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Studia Rosenthaliana

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Studia Rosenthaliana, Volume 34, Number 1, 2000

(1 of 2) Notarial Records relating to the Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam before 1639 1


No. 3499

Anna Jans, widow of Willem Claesz, living in Amsterdam, declares that she owes Samuel de Leon the sum of 70 guilders as the remainder of a larger sum concerning the sale and delivery of tobacco. She promises to repay 6 guilders a week, starting from 8 January 1627.

1627 January 3

Not. Arch. 394A, fol. 3

Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs.2

No. 3500

At the request of Thomas Nunes Pina, merchant in Amsterdam, the notary asks Jan Gerritsz Kinckhuijsen, merchant in Amsterdam, broker Hans Verschuere and Manuel Pinto, Portuguese in Amsterdam, whether they know that Francisco Lopes Gomes, Portuguese merchant, formerly residing in Lisbon, is now trading in Amsterdam and whether they are willing to declare what they know about this. Pinto declares that for some of time he and Cornelis Jansen Melcknap, sworn broker in Amsterdam, helped to negotiate an exchange agreement between Gomes and Lenart Lenartsz, merchant in Amsterdam. The agreement concerned 13 pipes of oil at 76 pounds Flemish a barrel, that Lenart Lenartsz delivered to Gomes, in exchange for a silver jug and some pieces of processed silver with a consignment of money that Gomes delivered to Lenartsz. The exchanged goods were worth 500 pounds Flemish. Before this he helped to negotiate some other exchange agreements between Gomes and other merchants in Amsterdam concerning paper, perpetuana and other goods. Kinckhuijsen declares that about a year and a half earlier he had sold a consignment of linen worth 1,500 guilders to Gomes in Amsterdam. Hans Verschuere declares that some time ago he had negotiated an exchange of goods as sworn broker and that he had been requested to do some others transactions and that Gomes is a peculiar person and is difficult to negotiate with. At the request of Pina, the notary declares that in August 1625 Gomes sold and delivered a string of pearls at 1,180 guilders to Johan Vernadt in Amsterdam. Later, when Vernadt left, the affair was settled through the intervention of himself and of Izak Florianus between Gomes’s brother and Philibert Vernadt, brother of Johan Vernadt. Gomes received the sum of 800 guilders for this string of pearls, paid in installments.

1627 January 5

Not. Arch. 633, f. 129-129v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3501

Pieter Mefferdt, manufacturer of playing cards and Simao Vas de Fontes, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, make the following contract of sale in advance. Starting 1 January 1627 Meffert will deliver at the end of every month 32 dozen Spanish playing cards at a price of 30 stivers a dozen for a period of two years. Mefferdt has 90 or 92 dozen ready that he may deliver immediately instead of the 64 dozen that are due for the first two months at the end of March. During these two years Mefferdt is not allowed to make or to have Spanish cards made for others, to sell them or have them sold at a fine of 100 guilders to the benefit of the poor. Should either party fail to deliver or receive and pay, he will have to pay the other party a fine of 50 guilders, and he will have to comply with the contract if that is what the other party desires. Valerius van der Hoeven and Thomas Fernandes Junior stand surety for Pieter Mefferdt and Simao Vas de Fontes respectively.

1627 January 7

Not. Arch. 394A, f. 10-10v.

Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs.

No. 3502

Copy of the will of Jozef Nahemias, alias Gaspar Nunes Torres, dated 26 October 1626. He appoints his brother Jacob Nahemias Torres, alias Antonio Nunes Torres and Jacob Israel Dias, alias Gonsalo Dias Pato as the executors of his will.

He bequeaths a silver lamp that is used by the Beth Jacob congregation to the same. He leaves to his wife Reijna Nahemias 1,200 pounds Flemish and half of all gold and silver jewellery, in addition to what is due to her in the ketuba: he leaves the other half to his daughter Judica Nahemias Torres. He leaves to the congregations Beth Israel and Neve Salom 20 guilders each for escava to be divided among the poor. He leaves 1,500 guilders to his late brother Manuel Lopes’s daughter, living in Livorno, for her dowry. He leaves to her brother Daniel, his nephew, 500 guilders for the necessary medicine for his mother. He leaves to the two daughters of his late brother Matthias Lopes 1,000 guilders each for their dowries. He leaves to each of the three daughters of his brother Jacob Nahemias Torres 1,000 guilders for their dowry. He leaves to the four sons of his sister Violante Nunes and Abraham Navarro 400 guilders each and additional 10 guilders to her eldest son Izak Navarro. To the daughter of his niece Felipa Nunes in Lisbon he leaves 3,000 guilders for her dowry. To the daughter of his cousin Clara Nunes, wife of Vastanho, he leaves 300 guilders for her dowry.

To the three daughters of his cousin Maria Nunes, who are living with her mother, the daughter of Manuel Laurenço in Amsterdam, 50 pounds Flemish each. To the daughter of Ergas and his cousin Ilena Nunes he leaves 40 pounds Flemish for her dowry.

To the three daughters of his cousin Sebastiao Nunes 500 guilders each. To Izak de Jonge, who is growing up in his house, 2,000 guilders. To his nieces, daughters of Felipa Nunes 120 guilders each for their marriage. To his nieces, daughters of his cousin Beatrix Nunes, wife of Laurenço Rodrigues, 120 guilders each for their marriage. He leaves 40 pounds Flemish to the poor of Amsterdam. He leaves to his niece Francisca Nunes, who is daughter of his sister Rodriga Nunes, and married to Vasco de Mesquita, 150 guilders. To his nephew Francisco Nunes, son of his sister Rodriga Nunes, he leaves 150 guilders. To his cousin Izak Israel Nunes, alias Domingos Nunes 100 guilders that will be administered for him by Diego Fernandes Dias.

He appoints his daughter Judica Nahemias Torres as his principal heir. He wishes her to marry his cousin David Nahemias Torres, son of Jacob Nahemias Torres, alias Antonio Nunes Torres. In which case he will give David Nahemias Torres 500 pounds Flemish. Should the relatives to whom he leaves a gift for their marriage, remain single, these gifts will remain with his daughter Judica. A sum of 1,000 crusados (400 pounds Flemish) will have to be used to set up a fund, the proceeds of which should be used to support his relatives or for gifts at their marriage.

Witnesses are Rodrigo Fernandes, alias Abraham Navarro, Samuel Israel Dias, Izak Israel Dias, David (Israel) Dias, Jacob Baruch, Daniel Nunes, Jacob (Fernandes) Burgos and Izak Navarro. On 26 October 1626 Gaspar Nunes Torres ratifies his testament in the presence of Gaspar Febos, Daniel Nunes, Matias Rodrigues Cardoso and Jozua Egas as witnesses. He wants his wife Rifica Nahemias Torres to be the guardian of his daughter Judica.

1627 January 10

Not. Arch. 633, f. 134-135

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

Instrument in Portuguese.

No. 3503

Isabel Rodrigues, widow of Manuel Rodrigues de Olivença, assisted by her son Jacob Messia, conveys to Diego Nunes Belmonte an insurance of 225 pounds Flemish in a policy of 350 pounds Flemish, the rest of which concerns another person. The insurance was taken out on money and goods loaded in Salé for the journey to Amsterdam in two ships. These ships are De Bloempot with Skipper Abraham Jansen and De Blauwe Duif with Skipper Aert Ariaensen. The insurance was underwritten by the following insurers.

Willem and Henk de Vries for 100 pounds, Jean le Roux for 100 pounds, Fernando de la Faille, Michel Cornelisz Blau and David Otsenborn each for 50 pounds. She further conveys to Belmonte her share in 20 cases of muscovado sugar that are in the hands of Manuel Esteves in Hamburg and further all securities that are administered by Aron Querido in Salé.

These conveyances serve in payment and reduction of 2,666 guilders and 9 stivers that Belmonte paid for her to her son Izak Messia. Witness is Jacob Jesurun.

1627 January 15

Not. Arch. 394A, f. 29-29v.

Not. Jacob and Nicoleas Jacobs

Instrument in Portuguese.

No. 3504

Guillaume Quibors, serge worker, 67 years old, makes the following statement at the request of Felipe Dorta Henriques, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam. All serge workers who work outside the house of their employer, are given money by him to buy two warp frames and to pay for the spinning and combing. If the serge worker quits his master’s employment, he will have to pay this money back. This money is reserved for the serge worker as wages because the masters, besides bringing each piece of serge to their homes, pay their serge workers for their labour and give them money to buy a new warp frame. These conditions were also drawn up in his presence between the said Henriques and Sijdrach Danielsz, also serge worker, who was employed by Henriques. On 22 January 1627 Aron de Pas, Portuguese merchant, 28 years old, declares, also at the request of Henriques, that he was present when this contract was drawn up between Henriques and Danielsz. Henriques then provided Danielsz with two warp frames and money for the spinning and combing of two pieces. Danielsz still owes the greater part of this money.

1627 January 18

Not. Arch. 394A, f. 38-38v.

Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs.2

No. 3505

Willem Erick from Lübeck, aged 27, Claes Croon from Hamburg, aged 25 and Mattheus Vet from Hamburg, aged 25, skippers of the ships De Twaelf Apostelen, De Eenhooren and De Paerle respectively, make the following statement at the request of David Senior, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam.

On 10 August last they left from Lisbon with their ships, Willem Erick destined for Livorno, and the other two destined for Venice. After they had dropped anchor near Almeria, they were approached by captain Cornelisz Moens, who commanded a large man-of-war armed with 20 pieces and a crew of about 100 men, and by captain Anthony de Ledekerke, commander of a man-of-war with 10 pieces and a crew of about 60, who was accompanied by an English ship armed with 18 pieces and another six Dutch ships that were mostly well armed. When this fleet approached them, they neared the coast as much as they could. They were approached by a boat from this fleet twice and were ordered to come to the fleet, but they answered that they did not know if they were Moorish or what kind of ships they were. Then the whole fleet sailed up to them. When they saw this they went by boat to the man-of-war of Captain Moens who was the admiral of the fleet. When they showed him their passports he took over and occupied their ships. Their ships were looted and taken to Holland with the cargoes. The De Twaelf Apostelen arrived at Texel around 12 October last and was taken to Amsterdam. The ships were unloaded on the orders of the Admiralty and the goods were stored. Part of the goods from De Twaelf Apostelen was sold by the Admiralty.

1627 January 18

Not. Arch. 692B, p. 246-248

Not. Jan Warnaerts.

No. 3506

Wiggert Jansz, rope-maker, declares for himself and for Marry Jansz, Jan Olfert’s widow, to have sold to Jeronimo Rodrigues de Sousa, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, 200 to 220 ship’s pounds of rope-work of genuine Westkappel yarn with the Amsterdam hallmark, smooth and well structured and tarred. The sellers will have to have half or more of this consignment ready as soon as the ice has melted and the rest a fortnight or three weeks later if the waterways remain open. The rope-work is to be shipped from Amsterdam to St Malo at the expense of the sellers, to be delivered there to the buyer’s agent. When news is received from St Malo that the rope-work has been delivered, the buyer will have to pay the sellers the sum of 33 guilders and 5 stivers for each ship’s pound of rope (reckoning 300 pounds as a ship’s pound). Juan Gonçales signs as broker.

1627 January 21

Not. Arch. 846, f. 32-33

Not. Jozef Steijns

No. 3507

Bartholomeus Sijmonsz and Hendrick Aggesz, rope-makers, sold to Jeronimo Rodrigues de Sousa, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, 200 ship’s pounds of rope-work of genuine ‘Westkappel’ yarn with the Amsterdam hallmark, smooth and well structured and tarred. The sellers will have to have half or more ready as soon as the ice has melted and the remainder in a fortnight or three weeks after if the waterways remain open. The rope-work is to be shipped from Amsterdam to St Malo at the expense and risk of the sellers, to be delivered to the buyer’s agent there. When the message is received that the rope-work has been delivered, the buyer is to pay the sellers in Amsterdam the sum of 34 guilders for each ship’s pound, reckoning a ship’s pound as 300 pounds.

1627 January 21

Not. Arch. 846, f. 41-42

Not. Jozef Steijns

No. 3508

Notice served at the request of the Tobacco Impostmasters of Holland and West Friesland upon Emanuel Lopes de Lion, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam. The Impostmasters request Emanuel Lopes de Lion to have the five casks of tobacco that he received from outside the city and the cask that he is to receive at the Weigh House of Amsterdam or at his own home, to be weighed by sworn weighers in the presence of the Impostmasters or their collector in accordance with the third article of the Ordinance on the strength of which this impost was leased out. De Lion answers that he will comply with the notice.

1627 January 29

Not. Arch. 846, f. 51

Not. Jozef Steijns.

No. 3509

Notice served at the request of Rodrigo Alvares de Pas, acting for his father Francisco de Pas, upon Pieter Seullijn, Jan Bicker and Bartolomeus Bertels, merchants in Amsterdam, who insured for the said Francisco de Pas hemp and other goods loaded in the ship of Skipper Goosen Gerritsz. The journey went from Danzig to Porto and the said hemp was unloaded in Hoorn and is now in the hands of Francisco Coutinho in Amsterdam. Coutinho keeps the hemp as security for the bail that he put up for the freight price that is claimed by the skipper, with whom he is involved in a litigation. De Pas requests that the insurers collect the hemp according to the abandonment made to them and to reach an agreement with Coutinho as if it were their own case, and requests them to allow him to transfer the policy to the Insurance Chamber to be dispatched.

1627 February 3

Not. Arch. 394A, f. 64

Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs.

No. 3510

Notice served at the request of Barbara Thomasdr. upon Abraham da Costa, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam. The rolls of tobacco that she bought from Da Costa at 1,400 guilders, of which the first payment of 350 guilders was made by her, are partly rotten and dried. She does not want to keep the tobacco and wants restitution of the sum she paid, with deduction of the tobacco that she sold, possibly to be determined by arbiters. Abraham da Costa acknowledges receipt of the notice.

1627 February 4

Not. Arch. 634, f. 7v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3511

Dr Joseph Bueno, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, serves the following notice upon Jan van Nudt. Van Nudt bought from Bueno 6 bags of Segovian wool at 600 guilders. Van Nudt was to pay immediately but failed to do so. On the day of the sale, contrary to good business practice, he obtained letters of cession from the High Council of Holland, which letters are only meant for those who suffered damage and loss but not for those who transfer goods in bad faith to others or embezzle them and thus commit fraud upon the legal owner. He notifies Van Nudt to restitute the wool to him or to pay immediately. Van Nudt’s servant asks for a copy of the notice.

1627 February 5

Not. Arch. 634, f. 8v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3512

Francisco de Caceres, 54 years old, burgher and Joao Rodrigues, 42 years old, inhabitant of Amsterdam, declare at the request of André Alvares that the said Alvares has lived in Amsterdam with his wife and children for more than 10 years. Some time ago, after his wife died, he made a trip to France and returned to his house and children in Amsterdam about two months ago. They have known Alvares for more than ten years and are well acquainted with him on the whole.

1627 February 15

Not. Arch. 394 A, f. 88

Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs.

No. 3513

Pieter Jansen Flassenbaert, Walich Cornelissen and Wijer Janssen, living at Wieringen, declare, also in the name of their helpers, to have received 340 guilders from Sebastiao Mendes Pimentel, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam.

This sum was awarded to them because of a verdict of arbiters Wessel Becker and Dirck de Leeu, merchants in Amsterdam for their trouble in salvaging the ship Sta Maria with Skipper Hendrick Schult from Lübeck and its cargo. This ship, coming from the Condado had been sailed aground at the northern side of ’t Vlaeck, 4 by a pilot from Huisduinen after which they raised the ship and its cargo and sailed it around Wieringen and then to Amsterdam.

1627 February 23

Not. Arch. 634, f. 20v.-21

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3514

John Stuart from Dumbarton (Scotland) declares he has reached an agreement with Jozef Justo, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, concerning his claims on the late Francisco de Pas, Justo’s father and Michael Cardoso and Rodrigo Alvares de Pas. It concerns expenses made by them for his ship on its journey to Malaga in 1623 and during his imprisonment there. He declares that Justo paid him a sum of 100 guilders.

1627 February 26

Not. Arch. 634, f. 32v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3515

Testament of Isabel Nunes, wife of Izak Chamis, living in Amsterdam in which she appoints her sister Francisca Rodrigues as her universal heiress.5

1627 March 5

Not. Arch. 394A, f. 133-133v.

Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs

No. 3516

Statement made by Maria Nunes, Manuel Lourenço’s widow. After the death of her brother Gonçalo Lopes a sum of money was handed over to her brother-in-law Diogo Lopes Estonçes. Moreover the late Gaspar Nunes Torres gave him a little money for some raisins (?)6 on the orders of Gaspar Nunes Castello. On 26 January last the said Estonçes gave her all the money, capital as well as interest through the intermediary of Diogo Fernandes Dias. She paid this sum to Dr Diogo Lopes Telles together with the value of 500 crusados for the account of her brother Antonio Nunes de Oliveira on 25 February last, all this for the marriage of her daughter Rachel. She declares that the said Estonçes gave her a sum of 29 guilders and 5 stivers, with which all accounts between her and her brother-in-law have been settled so that she has no further claims on him. Rodrigo Fernandes signs as witness.

1627 March 5

Not. Arch. 394A, f. 134-134v.

Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs

Instrument in Portuguese.

No. 3517

Manuel d’Orta, merchant in Amsterdam, makes the following statement at the request of Duarte Fernandes. About three years ago he was in Paris where he heard that a certain Rusco, Italian merchant there, had been condemned to be hanged for having forged some notarial instruments but that through a petition for clemency to the queen he had been pardoned and released. The notary however, with whom he had committed the forgery, was hanged.

1627 March 8

Not. Arch. 394A, f. 139

Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs.

No. 3518

Jan Werbrouck, merchant in Haarlem, acting for himself and as guardian of the minor children of the late Jan Verschuyren de Oude, gives power-of-attorney to Hans Collosijs, burgher of Amsterdam, to settle a dispute with Jan Gonsalvo, Portuguese. The dispute concerns certain pieces of woven cloth that were sold for him and for the said Jan Verschuyren de Oude, his grandfather, by his brother-in-law Hans Verschuyren, sworn broker, to Jan Gonsalvo in June 1617. He is authorised to collect the money due to them.

1627 March 18

Not. Arch. 550B, f. 78

Not. Jacob Westfrisius

No. 3519

Statement made by Antonio Martins Viegas, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam and his son Manuel Viegas. Mattheus de Quester, postmaster in London, and his son have committed themselves before the Court of the Admiralty in London as surety for the sum of 12,000 guilders concerning the release of goods loaded in Faro for the account of Antonio Martins Viegas in the ship, the St Pieter of Skipper Cornelis van Berchem. The ship ran into trouble in England and was released on bail paid by the said Mattheus de Quester. Now that IJsbrant Dobbesz, merchant in Amsterdam, has committed himself as counter-surety for De Quester and his son, Antonio Martins Viegas and Manuel Viegas stand surety for 12,000 guilders for the sureties and counter-sureties. On 27 April 1627 Pedro Homem de Medeiros stands surety for Antonio Martins Viegas and Manuel Viegas, his father-in-law and brother-in-law respectively.

1627 March 18

Not. Arch.634, f. 35-35v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3520

The notary makes the following statement at the request of Jeronimo Doria d’Andrade, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam. Yesterday he went to Jan van Hoorn for Doria d’Andrade to notify him that because of his insolvency 7 he would not carry any risk for the 100 pounds Flemish that he had insured for Doria d’Andrade for a journey to the Azores and back with Skipper Claes Douwesz from Vlieland, unless Jan van Hoorn provided security for his own signature. Moreover Doria d’Andrade would remain creditor to Jan van Hoorn for half of the premium at 10 pounds Flemish that was paid to him for the insurance. Van Hoorn answered that he was satisfied that he had been released from the risk and that he had not received any premium for the insurance from the broker.

1627 March 24

Not. Arch. 634, f. 42

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3521

Skipper Hijmrijck Schutte from Lübeck declares that Sebastian Mendes Pimentel, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, paid him the freight-price for a journey with the ship Sta Maria from Hamburg to the Condado and then to Amsterdam, which ship was freighted in Hamburg by André Fernandes Cardoso.

1627 March 25

Not. Arch. 634, f. 43v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3522

Statement made by the notary at the request of Pedro Homem de Medeiros, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam. On 26 February last he went to the St Anthonisluis in this city to see a flatboat with a consignment of sugar that Simon de Goijer declared to have unloaded from the ship of Skipper Hendrick Hoijer, coming from Lisbon. He found that one case of muscovado sugar of this consignment that concerned the said Medeiros, was two-thirds empty. Apparently the sugar had been washed away by water and the remaining sugar was watery. Simon de Goijer had declared that this case had been stowed at the main mast and that other cases that had been stowed there and concerned other people, were also damaged. On 15 March the notary went to the Weigh House where De Medeiros delivered 10 cases of muscovado sugar to Hans Wijn, confectionner in Amsterdam, including the said case of muscovado sugar. This one appeared to have a gross weight of 302 pounds.

1627 April 12

Not. Arch. 634, f. 57v.-58

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3523

At the request of Jeronimo Rodrigues de Sousa, Portuguese merchant, Hans Hendricksz, aged 37 and Hendrick Claesz, aged 23, labourers at the Weigh House with the Scottish warehousing company, make the following statement. Around 24 December 1626, they were in the attic of De Sousa’s warehouse with the ‘De Morgenstont’ signboard, handling four bales of Portuguese pepper in double bags. These bags had been cut open and had been inspected by the buyer Anthony Aertsz. They sewed up the holes of these four bales of pepper that were the foremost of 36 similar bales of pepper, and had them weighed at the Weigh House in the city. The bales were dry and in good condition at the time. They had not noticed any dampness or damage. 8

1627 April 13

Not. Arch. 846, f. 109-110

Not. Jozef Steijns

No. 3524

Daniel Nunes, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, makes the following agreement with Skipper Jan Willemsz from Amsterdam and his owner Daniel de Vos in Amsterdam. With the approval of Diego Fernandes Dias who transferred the charter to Daniel Nunes, the skipper will make four journeys according to the freight contract of 16 November 1626 adhering to the conditions specified in the contract. Nunes will make an advance payment of 150 guilders to the skipper and his owner for which 600 reals in silver will be deducted from the freight price. This sum is to be paid back plus 100 guilders if the journey is not made or if the ship is wrecked or seized by privateers. The skipper and his owner have been sentenced to pay this sum by the judicial authorities of Amsterdam and Nunes may charter another ship at their expense to make this journey. If after the release of the attachment the skipper does not begin his journey immediately or if he accepts another charter, this sum of 150 guilders should also be paid back.

1627 April 16

Not. Arch. 632, f. 232

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz. 9

No. 3525

Copy of an affidavit of Pieter Janssen from Lübeck, skipper of the ship Den Jaeger, that lies ready in Viana to sail to Hamburg. He declares he has received from Gaspar Caminha Rego 14 cases of sugar for the account and risk of Diego Carlos in Hamburg, to be delivered to the said Diego Carlos at a freight price of 21 marks a case.

1627 April 18

Not. Arch. 634, f. 124

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3526

At the request of Pedro Homem Coronel, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, the notary declares that on 3 March last he went to Coronel’s house in Breestraat near St Anthonispoort where 21 cases of panelado sugar were stored in the cellar. Coronel had received the sugar from Lisbon with the ship Den Engel Gabriel of Skipper Hendrick Hoijer from Hamburg. The notary established that some of the cases were wet and damaged by seawater. Some cases had a gross weight of 542, 618 and 420 pounds according to the Weigh House in this city.

1627 April 19

Not. Arch.634, f. 59v.-60

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3527

Francisco de Caçeres from Amsterdam, about 54 years old, makes the following statement at the request of Antonio Martins Viegas. In 1622 he mediated between Viegas and Leonard de Beer so that both parties would submit their dispute concerning certain accounts to arbitration by Francisco Mendes de Medeiros and Michael Corael. De Beer effected an attachment with some grocers who owed Viegas money. De Caçeres had the attachment lifted by Willem Pietersz, sheriff’s officer, according to an instrument passed to that effect. From information supplied by De Beer, De Caçeres knows that Manuel Viegas, the son of Antonio Martins Viegas, looked after his father’s affairs in Spiritu Santo in Bahia. De Beer had asked Viegas junior in a letter to help Dirck Pietersz with a ship with Brazil wood. All expenses, including gifts, would be refunded by him. In his letter De Beer promised De Caçeres a share in the wood. When the affair was discovered Dirck Pietersz was imprisoned and the ship sailed out. Manuel Viegas was suspected and arrested in Bahia and was found to be carrying De Beer’s letter. Viegas junior was then tried and put in jail endangering his life. Through gifts he managed to get his sentence converted to 7 years forced labour in Africa. De Beer, who had told all of this to De Caçeres, said that he considered the expenses to be very high and that he would settle the matter with an verbal agreement. When Viegas senior noticed that De Beer failed to comply and was about to leave for Hamburg, he tried to have him jailed but failed. De Beer then went to Hamburg. Viegas senior then applied to the courts in Amsterdam and Hamburg to compel De Beer to settle the matter before he returned to Amsterdam and if he failed to do so, to have him tried in absence. De Caçeres refers to the applications to the courts for particulars.

1627 April 20

Not. Arch. 394B, f.278-278v.

Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs.

No. 3528

Freight contract between Francisco Vas de Leon and Ruy Gomes Fronteira, Portuguese merchants in Amsterdam, as freighters, each for one half and Lucas Jansen from Enkhuizen, skipper of the ship De Swarte Leeu, large 60 lasts, armed with 4 iron pieces and 4 stone pieces and a crew of 10. The journey will go from Enkhuizen with a cargo to Salé, unload and load within eight weeks and back to Amsterdam. The ship is to sail around the back of England and Scotland or through the Channel in case of bad tides and heavy storms. The freight price amounts to 3,300 guilders. Arbiters in Amsterdam will determine the compensation for extra lay-days. The freighters will only pay the expenses for anchorage and piloting in Salé.

