Portugal's 'Law of Return'

Portugal's 'Law of Return for Portuguese Sephardic Jews has now become law.

http://app.parlamento.pt/webutils/docs/doc.pdf?path=6148523063446f764c3246795a5868774d546f334e7a67774c325276593342734c58526c6548524263484a76646938794d44457a4c3078664e444e664d6a41784d7935775a47593d&fich=L_43_2013.pdf&Inline=true

Spanish Jews in Italy were clean-shaven, 1714

"As the King of Spain has driven the Jews out of all his Dominions; those that live in full Liberty here [Alessandria in Piedmont, northern Italy], are certainly one of the most notable Things of this Place. Interest is the great Mover of the World, and as Alexandria is a Place that was never well inhabited, a new and abortive Town; they have granted to the Jews Liberty in it, to people it is a little more, and to drive there some small Trade at least. The street where they dwell, is that which makes the best Figure. The Men never let their Beards grow. According to the strictness of the Terms agreed with ‘em, they are forced to distinguish themselves by grey Hats, but the Magistrates are not severe in that Point. The married Women wear very Grotesque Head-dresses, and the Maids or Virgins, wear nothing but their own Hair; that’s their Distinction."

Maximilien Misson . A new voyage to Italy. 1714. Vol II, Page 380

Resettlement of Jews from Minorca and Gibraltar, 1783

The Spanish and French had reconquered Minorca from the British in 1782, and were besieging Gibraltar up to 1783, so that may explain the Jews leaving. I am not sure of the identity of Mertz. Logic would suggest it is in North Africa or the Mediterranean. The word ‘electorate’, if I read correctly suggests it is in Germany. The Electorate of Mainz at that time was ruled by Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal, an enlightened and tolerant bishop, so maybe it was there.

According to letters from Mertz(?) several (?) Jew families from Minorca and Gibraltar have obtained leave to settle into (?) at (?) electorate, to establish trade and manufacture, and to build a synagogue; and are declared exempt from taxes tor 30 years.

The Gentleman's magazine (London, England): Volume 53 . Page 83. 1783

Jews in the United States, 1795

I would assume that Sephardim constituted a large proportion of the Jewish population in the early United States, but I don't know what percentage.

JEWS. The Jews are not numerous in the United States. They have, however, synagogues at Savannah, Charleston, (South Carolina) Philadelphia, New York, and Newport, Besides those who reside at these places, there are others scattered in different towns in the United States.

The Jews in Charleston, among other peculiarities in burying their dead, have these: After the funeral dirge is sung, and just before the corpse is deposited in the grave, the coffin is opened, and a small bag of earth, taken from the grave, is carefully put under the head of the deceased; then some powder, said to be earth brought from Jerusalem, and carefully kept for this purpose, is taken and put upon the: eyes of the corpse, in token of their remembrance of the holy land, and of their expectations of returning thither in God's appointed time.

The articles of their faith are well known, and therefore need no description. They generally expect a glorious return to the Holy Land, when they shall be exalted above all the nations of the earth. And they flatter themselves that the period of their return will speedily arrive, though they do not venture to fix the precise time.

The whole number of persons who profess the Jewish religion, in all parts of the world, is supposed to be about three millions, who, as their phrase is, are witnesses of the unity of God in all the nations in the world.

Source: William Winterbotham. An historical, geographical, commercial, and philosophical view of the American United States, and of the European Settlements - America and the West-Indies, Volume 1. 1795

Sale of the Novo Cemetery (2), London, 1972

I hope it is OK to quote at length from this Museum of London report on the cemetery wall. One might contrast the care that a museum shows over the wall to the behaviour of the Mahamad and Board of Elders of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews Congregation in selling part of the cemetery.

The report contains useful historical background, Section 4.9 deals with the sale of the cemetery in 1972. The precise location of the reburials are not given below. For the record, our ancestors reside in a mass grave (no gravestones) at Coxtie Green, near Brentwood, Essex (GPS Coordinates: Latitude: 51.64206, Longitude: 0.24887)

Summary

Assessment in February 2007 of a brick wall in the grounds of Queen Mary, University of London, at 331-333 Mile End Road, London E1, has determined that this was originally built to enclose parts of a cemetery, known as the ‘Betahaim Novo’ or ‘New Cemetery’, of the Spanish & Portuguese Jews’ Congregation. This cemetery was established on the site in 1726 33, was extended in 1849 53, and was last used early in the 20th century. The stretch of wall examined, originally around the south-east corner of the cemetery, was accessible only on its inner face, towards the cemetery. This stretch of the wall contains fabric apparently belonging to both the 18th and 19th-century periods of use of the cemetery, and can be seen to be directly related to a portion of the cemetery, with about 2,000 burials, that is still in place forming an open space within the campus of the college. The wall clearly merits its statutory listing as a building of architectural or historic interest, which would require the wall to be archaeologically investigated and recorded before any of it was demolished or substantially altered, at a suitable time when both faces of the wall were accessible.

4 Outline description and history of the wall

4.1 Jews of Spanish and Portuguese origin, Sephardim, settled and practised their religion in London after being readmitted to England during the Commonwealth. They established a burial ground for their community in 1657, on the north side of the Mile End Road, about 2.5km from their synagogue in Bevis Marks on the eastern edge of the City. By the early 18th century more land was required for the community’s cemetery, and in 1726 a separate plot of land about 2.5 acres (1ha) in extent, called ‘Cherry Tree’, was bought a short distance further to the east along the north side of Mile End Road. At first this was kept as an orchard until the first burials took place there in 1733. This was thereupon called the Betahaim Novo or ‘New Cemetery’ while the earlier was called the Betahaim Velho or ‘Old Cemetery’; some interments continued to be made in the latter, in family graves.

4.2 When the New Cemetery was opened in 1733 a brick wall is documented as having been erected around the site. The wall in lengths (1), (2) and (3) is on the line of the earliest wall around the cemetery shown on a map of 1799-1819 (Fig 3). The southern boundary of the cemetery is not shown so clearly on an earlier map of 1746, by Rocque, and possibly either the boundary was changed slightly during the 18th century, perhaps as more ground was occupied by graves and less by fruit trees, or alternatively the 1746 map was not surveyed very precisely. Of the surviving walls, (1) and the base of (2) and (3) are possibly of 18th-century origin, containing, for the most part, dark red hand-made bricks, laid rather irregularly but generally to English bond and set in crumbly cream yellow lime mortar (Figs 5 and 6). Much of this wall face has been repointed and there are many signs of patching and alteration.

4.3 In 1733, according to Barnett (1955), a ‘fine mortuary hall’ was also built, which remained until it was demolished in 1922. The plot of land for the New Cemetery had cost £450 to buy and a much greater sum, £2,000, was spent on its buildings, walls and so on (Rodrigues-Pereira et al 1997, ix xi). The only building shown on the 1799 1819 map is in the centre of the southern half of the cemetery, and this could have been the ‘mortuary hall’.

4.4 In the late 18th and early 19th centuries grave-robbing was much feared. A newspaper advertisement of 1786 offered a reward of £50 for assistance in apprehending and convicting robbers of recent graves in ‘the Portuguese cemetery’, by which must be meant the New Cemetery. A watchman’s hut on wheels was set up over newly-filled graves, and the contemporary rules for the watchmen included the injunction to see ‘that no tree grows near the walls surrounding the burial ground, or near enough for its branches to help anyone trying to climb [the walls]’ (translated and quoted by Barnett, 1955). This indicates that the cemetery had walls around it, and they were high enough to have to be climbed with the help of overhanging tree-branches, if there were any.

4.5 By the 1840s the new cemetery was going to have to be enlarged, and more land adjoining it to the east, covering some 4.5 acres (1.8ha), was bought in 1849 and used for burials from 1853. The burials were always in very orderly rows, being successively laid out and filled from the rear of the cemetery going towards the Mile End Road. ‘The numbers of the rows were to be “conspicuously painted in White letters on a Black Ground on the Wall with a line marking the width of each Carreira [or row]”’ (Barnett 1955, x).

4.6 By the time of the first edition of the Ordnance Survey large-scale map, in 1870, the cemetery had clearly been extended to the east, and the line of the wall at (4) (8) is shown on this map as well as (1) (3); these wall-lines continue to be shown on subsequent maps, such as the revision of 1893 4 (Fig 4). The junction of the two parts of the cemetery can be seen in the existing walls (Fig 7), and it is marked by a change in the level of the ground, the extension to the east being at a slightly higher level than the initial area of the cemetery to the west.

4.7 A small rectangular building, one corner of which adjoins the junction of (1) and (2), was possibly a watch-house, referred to in documentary sources. On the 1870 and later maps, such as that of 1893 4, this is shown as having a small garden attached, which suggests that it was where a watchman could have lived. By 1961, the possible watch-house at the junction of (1) and (2) appears to have been the only building left connected with the cemetery, despite the watch-house being documented as having been demolished in 1892 or 1922. A map of 1962 shows the rectangular plot as existing but empty, as if the corner building had gone by then, and thereafter not even the plot appears.

4.8 By the end of the 19th century the community’s cemetery moved to north London. In 1895 unused land on the east of the New Cemetery at Mile End amounting to 2 acres (0.8ha) was sold to the Great Eastern Railway, and another cemetery, at Hoop Lane, Hampstead, was in use from 1896. The New Cemetery at Mile End was closed in 1936, and the superintendent’s lodge and mortuary hall were demolished. According to Rodrigues et al (1997, x) ‘paths were levelled and the boundary walls and gates rebuilt’. The walls to the east, (7) and (8), retain their original top courses intact, as the coping still rises and falls to accommodate former changes of level in the adjacent ground (Fig 8). This area of the cemetery seems to have been fairly level, so the changes of ground level must have been immediately outside the cemetery. The latter ground, according to a map of 1938, was occupied as in 1893 4 (Fig 4) partly by houses and partly by open areas, such as gardens, yards and Govey’s Place, adjoining the cemetery wall. Almost all the latter ground had been built up by about 1947, according to a map of that date.

4.9 In 1972, when a compulsory purchase order was likely to be made in order to rebuild and enlarge the adjacent Queen Mary College, the major part of the cemetery, to the west, was cleared and the land sold to the college. About 7,000 bodies were exhumed and reburied near Brentwood, Essex. ‘A small section containing graves from 1865 to 1916’ [about 2,000] was left intact in the eastern part of the cemetery (Fig 9), the part which had been added in 1849. In 1975 listed building consent was obtained to reduce the boundary wall on the street frontage to 6ft (1.83m).

4.10 The New Cemetery fronted directly on to the Mile End Road, except for two rectangular plots of land on the south-east, one of which was owned in the 18th century by Richard Govey, hence the name of the short side-road into it from Mile End Road, and the other, even smaller, to the west, which contained until the mid 20th century a public house called the ‘Three Mackerels’. It is the acquisition of these two plots and the proposed demolition of the buildings on them, which abut the cemetery wall to their rear, which has given rise to the present assessment.

Museum of London Archaeology Service. Author: Andrew Westman; Project Manager: David Lakin. WALL OF THE NEW CEMETERY (BETAHAIM NOVO) OF THE SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE JEWISH CONGREGATION. QUEEN MARY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. A standing building assessment

Sale of the Novo Cemetery, London

Selling the Novo Cemetery on the Mile End Road circa 1972 was unquestionably the worst thing ever done by the leadership of the English Spanish & Portuguese Jews in their 300 year history. Even forty years later, this act of blasphemous vandalism has not lost its power to shock.

The Planning Statement below, from 2011, proposed doing a little more damage, and gives some of the history. Some Hasidic Jews turned up to protest the desecration.

2.1 In 1733 the Novo Cemetery (Jews New Burying Ground) was constructed on land purchased by the Spanish & Portuguese Jewish Community of the Bevis Marks Synagogue located in the City of London. At the time, the congregation’s original burial site, the Jews Old Burying Ground (1657), which is the oldest Jewish Cemetery in the UK, had reached capacity, and land was required to increase the area available for burials. (see fig 3: Rocque’s Survey of London 1746.

2.2 By the early part of the twentieth Century the land surrounding the two burial grounds had been absorbed by development into the city’s fabric. Both of the burial sites had reached capacity and the cemeteries were no longer in active use by the community. Although the Bevis Marks Community continues to exist, the main centre for Spanish and Portuguese Jewry had moved to northwest London with Burial (sic) new burial sites to serve the community’s ongoing needs (see fig 4: 1914 Survey of London)

2.3 In 1970 The Queen Mary University of London purchased the Novo Cemetery site form (sic) the SPJC for the expansion of the University’s facilities in the Mile End Campus. The SPJC retained freehold possession of the remaining section of the cemetery which is surrounded on all sides by the University Campus (see fig 5: Aerial photography of Novo Cemetery site pre 1970 and post 1970)

2.4 As part of the sale of the land, it was decided that the graves that were not retained would be exhumed and reinterred at a site in Brentwood, Essex that was given to the SPJC as part of the conditions of sale.

…

4.1.4 In addition the overriding design criteria for the above is to minimise wherever possible [my italics] any excavation or significant alterations to the ground, as it has been shown that any excavation within the bounds of the original cemetery footprint (which applies to the entire site) is liable to disturb remains left over when the graves were originally exhumed in 1970. It is for this reason that all of the proposals have been developed in collaboration with the SPJC to seek there (sic) approval of both construction methodology and the final result.

Queen Mary University of London with the Spanish & Portuguese Jews Congregation. Proposed Works to the Perimeter of the Novo Cemetery at Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Campus. Seth Stein Architects. Planning Statement January 2011.

Reports of the Jewish Messiah reach Constantinople, 1728

The report of an army of half a million Jews, headed by the Messiah and marching out of Africa, is treated dismissively by the author who seems to be English ambassador to Turkey. I wonder what he thought at the time. His Jewish servant is convinced of the story.

