worth it: the Jewish community of Suriname is friendly and the trip to Jodensavanne is haunting. Read more about the Jewish community of Suriname in their own words.

Iberian Peninsula and the Birth of the Jewish Atlantic World

2010-02-12T13:19:00.000-08:00

“When the Almighty speaks in such tremendous language, he must not speak in vain”
--Dr. Beilby Porteous, 1777

On the first of November 1755, an earthquake rocked and then destroyed the elegant port city of Lisbon, Portugal. At the time Lisbon was the fourth largest urban center in Europe, and the seismic wave sent physical and psychic reverberations throughout the continent: indeed, the quake is often referred to as the first “modern” disaster, as it rattled both religious and scientific understandings of the world (Braun and Radner 1; Dynes 34). As contemporary historians noted, on “that fatal morning the sky was serene, and there was perfect calm” before the fateful noise was heard. After ten minutes of three separate tremors, the city was in ruins. Whole buildings, including the customhouse, perished beneath the accompanying tidal waves. After the waters receded and the raging fires died out, the bodies were counted: at least 30,000 people were dead. Foreign traders alone lost about 48,000,000 Spanish dollars worth of goods (An Account 6-8; Kendrick 24, 32-34).

Both in Portugal and abroad, the disaster engendered a crisis of faith: in addition to forty parish churches and a magnificent cathedral, the city was home to twenty-five monasteries, eighteen nunneries, and one hundred and thirty laics. It was also home to recent waves of the inquisition: indeed one of the infamous sites destroyed by the earthquake was the Terreiro do Paço—the place where numerous descendents of Jewish converts had been executed during Lisbon’s autos-da-fé. Throughout Europe, clerics such as the Bishop of Chester warned regarding earthquakes that, “When the Almighty speaks in such tremendous language, he must not speak in vain.” The problem, however, was knowing exactly what God was saying. In Protestant countries the answer was obvious, as Lisbon was well known for three sins: wealth, the inquisition, and the “superstitious and idolatrous cult of graven images.” Yet for Catholics, there was more contention about the exact nature of Lisbon’s offense; indeed, several clerics were either executed or burned in effigy for improperly interpreting the disaster. For Lisbon’s “New Christians,” the horror of their ruined lives was amplified by the terrible knowledge that previous Iberian earthquakes had been interpreted as a sign of God’s wrath for Portugal’s “leniency” towards Jewish converts. When an earthquake came, the inquisition was never far away (Dynes 42-44; Kendrick 1, 24, 29, 33, 34; Saraiva 110, 230; Birmingham 75-76).

Thus while the air may have appeared calm on November first, the cultural and theological crisis caused by Lisbon’s seismic boom was actually the apex of several decades of disturbance both in Lisbon and throughout Portugal. One of the “pre-shocks” to this event was the wave of autos-da-fé (acts of faith) that surged across the Iberian Peninsula during periods of economic, social, and theological unrest. The early eighteenth century was one such era: between 1701 and 1739, there were ten autos in Lisbon, and three in nearby Coimbra involving Jewish prisoners (Mocatta 104). Autos varied depending on place and time, but by the eighteenth-century in Lisbon, they were multi-day public denouncements of heretics that included feasts, processions, and executions. As one Inquisitor noted, the goal of the auto was to persuade the masses that “one of the causes of the evils and travails which this country has been experiencing for so many years is the glut of Jews that live among us” (Saraiva 109). It was rare that a public auto was comprised of fewer than 50 penanced and executed prisoners, and frequently more than 200 prisoners were involved in the spectacle. Autos-da-fé were extremely popular with crowds, and numerous sermons and illustrations about autos were distributed throughout Lisbon to help bolster support for the events (Saraiva 113). As historian António José Saraiva notes, Judaism was often a pretext, rather than a motivation for hostility embedded in these displays: “Jews were the ‘other’ upon whom grievances, dissatisfactions and frustrations might be deflected” (Saraiva 19).

Indeed despite its popularity as a spectacle, the auto was ineffective in preventing Jewish practice. According to some conversos such as António Nunes Roberiro Sanches (1699-1783), the inquisition actually reinforced and sometimes created Jewish identity and practice in Portugal (Saraiva 124-25). Those imprisoned by the inquisition were largely New Christians, also known as conversos or marranos: that is, they were the descendents of Sephardic Jews forced to convert to Catholicism at the end of the fifteenth century. While over the centuries some conversos and their descendents had practiced a form of crypto-Judaism in private, others left their Judaism behind as they embraced Catholicism and married into Old Christian families. Even if some of the New Christians tortured by the Inquisition had been secret “Judaizers,” many others were not: indeed, Saraiva has argued that the experience of the Inquisition actually instigated as much Judaizing as it suppressed (Saraiva ix). Many New Christians left Portugal during the eighteenth century to escape both the Inquisition and the destruction caused by Lisbon’s earthquake. They settled in places like Amsterdam, Hamburg, and London, but they also sought to remake their fortunes in the port towns throughout the colonies, particularly in Curaçao, Surinam, Barbados, Jamaica, New York, and Newport, Rhode Island. These cities became the port towns of the "Jewish Atlantic World."

Sources:
An account of the earthquake which destroyed the city of Lisbon, on the first of November, 1755. London: W. Glendinning, 1800.

Braun, Theodore E.D. and John B. Radner, eds. The Lisbon Earthquake of 1755: Representations and Reactions. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 2005.

Birmingham, David. A Concise History of Portugal, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 2003.

Dynes, Russell R. “The Lisbon Earthquake of 1755: the First Modern Disaster” The Lisbon Earthquake of 1755: Representations and Reactions. Eds. Theodore E.D. Braun and John B. Radner. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 2005. 34-49.

Kendrick, Thomas Downing. The Lisbon Earthquake. London: Methuen, 1956.

"Lisbon Earthquake" (1850) LIFE

Mocatta, Frederic David. The Jews of Spain and Portugal and the Inquisition. Supplementary Chronological Tables by David Bortin. New York: Cooper Square, 1973.

Porteous, Beilby. “A Letter to the Inhabitants of Manchester, Macclesfield, and adjacent parts, on occasion of the late earthquake in those places.” Foregate-street: J. Poole. 1777.

Saraiva, António José, H. P. Salomon, and I. S. D. Sassoon, The Marrano Factory: the Portuguese Inquisition and its New Christians 1536-1765. Leiden: Brill, 2001.

Synagogues: Jamaica

2010-02-12T11:53:00.000-08:00

The Jewish community of Jamaica recently held a conference on the Jewish Diaspora of the Caribbean (Jan. 12-14, 2010). I'll have more to say about this fabulous conference in future posts, but in the meantime, I wanted to highlight the architecture of Kingston Synagogue Kahal Kadosh Shaare Shalom of the United Congregation of Israelites.

This magnificent building was built in 1885 and then reconstructed in 1911 following an earthquake that destroyed much of Kingston.

The building recalls the architecture of many of the older Spanish-Portuguese synagogues of the Caribbean: it has sand floors and rich mahogany. The women's section is in an upstairs balcony held up by pillars. Like the Curacao congregation, this synagogue has an organ. Today the gardens of the synagogue also house gravestones from one of the destroyed cemeteries.

Enjoy the Video of Eli Gabay (sp?) singing in the synagogue.