1627 April 20

Not. Arch. 634, f. 61-62

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3529

Protest of non-payment. Jeronimo Rodrigues Mendes, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, requests Michael Cardoso and Rodrigo Alvares de Pas, Portuguese merchants in Amsterdam, to pay the remainder of a bill of exchange of 35 guilders and 1 stiver. The bill was drawn in Hamburg on 2 October 1626 for a sum of 1,080 thaler at 34 stivers a thaler, to be paid within 26 weeks. The drawer is Jacob Justo, the value received from Manuel Esteves. Cardoso and De Pas accepted the bill. The reason for non-payment is not given.

1627 10 April 21

Not. Arch. 634, f. 62-62v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3530

Statement made at the request of Duarte Saraiva and Michael Cardoso, Portuguese merchants in Amsterdam, by Albert Dauberck, alias Alberto Montera, sojourning in Amsterdam, also acting for Rodrigo Alvares de Pas.

He borrowed 2,400 guilders on bottomry conditions from Saraiva and De Pas on the ship St Philippo of which he was skipper. The ship later returned to this country as a result of the crew’s lawlessness and was given a new skipper, Hendrick Pietersz from Norden. The destination was changed to Viana. The bottomry remained valid for the journey to Viana, according to the two letters of bottomry for Saraiva, Cardoso and De Pas that were passed before notary Sibrant Cornelisz for that sum.

1627 April 21

Not. Arch. 634, f. 63v.-64

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3531

Statement made by Gabriel Fernandes, merchant in Amsterdam, who has a conveyance from Philips van der Steijn, merchant in Antwerp, according to a notarial instrument passed before Guilhaume Rousseau, notary in Antwerp on 28 September 1621. He owes Wilhelm van Welij, merchant in Amsterdam, the sum of 133 pounds, 6 shillings and 8 groats Flemish for money received from Van Welij. He promises to pay this sum on October 1 next. He gives the following items as securety. First of all the sum of 600 pounds Flemish that is owed by Lamoral, Baron de Tassis, postmaster-general of Brabant to Philips van der Steijn, according to a bond of 8 February 1618, to be paid in three annual terms, the last term of which fell due on 8 February 1621. Secondly the sum of 500 pounds Flemish that the said Baron de Tassis owes to Philips van der Steijn, according to a bond of 10 December 1620, to be paid within three years that became due on 8 February 1621. Thirdly a bond of 250 pounds Flemish given by Philips van der Steijn to the benefit of Fernandes, to be paid to him or on his orders to someone else. Fourthly a bill of exchange of 100 pounds Flemish drawn by Harman van der Pellens on Nicolaes van der Pellens, which bill has been accepted. Even though the bill reads: value received from Wilhelm van Welij, to be paid to Daniel Deegbroot or order, this bill concerns him only. Fifthly a bill of exchange of 150 pounds Flemish drawn by Harman van der Pellens on Nicolaes van der Pellens, which bill has been accepted, to be paid to Jehan Paulo Dorco or order. Although the value was received from Gaspar Fernandes Vega, this bill concerns him only. Then twelve large maritime paintings, each three ells long and as high as the linen and one narwhal horn weighing more than ten ounces. Finally a ‘Lucretia’ of palmwood, supposedly made by Albert Dur.

1627 April 25

Not. Arch. 394B, f. 286-287v.

Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs

No. 3532

Jacob Nehemias Torres and Jacob Israel Dias, Portuguese merchants in Amsterdam, executors of the will made on 26 October 1626 by Josef Nehemias Torres, alias Gaspar Nunes Torres, authorise Israel and David Nehemias and Pascoal and Daniel Nehemias Torres, living in Livorno and Pisa respectively, to defend the said persons against David and Abraham Navarro and to collect from them the money that they owe to the estate of the late Josef Nehemias Torres.

1627 April 26

Not. Arch. 632, f. 33

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

Instrument in Portuguese.

No. 3533

Freight contract between Jeronimo and Duarte Rodrigues Mendes as freighters, both for one half and Michael de Pas and Francisco Coutinho for the others half, with Skipper Antoni Heijnderick, burgher of Amsterdam who is assisted by his owner Francisco Coutinho. The journey will be made by the ship De Gratie Godes, large 80 lasts, armed with 8 iron pieces and 4 stone pieces and a crew of 15. The ship will sail from Amsterdam with a general cargo and wood to Salé, where the ship will be unloaded and reloaded in 8 weeks by Abraham de Leon, agent of the freighters, or in his absence by Daniel de Leon and Jozef de Pas. Back to Amsterdam and unload there. The primage is 30 guilders for a new flag. The freight price is 3,950 guilders. Arbiters in Amsterdam will determine the compensation for extra lay-days. If one freighter cannot load his half completely, the other freighter can make use of this space at payment of the freight price pro rata. This freight price may not exceed 45 guilders a last.

1627 April 26

Not. Arch. 634, f. 67v-68v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3534

Sworn statement made by Pieter Bussel, 36 years of age, tailor and Jacob Harmanssen, 24 years of age, shoemaker, living in Amsterdam, at the request of substitute sheriff Tengnagel for Stijntgen Tijsdr., widow. Bussel declares that on Saturday eight days ago he travelled to Delfzijl at the request of Tengnagel and the said widow to hear from a Jew called Samuel, brother of a certain Isack who recently received corporal punishment in Amsterdam, what had happened between this Samuel and a certain Julius Cruijsberghen who had been there earlier. Both declare that Samuel had a letter written about this by someone that he signed in Hebrew in their presence and that he handed it to Bussel to be delivered to the substitute sheriff. In this letter Samuel described what had happened; he also mentioned that he had given Cruijsberghen 80 guilders to be handed to the widow to compensate her for the goods that had been stolen from her and that had been sold by his brother Isack, this to prevent a scandal for his brother. He had also given Cruijsberghen 4 rix-dollars for his travel expenses and a diamond ring for his wife, which was confirmed by many Jews who were present. Both further declare that in Emden Cruijsberghen posed as a servant of the sheriff and that he showed a letter that, according to him, was signed by two Amsterdam burgomasters and by the said Izack, who was then in prison here, authorising Cruijsberghen to investigate certain articles of clothing and goods that were supposed to belong to Izack. The said Jews in Dam 11 had confirmed that by these means Cruijsberghen had obtained clothing from some people and money from others, so that he would not bring trouble upon them.

1627 May 3

Not. Arch. 749, f. 410-412

Not. Pieter van Perssen ( Jozef Steijns)

No. 3535

Freight contract between Francisco da Costa d’Elvas and Matias Rodrigues Cardoso, Portuguese merchants in Amsterdam, as freighters and Skipper Pieter Franssen, burgher of Amsterdam. The ship De Lieffde, large 50 lasts, will sail from Texel to Madeira with goods; unload and load within two months and back to Amsterdam and unload there. The freight price amounts to 3,000 guilders. Arbiters in Amsterdam will determine the compensation for extra lay-days.

1627 May 11

Not. Arch. 634, f. 73v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz. 12

No. 3536

Hendrick Pietersz from Hamburg, notifies Simao Pinto and Manuel Rodrigues to accept the 29 rolls of tobacco that he sold to them 10 days ago through the intervention of Manuel de Campos, sworn broker. Manuel Rodrigues answers that he will appear before the authorities and say to them what he has to say.

1627 May 12

Not. Arch. 704B, f. 124

Not. Jan Warnaertsz 13

No. 3537

Protest of non-acceptance. Marten Aernouts requests that Duarte de Palaçios, merchant in Amsterdam, pay a bill of exchange of 500 thalers at 34 stivers a thaler. The bill was drawn in Hamburg on 15 January 1627 with a term of 21 weeks by Henrique de Lima. The payee is Diderich Boshart. The bill was endorsed by Marten Aernouts in Hamburg on 28 April 1627. Duarte de Palaçios answers that he accepted the first bill of exchange and that he therefore does not accept the second one and that he will pay either one of them on the date of maturity. The notary says that he has no evidence of the acceptance of the first bill and he therefore protests against the bill.

1627 May 19

Not. Arch. 543A, f. 18 (portfolio 1627)

Not. Jacob Westfrisius

No. 3538

Hendrick Ruben, living in Altena and sojourning in Amsterdam, husband of the daughter of the late Thomas Leamer, an Englishman who died in Amsterdam, authorises Thomas Couper, burgher of Amsterdam and Francisco Coutinho, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, to start legal proceedings before the Court of Amsterdam against Fredrick Leker, merchant in Amsterdam.

1627 June 2

Not. Arch. 634, f. 87-87v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3539

Protest of non-payment. Pedro Homem de Medeiros, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, requests from Antoni and Leonardo de Schot payment of a bill of exchange of 800 thalers at 34 5/8 stivers a thaler. The bill was drawn in Hamburg on 21 April 1627 by Jean Rijcquelsmo and is due on 8 June 1627. The value was received from Louis Gomes. Antoni de Schot is rumoured to be insolvent. De Schot’s servant answers that there are no orders for payment.

1627 June 10

Not. Arch. 634, f. 93

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3540

Protest of non-payment. Thomas Fernandes and Pedro Homem de Medeiros, Portuguese merchants in Amsterdam, request Antoni and Leonart de Schot, merchants in Amsterdam, to pay a bill of exchange of 500 thalers at 33 a thaler, with a term of 8 weeks. The bill was drawn in Hamburg on 2 May 1627 by Antoni and Leonart de Schot. The value was received from Luis Gomes de Medeiros. Antoni de Schot accepted the bill. His servant declares that Antoni de Schot is not at home and that he has no orders for payment. Antoni de Schot is rumoured to be insolvent.

1627 June 10

Not. Arch. 634, f. 94-94v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3541

Protest of non-payment. Diego Fernandes Dias, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, requests Antoni de Schot to pay a bill of exchange of 303 1/3 crowns (écus) at 125 groats a crown. The bill was drawn in Rouen on 2 May 1627 by Henri van Okhuisen. The payee is Jacob Hendrix; the value received from Rene Pietersz and Nicolaes Dircksz; the endorsed party is Abraham van Cleef. Antoni and Leonart de Schot accepted the bill. Antoni de Schot’s servant says that his employer is not at home and that he has no orders to pay the bill and advises Dias to go to Paulus and Samuel Timmerman. Antoni de Schot is rumoured to be insolvent. Hendrick de Picquer, merchant in Amsterdam, declares that he will pay the bill for the account of the drawer, in the name of the refinery in Rouen.

1627 June 12

Not. Arch. 634, f. 98-98v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3542

Protest of non-payment. Diogo Martins, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, requests that Antoni de Schot pay a bill of exchange of 917 thalers at 33 5/8 a thaler; the bill is due on 15 June. The bill was drawn in Hamburg on 14 April 1627 by Antoni and Leonart de Schot; the value was received from Louis Gomes de Medeiros. Antoni de Schot’s servant answers that his employer is not at home. He is rumoured to be insolvent. The notary declares that the current rate of exchange from Amsterdam to Hamburg is 33 1/8 stivers a thaler if paid from Hamburg.

1627 June 12

Not. Arch. 634, f. 99v.-100

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3543

Stephanus Rodrigues da Costa, 14 Portuguese, at present in prison, 31 years old, makes the following statement at the request of Captain Benedictus de Rego, also in prison. About eight months ago he agreed with a button-maker that the latter would make 20 dozen buttons for him according to a sample, at 30 stivers a dozen. When these buttons were delivered it appeared that they did not match the sample and he refused to accept these buttons. At the insistence of the button-maker he accepted and paid 17 dozens of buttons but there was no mention of further buttons to be made. About 12 days ago the button-maker visited him in prison with a few other dozens of buttons that had been made perfectly according to the first sample. He refused to accept these since he had not given such an order, contrary to the button-maker’s claims.

1627 June 21

Not. Arch. 550B, f. 168-168v.

Not. Jacob Westfrisius

No. 3544

Pedro and Jan Pinto, Portuguese merchants who have been living in Amsterdam for a long time, give power-of-attorney to Jean Letheullier, merchant in London. Letheullier is authorised to claim in Dover and elsewhere three casks of tobacco that were loaded for their account in Bayonne in the ship De Schoenmaker of Skipper Jan IJsbrantsz from Krommeniedijk by Jacomo Luis. The ship was arrested by English ships and taken to Dover.