I took my leave of this good natur'd and generous Sultan, who wants only our Education and Religion, to make a great figure in the world. I got to my lodgings about two hours after fun-set, much pleas'd with the magnificent variety of one day's diversions; and was hardly set down on my sofa to repose myself, after so agreeable a fatigue, when my old Druggerman or Interpreter, Abraham, a learned Jew, whose conversations often entertain my solitary hours, came to me with a good deal of surprize and amazement in his face. I immediately saw something extraordinary had happen'd, and enquir'd of him what was the matter? My Lord, says he, I bring you an account, which if it proves true, will make the enemies of my nation, and the despis'd Jewish people, glad to lick the dust of their shoes. Here is Rabbi Solomon just come from Tunis, who is sent to warn our brethren, that the ten Tribes are discovered in the middle part of Africa, where they retir'd in the days of their Captivity and affliction. He says they have a vast Empire there, and are very powerful, having near 50 millions of souls under their Kings, who are most observant of the Law, and have preserv'd their language pure and unmix'd, as well as their rites and ceremonies. The said Rabbi Solomon avers, that the great Messiah is risen among them, and hath chosen out an army of 500000 pick'd men, all as valiant as the Maccabees; that they have left all the strong holds of their Empire of Gangara and Seneganda well garison'd, and are in motion from the frontiers of those kingdoms, to cross the desarts of Borno and Guoga, and pass the Nile, seize on Egypt, and then the land of Canaan their Inheritance, and build up the fallen glories of mount Sion and Jerusalem. As I had a map of Africa in my room, I immediately search'd it for the kingdoms and desarts, my good Druggerman had settled his friends in, and found so far all was right; but desiring to know what authorities he or Rabbi Solomon had for this report, he gave me two letters from the Synagogue of Tunis, directed to the faithful Jews of Stamboul and its Provinces, willing them to be on their guard, and behave like men, for the Kingdom was about to be restor'd to Israel. Along with these he communicated to me, under the solemnest promises of secrecy, the Messiah's Manifesto; in which he exhorts his subjects and brethren to prepare to rifle, for the restoring both the sword and sceptre, into the hands of the faithful and chosen of heaven; and commands them to be ready, to depart for Jerusalem, to- the solemn sacrifice, so soon as they had certain intelligence from him, of his being possess'd of Egypt and Grand Cairo. I read them all over (that is, the Turkish translation of the Hebrew) with much admiration; and asking Abraham, if he believ'd these to be genuine letters? he answer'd me very hastily and angrily, as genuine as the Talmud; and that it was universally known to all the Turks, and the merchants in Stamboul, that these things were true; and it is certain, I had heard for several days, of some commotions in the inland parts of Africk, of a strange people.

I then ask’d him, what the Jews determined to do? Even, says he very eagerly, to obey the commands of their Messiah; and so soon as, he hath conquer'd Egypt to depart from the four winds under heaven, and be gather’d unto the brethren of the dispersion at Jerusalem at the solemn sacrifice. He said this with tears in his eyes, and such emotion of hearts that I could not chuse but pity him and his deluded people, who are as credulous as malice or love; and will probably, throughout this vast Empire, be, standing with their ears prickt up, and, like birds, ready to take wing with all they can carry with, them, if the news of this Revolution?

…

Upon this the Chiaus related Abraham's story, very much in the fame manner I have told it your Lord/hip; but with this addition, that the new Messiah was the strongest and most beautiful man upon earth.
…

But the Jews, my Lord, ate above all other nations foolishly credulous; this Abraham my Truchman, is really more knowing and judicious than'most of his Tribe, and yet he reads the Talmud, the Misnah, and all the fabulous mysteries of the Cabbala, with as much veneration as the Pentateuch. He is as much persuaded that our tears were not salt, till Lot's wife was chang'd into a pillar of salt; that she has still her Menses; and that me was thus chang'd,becau fe that out of malice she would not put down the faltseller on the table to the angels; as that Sodom was burnt.

Source: Memoirs of the twentieth century. 1728.

Amsterdam Jews, 1701

A description of the Jewish Amsterdam community in 1701. One members seems to have more money than taste.

The Jews, who are very considerable for the Trade of this City, have Two Synagogues, one of which is the largest in Christendom, and as some say, in the World. Within their CourtYard where there Synagogue stands, they have seveial Rooms or Schools, where their Children are taught Hebrew, and carefully instructed in the Jewish Principles.

….

When you have visited the Arsenals, if you have not a mind to keep along by the Port, you must cross the Jews Quarter, which would be one of the most Beautiful in the City, were those Disciples of Moses as neat as the Hollanders. There are two Synagogues, one for the Greeks and German Jews, another for the Portugueses. This is much the fairer, being built in a great Square, cover'd with a Duomo, and resembles rather a Citadel then a Jewish Temple; So that when the Jews built it so high, and so thick, the Magistracy began to grow jealous, afraid, lest under the pretence of a Temple they were building a Fortress, that might one day trouble the repose of the City; and out of this fear it was, that the Jews were commanded to go no further ; so that they were forc'd to cover it, before the Structure was brought to its intended Perfection; and this is the only reason of the Defects which the Architects observe in the Building.
AS to what remains, I make no scruple to affirm that there are Jews in Amsterdam far richer than some of our European Princes. There was one who built a House where nothing but Gold and Silver, Azure and Marble glitter'd on every side; there was one great Room pav'd with Silver Ducatoons: and he would have put Silver Bars in the Window of a lower Apartment that look'd into the Street, whereas Iron ones content all the rest of the City ; but the Magistracy no less Wise then Politick, considering that the Jews in general are not belov'd by the Christians, and fearing lest the multitude might take an occasion from this piece of Vanity to plunder his House, and the Houses of his Country-men, forbid him to do it: so that instead of Silver Grates, he put up Iron Gilt.

