Origins of the Portuguese Jewish Community of Amsterdam

In this video, I discuss the origin stories of the Portuguese Jewish Community of Amsterdam. One story is about Maria Nunez and the other is about Moses Uri HaLevi. Ton Tielen appears as a guest to discuss these stories. Then we discuss the actual facts about the beginning of the Portuguese Jewish Community of Amsterdam.
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[@kirstensocialbutterfly6025]

Now you're finally talking about my mom's side. Yes my mom was Portuguese & Cuban Jewish.

[@joaomramalho1]

I’m Portuguese with Iberian jews in my family tree

[@valval1547]

Seven years ago, while watching the TV show “Verborgen Verleden” (hidden past) - the Dutch version of "Who Do You Think You Are"- featuring well-known Dutch journalist, TV and radio personality Hanneke Groenteman, I was astounded to recognise names of Lobo ancestors that were also in my own maternal family line. As I followed the story of Hanneke’s roots, it became clear that her earliest Portuguese Jewish ancestor who immigrated to Amsterdam was also my own ancestor - Baruch (Bento) Osorio. In Amsterdam, Bento Osorio became the most important and affluent merchant of his time, and lived in the Jewish Quarter not far from Rembrandt. A Google search will show his name appearing in many historical books and articles. My husband Meindert has edited from the show this video in which Hanneke travels to Portugal and finds out the riveting story about my forefather Baruch (Bento) Osorio. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pqbLhaKmaZhogrMsi=4b9jvqsxvDJYDPXv

[@1arritechno]

For many of these Portuguese Jews that settled in Holland - their descendents had a terrible fate during the Holocaust. Most were sent to the Dutch internment Camp "Westerbork" only to be later sent by train to death camps such as Auschwitz. The Nazis kept extensive records and it is most disturbing to see connections listed. In Europe , the Netherlands lost one of the highest percentages of Jews in their population during the Holocaust and Sephardic Jews were in the higher proportion (unlike the rest of Northern Europe). DNA reveals that very few survived in Holland - but for those that had earlier immigrated to England or the Americas in the 16/17th Century...

[@jeanjacqueslundi3502]

Talk about family karma...

[@TagusMan]

Several years ago I visited the synagogue in Belmonte, Portugal 🇵🇹. Interesting place. Still very medieval as are many Portugueae aldeias. Belmonte is also the birthplace of Pedro Alvares Cabral, the navigator who discovered Brasil.

[@Jordi_Llopis_i_Torregrosa96]

What a timely upload, just yesterday I found someone very distant in my tree (mid 1500's) named "Pardo", which is supposedly a Sephardic surname? Or is it possible that is just Spanish/Portuguese? Amazing video btw, do more like these.

[@joaomramalho1]

Can be jewish or converso or Christian, in both Portugal and Spain. You have no further info?

[@GazilionPT]

Pardo is not that uncommon as a Spanish name. It may also be a Portuguese name, because the word also exists with the same meaning, but it's much rarer. Not that you cannot establish that someone is Jewish (or specifically Sephardim) just by their name. If their name was not a Hebrew or Aramaic name (like HaLevi), but rather a Portuguese/Spanish name, then they could as well (or even more likely) be Christian. Crypto-Jews did not use names that would easily mark them as New Christians; by the contrary, they would adopt names that were in common use among Old Christians. A name is just a hint of Jewishness if there are other clues pointing to that. For example, being Henriques in Portugal means nothing - that person would probably be Catholic; now, being Henriques in Curaçao or Jamaica, and not a recent immigrant, is a strong indication that that person may have Sephardic ancestry, because Portuguese people in Curaçao and Jamaica are rare, but Portuguese Jews are known to have settled there, and Henriques was one of the more common family names in the community. So, where did that Pardo on your family tree lived?

[@Jordi_Llopis_i_Torregrosa96]

@@GazilionPT He lived in Spain.

[@Jordi_Llopis_i_Torregrosa96]

@@joaomramalho1 Not much except that by the mid 1500's they were already Catholic, since I found them through ecclesiastical archives and that they lived in Spain.

[@GazilionPT]

@@Jordi_Llopis_i_Torregrosa96 Well, in that case, without any actual evidence pointing to him being a New Christian, I wouldn't give much significance to him being called Pardo: all you have is a Spaniard with a Spanish name living in Spain... The bigger probability is that he was in fact Catholic, because most Spaniards were Catholic. That does not exclude the possibility of him being a New Christian, but you must have some supporting evidence to make that claim.

[@shoshanakent3645]

That was fabulous, Jarrett! Thank you.

[@tuga9220]

Awesome video! I like this type of format you're doing now

[@toon5562]

Last week i discovered that Uri Halevi was one of of my very distant ancestors. What a special story to hear about.

[@Lusitani74]

Sephardic jews and moors were expelled from Portugal in 1497. Considering how important they were for comerce and how present they were in portuguese comercial outposts in northern europe I find a bit odd that the end of the 16th century is being considered as the beggining of their community in the netherlands.

[@itsjudystube7439]

I think Tom Tielen said that was when there is documented evidence. Strange to me too

[@GeneaVlogger]

Because Amsterdam community is part of the Western Sephardic wave, which consists largely of the Jews who first went to Portugal when the inquisition was enacted and then later fled after the Portuguese enacted their inquisition. The Sephardic diaspora is often broken up into three waves; the Eastern Sephardim who left prior to 1492 (dating back to the 14th century) and went to the Ottomon Empire, the North African wave which left at the beginning of the inquisition, and then the Western Sephardic wave which left largely in the 1500s. I should also note that we are discussing the creation of an actual community, not just the presence of Sephardic Jews in the Netherlands, which did date back well before the community began.

[@robkunkel8833]

This information figures into my class teaching people about our Danish Virgin Islands “Sandfloor” Synagogue dating back to 1796. Thanks for helping me with this link between the Inquisition and the age of piracy into the 1600s, then St. Eustacious (now called Stacia) the 1700s until 1781 when the British Navy rendered that commercial harbor useless for commerce. At that point, the Danish Crown got a much more useful colony by using the Sephardic trading prowess and the St. Thomas natural harbor with a shipyard. Subscribed.

[@drissnini5310]

I'd have appreciated, even though it wasn't the direct topic, the "Granas" to be mentionned. They're expelled Portuguese Jews who settled in Livorno, Italy, and were very dynamic within Tuscany politics, economics, religious as well. They maintained the link between Sefardic Jews from The Netherlands and other Jewish communities. Because of Livornese new rules, they had to move to Sousse, Tunisia. After Tunisian independance from France, some joined the US, others mainland France or Israel.

[@LetUsMakeSense]

Amazing history.

[@Allnewsweb]

Uri Halevi was an ancestor of mine. Some of the family eventually became known as Van kollem, and then some Collins. My Collins ancestors came to Australia in the 1850s.

[@Accidental.Genealogist]

Fascinating. My birth-mother's family ( I am an adoptee in reunion) are supposed to be descended from Dutch Nunez family members. More directly, we are descended from Moses Isaac Binion, and some folk etymology has Binion and Nunez both coming from the surname "Ben-nun". I wonder if it's true...

[@NaftaliEitje]

Rav Uri Halevi was actually a ancestor of mine. Which is why my ashkenaz family is allowed in the 'ship' of the Portugese synagoge, normally only for sephardic people.

[@PedroPaolo1]

Good summary! I knew the story too.

[@BizzycardozaETA]

My grandmother was Cardoza from Sao Miguel island in the Azores.

[@jimiwhat79]

The Jewish traders came to Amsterdam because there was a little bit more freedom than other places in Europe, and the fact they brought wealth and connections they got more acceptance with the cities wealthy merchants. And at that time you were dependent on your religious community for support so Amsterdam did not have any cost by having them, Amsterdam has alot to thank the Jewish community for that’s also why we use a lot of Jiddisch words until today. It’s a shame they didn’t preserve more of the Jewish neighbourhood even if it was run down more could have been done. The German and Eastern European Jewish community didn’t really see the safardic community as being Jewish as the were more integrated in Amsterdam society.

[@user-qn4jb4dd2w]

A little bit more? You mean ALOT more.

[@dwin4037]

Thanks so much!

[@CastroNRH]

Recently I found out that many ancestors were jews who were forced to convert to the Catholic Church. Among them are members of Benveniste and Aboab families connected to Amsterdam. We are from Brazil and Catholics, aware of some kind of Jewish ancestry, but the traces were wiped out by the Inquisition and assimilation.

[@dwin4037]

Me too from Australia!

[@gwae48]

THNX 🙂👍🏻!!!

[@jeanjacqueslundi3502]

Nunes/Nunez and NuÑez is different. The video is pronouncing it as Nuñez...which is probably not how it was spelt or spoekn in Portuguese :)

[@mrs.cracker4622]

Do you have a video about how these people got to Brazil and then to the American colonies? Thanks!

[@GeneaVlogger]

Not yet, but a video about the community in Recife is on my list (especially since I descend from families who lived in that community).

[@allisonrose4837]

Hey Jarrett, l remembered your channel and was wondering if there's anyway l could shoot you a quick question about potential Sephardic surnames. Really, might as well just mention it here: Serafim? l've been talking with some newfound family on 23andMe from my father's side. Apparently the name and my great grandfather came from Turkey, all they have told me is that they are Turkish but l came across the name in some Ancestry records and it seemed...maybe too obvious? So, perhaps, perhaps not. Not even really sure why l want t know, just curious! Small Iberian result, too.

[@user-vg1pq3dt8o]

Many Sefardim did make way and a home in turkey inquisition time. Many are still there today.

[@jerrysamuels1113]

So how were Jews treated in Frankfurt Germany in the early 1600ths?

[@user-vg1pq3dt8o]

They were there earlier than that. Inquisition time many left to the Netherlands and other places.

[@matthewvisnaw4306]

Remember the Edict of Expulsion was till in effect.

[@angelajohnson9979]

This my family or at least my mother's side. Wow!

[@nathanbeard513]

So, on my maternal grandfather’s side there’s a story that they are descendants of this community, but I have been unable to find any paper trail or any DNA evidence that would prove this. Any ideas?

[@denisethorbjornsen7493]

I have an aunt who is Portuguese so I'm wondering if she's Portuguese Jew

[@ramirochavera2437]

I recently took a DNA test. Half of my DNA is from Spain/Portugual with traces of Jewish ancestry. My last name is Chavera... i think this means "friend" in hebrew. Uncommon?

[@cefcat5733]

Oh oh the family plot thickens! I sure wish it was real. Did any of these groups move on further to the Rhine?

[@mrs.cracker4622]

There was a Sephardic community in Lubec, Germany.

[@CitizenTurtleIsland]

By the way, where did Jewish people go when the English kicked them out in the 13th century?

[@JL1009]

How much would it cost for him to make a video for me?

[@Miki-fl9ez]

Didn't the Jewish community in Amsterdam started after 1492. Or earlier by Askenazis during the Middle Ages???

[@GeneaVlogger]

The communities as we know them today come asa result of the Union of Utrecht in 1579 which allowed religious freedom in the Netherlands. I am not well versed in the history of the low countries prior to the 16th century, so it is possible there were earlier Jewish communities in what is the present day Netherlands that I am not aware of.

[@sr2291]

Did the Portuguese capture them as slaves? Why were they on the ship?

[@GeneaVlogger]

The story says that they paid for their passage on the ship but the ship's captain took advantage of their situation by charging more.

[@sr2291]

@@GeneaVlogger Thanks.

[@chicocostaneves]

That makes so much sense to me. My DNA test has confirmed what I knew as word of mouth in the family. I'm a black man with African, Native American, Russian, and Portuguese ancestry. 10% of Ashkenazi Jews came as a surprise, even though my grandpa and grandma had some Jew behavior. I belong to a genetic group only found in Friesland, Netherlands; which has intrigued me for years. Now, linking the dots, it makes sense. Ty for this video.

[@gmssamakyaahlahhopeful144]

Sephardic Jew descent. Did you know that some Sephardic Jews went to the west coast of Africa? Cape Verde is one example.

[@Snpiedog]

​@JoseMiguel-fl5oi weren't the slave traders in the trans Atlantic slave trade portuguese Jews. May השם rebuke them

[@sylviabargas3340]

Sounds like the Dutch were quite welcoming to the Jews and didn't segregate them into "ghettos" as was the case in many parts of Europe. (No, the Nazis didn't invent Jewish "ghettos", they simply took it to a much more sinister level)

[@camerondavey5579]

I’m a 50% Scotsman born and bred to African immigrants in Australia! But my 7th great grandparents were De Lyons, Portuguese Jews who settled both in Amsterdam, London and eventually the USA! Funnily enough that Jewish dna shows in my blood (albeit quite sparingly) Genealogy is a fascinating thing.

[@brixcosmo]

❤🇵🇹

[@mindymorgan8479]

Sorry I know that your expert is an expert but he seems very unexpected to tell any story. Also he's saying that none of it is true only the stuff that he can find paper scraps about 500 years later. Does anyone think that in 500 years anyone's going to be able to prove what my address was or my lineage or what I said to my dad or how we got here so if there's not a piece of paper then it means it didn't happen? So some of his things can also be misconstrued as absolutely not true as well because all he found was a few documents. I agree that the man who was a Storyteller and poet probably made up some things but you can't base all things on only things that you have found. I mean I guess the Egyptian pyramids aren't real because we can't figure out who made them on paper? I just take an issue with any expert who thinks that only what they find written down on a piece of paper is what the facts are. I'm a person and I have an entire life and if they can't find any scraps of me in two or three hundred years are they going to say I didn't exist at all? He doesn't take any oral legend or history account and that's not what a historian does

[@r21167]

The thing is that you can't just make statements about things that happened without showing evidence.

[@Paul-r3v]

Poor? The Portuguese jews were the richest in the world, they built the most important sinagogues in Amesterdan, still called the Portuguese Sinagogue, but also in Germany, in Augsburg, Cologne and allover Europe. On those the English were the very poor ones.

[@AccueilPei-rc5yv]

O

[@joaomramalho1]

It’s Maria NuneS, not NuneZZZ.... I’m Portuguese with Iberian Jews in my family tree.

[@GeneaVlogger]

Sorry but you are just making an assumption that they are using the Portuguese pronunciation. We know from documentation, some of which I literally show in the video, that her name was spelled Maria Nuñez (with the tilde on the n in many documents). Many in the Portuguese Jewish Communities used Portuguese pronunciation (so many with the Nunes name, like my Nunes Vaz family) but not everyone.

[@joaomramalho1]

If that is the case, fair enough, even though Conversos born and ‘baptized’ in Portugal at the time mostly would have had the Portuguese spelling, even if their parents had migrated from Spain. My reaction also stems from the fact Anglo saxons constantly spell and pronounce Portuguese names in Spanish, even adding the Spanish ‘nh’ sound, when the Portuguese pronunciation is much closer to English. 😂 in any case, thanks for your videos!

[@GeneaVlogger]

I can definitely understand that, it is something I have corrected people about for my mother's family (Nunes Vaz) for years. We are spread out across the US, Canada, Israel, the Netherlands, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, England, Jamaica, Curaçao, Suriname, and elsewhere but every branch knew to pronounce it Noon-es in the Portuguese style (some even give the lisp at the end to make it almost Noon-esth). Funny enough, a few branches changed their official name spelling to Nunis and Nunas.

[@joaomramalho1]

@@GeneaVlogger Haha thanks for keeping your Portuguese heritage alive, distant cousin! (in spite of the biggest mistake tragedy and amputation in Portuguese History)

[@GazilionPT]

@@GeneaVlogger The spelling was not settled back then. And even later, when Portuguese patronymics were fixed with the "-es" ending, abbreviations fossilised with "-z" endings: "Gonçalves" was abbreviated as "Glz", "Fernandes" was abbreviated as "Frz", "Alves/Álvares" was abbreviated as "Alz", "Rodrigues" was abbreviated as "Roiz", and so on. On the other hand, in the past (as late as the 18th century), "Vaz" was often spelled "Vas".