Families of Note: Jesurun Family

There are several Jewish families who can be found in the colonial records of many of the port towns of the Atlantic World.  One of these is the Jesurun Family (also Yesurun, Jessurun, and Jeshurun). Jesurun (יְשֻׁרוּן ) is a variation of  poetic variation of the people of Israel, that means "upright one" from the Hebrew word Yashar.  It can be found in the Torah in the book of Isaiah (44.2) and D'varim (Deuteronomy) 32.15, 33.5, and 33.26 (Bible Encyclopedia).

This Iberian family played a foundational role in the Sephardic communities of Amsterdam and Hamburg.  Early members of the family to settle in Amsterdam included Reuel (Rohel) Jesurun (alias Paul de Pina), Daniel Jesurun who was president of an early yeshiva, and David Jesurun, a poet, some of whose works were published by Daniel Levi ("Miguel") de Barrios in Triumpho del Govierno Popular.  Other early family members included Isaac ben Abraham Ḥayyim Jesurun, the Hakham of the Portuguese congregation in Hamburg (gravestone) (Jewish Encyclopedia).

One of the more illustrious members of this important family who lived in the colonies was Hakham Raphael Jesurun, the second resident of the Rabbi's house at 26-28 Kuiperstraat, in Curaçao.  Hakham Jesurun was born in Hamburg to the Hamburg Hakham Moses Jesurun, and had been a star pupil in Amsterdam's yeshivot.  His wife was Rachel Sasportas, the granddaughter of Hakham Jacob Sasportas of Amsterdam. The gravestone of Hakham Jesurun (1748) was engraved with a depiction of an angel approaching the distinctive portal of the Snoa: two Doric columns with a verse from Psalms 118:20 above the lintel: “This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter into it" (Arbell 140; Emmanuel 296-7).

 Detail from Gravestone of Haham Jesurun, Gravestone 7h1, Beit Haim Blenheim, Curaçao (Jewish Atlantic World Database)

 Biblical Verse on Western Facade of Mikvé Israel Synagogue, Willemstad, Curaçao (Jewish Atlantic World Database)

Here is a partial list of some of the ports in which the family lives in the 17th-19th centuries, along with gravestones of selected family members (they also lived in St. Thomas and Panama, though I don't have any photos from there):

• Amsterdam (Grace Jesurun; complete list from P.I.G. Database)
• Hamburg (Moses Haim Jessurun; Esther Hannah Jessurun; Isaac Jessurun [biography]; Leah Hannah Oeb, daughter of Simson Jessurun; Esther Israel Brandon, daughter of Esther Hannah Jessurun d'Oliveira)
• London (Sarah Yesurun Alvares; Sarah daughter of Dan Jesurun Lobo; Yael Jesurun Mendes)
• Barbados (Ephraim Jesurun Henriques; Jacob Jesurun Mendes; Abraham Jesurun Mendes;
  David Jesurun Mendes [1675]; David Jesurun Mendes [1680])
• Jamaica (Isaac Yessurun Cardozo; Moses Jessurun Cardosso)
• Suriname (Esther Jessurun Lobo; Rachel Jessurun; Sarah wife of Moses Jessurun; Abraham Jessurun;  David Jessurun Lobo; Moses Jessurun; Moses Jessurun de Oliveira; widow I.D. Jessurun)
• Curaçao (Hakham Jesurun; Estella D. Jesurun; Estella de Anjel Jesurun;
  Esther de Daniel Jesurun Jr.; Esther Jesurun;  Leah [Geni profile] and Moises Jesurun [Geni profile]; Rosalvina D. Jesurun; Adolph D. Jesurun; D. A. Jesurun; Eliza Jesurun Henriquez Correa; Biography of Jacob Abraham Jesurun)
• Family photo of Family of Clarita Jesurun Lindo and Isaac Levy Maduro, c. 1910)

Detail of Gravestone of Esther Hannah Jessurun, Hamburg, daughter-in-law of Mose Hayyim Jessurun and sister-in-law of Hakham Raphael Jesurun.

Here are some houses associated with the Family:

• House of Sara de Rephael Jesurun Alvares 
• House built by the husband of Ester Jesurun
• House of Anjel J. Jesurun
• House of Elias Jesurun Henriquez
• House built by Elias Jesurun Henriquez
• House built by Abraham Benjamin Jesurun
• House of Abraham Jacob Jesurun
• House of Sarah de Benjamin Jessurun Henriquez y Namias de Crasto 

House bought in 1880 by Elias Jesurun Henriquez, Scharlooweg 37, Scharloo Jewish Atlantic World Database

Resources:

• To order a copy of the Jesurun Family Genealogy for Curaçao see Sandra de Marchena's Website 
• Arbell, Mordechai, The Jewish Nation of the Caribbean (New York: Gefen, 2002).
• Emmanuel, Isaac S., Precious Stones of the Jews of Curaçao (New York: Bloch, 1957).

Photos:

• all photos are from the Jewish Atlantic World Database
• Photo at top right is the gravestone of the Hamburg Hakham Moses Jesurun, father of Hakham Raphael Jesurun.

 Are you related to this illustrious family?  If so please post comments with any links that you have that others might find helpful!

Book Review: Houses of Life

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!