Page 78

Source: A new description of Holland, and the rest of the United Provinces. 1701

Jewish Prostitutes in Constantinope? 1794

It may be remarked that both Du Loir and D'Arvieux agree in ascribing the honorable office of bawds to the Jewesses. At Constantinople, the shops of the Jews are said to be the ordinary places of rendezvous; which they certainly are not at Aleppo, being all situated in the public Bazar, and in size very incommodious.

Alexander Russell. The natural history of Aleppo, Volume 1. 1794. Page 428.

French analysis of Jewish commerce, 1741

The French analysis below says that the Jews (by which they mean Spanish and Portuguese Jews) are regarded as clever but untrustworthy. The analysis focused on Amsterdam and Livorno, not even mentioning London, Hamburg or Salonica (or Bordeaux!).

They estimate there are around five thousand Sephardim in Amsterdam, and that they have three quarters of the Dutch North African trade, especially at the ports of Salé, Saphia[?] and SainteCroix [?]. I guess that SainteCroix was once a Christian enclave. The Jews bought what the Barbary pirates had captured from Christian ships, and resold it in Amsterdam. I am dubious about this claim as it seems inconsistent with Amsterdam notarial records.

There are estimated to be more that ten thousand Jews in Livorno, much loved by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and with a beautiful synagogue. The Jews have 90% of the trade, while the French, Italians, Dutch, English and Armenians have only 10% between them. Again, this doesn't ring true.

I have the impression that the authors got their information from someone with a particular axe to grind. Trade with the Americas, Baltic or Turks isn't even mentioned.

Les Juifs ont la réputation d’être très-habiles dans le commerce, mais aussi ils font soupçonnés de ne le pas faire avec toute la probité & la fidélité possible.

Quoiqu'il en soit de ce reproche, il est certain que les Nations même qui font le plus prévenues contre les Juifs, non-seulement les souffrent parmi elles, mais semblent même se piquer d'en apprendre les secrets du négoce, & d'en partager avec eux les profits.

II est vrai que plusieurs des Souverains de l'Europe Chrétienne ne les ont reçus dans leurs Etats, qu'à condition de porter une marque extérieure, pour les distinguer de leurs autres Sujets ; mais il y a aussi quelques Souverains qui ne les regardent point autrement que le reste des Bourgeois de leurs Villes , & qui n'y mettent de différence que par le plus ou le moins d'utilité qu'ils en retirent par rapport au commerce.

Les deux principaux établissemens que les Juifs ont dans les Etats des Princes Chrétiens, font celui d'Amsterdam & celui de Livourne.

A Amsterdam ils font comme partagés en deux tribus différentes; l'une des Juifs Portugais, au nombre de près de cinq mille; & l'autte des Juifs Allemands, qui ne font gueres moins de douze cens. Les uns & les autres sont riches, & se mêlent de toute forte de commerce , particulièrement de celui de la Banque; mais les Portugais font les plus accrédités , soit pour le change , soit pour les entreprises du négoce de marchandises au dedans & au dehors.

Entr'autres commerces, ce sont les Juifs Portugais d'Amsterdam qui font presque tout celui de Barbarie -, & il n'y a guetes qu'eux qui ayent part aux trois ou quatre vaisseaux Hollandois qui y vont tous les ans; tout ce commerce se faisant entr’eux & les Juifs des Echelles de cette Côte, particulièrement de Salé, de Saphia & de SainteCroix, dont la principale attention est d'acheter les prises que font les Corsaires fur les Chrétiens, pour les revendre ensuite aux Juifs d'Amsterdam.

Ce sont ordinairement ces prises rachetées qui font les principaux retours de ces derniers : & ils font si habiles, qu'après en avoir déguisé les marchandises, soit en les mêlant avec d'autres, soit en les remballant d'une autre manière, soit en leur mettant d'autres marques, qu'ils ne craignent point d'aller les revendre dans quelques Ports de Portugal, & souvent même aux Marchands fur lesquels les prises avoient été faites.

Les Juifs de Livourne semblent être encore plus favorisés du Grand Duc, que ceux d'Amsterdam ne le font des Bourguemaîtres d'Amsterdam.

Non-seulement ils y ont une superbe Synagogue , où ils font les exercices de leur Religion en toute liberté, mais encore le Duc Ferdinand qui les y a établis, leur a accordé une Jurisdiction civile & criminelle qui leur est propre, dont eux-mêmes ont le pouvoir de créer les Magistrats , & de laquelle il n'y a appel que pardevant le Grand Duc , en cas de mal jugé.

