Sephardic Jews in the Netherlands

Some migrated to the newly independent Dutch provinces which welcomed the Sephardic Jews. Many of the Jews who left for the Dutch provinces were crypto-Jews , persons who had converted to Catholicism but continued to practice Judaism in secret. After they had settled in the safety of the Netherlands , many of them 'returned' fully to practice of the Jewish religion. Many Jewish refugees came from Portugal , where Spanish Jews had fled after the Spanish Inquisition had been introduced in Spain in 1492. Following the establishment in 1536 of the Portuguese Inquisition , descendants of Jews who had converted to Catholicism were looked upon with great suspicion. Many left for Brazil (where Europeans were Portuguese speaking) and France . A couple of decades later, groups of crypto-Jews started reaching the Dutch Republic . Interior of the 1675 Esnoga (Sephardic synagogue) in Amsterdam . Amsterdam became one of the most favored destinations in the Netherlands for Sephardic Jews. Because many of the refugees were traders, Amsterdam benefited greatly from their arrival. However, the reason to settle in Amsterdam was not merely voluntary; many crypto-Jews, or Marranos , had been refused admission in trading centers like Middelburg and Haarlem , and because of that ended up in Amsterdam. Under the influence of Sephardic Jews, Amsterdam grew rapidly. Many Jews supported the House of Orange , and were in return protected by the stadholder. Because of the international trading relations many Jewish families had because of the dispersal of their families throughout Europe , the Levant and Northern Africa , trading connections were established with the Levant and Morocco . In particular, the relations between the Dutch and South America were established by Sephardic Jews; they contributed to the establishment of the Dutch West Indies Company in 1621, of the directorate of which some of them were members. The ambitious schemes of the Dutch for the conquest of Brazil were carried into effect through Francisco Ribeiro, a Portuguese captain, who is said to have had Jewish relations in Holland . As some years afterward the Dutch in Brazil appealed to Holland for craftsmen of all kinds, many Jews went to Brazil; about 600 Jews left Amsterdam in 1642, accompanied by two distinguished scholars — Isaac Aboab da Fonseca and Moses Raphael de Aguilar . In the struggle between Holland and Portugal for the possession of Brazil the Dutch were supported by the Jews. With various countries in Europe also the Jews of Amsterdam established commercial relations. In a letter dated Nov. 25, 1622, King Christian IV of Denmark invites Jews of Amsterdam to settle in Glückstadt , where, among other privileges, the free exercise of their religion would be assured to them. Besides merchants, a great number of physicians were among the Spanish and Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam: Samuel Abravanel , David Nieto , Elijah Montalto , and the Bueno family; Joseph Bueno was consulted in the illness of Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange (April, 1623). Jews were admitted as students at the university, where they studied medicine as the only branch of science which was of practical use to them, for they were not permitted to practise law, and the oath they would be compelled to take excluded them from the professorships. One of the most famous Dutch Jews of this time was Baruch Spinoza , whose intellectual contributions were very important in his time and continues to influence thinkers to this day. Neither were Jews taken into the trade-guilds: a resolution passed by the city of Amsterdam in 1632 excluded them. Exceptions, however, were made in the case of trades which stood in peculiar relations to their religion: printing, bookselling, the selling of meat, poultry, groceries, and drugs. In 1655 a Jew was, exceptionally, permitted to establish a sugar-refinery. In 1675, the Esnoga (Sephardic synagogue) in Amsterdam was inaugurated. The synagogue is still in use today. The Sephardic cemetery Beth Haim in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel , a village on the outskirts of Amsterdam, has been in use since 1614 and is the oldest Jewish cemetery in the Netherlands. Another reminder of the Sephardic community in Amsterdam is the Huis De Pinto, a residence for the wealthy Sephardic family de Pinto, constructed in 1680.

Some migrated to the newly independent Dutch provinces which welcomed the Sephardic Jews. Many of the Jews who left for the Dutch provinces were crypto-Jews , persons who had converted to Catholicism but continued to practice Judaism in secret. After they had settled in the safety of the Netherlands , many of them 'returned' fully to practice of the Jewish religion.

History Communities Population Denominations Orthodox Modern Haredi Hasidic Reform Conservative Karaite Reconstructionist Renewal Science Haymanot Humanistic Culture Languages Hebrew Biblical Mishnaic Medieval Modern Bukharian Ghardaïa Sign Jewish Koine Greek Judeo-Arabic Judeo-Aramaic Judeo-Berber Judeo-Gascon Judaeo-Georgian Judaeo-Iranian Judeo-Italian Judeo-Malayalam Judaeo-Spanish Judeo-Tat Knaanic Shassi Yeshivish Yevanic Yiddish Zarphatic Politics Category Portal v t e As a result of the expulsions from Spain in 1492 and Portugal in 1496 , as well as the religious persecution by the Inquisition that followed, many Sephardim ( Spanish and Portuguese Jews ) left the Iberian peninsula at the end of the 15th century and throughout the 16th century, in search of religious freedom. Some migrated to the newly independent Dutch provinces which welcomed the Sephardic Jews. Many of the Jews who left for the Dutch provinces were crypto-Jews , persons who had converted to Catholicism but continued to practice Judaism in secret. After they had settled in the safety of the Netherlands , many of them 'returned' fully to practice of the Jewish religion.

The community of Sephardic Jews in the Netherlands , particularly in Amsterdam, was of major importance in the seventeenth century. The Portuguese Jews in the Netherlands did not refer to themselves as "Sephardim", but rather as "Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation." The Portuguese-speaking community grew from conversos , Jews forced to convert to Catholicism in Spain and Portugal, who rejudaized under rabbinical authority, to create an openly self-identified Portuguese Jewish community. As a result of the expulsions from Spain in 1492 and Portugal in 1496 , as well as the religious persecution by the Inquisition that followed, many Spanish and Portuguese Jews left the Iberian Peninsula at the end of the 15th century and throughout the 16th century, in search of religious freedom. Some migrated to the newly independent Dutch provinces which allowed Jews to become residents. Many Jews who left for the Dutch provinces were crypto-Jews . Others had been sincere New Christians , who, despite their conversion, were targeted by Old Christians as suspect. Some of these sought to return to the religion of their ancestors. Ashkenazi Jews began migrating to the Netherlands in the mid-seventeenth century, but Portuguese Jews viewed them with ambivalence. Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation .