The Saga of Dutch Jewry (Kosher Riverboat Cruises)

A brief introduction to the remarkable history of the Jews of the Netherlands.
For more information please visit kosherrivercruise.com/amsterdam/
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[@SonofLiberty-zw7op]

What a fantastic presentation. Oh, wait...that's par for the course. :) Thanks again for sharing this knowledge. It is indeed fascinating.

[@andrearabinovitch7186]

I was familiar with several of the phases of Jewish history as you described, but this lecture tied them all together so seamlessly. Thanks for another great lecture.

[@elodieleaf]

Thankyou for this video! I was born in Holland. However my dad came from Suriname and his family had fled persecution in Europe. He moved to Amsterdam as an appointed heartsurgeon. My mum had South European roots. And her family came to Holland too. I now live in England.

[@zafirjoe18]

What’s most fascinating is that the first Rabbi to serve the Portuguese Jewish community in Amsterdam was Ashkenazic . His name was Rabbi Moshe uri Halevi . He was Rav of Emden a German town bordering with Holland. He met some of the Annusim around 1600ce in his town and advised them to move to the newly Calvinist Amsterdam. There he told them,they’ll stay unmolested. They kept a low profile but organized themselves and brought Rabbi Moshe Uri to serve as their Rav. On Yom Kippur they organized a minyan in a cellar . The neighbors thought them to be a secret Catholic gathering. Catholicism has been outlawed when the northern colonies rebelled against Charles V . They sent Charles packing together with Vatican Rome. The police stormed the house and found a bunch of men in Taleisim . When it became clear that they are not Catholics rather Jews, they were asked why then are you guys hiding why not practice openly. Here is when the Jewish community of Holland really starts . It is said that Rabbi Moshe Uri and his son circumcised some 2500 Anusim . The descendants of Rabbi Moshe Uri had special status between the Portuguese jews .This status didn’t extend to the the later Ashkenazi immigrants which had to sit on the back benches in the great Esnoga synagogue .

[@zondrabarricks4666]

Thank you so very much!

[@martinarmbrust7340]

I enjoy every single one of your videos. It's a pleasure to listen to them.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Thank you so much! I appreciate your kind feedback. Thank you for being a Public Subscriber!

[@abhiabrahamthomas2993]

@@HenryAbramsonPhD please make a video about Indian jews in cochin city.

[@ninorpereira]

You could have mentioned that you can see behind the 'Dokwerker" the houses around the Portugese Synagogue. One of these houses was of the rabbi, at least in the 1960s when one of my far family members had that function.

[@vRozenSch00n]

Thank you for sharing this knowledge.

[@jobhartings8582]

as a non-jewish dutch man i am very thankfull for this lecture

[@ninorpereira]

I see that you're not stopping at Culemborg, where you have a nice little old synagoge (now used for another purpose); there is a nice book about the community called "the kille of Kuilenburg".

[@ancienbelge]

Thank you for this presentation: Apropos the Netherlands having the highest percentage of their Jewish community lost: three often overlooked factors. (A) The Netherlands were slated to be incorporated as a Gau (=province) into the Reich itself, and hence got the true believer Seyss-Inquart (former Nazi party leader of Austria) as the Nazi satrap to prepare them for that. In contrast, they hadn’t made up their mind about Belgium, and brought an old-school Prussian general out of retirement to act as a military governor. (Von Falkenhausen was actually involved with the anti-Hitler plotters around Beck and Goerdeler.) The Dutch definitely experienced a much harsher occupation regime, especially as time went on. (B) The Netherlands are FLAT, lacking rough terrain where it would be easier to hide people - in contrast, Belgium has the Ardennes and France has a multitude of such areas. (C) When Jews were forced to register, the Dutch Jews (being conditioned to the punctilious but generally fair Dutch administration) complied - while the Belgian Jews (influenced by the more suspicious attitude towards authorities of their Gentile neighbors) and especially the Polish Jews who had fled to Belgium (whose own experiences led them to be suspicious) evaded registration in much larger numbers. (Also, later a Resistance group broke into the room the Brussels register of Jews was kept and set fire to it.)