On estime que les Juifs de Livourne y font présentement au nombre de plus de dix mille ; & ils ont une si grande part dans le Commerce qui se fait dans cette Ville célèbre, qu'on y respecte en quelque sorte leur jour de Sabbat ; personne ne se trouvant sur la place le samedi, & ne s'y faisant aucune affaire.

On estime que s'il se fait pour cent mille écu9 de commerce au Levant par les Marchands de Livourne, il y en a pourquarre-vingt-dix-huit mille pour les Juifs, & seulement deux mille écus qui le partagent entre les François, les Italiens, les Hollandois, les Anglois & Arméniens établis dans cette Ville.

Ce sont aussi les Juifs qui pour la plupart font les fonctions de Censaux ou de Courtiers. Vojez CENSAL.

On parle en plusieurs endroits de ce Dictionnaire du Commerce que les Juifs font dans le reste de l'Europe , en Asie & en Afrique. Voyez. l'Etat général du Commerce , Terne I.

Source : Jacques Savary des Bruslons, Philemon-Louis Savary, Jacques Estienne. Dictionnaire universel de commerce. 1741

Jews in Hampstead ahd Highgate, London, 1725

High-gate and Hamstead are next on the Northside; At the first is a very beautiful House built by the late Sir William Ashurst, on the very summit of the Hill, and with a view from the very lowest Windows over the whole Vale, to the City: And that so eminently, that they see the very Ships pasting up and down the River for 12 or 15 Miles below London. The Jews have particularly fixt upon this Town for their Country Retreats, and some of them are very Wealthy; they live there in good Figure, and have several Trades particularly depending upon them, and especially, Butchers of their own to supply them with Provisions kill'd their own way; also, I am told, they have a private Synagogue here.

Daniel Defoe. A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain. 1725

Rotterdam Jews propose raising taxes in Dublin, 1768

My understanding is that tax farming is where a government outsources tax-raising to private business in return for a guaranteed income. The tax-farmer keeps the difference between what was raised and what was paid to the government. One advantage for the government is that the focus of unpopularity falls elsewhere. In Spain, Jews were often used as tax-farmers. Typically, all Jews are lumped together in this snippet.

THE Jews of Rotterdam have offered to farm the Revenues of Dublin at twenty thousand pounds per Annum. Several eminent Quakers are also willing to take them at that rent; but the undertaker has rejected their Proposals, being resolved to deal with none but Christians.

Jonathan Swift, John Hawkesworth, Deane Swift. The works of Dr. Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin: Volume 13. 1768. Page 398

Loyal Jewish Sermon in London, 1756

A glowing report of a sermon by Isaac Nieto, Haham of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews congregation of London, son of David Nieto. Contrast this with some of the negative stereotypes seen elsewhere. Needless to say, then as now, the community was too busy squabbling to notice.

22. Preached in the Jews Synagogue. By Isaac Netto [Isaac Nieto], Archisynagogus [possibly Haham, although he resigned the following year after a fight with members of the Bet Din over job titles] of the Portuguese Jews Synagogue.

This sermon was written originally in Spanish and is now translated by the Author into English. The translation is well executed, but there is a dignity in the Spanish, which makes us prefer the original to the copy: it is printed in both languages. There is, in this discourse, a strain of piety, goodness, and loyalty, that is greatly commendable. The practice of morality and benevolence is recommended as the great end of religion ; and the prayer for the King is such as any Christian may with pious pleasure pronounce, it being perfectly agreeable to the sentiments of every good citizen, whether Christian or Jew, who is a well-wisher to his country.

Ralph Griffiths, G. E. Griffiths. The Monthly review, or, Literary journal: Volume 14. 1756.

Jews in Jamaica, 1778

8 or 900 Jews. Jamaica is perhaps the only place in the world where they have a country, since it is the only one where a right has been given them to carry arms for its defence: they have justified the confidence of the legislature in an invasion made by the French, where they behaved with a great deal of courage. The Jews possess several estates, and carry on an extensive trade, especially with the Spaniards. Their sobriety and manner of living make them come to a greater age in Jamaica than the other Whites; but one is sorry to find that they have carried to this island a spirit of division in their tenets which renders them sometimes unhappy, and often ridiculous.

The present state of the West-Indies. 1778. Page 59

Portuguese anti-Semitism and Sephardi arrogance

In Portugal the very name of Jew is a term of such high reproach, that the government enacted a law which forbade any person to call another by that appellation: if a man who was styled a Jew to his face, stabbed the offender, the law did not condemn him. When we consider the horrid persecutions with which these unhappy people were assailed in that country to drive them from their faith, and the tortures with which the inquisition was ready to receive those 'new Christians,' whom anguish and fear had cast violently into the pale of the Romish church, we cannot wonder that we find the Portuguese Israelites although preserving still a remembrance of the sunny country of their fathers' exile, so much more like their own land than our northern regions, should yet be found dwelling upon more hospitable shores, exiled even from that, which was in itself banishment.

