Readings:
Jews: A History, pp. 217-226
The Jew in the Modern World, edited by Paul Mendes-Flohr:
pages 62-65 - on Baruch de Spinoza
pages 501-503 - on the first Jews to come to New Amsterdam
Answer two of these questions for your blog entry:
1. What did Jewish identity consist of for former Portuguese conversos who emigrated to the "Port towns," especially Amsterdam?
2. Why do scholars consider the former converso communities of Amsterdam, Hamburg, and London to be the "first modern Jews"?
3. Why was lineage/ancestry so important to the identity of exiled Spanish-Portuguese Jews and conversos? How did they define their lineages - were they restricted by religion?
4. Uriel da Costa and Baruch de Spinoza both wrote treatises that challenged the traditional Jewish view of the Bible and Jewish law. What were their objections, and how did they express them? How were they received by the Amsterdam Sephardic Jewish community?
What did Jewish identity consist of for former Portuguese conversos who emigrated to the "Port towns," especially Amsterdam?
ReplyDeleteAmsterdam was the place that had the biggest impact on the redevelopment of Jewish life for former Portugese conversos. When these conversos emigrated to the Port Town of Amsterdam, they came into an accepting environment. They were allowed to return to Judaism and even build Jewish communities. There was a sense of comfort in Amsterdam because it was far from the Catholic Inquisition and it is estimated that there were over three thousand Jews living here. What really attracted the conversos to Amsterdam were the freedoms, both economic and religious. Jews played a role in the Dutch Atlantic trade, importing colonial goods. Some other Jews were in charge sugar refineries, tobacco workshops, workshops cutting and polishing diamonds, and chocolate making facilities. Some successful conversos worked as brokers in the Amsterdam stock exchange, while others played a role in the colonization of Dutch sugar imports. In addition to all the jobs they had, the conversos also constructed a grand synagogue that still stands today.
Why do scholars consider the former converso communities of Amsterdam, Hamburg, and London to be the "first modern Jews"?
Scholars consider the former converso communities of Amsterdam, Hamburg, and London as the “first modern Jews” because of their engagement in international commerce, integration into society, and their secularism. All these communities established a new type of Jewish culture that was different from the previous traditional forms of Judaism. They reinvented Jewish customs. They hadn’t been taught about Judaism due to the fact that they were born into families that were Catholic, so they didn’t know certain rituals and practices, and they couldn’t speak Hebrew. The rabbis in these communities created many works of literature, who aimed to teach these Jews rabbinic traditions. Moses Altaras published the Libro de mantenimiento de la alma, which was a new, Spanish version of the Shulhan Arukh. This is just one example of the many religious literary works created at this time. The educational system was excellent, with various academies including Ets Hayim. This academy introduced Jewish children to traditions in a very systematic way. The study of halakhah was also very big in these communities.
-Hannah Wolinsky
1. The Jewish identity of the former Portuguese conversos consisted of one major factor, beginning from scratch. There were no Jewish communities previously established in Amsterdam when the conversos arrived after being forced out of Portugal. Many of them had been living in catholic families for generations and were forced to learn Judaism strictly from the ancient texts and not from lineage. They were learning how to practice Judaism from European texts printed in Latin characters instead of Hebrew characters. It was as if they were reading “How to be Jewish” instead of actual Jewish common practice texts.
ReplyDeleteTheir Spanish identities also played a role in their re-discovered Jewish identities. They still spoke Spanish and Portuguese to each other. They continued to hold onto their Spanish traditions which ultimately transformed the community into a “new” or “modern” type of Jew.
4. Da Costa and Spinoza challenged the Jewish Bible and Rabbinical law in a few ways. Da Costa said that rabbinical law was not is agreement with the laws laid down by Moses. He went on to say that the Law of Moses was not written by Moses, a man, but by God, and therefore trumped the law of any Rabbi. Jewish doctors added to these laws the practice of circumcision which da Costa argued against, because no man can add to laws put in place by God. Spinoza also challenged rabbinical authority in this way. Spinoza never came back once expelled unlike da Costa. Many of the Amsterdam Jews completely disregarded their claims and expelled them from their communities.
3. Why was lineage/ancestry so important to the identity of exiled Spanish-Portuguese Jews and conversos? How did they define their lineages - were they restricted by religion?
ReplyDeleteSpanish-Portuguese Jews strongly opposed the intermarriage of Jews and Christians. Saul Levi Morteira insisted on "pure lineage." This lineage was to be kept intact so Sephardi Jews could maintain their Iberian pedigree. Before traditional Judaism did not allow intermarriage, Sephardi Jews continued to narrow their views to even make marriage with Ashkenazi Jews unallowed. The law continued to grow even more intense when Sephardim men would be kicked out of the community if they married a non-Jew. Overall it seems more like a cultural retention than a religious endeavor.
4. Uriel da Costa and Baruch de Spinoza both wrote treatises that challenged the traditional Jewish view of the Bible and Jewish law. What were their objections, and how did they express them? How were they received by the Amsterdam Sephardic Jewish community?
Uriel da Costa did not agree with the rabbis in Amsterdam. He said the Laws of Moses were not written by Moses, but by God. Costa continued to attack the rabbis by saying Torah was only a written tradition and the Oral Torah is not a truthful translation. He continued to ridicule the rituals of: the phylacteries, circumcision, and the prohibition of mixing meats and milk together. Costa was excommunicated and socially isolated for his writings. Baruch de Spinoza, like Costa, was also excommunicated for his heretical views and literature. Spinoza is considered the first secular Jew, rejecting the Jewish religion that excommunicated him while not embracing another religion. Unlike Costa, Spinoza had no desire in going back to Judaism.
2. Scholars consider the former converso communities of Amsterdam, Hamberg, and London to be the first modern Jews because, first of all, after being in what were Catholic families for generations, up to hundreds of years, the ex-conversos had to relearn essentially relearn Judaism and organically forge new "modern" Jewish communities. Another reason that scholars consider the former converses of Amsterdam, Hamberg, and London to be the first modern Jews is because in those communities were the first instances of Jews who were Jewish, but did not follow religious law completely or believe everything (or anything) in the Torah, thus they were the first secular Jews, something completely distinct about modern Jews that separates the eras of modern and pre-modern.
ReplyDelete3. Lineage and ancestry was so important to the exiled Spanish-Portuguese conversos because in terms of their connection to Judaism, all they had was lineage and ancestry. They were raised Catholic and so were their parents and grandparents. Their connection to each other was their ancestor's religious beliefs and the language that they spoke.
1. What did Jewish identity consist of for former Portuguese conversos who emigrated to the "Port towns," especially Amsterdam?
ReplyDeleteThe Jewish identity for former Portuguese conversos in Amsterdam consisted mainly of starting anew. When the Portuguese conversos arrived in Amsterdam, there were no pre-established Jewish communities. They had to start fresh. These new Jews had been born into families that had lived as Catholics for generations. They may have had a sense of belonging to the Jewish people and eager to re-embrace Judaism, but they know little of Jewish traditions and practices and could not read Hebrew. Another new aspect of these Jew's lives was the separation of their religion and the secular parts of their lives. Finally, they retained a strong connection with their Spanish and Portuguese heritage.
2. Why do scholars consider the former converso communities of Amsterdam, Hamburg, and London to be the "first modern Jews"?
The converso communities of Amsterdam, Hamburg, and London are considered to be the "first modern Jews" because they have established a Jewish community and culture that departed from the traditional models and ways of life that still went largely unchallenged and unchanged in the major centers of early modern Jewry in the Ottoman Empire or Poland-Lithuania. These new communities essentially had to start from scratch because they were not joining a community with a pre-existing Jewish culture like in the Ottoman Empire. These communities had to completely reinvent their Jewish traditions that they had lost generations earlier and that the Inquisition had tried to destroy. In addition, these "new Jews" distinguished between the religious and secular spheres of their individual and collective lives. Their regained Jewish religion was only part of their identity, whereas in traditional Jewish societies Jewish law was the all-encompassing point of reference.