1627 June 28

Not. Arch. 634, f. 109-110

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz. 15

Notes
Top
Notes


  1. [Back] Prepared by the staff of the Amsterdam Municipal Archives. Translations by S. Hart.
  2. [Back] The instrument was not signed.
  3. [Back] On f. 37 a combined copy of both instruments.
  4. [Back] Probably Wieringer Vlack.
  5. [Back] She revokes this will on 22 April 1627 (f. 133v.)
  6. [Back] Litterally: ‘pasas’.
  7. [Back] The instrument reads: ‘insolentie’.
  8. [Back] Annexed to this instrument the following statement: On April 14 Antonio Fernanades, 35 years old, Portugese in Amsterdam, makes the following statement at the reqeust of De Sousa with David Abiatar, Portugese, acting as interpreter. Around 23 December 1626 Artsz bought four fardels of cinnamon and four bales of Portugese pepper in double bags in the attic of De Sousa. Before the purchase Aertsz took some pepper from the bags and inspected it in a wooden bowl or dish and being satisfied, asked for the pepper to be delivered at the Weight House (Not. Arch. 846, f. 110-111, Not. Jozef Steijns. 1626 April 14).
  9. [Back] This instrument is written in the margin of the instrument passed on 16 November 1626, f. 231-232.
  10. [Back] Erroneously: 1626.
  11. [Back] Probably Appingendam.
  12. [Back] In the margin it is mentioned that this freight contract was not passed.
  13. [Back] Draft instrument.
  14. [Back] Notary: a Costra.
  15. [Back] In the margin the notary refers to the following power-of-attorney as having been passed in a different form: Pedro and Jan del la Faya, brothers and Portugese merchants who have lived in Amsterdam for a long time, authorise Jean Letheullier, merchant in London, to claim 3 casks of tobacco in Dover or elsewhere. Jacomo Louis had loaded these casks for their account under the name of Pedro and Jan Pinto – which is the name they use in business because of the threat from the Inquisition in Spain – in the ship De Schoenmaker of skipper Jan IJsbrantsz from Krommeniedijk. This ship was taken by the English and brought to Dover. A similar power-of-attorney was passed on the sane day by Diego Fernandes Dias, Portugese merchant in Amsterdam, for Jan Luce, merchant in London, to claim tobacco that had been loaded by Dias in the ship of Jan Ijsbrantsz from Krommeniedijk and Claes Fransz from Rotterdam (Not. Arch. 634, f. 115. Not. Sibrant Cornelisz. 1627 June 28).

AMSTERDAM NOTARIAL RECORDS-AZORES, TERCEIRA


No. 3577


Statement made by Michael de Crasto, Portuguese merchant in
Amsterdam. He has
bought a ship in Enkhuizen from the widow of Lambert Cornelisz
Cruyff. The
ship, called Estrele Dourada (Gouden Ster) was rebaptised as St
Miguel. The
ship is about 50 lasts large and its skipper is Harke Gerritsz from
Enkhuizen.
Michael de Crasto and the other shareholders agree that this ship
will sail to
Terceira and from there back and forth to Brasil with a Portuguese
skipper and
a Portuguese crew. Shareholders are: Diogo Martins, David Abeniacar,
Jacob
Franco, Manuel Lopes Nunes, Afonso Henriques, Thomas Fernandes,
Antonio Lopes
Pereira, Felipe Henriques. In Terceira also: Sebastiao d’Andrade and
Manuel
Roiz d’Oliveira.

1627 August 20
Not. Arch. 634 f. 142-142v.
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.
Instrument in Portuguese.



No. 3575

Freight contract between Francisco and Manuel Mendes Trancoso, Diogo
and
Rodrigo Drago, Francisco Lopes de Azevedo and Manuel Alvares
Henriques as
freighters on the one side and skipper Michiel Dircksz from
Huisduinen as
hired skipper on the other side.
The ship Bõa Ventura, large 60 lasts will sail with goods from
Amsterdam to
Terceira, sailing around England; unload and reload with goods and
back to
Amsterdam. The freight amounts to 220 guilders as rent for the whole
journey.
There is a primage of about 100 guilders for the skipper. The skipper
will
engage six men and a boy with the owners’ advice. The crew will be
paid two
months’ wages in advance and the rest upon return. If there is no
return cargo
the ship will either be sold in Terceira or wait there. The skipper
and the
crew can return to the Netherlands with other ships. The crew’s wages
will run
until their return to Amsterdam.

1627 August 18
Not. Arch. 395A f. 133-134
Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobsz.

AZORES GENEALOGICAL RESOURCES

GOVERNMENT ARCHIVES/VITAL RECORDS/LIBRARIES (ONLY if you know the
town)

1. The Bibliotecas and Arquivos (generally, write here for
information 100 years or older). They
do not do research for you. They only issue certificates for the
vital events.

SANTA MARIA & SÃO MIGUEL: Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo de Ponta
Delgada, Rua Largo Colegio, 9500 Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, Açôres
(Azores)
TERCEIRA, GRACIOSA, SÃO JORGE: Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo de
Angra do Heroísmo, 49 Rua da Rosa, 9700 Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira,
Açôres (Azores) (Holds records up to 1911).
FAIAL, PICO, FLORES, CORVO: Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo de Horta,
Rua Dom Pedro IV, 25 Horta, 9900 Faial, Açôres (Azores)

2. The Civil Registries (generally, write here for the past 100
years or so). (Established 1 Apr. 1910)

Address the letters the following way:
Conservatória do Registo Civil
ZIP City -Island, Açôres (Azores)

Municipal councils and their Civil Registries: (ZIP, city)
SANTA MARIA: 9580 Vila do Porto
SAO MIGUEL: 9560 Lagoa, 9630 Nordeste, 9500 Ponta Delgada, 9650
Povoação, 9600
Ribeira Grande, 9680 Vila Franca do Campo
TERCEIRA: 9700 Angra do Heroísmo, 9760 Praia da Vitória
GRACIOSA: 9880 Santa Cruz da Graciosa
SAO JORGE: 9850 Calheta, 9800 Velas
FAIAL: 9900 Horta
PICO: 9930 Lajes do Pico, 9950 Madalena, 9940 Sao Roque do Pico
FLORES: 9960 Lajes das Flores, 9970 Santa Cruz das Flores****
CORVO: 9980 Vila Nova

For both the Bibliotecas and the Civil Registries, you must send the
name of the ancestor, date of event (or at least a span--e.g. 1881-
1883), the freguesia (the town) and the municipal council. Enclose
$15 U.S. dollars, personal check or U.S. money order (this covers
return postage and the document). International money orders do not
exist for Portugal.

3. The Family History Center (FHC) of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints (LDS), aka the Mormon Church:

Your local phone book should list a local branch or stake. They are
open to the general public, free of charge. Records can be found
under "Topic List" PORTUGAL, AZORES. Topics include: archives and
libraries, biography, church directories, church records, civil
registration and more. You will want to order the church records.
Although your FHC may not have the film at their center, it may be
ordered (for about $3.50 for 2 months) and viewed at the center.
(The film may be renewed for a fee, and a second renewal will keep
the film permanently at your center.)

Also, the FHC publishes a booklet to assist you in the reading of
documents: "Genealogical Word List, Portuguese." The booklet "Basic
Portuguese Paleography" is now only available on fiche from the LDS
and the fiche may be used only at their libraries. Photocopies can
be made from the fiche.

COMPUTER SOURCES
Azores-Online: http://www.azores-online.org Good general info and
history site.

Azores World GenWeb Project:
http://www.pacifier.com/~kcardoz/azoresindex.html

Destination Azores: http://www.destinazores.com/ (general info and
history)

THE AZORES: A FASCINATING PIECE OF THE DIASPORA,
By Myrna Katz Frommer and Harvey Frommer
(Speech delivered in Longmeadow, Mass., Summer 1999)
We thought this afternoon to take you back with us to the Iberian world although not the Iberian peninsula. Instead let us share with you a double story with Jewish themes in one of the most unique places we have ever visited -- a volcanic archipelago known in mythology as the remnants of the lost continent Atlantis, the Azores.
Living in Massachusetts, you have undoubtedly come across Azoreans -- most of the Portuguese who immigrated to the United States came to the New Bedford area from these islands and spread out to other parts of New England. Their connection with New Bedford goes back to the days of the whaling industry. Azoreans worked on American boats that hunted whales in the Atlantic. Whales are still populous in the waters surrounding the islands, and whale-sighting is a major activity.
The Azores were discovered by Portuguese navigators in the 15th century, and since then they have been a stopping point for traders heading both east and west, and all have left their mark on the islands. In the early days of transatlantic flight, the Azores were a refueling station. The English had an airbase there during the Second World War, we have one there today.
These days, Azorean-Americans keep going back and forth from New England to the Azores, one generation lives here, another there. It’s kind of analogous to the Jews in the northeast going back and forth to Florida. Although the Azores are nothing like Florida. They are like no place else on earth.
When they were first discovered around 1427, there were no people, no animals on the islands, only birds and vegetation. There had however been many volcanic eruptions. Because these sparkling green islands are actually the tips of underwater mountains with volcanoes at their peaks.
There is a profusion of vegetation, flowers, many, many birds, great mountain peaks, volcanic craters, lakes, terraced vineyards, rolling pastures. The feel is European and at the same time Caribbean -- although the Azores are not tropical. There is a paradoxical, conflicting quality to the islands. The Azoreans are indebted to the volcanoes for their lush landscape and fertile earth. Azaleas, hydrangeas, even hot-house flowers like calla lilies, white irises, and roses grow wild like weeds in the fields. Vegetable and grain crops are plentiful. There are thermal baths, hot springs, yellow pools with curative properties on the islands.
But when these same volcanoes erupt, there is great devastation. They have erupted before, and undoubtedly they will erupt again. Azoreans live with this uncertainty.
They also live on nine islands, stranded in the middle of the Atlantic. The sea is a major source of food and also a maritime industry. But it is a fickle friend who has many times turned treacherous and wrought its own kind of destruction. Imagine what it’s like to live on an island far from any continent, during a major hurricane or tornado - and you’ll get the idea.
So the mood in the Azores is a strange mixture of optimism and fatalism. And you see it. There are the dramatic vistas, the beautiful scenery, the lush vegetation on the one hand. And the 17th century Baroque architecture on the other -- which is heavy and brooding.
We were there in April 1997, right after Passover. We went to three of the nine islands in search of a Jewish story. From what we were able to learn beforehand, Jews had been among the original Portuguese settlers of the islands in the 15th century, and like those on the mainland, they had been forced to convert. But unlike the situation in Spain, no trace of their existence remains, not a former synagogue, or cemetery, or neighborhood.
But there was another Jewish story that began in the 19th century, we were told. And that was what we were after. Let Harvey tell you what happened. We began our journey on San Miguel, largest of the islands. There are about a quarter of a million people in all the Azores and nearly half of them live here. And of those, 63,000 live in its capital city Ponta Delgado. It is a bustling place with a beautiful harbor front promenade and colorful gardens.
Most of the buildings are 17th century Baroque,and nearly all are restored. There are many plazas with statues, but the most dominant is that of St. Michael, San Miguel’s patron saint, which overlooks a fountain-filled pool.
We were headed just across the way from St. Michael’s statue to the offices of a small import/export company where we had an appointment to meet its owner, a man with an unusual distinction: he is the last Jew in the Azores.
Jorge Delmar is a stocky, good-looking man in his early 50s. He is warm and friendly, but he has an air of sadness about him.
Thirty years ago, he told us, there were sixteen Jewish families on the island of San Miguel. They were a community. They held services in a synagogue. They celebrated the festivals in each other’s home. But little by little, all of them have died or converted or moved away. Jorge Delmar is the only one left.
“I try to observe Jewish laws,” he says. “On Saturdays, I close my store. But it is sad to be the only one.
“My wife and children are Catholic. We have no problems over religion, although my wife is curious. She’ll ask, ‘Why do you say you are a Jew? What happened to the Jews?’
I say, ‘As my mother is a Jew, I am always a Jew. That’s all.’”
Jorge Delmar’s connection to the Azores goes back 180 years to the time a Moroccan family named Bensaude took a look at the islands and saw possibilities with the orange trees that grew so profusely there. The Bensaudes came to this isolated and sparsely populated area and began growing oranges, harvesting them, and exporting them to England. Sometimes they were paid with cash, sometimes with bills of exchange. They took these bills of exchange on trading journeys to Brazil , sold them there or traded them for sugar and rum. They became very, very rich and in the process, they transformed the Azorean economy. By getting into the bill of exchange business, they effectively began banking in the Azores. They went on to establish a chain of retailers throughout the archipelago who sold imported goods on easy terms. They developed a maritime transport industry.
Today the Bensaudes are an international financial empire -- a mini Rothschilds -- and they remain the chief economic entity in the Azores -- in banking, insurance, travel agencies, retail stores. Only they are no longer Jewish. Most converted during the Second World War fearing the Nazis would invade Portugal. The last Jew of the dynasty died some twenty years ago. But interestingly enough, the current president of Portugal, Jorge Sampaio, is the grandson of a Jewish woman from this Bensaude family.
What happened in the Azores was typical of Jewish emigration patterns -- someone led the way, others followed. Starting in the 1820s, the Bensaudes became a beacon for other North African Jews who followed them to the Azores
and established Jewish communities in all the islands. One of them was Jorge Delmar’s great-grandfather. He emigrated from Tangiers to work in one of the Bensaude’s tobacco factories.
At one time, there were synagogues throughout the Azores. Today, only one remains, Sahak Hassamain, and it is falling apart. It is the synagogue in Ponta Delgado that Jorge Delmar attended as a boy. And it has become his life’s mission to rescue and restore it.
“Let me show the synagogue to you,” he said to us and so we followed him down a busy street to a rundown sixteenth century building. We climbed up a rickety staircase and walked through an arched wooden door, and suddenly we found ourselves in a high-ceilinged sanctuary with a bima of beautiful old wood, and an ark draped with a green curtain on which the Ten Commandments were embroidered in gold. Standing on the bima, Delmar pointed out the second row where as a child he would sit beside his uncle. His grandfather sat next to the reader’s desk.
“We never had a permanent rabbi,” he told us. “The oldest Jew was in charge, and that for many years was my grandfather.
But there was a rabbi on the American Naval base in Terceira and sometimes he came here by plane.
“I spent many hours of my life here with all my family,” he added. “I was educated here. This is where I learned to read Hebrew and daven.” Delmar led us up a second unstable stairway to the women’s balcony. Its walls were decorated with plaques dedicated to the synagogue’s founders; three were members of the Bensaude family. But the entire place was in a terrible state of disorder and disrepair. Books were mildewed from the humidity. Plaster was falling off the walls.
We looked out a window and saw a restored building across the way whose cornerstone read 1719. It seemed every building in the area, except for this one, had been restored. Walls were whitewashed. Pretty gardens were dotted with little orange trees and enclosed by neat stone walls; narrow cobblestone lanes were swept clean. Only in this aging house of worship did we see such desolation.
This synagogue was consecrated in 1893. It was in use until the mid 1960s, and afterwards it was maintained by two Jewish sisters who lived in the building. But since their death, it has fallen into disrepair. Only Jorge Delmar stands between the synagogue’s existence and extinction. “I pay the taxes and for the electricity and water.” he says. “As I am the last, I keep everything in my home, the Torah, six silver candelabras, and the other heirlooms. What will happen to them after I am gone? Maybe my oldest girl will take care of these things. She is Catholic, and she lives in Lisbon, but she knows that my big dream is that one day the synagogue will be rebuilt and all these things can be put back in their rightful place.
“It is easy to be a Jew anyplace now,” he says. “But here we are soon to be no more. This synagogue should remain as a reminder that once we were here. Many good things happened here. People who played an important part in the local history worshipped there.
“We did a study and found restoration would cost about $200,000. I keep trying to get it done. I write letters, I meet with government officials and potential donors. I don’t give up. The government spends lots of money rebuilding churches, why not this synagogue? We have a new government now so I am more hopeful.
“Why do I do this?” he asks. “Because I feel I have to do something. It all ends with me.”
From the synagogue, we accompanied Jorge Delmar on a ten minute drive from downtown Ponta Delgado to a suburban area. There, unidentified, behind a basalt wall, was the Jewish cemetery. A number of the Bensaudes are buried here. All the Delmars are. Jorge pointed out his grandfathers, mother’s and uncle’s graves and the one last place reserved for him. He regularly recites Kaddish for his relatives at the appointed times, but he knows there will be no one to say Kaddish for him.
From San Miguel, we headed out to the second island on our itinerary: Faial. Some of you may remember hearing of it in 1958 when one of its volcanoes erupted. Before the eruption, the island had a population of 28,000 people. After, the population dropped to 16,000. There was a special allowance for emigration to the United States, and many people from Faial came here to Mass and to California. Horta, the capital city of Faial, is a famed seaport. To this day, it draws clippers and yachts from all over the world, and sailors gather and swap tales in the world renowned Peter’s Sports Bar. When the first submarine telegraph cables were laid across the Atlantic, Horta was a relay station and interchange point for telegraph companies from the United States, England, Germany, and Italy. So there is sophisticated, international flavor to the island.
There was once a thriving Jewish community here too.
But when the orange growing industry declined towards the end of the 19th century , it declined as well. The synagogue closed in 1886, and its rabbi took the Torah and religious objects to Lisbon.
The last Jew in Faial died some years ago, but his daughter still lives on the island and we met her. Oddly enough, her name is Luna Benarus -- the same name as the wife of the head of the Spanish Jewish Federation we spoke of this morning. It is Benarroch in Spanish, Benarus in Portuguese. She is an amiable middle aged woman who, together with her husband, operates Quinta Das Buganvilias, a luxurious seaside inn on the renovated property of her mother’s family’s farmstead.
In the guest house, one experiences a mini- history of Faial. One of the bedrooms has a dresser made in Boston that came over on one of the old whaling ships. The dining room is filled with Chippendale furniture purchased from some Germans who were working on the submarine cable lines. The bar is an old grist mill filled with domestic items from times gone by like butter churns, tankards, and mortars and pestles.
Luna is a practicing Catholic. But she is also the final link to a Jewish presence on this island and she told us she feels a need to hold on to a heritage she dimly remembers from her childhood. “My father used to talk to me about his family’s history all the time,” she says. “He would tell me about his grandfather, Joseph, who came to the Azores in 1860 and his father, Moses, who became a diplomat and hosted visiting dignitaries from the United States. In 1907, his guest was President Theodore Roosevelt.
“Moses was a practicing Jew,” Luna adds. “He would go to the synagogue in Lisbon and observed all the Jewish customs. My father identified himself as a Jew, but he could have no Jewish life here because by the time he was grown, there was not one other Jew left on the island.”
Luna maintains the townhouse in Horta that belonged to her father and grandfather, and it is here that she stores the treasured mementos of a Jewish past. There are fading photographs of family members including her grandfather’s sister Luna for whom she is named. This Luna married a Jewish man but moved to Lisbon with him. There is an old oak bookcase fronted by glass doors that holds siddurs, worn copies of the Old Testament, a book of Psalms, a Haggadah, all of which are succumbing to the island’s humidity. There is great carved desk with a framed photograph of Luna as a little girl that is draped with a golden ornament on which, in Hebrew, the word “Shalom” is inscribed. And in her mind are the memories of a former Jewish life. She remembers there were mezzuzahs on the door. She remembers the trips to Lisbon when they would attend services in the big synagogue. But there is not much else.
Late in his life, Luna’s father converted to Catholicism so that he would be buried beside his wife. But before he died, he arranged for someone to take care of the Jewish cemetery where his father, grandfather, and brother who died in infancy are buried.
We wanted to visit this cemetery. The man hired to attend to the graves had promised to leave the key for us, but mysteriously he was not at home when we called. Then, hours before we were to leave, we received word that if we went down to the cemetery, the workmen there would let us in.
We were taken to a Catholic cemetery on a hillside overlooking the sea. The setting was calming and peaceful. Tombstones were arranged in neat rows and heaped with calla lilies and white irises. Not a blade of grass was out of place.
But this was not our destination. The workmen directed us to a low wall beyond a flower-dotted field at the bottom of the hill.
Here the Catholic cemetery ended; on the other side was the old Jewish cemetery established by royal decree in 1851. It was a steep descent to the other side, and we had to climb down a ladder to reach the ground.
What a difference a wall made. This cemetery was unkempt and overgrown. Clearly, the man Luna’s father had hired was not doing his job. Still we were able to see seventeen Jewish gravestones, all marked with names and dates.
The most recent grave is that of Luna’s grandfather, Moses Benarus, who died in 1942. Beside him is a very small grave marked Samuel Benarus. That was Luna’s uncle who was born in July 1920 and died the next month.
We wanted to leave our presence in this forsaken spot and so we looked about for little stones to put on the graves. But we could not find a single one. Then we noticed some broken glass lying about. And so we picked up several shards and placed them on the graves.
The moment gave us pause. We looked up and saw the sea in the distance and thought to ourselves, “When will another Jewish person set foot in this lonely resting place?”
Later that day, we headed to our third island, Terceira, the final stop on our itinerary. We had already learned that all that remains of the 19th century Jewish presence on this island is a cemetery. There are no known descendents of Jews so it seemed there would be no story for us to go after. Well, we thought, we’ll just enjoy the pleasures of this beautiful island like ordinary tourists.
We stayed in a renovated manor house just outside of the capital city Angra -- a place worth visiting on its own. It is a UNESCO world heritage site by virtue of the way the streets are laid out in geometric precision according to Renaissance ideals. Angra had became a port of call during the sixteenth century for ships going to and from the Americas, Africa, and India, and it developed a rich economic life which is still reflected in the splendid palaces and churches that overlook the sea.
But our plan to be just ordinary tourists did not work out because by chance we met a man who directed us to yet another story of the Jews of the Azores, perhaps the most fascinating of all.
Francisco dos Reis Maduro Dias is the Director of the Department of Culture and History in Terceira. He is a formal, intellectual, very well spoken man with a great passion for his island, the Azores and Portuguese history.
And he is intrigued with Jewish history. Maybe that is because he believes the name Maduro is the key to his own Jewish heritage.
We had come across the name Maduro before, in Curacao. The Maduros are one of the oldest and most distinguished Jewish families on that Caribbean island. Maduro Dias was not surprised to hear this.
“Today I must tell you I am a Christian,” he said. “I was baptized, as was my father, grandfather, and so forth. What I know of my ancestors is that they came here in the 17th century. They were running away from something, but, as my great grandmother used to tell my grandfather, they were not bad people.
“One of my ancestors decided to stay here, the others decided to go to the Indies. At the time it was not easy to understand where that was because when they said Indies, it could be the West Indies or the East Indies. But I must tell you I was at a conference in Boston several years ago, and I met a Jewish woman who represented the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, and her name is Sarah Maduro. She told me there is a branch of the Maduros in Boston. We spent some interesting time speculating about the possibility of our being related.”
Then he turned to the subject of the Azores. “The Jewish presence in the Azores had two moments,” he said. “The second, moment you already know about. It began at the start of the 19th century with the Bensaude family and continued through the 20th century. This is well documented.
“The first moment you know nothing about. It coincided with the discovery and settlement of the Azores in the 15th-16th centuries, and it is not documented at all.”
Well that was what we had heard before we came here, we told him.
He interrupted us. “But we are just beginning to recognize there is something of that earlier presence here in the Azores. There are attitudes, habits that have persisted. We believe today that there was some connection between the Jews of that long ago time and the evolvement of the Cult of the Holy Spirit.” He asked if we had noticed little chapels as we drove around the islands. Indeed we had, and we wondered what they were. There are scores of them in the countryside, on the sides of roads in little towns, structures that look something like a cross between a one-room schoolhouse and an elaborate wedding cake decoration. Each was different, some were fancier than others. Generally they were white-washed stone and trimmed with bright vivid colors: yellow, green, pink, bright blue and decorated with all kinds of geometric and floral designs. We had seen people working around these little houses, painting, cleaning, landscaping. What could they have to do with a Jewish presence from 500 years ago?
Maduro Dias filled us in. These structures are known as chapels or emporiums. And they are used to house a uniquely Azorean festival that is held each year on the seven Sundays following Easter, roughly corresponding to the period between Passover and Shavout -- or the counting of the omer. Throughout the rest of the year, they are closed up and unused. But for the seven Sundays after Easter, they come to life. Re-painted, re-decorated and profusely adorned with flowers, they become the place where people gather to worship the Holy Spirit. Children go through confirmation-type ceremonies in these chapels and pledges made earlier in the year are fulfilled usually with elaborate feasts to which the entire community and even strangers are invited.
Sometimes they use a peculiar kind of bread in these feasts, a flat bread made without yeast and stamped with the seal of the crown of the Holy Spirit.
“No one will tell you the cult of the Holy Spirit is a Jewish custom,” Maduro Dias says. “It was born within Christianity during the 11th and 12th centuries through brotherhoods who contested the divinity of Christ. But we are now beginning to think that it was used and perhaps developed by the Jews at a certain moment as a means of coexisting with the larger culture.” Maduro Dias is speculating that Jews used the festivals of the Holy Spirit to be, as he put it, “together in a separate moment
where they could keep some of their original attitudes and perform some acts meaningful to them while, at the same time, appearing to be within the frame of Christianity and accepted as normal by the Christian community.”
How obvious! It is easy to see why New Christians, still Jewish in their hearts, would be attracted to the cult. The entire procedure has nothing to do with the church. The emporiums have no crosses, and no representations of Jesus, Mary or any of the saints. Those in charge of the chapels have no position of authority in the church.
And most important of all, the Holy Spirit is the most abstract part of the Catholic trinity. It is God with no Christ, an abstract God. Maduro Dias told us that feasts and brotherhoods connected with the cult of the Holy Spirit were widespread in Medieval Europe and lingered in Portugal into the 19th century. But while the cult died out everywhere else, inexplicably it developed a powerful following in the Azores, and to this day it continues to be a defining aspect of the islands’ culture.
Azoreans focus their prayers to the third aspect of the Trinity: the Holy Spirit to spare them from the destruction of the volcanoes. They are always an unpredictable presence. You never know when they will erupt. Why the Holy Spirit?
“I can’t explain it,” Maduro Dias said. “Maybe because it seems more accessible.”
The cult of the Holy Spirit has even been brought over to the United States where confirmation ceremonies take on the proportions of lavish bar and bat mitzvahs. Perhaps you have heard about them. And there is a group of Azorean-American that still maintains its emporium on the island of Flores. Every year, a number of people return to Flores, paint and decorate the chapel they left behind, perform the rituals and partake of the festival. Afterwards, they clean up, close the doors to their little temple, and return to America.
What an amazing and unexpected twist of Jewish history. Who would believe that a totally Catholic institution had once served as a spiritual sanctuary for Azorean Jews. Forced to convert, they found in the festival of the Holy Spirit an opportunity to use a time of the year that resonated with sacred overtones, to relate to their vision of God in an environment absent of Christian symbolism.
After we left Maduro Dias, we drove around the island and stopped off at some of these little emporiums. Young girls were attending to them, cleaning and decorating them in anticipation of the festival to be held that Sunday. Were any of them descendents of New Christians? Did any of them know how Jews had used these festivals hundreds of years before? Not yet.
The historical theories Maduro Dias shared with us are brand new. There are books that have yet to be written, There is a message that has yet to be spread.
But our visit to the Azores had ended with a happy surprise.
We left the islands feeling we had come away with some really unique knowledge, a particular bit of Jewish history not publicized, not earth-shattering, yet a revealing and fascinating piece of the enormous jig-saw puzzle that is the Diaspora.

NEW CHRISTIANS/BNEI ANOUSIM FROM THE AZORES

Sergio Mota mota_xn_47@yahoo.com

(Sergio Mota is a journalist and historian from Brazil. He is an indefatigable researcher of Portuguese Jewish history. Below is an edited version of one of his letters to Saudades-Sefarad web forum regarding the Bnei anousim/ New Christian diaspora).



The number of bnei-anusim in the Azores
was great but we do not know exactly this number
because many documents are lost. Historians talk about
children sent to the islands but the adults went to Azores
(Madeira and Canarias too) aiming to go to the Americas, this
is a fact.Many of them had to stay there but others got to
go abroad. Here I give here some examples:

In the Mexico Inquisition there is an
accused man of Jewish habits,Pedro Hernandez de Albor
(or Pedro Fernandes de Alvor) born in Vila da Praia,
Azores.

In Salvador,Bahia, Brazil: Manuel Homem,born
in the Island of São Miguel, Azores son of Gonçalo
Homem de Almeida (born in Algarve, Portugal
and went to the Azores coming to Brazil about 1606)
brother of Doctor Antonio Homem who was a kind of
hacham of the secret synagogue in Coimbra
and died in the bonfires of the Inquisition.

In Amsterdam, the Netherlands, returned to
Judaism in 1611, Manuel Homem de Almeida, 46 years old,
born in Ponta Delgada, São Miguel Island. He lived in
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil where he was friend of Diogo
Dias Querido and father-in-law of Diogo Lopes from
Recife.Inprisoned by Inquisition in 1620 and released
in 1621. He lived as a Jew also in Hamburg, Germany
where there was a Portuguese Jewish Community.

In Santa Fé, Argentina, in the list of the
portuguese suspected of being Jews and expelled to
Cordoba, Argentina, there was a man called Baltasar de
Acosta (maybe da Costa) 40 years old, born in Terceira
Island, Azores. He was a widowed with his daughter.
In the same Argentine city there was
Albaro de Andrada (probably Alvaro de Andrade or
Andrada) 28 years old born in Santa Maria Island
Azores, married, with a son.

There is a list of XVII century Azoreans
New-Christians who payed the Crown the Finta, a tax
they had to pay for being converts published in the book of
Prof. Paulo Drummond Braga "The Inquisition in Azores"
a doctorate thesis in Portuguese. It is the best work till
now about the bnei-anusim presence in the Azores.

Here goes the partial known list of
bnei-anusim surnames in Azores from 1604 to 1623 again:

Andrade, Azevedo, Álvares,Alemão,
Braga,Borges,Barcelos,Câmara, Cunha,Carvalhais,
Cerqueira,Carlos, Carvalho, Costa,Dias, Delgado,
Duarte,Eça, Fernandes,Fontes,Gralia,Geralda,
Gonçalves,Henriques, Heitor,Jacinto,Lopes,Mendes,
Medeiros,Morais,Manuel,Pereira,Preto,Piseiro,Rodrigues,
Ruivo,Santiago,Soares,Thomas or Tomás,Vaz and Vieira.

There are many more names of Jewish origin in
Azores and Madeira of which I am researching from all
possible sources, mainly in books and articles and thesis.

Shalom

Sérgio Mota e Silva
Porto Alegre, Brazil

A Summary on the Presence of Jews in the Azores
JOHN MIRANDA RAPOSO

"Not too long ago I was asked to give a talk on the early presence
of Jews in the Azores. The following is a summary which I hope will
help: The Holy Office of the Inquisition came to Lisbon in 1531 by a
Bull of Clement VII in response to an appeal from the King and in
1550, the Cardinal D. Henrique, Inquisitor General in Portugal,
promulgated its extension throughout the kingdom. Its the Azores,
beginning in 1555 the Holy Office was composed of a Commissioner and
clerk, head quartered on Terceira, and agents or familiares,
throughout all the islands. (Francisco Carreiro da Costa, Esboço
Histórico dos Açores, Instituto Universitário dos Açores, Ponta
Delgada, p. 64. ) The Inquisition prosecuted many sins: Judaism,
Islamism, Protestantism, heresy, blasphemy, attacks against the
Catholic faith or the Holy Office itself, sorcery and witchcraft,
bigamy, solicitation of a penitent by a confessor, sodomy, sigilism
and freemasonry.
The ratio of Jews and New Christians to old Christians in the Azores
continues to be highly contested with exaggerations on both the high
and the low end of the statistics. (Isaías da Rosa Pereira, "A
Inquisição nos Açores: Subsídios para sua História," Arquipélago:
Ciências Humanas, :2, Instituto Universitário dos Açores. Ponta
Delgada, January 1980. ) Jews and New Christians came to the Azores
soon after the first settlers. They came to avoid the scrutiny of
their Christian neighbors and the Inquisition to islands where the
struggle of the settlers to gain a foothold on undeveloped lands
would mean less scrutiny and more tolerance from their neighbors.
They intermarried and were assimilated so that many of the
archipelago's principle families can claim some degree of Jewish
ancestry.( Carreiro da Costa,p.64.)

Tax rolls for the first quarter of the 17th century record 11 New
Christian males in Ponta Delgada, 1 in Vila Franca, 2 in Ribeira
Grande, 1 in Rabo de Peixe, 26 in Angra, 2 in Vila da Praia, 10 in
Horta, 1 in Feteira, 3 in Lages do Pico and 1 in Graciosa. A 1606
tax roll lists 18 New Christians in Ponta Delgada. In 1623 there are
14 in Ponta Delgada, 1 in Rabo de Peixe, 2 in Ribeira Grande, 27 in
Angra, 2 in Vila da Praia, 10 in Horta, 2 in Lages do Pico and 1
from Graciosa.(Paul Drumond Braga, A Inquisição nos Açores,
Instituto Cultural de Ponta Delgada, Ponta Delgada: 1997, pp. 492-
497.) These numbers clearly represent heads of households and the
totals should therefore be multiplied by 5 or 6 in order to arrive
at an approximation of the number of Jews and New Christians in the
archipelago in the first quarter of the 17th century.

In 1501, stormy weather forced a ship load of Jews and New
Christians fleeing to North Africa to put into port in the Azores.
The passengers were detained, and then enslaved on orders of Manuel
I and given to the Captain of Terceira and S. Jorge, Vasco Eanes
Corte Real.(Pedro de Merlim, Os Hebraicos na Ilha Terceira, Angra do
Heroismo, 1995, pg. 27)

In a pastoral visit in 1555 the Bishop of the Azores imprisoned some
Crypto-Jews, sending some of them to the Inquisition in Lisbon.
(Paulo Drumond Braga., p. 209. ) It was the beginning of their
tribulations at the hands of the Holy Office and the beginning of
the Inquisition's presence in the Azores.

The records of the Inquisition indicate that the majority of those
turned into the Holy Office were suspected of being Jews or Crypto-
Jews based on their practices and customs, believed to be Jewish in
origin. Such practices might include abstaining from pork, doing no
work on Saturday, keeping Queen Ether's fast and performing certain
rituals associated with the Jewish rites of purification. Most of
the accused readily acknowledged the practices but seemed unaware of
their origin, claiming that the practices had been handed down from
their grandparents and parents. Although abstaining from pork, many
of the accused slaughtered and handled pork for others. Many of the
accusations were several years, and sometimes a decade or more old,
by the time they were brought before the Inquisition.(Paulo Drumond
Braga.,254. ) Sometimes accusations were brought against even the
dead.( 9-9-1575 Hilária Pimentel accused Inês Maia, deceased, of
having been a relapsed Jew. It seems the deceased had, some 18-19
years before, said that all Christian Kings and Princes would be
slaughtered in a great battle, except for one who would favor the
New Christians. [Arquivo Nacional da Torre de Tombo, Inquisição de
Lisboa, Book 794, p. 19)

Most of those brought before the Inquisition denied that they were
Jews and were released after abjuring. Some were sentenced to a term
(usually a year) in prison and a period of public penance. Some were
forced to attend Mass in penitential garb, heads uncovered and
candle in hand. Of the many cases originating with the Azorean
Inquisition between 1555 and 1620, only 28 cases were sent for trial
and judgment to Lisbon. Of those, one man and two women were
condemned to death, several were imprisoned. Approximately 90 were
brought before the visiting Inquisitor to the Azores.

Perhaps the most heart wrenching of all of the cases brought before
the Inquisition is that of an old widow, Maria Lopes, and her son
Fernão Lopes of Ponta Delgada.( Paulo Drumond Braga, pp. 213-215. )
In 1573 the then 19 year old Fernão was arrested for relapsing and
he quickly blamed his elderly mother for his apostasy. It seems she
spoke to him of the fasts of Jesus in the desert and those of Queen
Ester and they celebrated Easter with unleavened bread. His mother
spoke of the fasting at Yom Kippur, but since she did not know on
what day Yom Kippur fell, they did not observe those fasts. Her son
was apparently full of doubts about his beliefs and a neighbor urged
him to read the reflections on Christ's passion authored by Frei
Luis de Granada. After reading the book, he made his confession to
Frei Brás de Soares who urged him to speak with none other than
Gaspar Frutuoso. The celebrated historian, genealogist and author of
Saudades da Terra, sent him up the hierarchical ladder and he was
eventually ordered to appear before the Holy Office. After a very
long process, he was found to have been a good Christian and was
absolved in 1587. His poor mother was not so lucky.

She was detained in March 1573. She was interrogated and seems to
have given contradictory accounts of her beliefs so that she was
condemned as an apostate. Even in prison she seems to have continued
her rituals and fasts. The Inquisition determined that she was
persisting in the error of her ways. She was found guilty,
excommunicated and turned over to the secular authorities on 13 May
1576 and burned at the stake in an auto da fé. Even while she
remained imprisoned, her son continued to provide new evidence
against her.

The last documented denunciation against an alleged Jew was made in
July of 1669 against one "Souto", a silversmith in Angra. It seems
that a Manuel da Silva, while visiting the silversmith's house, had
noticed that one of Souto's little boys was circumcised. The
Inquisition ordered its commissioner to investigate the charges, but
nothing is known of the results of the investigation.(Arquivo
Nacional da Torre de Tombo, Inquisição de Lisboa: Vol. 242, pp. 211-
219.)

The Inquisition continued its work in the Azores until the very
beginning of the 19th century although its power and influence was
already much reduced by the later half of the 18th century. In 1802
a priest from Flores was sent to the Inquisition in Lisbon accused
of being a free mason. In 1821 Parliament declared an end to the
Inquisition in Portugal.(Francis Millet Rogers, Atlantic Islands of
the Azores and Madeiras,The Christopher Publishing House, North
Quincy, MA: 1979, p.50.)

John Miranda Raposo

2009/09/18

(Authors Antonio Andrade and Fernanda Guimarães, cover artist Samuel Pereira (ivanseveriano.blogspot.com) in the middle)

BOOK LAUNCH
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 6.30 pm LISBON

A Short History of the Jews in Portugal
by Jorge Martins

The Torment of the Mogadouros in the Lisbon Inquisition
by Antonio Julio Andrade and Maria Fernanda Guimarães

A Editora Nova Vega tem o prazer de vos endereçar um convite para o lançamento da colecção Sefarad, dedicada aos estudos judaicos portugueses, que terá lugar na Livraria Círculo das Letras, em Lisboa, no próximo dia 24, quinta-feira, pelas 18h30. Serão apresentados os dois primeiros números da colecção, Breve História dos Judeus em Portugal, de Jorge Martins, e A Tormenta dos Mogadouro na Inquisição de Lisboa. Agradecíamos a divulgação do evento junto dos vossos amigos e associados.


Com os nossos melhores cumprimentos,
A Editora

NOVA VEGA
Alto dos Moinhos, 6A
1500-459 Lisboa
Tel: 21 77 81 028
Fax: 21 77 86 295
Telemóvel: 961621394
E-mail: editorial@novavega.mail.pt
www.novavega.pt

2009/09/13

JEWISH PORTUGAL TODAY

http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1113807. html

Haaretz, September 11, 2009

Secret no more

By Cnaan Liphshiz

A bearded man in a red velvet skullcap, chain-smoking on Shabbat at a garden cafe while preaching to friends about the Torah, would be an odd sight anywhere. And he would particularly stand out in Lisbon, with its small Jewish community.

The man, Joao Santos, a regular at Cafe Principe Real, could easily be written off as another colorful urban character. But in today's Portugal his eccentricity is not out of context. It is part of a national trend: The turning toward Judaism of thousands of Portuguese who believe they are descended from Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity hundreds of years ago.

They trace their Jewish roots to the 15th and 16th centuries, to the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions in which thousands of Jews were murdered and countless others were forced into exile or to convert. Many became crypto-Jews, practicing secretly. They were classified in Jewish law as Anusim, Jews who are forced to abandon their religion against their will, but continue to practice insofar as possible.

Their modern-day descendants call themselves Bnei Anusim - sons or children of the Anusim. They are also known by the derogatory Spanish term "Marranos" ("swine").