The Spanish and Portuguese Jews (or the Sephardim as they are called) claim their descent from the tribe of Judah ; and found these pretensions on a supposition which prevails among them, that many of their ancestors removed, or were sent into Spain, at the time of the Babylonian captivity. In consequence of this supposed superiority, they would not until of late years, by marriage or otherwise, connect themselves with their brethren of other nations. They had separate synagogues,; and if a Portuguese Jew, even in England or Holland, married a German Jewess, he was immediately expelled from the synagogue, deprived of every civil and ecclesiastical rite, and ejected from the body of the nation.

Souce: Emanuel Hecht, Max E. Lilienthal. Synopsis of the history of the Israelites: from the time of Alexander. 1857.

Jews of Constantinople, 1784

The report below suggests that in 1784 Jews lived better in Constantinople than London. If so, it was probably the end of the era. Between the usual anti-Semitic nonsense it shows the Jews' role as (essentially powerless) middlemen.

The Jews wear drawers and slippers of a sky-blue colour, their turban is totally different from the Christians, and they have two bunches of hair hanging down by the sides of their ears. These people are very fond of appearing what they are, lest they should be mistaken for Christians. But there are some privileged persons, both Greeks and Jews, who are allowed to wear yellow slippers, and scarlet drawers, the fame as the Mussulmen; but these are the dragomen to ambassadors, and the Metzellemins, who pay no annual tribute.
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The Jews come next under our consideration. Their number in and about Constantinople is astonishing; they reckon 40,000 families, which, upon a moderate computation, makes 200,000 persons. They are subject to a kind of aristocratical government among themselves. They have a class of men whom they call Cajams [Haham?], they are doctors of their law, and to them they submit the decision of all common causes which occasion any differences between them ; and it seldom or ever happens that they appeal from the sentences of those judges to the Turkish tribunals. They possess great riches, and live as much, if not more at their ease, than their brethren at London ; for the Turks esteem them far beyond Christians. They carry on every branch of art and commerce, from which they acquire their opulence.

There is not a Turkish house at Constantinople of any note, but what has Jews familiar in the family. One may judge from this of the number and quality of their protectors; a circumstance which makes them haughty and insolent to the Greeks and other Christians. All the under-officers of the custom-house are Jews, who make very considerable gains. The factor to the Agha of the Janissaries is a Jew, and perhaps the most considerable in the city. Though they are held in slavery, not being suffered to purchase lands, they have a strong tincture of ambition, and love to lord it over their inferiors, by the strength of their riches. A prodigious number, as in other capital cities, follow the profitable business of exchange-brokers, money-scriveners, and dealers in jewels. Their intercourse with the Turks of rank gives them a knowledge of their private circumstances, and of their secrets; a science which they turn to very good account as pimps and spies. A foreign ambassador may know more of the state of the Turkish cabinet by gratifying the avarice of a Jew, that being his ruling passion, than from any other quarter whatever.

Source: Elias Habesci. The present state of the Ottoman empire. 1784.

British cloth trade with Turkey, 1753

The piece below shows the mistrust the Christian English merchants had for the their Jewish opposite numbers. My impression is that the underlying fear is that the Jewish merchants in London and those in Constantinople would cooperate to squeeze out the Christians.

I don't know about the claim that the Jews might supply French rather than English cloth to the Turks. The English merchants fancifully suggest that the Jews might actually replace the French as competitors of the English. They are at pains to say that being of a different religion should not be a bar to doing business, but this is hardly surprising if they are planning to trade with Muslim Turks through the agency of Sephardic Jews and Armenian Christians.

The JEWS now desired to be admitted into a share of the trade, and the demand of the generality of the people was for an open commerce, or a limitation of the charter granted to the TURKEY company: the JEWS were strongly objected to, particularly by those members of the company who had most experience in the trade. The consideration of difference in religion among people subject to one common government, does not seem essential in commercial affairs, nor is it regarded much in our EUROPEAN trade; but the great influence they are supposed to have in ASIA, created an insuperable difficulty to their admittance. It seemed natural to believe, that by admitting no other JEWS than those of LONDON, and placing these under the fame common restrictions as other subjects, .that they would employ their power in favour of this nation, under whose government they are happy. It appeared however on this occasion, as if they were doomed to be excluded on account of their religion, at least it seemed a hard supposition, that EUROPEAN JEWS mould be at the bottom of all schemes against EUROPEAN trade with ASIA, as was then alledged. It was further objected, that the JEWS in CONSTANTINOPLE would promote a monopoly of the TURKEY commodities with the JEWS in ENGLAND, to the prejudice of the other subjects of this nation, and that the JEWISH factors abroad would underwork the CHRISTIANS: it was also urged, that the influence of the JEWS, arising from their great riches, would have too great a weight in the commercial scale. But was not this an acknowledgment that they were bold traders, possessed of large capitals, and would be contented with small profits? if it was, and that the trade was really in danger of being loft to this nation, were not these the very people who bid fairest to rival the FRENCH? There was yet a further objection, that they might go to market to MARSEILLES for their cloths, and only bring their silk here: even this might be preferable to the loss of the trade, for all commodities which we manufacture at home, are certainly great national benefits: but it was reasonable to imagine, that the JEWS under the protection of the BRITISH crown, might be restrained to a subjection to BRITISH laws, as well in commerce as in civil society in general.

It was however allowed, that the JEWS who reside in TURKEY are, for the most part, an immoral people, and have by a kind of confederacy established an exorbitant brokerage of i or more per cent. as it were by inheritance; and this reason, joined to others of the like nature, induced the FRENCH to stipulate with the TURKS, that they might not be obliged to employ JEWS. The debate, which at this time ran high, was at length reduced to this issue, viz. whether the liberty of trading to TURKEY should be granted to all his majesty's subjects, or to all his christian subjects only; and whether it should be made an open trade, or continue exclusive under the restrictions the legislature might judge necessary. Upon this occasion the following bill for enlarging and regulating the trade to the LEVANT seas was proposed to the parliament.

Source: Jonas Hanway. An historical account of the British trade over the Caspian sea. 1753.

Jews of Livorno, 1766

INDEED the Jews and Armenians are generally brokers and factors for all nations at Leghorn [Livorno]. Their brokerage-fees are half per cent, both for sales and purchases: they have half per 1000 for exchanges, and a fourth per cent, for insurances of entry.
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THE number of inhabitants within the walls are reckoned 40,000, including 10,000 Jews*. The streets are very regular, broad, and well paved ; and there are a great number of good buildings, especially in that part called New Venice.

* Other say, there are 18,000 Jews at Leghorn, which is called their paradise; for, except living by themselves in one particular part of it be reckoned a hardship, they enjoy all manner of freedom; without any ignominious mark of distinction. Keysler, p. 392

Source: John Northall. Travels through Italy. 1766.

Jews in Altona / Hamburg, 1746

"It is a common Maxim amongst Merchants,that no Town can enjoy a flourishing Trade, except its Inhabitants permit the Jews to settle amongst them. This Maxim, as it should seem, has prevailed in Hamburg; since there arc above thirty-five Thousand Jews in that City. Many of these inhabit Part of the New Town, towards Altena. The Streets occupied by the Jews are pretty large, but consist of very poor Houses. They have here, as in other Places, several Marks of Distinction, by which they are easily known."

The estimated Jewish population, which would have been Ashkenazi as well as Sephardi, may be exaggerated in this report.

Source: Edward Harley Oxford (Earl of).The Harleian miscellany. 1746.

English cleric's view of Jews pretending to be Christians, 1676

This extract from The Present State of the Jews by Lancelot Addison, a chaplain to King Charles II was published in 1676. Addison spent seven years as a chaplain in Tangier, although apparently sections of his book are simply repetitions of the translation of an earlier work by Johannes Buxtorf.

I have absolutely no idea why they illustrated the book with an Indian.

I think there is some interesting, and funny, stuff in here. I am surprised Addison is sanctimonious. I would think an Englishman of that time would have a good understanding of the need to bend in the wind to survive. Perhaps a plagiarist shouldn’t be so self-righteous.

“And yet it cannot be denied but that there are several Jews who make use of a scandalous complyance in this particular. Of which sort are many of those who coming within the cognizance and power of the Papal Inquisition, can joyn themselves to a Crucifix and Rosary, as well as to the Zizith and Tephillim.

And I am assured that some Jews have gone herein so far as to enter into Holy Orders, and the Profession of a Religious Life, who yet coming to places where the Jews have publick Toleration, have joyned themselves to the Synagogue.

And of this, we have a very late instance of two Jews, who in Spain having for several years professed the Religion of Saint Dominique coming to Legorn in their Fryar-Habits, they instantly changed their Cowl for a Ganephe, and of idle Fryers became progging Jews.

Another Jew (of my acquaintance, who for about five years had studied Physick at Saragoza in Spain) being asked how he could comply with the Religion, he merrily made this reply, That his complyance was only the work of his Nerves and Muscles, and that his Anatomy told him nothing of the heart was therein concerned.

Another Jew who in Malaga counterfeited Christianity so well as to be intrusted with the Sale of Indulgences, having made a good Market thereof in Spain, came with what he had left to a Christian City in Barbary, where his Indulgences being all bought up by the Irish and others of the Papal persuasion, he declared his Religion. The Papists who had bought his Indulgences impeach him to the Governor for a Cheat, and clamour to have him punished according to demerit. The Jew pleaded the Laws of the free Port, that he had neither imported nor sold any thing but his professed Merchandise, and therefore desired (and obtained) the Liberty and Priviledges of such as traffick'd to that Port. I report nothing but matter of personal knowledg.”