Recent genetic studies show that some 30 percent of Portugal's population has Jewish blood. Around 7,000 Portuguese identified themselves as Jewish in a 2006 national survey, although only 1,000 have formal affiliation. As more Portuguese discover their Jewish roots, leading Bnei Anusim figures are taking up prominent positions in Portugal's Jewish community.

The reemergence of the Bnei Anusim phenomenon has created challenges for Portugal's mainstream Jewish community, for the Chief Rabbinate in Israel and for the Bnei Anusim themselves - many of whom seem to share a deep sense of exclusion and frustration alongside a profound desire to belong to the rest of the Jewish people. This summer, hundreds of Bnei Anusim convened in Barcelona for a conference focusing on Israel advocacy.

Santos, an architect in his late thirties, says he found out he was Jewish a few years ago when he came upon typical Jewish candlesticks that had been passed down through his family. Others speak of deathbed confessions by grandparents, unexplained family customs or the findings of extensive genealogical research.

In the elevator of his parents' apartment building, Santos removes his skullcap and conceals the Star of David he usually wears around his neck. "We don't speak much about religion," explains Santos, before beginning his weekend visit. He says he has no interest in converting to Judaism. "Why should I?" he asks. "I'm already Jewish."

Other Bnei Anusim, however, seek formal recognition as Jews, including conversion. They are aided by Shavei Israel (formerly Amishav), a Jerusalem-based organization that seeks to strengthen the connection between the Jewish people and "lost Jews" from around the world. The group, which maintains a permanent emissary in Portugal, has assisted dozens of Bnei Anusim converts in the country.

One of Shavei Israel's partners in Portugal is Jose Ferrao Filipe, the leader of the Jewish community in Porto, in the north of the country. In November he became the only member of the Bnei Anusim to head a Jewish community that is formally recognized by Israel's Chief Rabbinate.

Asked about resistance from the Catholic Church to conversion efforts in this deeply Catholic country, Filipe and Shavei Israel emissary Rabbi Daniel Litvak say they have not encountered any hostility. But this was not always the case. Opposition to the Bnei Anusim phenomenon goes back to one of its very first proponents, involving the sad story of the man dubbed "the Portuguese Dreyfus" - Captain Artur Carlos de Barros Basto, a military hero who in 1943 was expelled from the army on false charges.

In the 1920s Barros Basto, a descendant of Anusim, converted to Judaism and helped establish a synagogue and seminary in Porto. He toured rural areas encouraging others to rejoin the Jewish people.

Before long he headed a community of several dozen, and acted as rabbi and mohel (ritual circumciser) , although he had never been certified as such. That created enemies for him within the Jewish community. Under the dictator Antonio Salazar, the right-wing Catholic Action movement began a smear campaign against Barros Basto, aided by members of the Jewish community. His seminary was closed down and he was court-martialed on charges of immorality.

The charges stemmed from the fact that while acting as a mohel, Barros Basto would suck the blood from the circumcision wound to clean it, as is customary in some streams of Judaism. He died in 1961, half-blind and "broken," by some accounts. Efforts to clear his name continue, and Porto's modern synagogue has a small museum in his honor that contains his desk, typewriter and part of his library.

Little remains of Barros Basto's original community, but Porto's Jewish community today has a few dozen people who identify themselves as Bnei Anusim. The nucleus for this community was formed a few years ago, when Filipe and 16 other Bnei Anusim underwent a mass conversion that was approved by Israel's Chief Rabbinate.

The long, hard path

"The conversion process was very long and hard," Filipe says. "It was a battle we fought to prove we are part of the Jewish people," Filipe explains while standing in the hall of Porto's modern-style synagogue, which his community built and dedicated in 2005.

Paulo Vitorino, another descendant of Anusim from Lisbon and a former activist in the Socialist Party, says he understands the desire to receive the Chief Rabbinate's approval, but nonetheless resents the reality that demands it. "We don't need to become Jewish, we are and have always been Jewish," he says. Vitorino, his wife and five children underwent Orthodox conversion in 2004, with help from Shavei Israel. The Chief Rabbinate has not yet recognized the 2004 conversion, which was approved by Lisbon's chief rabbi.

Litvak, who in addition to being an emissary for Shavei Israel serves as Porto's rabbi, teaches Torah lessons three times a week to Bnei Anusim groups.

Vitorino, 42, says that even after converting some Bnei Anusim are not treated as equals by Portugal's Jewish community or by Israeli religious authorities. "I can't pray in my own city because the Jewish community leaders won't let me in," he says.

Prof. Esther Mucznik, vice president of the Lisbon Jewish community, confirms that Vitorino is persona non grata at the synagogue, owing to "some of his activities," which she says she cannot discuss. As a rule, she says, the community does not differentiate between Bnei Anusim converts and other Jews.

"We are a very liberal community and anyone who is Jewish is welcome to join us," says Mucznik, a scholar of Jewish studies, during an interview held at Lisbon's main synagogue, the Sephardi Sha'arei Tikva. It is a relatively small yet opulent building, with elaborate antique decorations and old wooden furniture that contrast with a modern milk-glass ceiling. "Some of our members are Bnei Anusim, others are converts. Some of us are Ashkenazi, others are Sephardi. There is no 'us' and 'them' here," she explains.

Filipe describes the relationship between his Bnei Anusim community and the Lisbon community as "cordial," but says there have been "some unfortunate cases of exclusion." He also notes that Lisbon has much more in the way of financial resources.

As proof he points to the walls of the library, adjacent to the museum room honoring Captain Barros Basto. The walls are blue and green with moss due to a leaky roof the community cannot afford to fix. "We built this synagogue to accommodate hundreds, as a sign of hope, but we have trouble maintaining it," Filipe says.

Jewish tourism might provide some funds, and some Portuguese towns are preparing to tap into that potential resource. The northeastern Portugal city of Covilha, for example, is renovating its old Jewish quarter. City officials in Covilha, which has no Jewish community today, plan to create a tourist route through the historic Jewish district and to build a stylish Jewish museum and culture center on the ruins of one of the community's ancient structures.

Other towns offer guided tours of their old Jewish quarters. In nearby Trancoso, most of the guides are Bnei Anusim. They show visitors special markings that crypto-Jews incised on stone walls after the Portuguese Inquisition. Remarkably well-preserved, they include Hebrew letters that, when read inversely, spell: "Horror," or flattened door frame panels marking the absence of a mezuzah. The city has recently completed a project to catalog every such marking. It is also planning to hold a Jewish festival soon, which will be the first Bnei Anusim cultural event in Portugal, one the city hopes will become annual.

Jewish revival

Asked about the Hebrew letters that baptized Jews dared to engrave above their doors during the Inquisition, Mucznik says: "Crypto-Judaism is a Portuguese phenomenon, not a Spanish one. In Spain the expulsion was simpler, clearer. Either you convert, or you go away. In Portugal it was more complex than that because in fact the Portuguese didn't want the Jews to leave. Though ruthless by any standard, the Portuguese Inquisition was less definite than the Spanish one." She adds, "Some towns were so heavily Jewish that the people there depended on the Jews. And so they had to show some flexibility. "

Michael Freund, the founder of Shavei Israel, gives three reasons when asked about the roots of the Bnei Anusim revival. The first is that both Spain and Portugal only recently opened up to the world following the fall of their respective dictators, Franco and Salazar. Freund, who was deputy director of communications and policy planning in the Prime Minister's Office during the first term of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adds that the Internet also plays a role: "In the past, a person wanting to reconnect to his Jewish roots or to study the subject had to make a public act by going to the library or the bookshop. The Internet changed all that."

Freund also points to a general European desire to transcend political boundaries and create a broader entity. "Human beings are tribal by nature. We all seek a sense of identity. It could just be that, ironically, the attempt to get beyond narrow identities is driving more individuals to seek out an identity to belong to."

Freund says that the Bnei Anusim's link to Judaism translates into support for Israel, noting that during the recent war in the Gaza Strip, members of the community took part in a pro-Israel demonstration.

Others say the Bnei Anusim involvement in Israel advocacy is marginal and that their interest in Judaism seldom extends to Zionism.

"The demonstration during the Gaza war was organized by Christian evangelicals, not Bnei Anusim," says one Israeli who works in Portugal and is involved with Israel advocacy. "Generally speaking, the Anusim movement is not Zionist in nature but it does create a very positive background for Jews and Israel," the source adds, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Shavei Israel and the source also disagree on the potential for immigration to Israel by converted Bnei Anusim. Freund and Litvak put the number on thousands, while the anonymous source says that "realistically speaking," the movement will not result in significant numbers of immigrants.

"I realize that Bnei Anusim are a very appealing subject because it's an interesting phenomenon," says the Israeli source, who has been in Portugal for two and a half years. "But in truth, it's a very marginal affair that concerns about two percent of the Portuguese population, and that's probably how it's going to stay."

2009/09/01

New generation seeks to reclaim Sephardic cultural roots


By Amy Klein
JTA
Published: July 12, 2009


New generation seeks to reclaim Sephardic cultural roots
DeLeon, an Indie rock band—shown performing in the summer of 2008 at Celebrate Brooklyn—features music with 15th-century Spanish influences.
(Photo: Jori Klein)


By Amy Klein

HOBOKEN, N.J. — Daniel Saks' crazy black curls bounce on stage with him to the wiry, deafening sound of guitars, horns and drums as the front man for DeLeon — an indie rock band with 15th century Spanish influences infused with cadences of the ancient Sephardic tradition — belts out plaintive tunes in English, Hebrew, Spanish and Ladino.


For the most part, the 150 twenty-something hipsters dancing to DeLeon's music at Maxwell's lounge, 20 minutes from Manhattan, have no idea what the songs mean. It doesn't seem to matter.

“It wasn't a Ladino-fluent crowd,” Saks jokes after the show, referring to the Judeo-Spanish language from the Middle Ages. “I think people can get past the language barrier. In a place like New York City, we're acclimated to hearing music in foreign languages.”

Saks grew up near Washington listening to Sephardic music played by his mother, whose family lived in Italy for centuries after the expulsion from Spain before coming to the United States.

Years later he would name his band after his great-grandfather Giorgio DeLeon and philosopher Moses DeLeon. With its haunting melodies and the Spanish timeless themes of love and God and murder, he thought the music “held up well, better than most songs.” He knew there were plenty of people recording traditional music, but “I thought I could bring it to my peers and bring new light to them.”

DeLeon is part of a new crop of modern Jewish artists drawing on their Sephardic roots — from Spain and Portugal, to Morocco, Iran and Syria, to India and Greece. Many of those Jewish communities, although not all, were created by Jews who left Spain following the Inquisition, when they were ordered to convert or leave the country by July 31, 1492 (Tisha B'Av of that year).

Now, more than five centuries later, dozens of musicians, writers, poets, playwrights, filmmakers, historians, educators and chefs are reclaiming that culture to create a veritable Sephardic renaissance.

Many artists mine Sephardic culture because they want to popularize a lesser-known Jewish heritage.

“People who came from Poland stick together, and they are not so interested in the people who come from Morocco or Spain,” says Nathalie Soussana, arranger of “Songs From The Garden Of Eden: Jewish Lullabies And Nursery Rhymes,” a book and CD of songs in Hebrew, Arabic and Spanish, including Y'aommi Yamali, an Algerian lullaby in Arabic whose words mean “King of the Home/May God touch you and lift up your soul.”

Soussana wanted something that reflected her own mottled family — originally from Morocco, living in France, with an uncle with a wife from Turkey, an aunt married to an Ashkenazi, family members in Israel.

“I think that it's like that for a lot of Jewish families,” she says.

One might not know that from seeing the history of Jewish culture in America.

“Jewishness has tacitly been assumed to be synonymous with Germanic or Eastern European descent,” Aviva Ben Ur writes in the new book “Sephardic Jews in America: A Diasporic History” (New York University Press, 2009). “What began at the turn of the 20th century as denial of shared ethnicity and religion (whereby Ashkenazim failed to recognize Sephardim as fellow Jews) continues today in textbooks, articles, documentaries, films and popular awareness. More often than not, Sephardic Jews are simply absent from any sort of portrayal of the American Jewish community.”

Ur prefers the term non-Ashkenazic Jews, dividing those called Sephardim into three groups: Sephardi Jews (Spanish and Portuguese-speaking Jews of Western Europe and Ladino-speaking Jews of the Ottoman empire); Mizrahi Jews (Arabic-speaking Jews native to the Middle East and Western Asia); and Romaniotes (Greek-speaking Jews native to the Byzantine Empire).

“In America there was 'Fiddler on the Roof' and gefilte fish and Orthodox and Conservative and Reform Judaism,” says Rabbi Daniel Bouskila of Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel in Los Angeles. The various non-Ashkenazic groups “had every desire to be American when it came to living their lives, but in terms of their Judaism, they didn't have much interest in assimilating into the American Jewish community.”

That's why Sephardim formed their own synagogues like Tifereth Israel (founded by a small group of Sephardic, Ladino-speaking immigrants in 1920) or more recently the Sephardic Cultural Center in Scottsdale, Ariz., both with congregants from communities such as Iraq, Iran, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, Brazil and Israel.

Bouskila believes that a Sephardic resurgence in Israel has fueled a wider movement in America and around the world.

“Once upon a time there was one definition of being Israeli — the prototypical Sabra being from Europe had blond hair and listened to a particular kind of music — I think that's changed in Israel,” he says, citing the pop stars Sarit Hadad, Eyal Golan and Israel's first “Idol” winner, Maya Bouskila (no relation). “There's a unique sense of cultural identity through music and even names” — people don't Hebraicize their Sephardic names as much.

It has “spilled over” to America, Bouskila adds.

“I think people feel more secure in their identity today than they did a long time ago,” he says.

For some artists, exploring Sephardic culture is a way to explore their own Jewish identity. Sephardim account for 3 percent to 4 percent of the Jewish population in the United States.

“The communities that people lived in before were so much more closed, and you were only defined by one thing,” says Vanessa Paloma, a singer and scholar who specializes in Sephardic women's songs like “Mose de Salio de Misrayim,” a Ladino song about the burning bush and Moses' journey from Egypt, which women would sing at Passover.

For Paloma, being American means having many different identities -- actor, writer, yogi, etc.

“It's like we're hungry for some kind of deeper meaning and these roots are where we came from,” she says.

Now Paloma is living in Morocco, where she can investigate her past.

“What did my grandmother sing? What kind of smells did she smell?" she wonders. "If I know more about that, I know more about my ancestors and know more about myself.”

Others want to preserve a culture they fear might be lost.

“I just thought about writing my family story — it's a very eccentric, eclectic family,” novelist Gina Nahai says of the beginning of her journey writing fiction based on the Persian Jewish community in Iran and Los Angeles. When she began her seven years of research for her first novel, “Cry of the Peacock,” she saw that there was barely anything written about the community or its history.

Iranian Jews make up “the oldest Jewish community in the Diaspora and no one had recorded their stories,” she says. “And it didn't look like people were going to survive.”

Many artists may be teaching their culture to their own people.

Jennifer Abadi, author of the cookbook-memoir “Fistful of Lentils: Syrian-Jewish Recipes from Grandma Fritzie's Kitchen” (Harvard Common Press 2007), was surprised to find that many students in her classes were Syrian women who grew up eating food prepared by their mothers and housekeepers but had not learned to cook it.

“All of a sudden they get married to Syrian men, and it's expected [for them to cook Syrian food] and they have to go to their mothers and aunts," Abadi says, adding later, "so the book does provide a service.” She says her audience also is Ashkenazi women “who like what they consider 'better' Jewish food.”

That's why many artists are mining Sephardic culture — because they like it. Majadrah (rice with lentils) might be better than kugel, and DeLeon “might be cooler than klezmer,” jokes Jacob Harris, the chief operating officer of JDub records, which produces both DeLeon and “Songs From The Garden Of Eden.”

JDub wasn't seeking out Sephardic artists per se, Harris says, but wanted “to promote authentic Jewish culture within the mainstream.” And the mainstream likes world music.

“I don't think it's an accident that it's become so popular now — we are becoming more global, seeing Jewish history in a broader way,” says Ilan Stavans, editor of “The Schocken Book of Modern Sephardic Literature” (Schocken, 2005), an anthology that includes fiction, memoirs, essays and poetry from 28 writers over 150 years, including a short story by Cuban-Jewish writer Ruth Behar titled “Never Marry a Man Who Doesn't Beat You.”

“The Jewish community is increasingly heterogeneous, not only politically but ethnically. People come from different parts of the world through immigration and mixed marriages, and they are pushing the collective identity in different ways,” Stavans says, including contributions from Asian and Hispanic cultures. “The need to understand the Sephardim is to understand a very important part of Jewish history.”

No longer does Jewish identity have to be “the standard flagpoles of Israel, the Holocaust and the shtetl,” he says.

Yet even the term "Sephardic Renaissance" can be seen as Ashkenazi-centric; after all, these cultures have been flourishing for centuries, even if invisible to Ashkenazim.

“We live our religion — there is no resurgence,” says Sheila Schweky, the program chair for the Sephardic Community Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., a JCC-like institution that serves 50,000 to 70,000 Jews — mostly Syrian, but also Egyptian, Iraqi, Moroccan and others.

Schweky cites the strong family ties and tight-knit community for preserving the Syrian Jewish heritage.

“As far as our traditions and customs, they're basically the same as when our fathers came here,” she says, so the idea of a “renaissance” doesn't apply. “We don't turn around and say we have to teach our children our heritage — they live it.”

Many tight-knit Sephardic communities that have thrived, but remained nearly invisible to the rest of the world, are learning that art can sometimes show less than positive portrayals. The Syrian Jewish community, for example, was not happy with David Adjmi's “Stunning,” a recent Off-Off-Broadway play that The New York Times called “a stinging portrait of an insular Syrian Jewish community in contemporary Brooklyn.”

“Smaller communities think that everyone is going to judge everyone by that one play,” the novelist Nahai says. “People overreact — it's not like every time you meet a Greek person you think of 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding.’ ”

On the one hand, people like seeing their community portrayed.

“So many young people write to me and tell me finally I can understand why my family is the way they are,” Nahai says.

Others, however, become upset at some of the issues she raises, such as the treatment of women in the Persian Jewish community or how the rabbis were not always just.

“All novelists need to tell the truth. It doesn't mean it's the only reality, it doesn't mean I 'm trying to capture the entire population," Nahai says. "Telling the truth is the only thing I have a responsibility to do. The rest a publicist needs to do.”

Perhaps the Sephardic communities will become accustomed to the spotlight — and the good and bad lights shone on them.

“It's interesting that this is happening now,” Stavans says. “It's because the Ashkenazi community is really solid, and it can look into other aspects of Jewish life without feeling threatened.”

What they are seeing from Sephardic culture, in all its multiplicity and history, is that Sephardim “are more ethnic and more attractive in close-knit families that traveled across time and kept their identity," he says.

"At a time when it's very easy to lose one's identity, you admire their ability to keep their identity across time and space,” Stavans says. “You feel an allure to Sephardic culture.”

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/07/12/1006428/new-generation-seeks-to-reclaim-sephardic-cultural-roots

2009/08/25

PARDON FOR PORTUGUESE DREYFUS?

By Jerome Socolovsky · October 1, 2003

JTA - Jewish & Israel News
(http://jta.org/ news/article/ 2003/10/01/ 10757/IfPortugue seDreyf)
The Mekor Haim synagogue in Porto, Portugal. (Jerome Socolovsky)

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Other Media

The Mekor Haim synagogue in Porto, Portugal. (Jerome Socolovsky)

PORTO, Portugal, Oct. 1 (JTA) — The walls of the spacious synagogue are filled with the chanting of the Shalom Aleichem prayer as a small group of worshipers welcomes the Sabbath. The congregation numbers no more than 20 and has no rabbi. But they sing with enthusiasm amid splendor one would expect to find in a Portuguese cathedral: pink marble pillars, high, narrow church windows, golden letters and colorful patterns adorning the holy spaces. The Mekor Haim Synagogue symbolizes the hope for a renaissance of Judaism in Portugal, where some believe millions of people may have Jewish ancestry. "The potential is enormous. Enormous," says the synagogue´s president, Moshe Medina. The synagogue also is home to a historic past. Mekor Haim was built in the 1920s at one of the poshest addresses in this bustling port city by a decorated Portuguese army captain, aided by wealthy Jews from as far away as London, Paris and Shanghai. Arturo Carlos de Barros Basto had dared to embrace openly his Jewish roots more than four centuries after the Inquisition in Portugal. He also persuaded thousands of other "crypto-Jews" — those who continued to practice Judaism in secret — to do the same. But these descendants of hidden Jews disappeared into the woodwork almost as quickly as they surfaced because of a campaign against Barros Basto backed by the Catholic church, historians say. A local priest fabricated charges of homosexual and indecent acts, such as sucking the infants´ blood during circumcisions, and the army court-martialed Barros Basto. That´s why he´s known as "the Portuguese Dreyfus," after the French army officer who was stripped of his rank on fabricated charges a few decades earlier. Barros Basto died a broken man in 1961. But now, after more than a quarter-century of religious freedom and democracy in Portugal, Jewish organizations here, in Israel and in the United States are pressing the government to rehabilitate Barros Basto. The Porto Jewish community — along with Amishav, an Israeli-based organization working with descendants of Jews around the world — hopes such a move will help spark a Jewish revival. "As far as I´m concerned, 4 million Portuguese today have Jewish blood," said Medina, the community´s Israeli-born leader. His calculation is based on Portugal´s religious makeup before 1496, when King Manoel I — under pressure from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain — ordered all Jews in the kingdom to become "New Christians." At the time, after a wave of refugees fled the Inquisition in Spain, between one-fifth and one-third of Portugal´s 1 million people were estimated to be Jewish. Today 10 million people live in Portugal. And many of the New Christians who continued to practice Judaism — the crypto-Jews — settled in villages in the remote regions of northern Portugal around Porto. Ethnographers say there are or may be pockets of crypto-Jews in villages in northern Portugal. The difficulty in tracing them comes from an identity confusion that is rooted in a centuries-old strategy designed to throw off inquisitive Christians. "One day they tell you they´re Jewish, the next they say they´re Christian," said Elvira Mea, a history professor at the Universidade do Porto and, along with Tel Aviv-based journalist Inacio Steinhart, a biographer of Barros Basto. For his part, Medina doesn´t want to guess how many crypto-Jews there are or how many might return to Judaism. But his eyes widen as he talks about the "many families, many families" he expects to fill the carved wooden benches of Mekor Haim. Estrela Oliveira and her sons Simao, 12, and Carlos, 13, are among those already attending. "My grandmother always told me that we were Jewish," Oliveira said after the service. "But we had to hide it." A 49-year-old philosophy professor, Oliveira grew up secretly lighting candles on Sabbath. Her Jewish conviction was only strengthened when her parents sent her to a school run by nuns. "When I would ask why the nuns wouldn´t give me an answer. They would just say: ‘If you don´t believe without asking questions, then you don´t have faith,´ " she said. Oliveira´s surname means "olive tree." When Jews converted, many adopted names from nature, a kind of code that allowed them to identify each other. "Pear tree" is the translation of Carlos Pereira´s last name. After leading the service with Moshe Medina´s brother Marcos, Pereira, 76, recalled how his parents resisted the blandishments of the local priest by saying he´d been baptized at the hospital. "But there was a well-known Jew in the neighborhood who was a barber, who also shaved beards and pulled teeth," said the retired engineer. "He was the one who circumcised me." Medina argues that a Jewish renaissance would be a boon for Portugal, a country that still has one of the weakest economies in the European Union. He notes that Portugal went into decline after its most prominent Jews fled and contributed to the blossoming of Holland and England and Portuguese colonies in India and the Americas. "With the Jews, Portugal was a world power," he says. But despite the role Jews played in Portuguese history, Medina says there is widespread ignorance today about Jewish culture. He recalls a university professor who asked before entering the synagogue whether he needed to remove his shoes — mistaking a Muslim ritual for a Jewish one. That ignorance is also a major obstacle for Portuguese of New Christian origin who want to explore their Jewish roots. In recent months, however, the Mekor Haim community has received weekly visits from an Israeli Orthodox rabbi sent by Amishav to do outreach work in northern Portugal among descendants of the crypto-Jews. The president of Amishav, Michael Freund, calls the crypto-Jews by the Hebrew term "anusim," which means "the coerced." He said the outreach effort goes hand in hand with the campaign his organization is spearheading to rehabilitate Barros Basto posthumously. "Our goal in clearing Barros Basto´s name," he said, "is to show the anusim in Portugal that times have changed and now there is a new atmosphere and they can feel safer in coming out of the closet." Amishav´s campaign so far has led to letters to the Portuguese ambassador in Washington from the Orthodox Union, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the Religious Zionists of America, the Jewish War Veterans of America and Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.). In Lisbon, a Defense Ministry source said the requests are being studied, and a "positive result" is expected.


PARDON FOR PORTUGUESE DREYFUS?

2009/07/11

2009/05/28

LANÇAMENTO/BOOK LAUNCH
(Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 18.30, Almedina bookstore, Lisbon)

(dia 4 de Junho, quinta-feira, pelas
18:30 horas, na Livraria Almedina (Atrium Saldanha,
loja 71, 2º piso, Lisboa).







HISTORIA DOS JUDEUS PORTUGUESES/HISTORY OF THE PORTUGUESE JEWS

de/by Carsten L. Wilke

Edições 70 e a Associação Portuguesa de Estudos Judaicos
têm a honra de convidar V. Exa. para o lançamento
de História dos Judeus Portugueses, da autoria de Carsten
L. Wilke, a realizar no dia 4 de Junho, quinta-feira, pelas
18:30 horas, na Livraria Almedina (Atrium Saldanha,
loja 71, 2º piso, Lisboa).
A sessão contará com a presença do autor e a obra será
apresentada pelo Sr. Roberto Bachmann, Presidente
da Associação Portuguesa de Estudos Judaicos.

Edições 70 – Rua Luciano Cordeiro 123, 1º Esq. 1069-157 Lisboa
Telf. 213 190 240 Fax. 213 190 249 geral@edicoes70.pt - www.edicoes70.pt

BOOK REVIEW IN SOL PORTUGUÊS/PORTUGUESE SUN, the largest Portuguese Canadian weekly newspaper

http://www.solnet.com/05jun09/juventud/juvent4.htm