[@zafirjoe18]

Thanks, It’s one of those things that always bugged me. Especially if you read about the protests of Leiden.

[@susrizk56]

Hi Prof. when are you coming to Holland?

[@njackson6115]

I found this session unintentionally. Do you conduct tours? Where do I find out details? 10:40 am 46:47 Mountain time

[@moshemankoff7488]

Thanks!

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Thank you for supporting the research!

[@NarnianLady]

Considering all the ways that Calvinism has done harm through their doctrines and practices (they certainly are NOT known for being tolerant or open-minded..), it was good to hear there was at least some evil they did *not* commit...!

[@laurenannkattner7030]

This is very interesting. I had thought what you call the Portuguese Nation was Sephardic. Then I misunderstood the Jews of the Netherland were Sephardic. I had no idea that Ashkenazic Jews also settled there. What language did this mixture speak?

[@maryw4609]

Thank you rabbi Abrahamson I enjoyed your presentation especially the pictorials and maps they were of immense importance to understanding the migration patterns as usual your presentation was packed full of wonderful insights and fun tidbits of information. 😊hope I can take one of your cruises one day with my daughters ❤thank you

[@zafirjoe18]

The Portuguese Jews are Sephardim. They actually left with the exiles of Spain in 1492. Provisions were made for transit visas for Portugal . This was at the time a big plus for those that could afford them. It gave them the possibility of crossing a land border and not having to travel by sea . But King Manuel forcibly converted the jews in 1497 . This was done with unimaginable cruelty. First their children under 12 were taken from them . And then without giving them a chance to leave had the jews of Porto and Lisbon brought to a Fort and threw baptismal water on them. It was one of the most horrific experiences that Jews endured through their long experience with the love of the church . It was also for this reason that the Pope didn’t give permission to introduce the inquisition in Portugal only in 1536. So the ‘New Christians ‘ kept themselves somewhat to their roots but had all the privileges of the non Jews. The Portuguese sephardic Jews fast climbed the ladder of the society and were very successful. This brought about great resentment from the locals which led to the terrible Lisbon massacre of 1506. The Portuguese Sephardim held themselves for real Anusim . This because , unlike the the Jews of Spain that stayed behind they were not given the option to leave or even die for their faith. That’s why they insisted on calling themselves Portuguese not Spanish.

[@zafirjoe18]

The Sephardim and Ashkenazi Jews kept their distinct customs and rites and did not mix. Although most of the times they got along pretty well . Another similar dual community in Western Europe was in Hamburg. There was also a community in of these Portuguese jews that lived as Christians in Bordeaux , they were eventually given permission by the French to practice their faith openly . Although Jews were banned from France for the final time in 1396. So technically they were the first jews officially recognized after their expulsion from France , until the jews of Alsace Loraine fell in their hands in 1648 (peace of Westphalia). The Portuguese Jews spoke Ladino (Judeo Spanish). Ashkenazi Jews spoke Yiddish (Judeo German) and High German . Many Dutch words were incorporated into their language from their Jewish neighbors.

[@laurenannkattner7030]

@@zafirjoe18 Thank you very much for this additional information. As an adjunct instructor of European history, I am constantly looking for new [to me] details that I can share to highlight historical diversity.

[@zafirjoe18]

@@laurenannkattner7030 Your very welcome. I’m more then happy to fill in the gaps. Jewish history is inseparable from world history and definitely European history. I’m an armature , but studying Jewish history is my passion. You can check my KZbin channel , next stop G D willing (and find the time) is Regensburg. It was the only city apart for Frankfurt where jews survived all the calamities of the middle ages . When it was destroyed in 1520 , it is recorded in tradition as churban Regensburg.

[@gusleybighusley6062]

I live in the Netherlands, can a non-jew join the cruise?

[@stephenvanwijk9669]

Water engineering in The Netherlands began much earlier than the fourteenth century. Dating back to before Christ. But the cultivated swamps oxidized and that caused the lands to become even lower, and so we needed pumps, the first ones were powered by windmills. Because the lands became over time so low, we will lose eventually this battle, or we have to come up with a cunning plan. Which isn’t easy anyway, because The Netherlands is overpopulated in the low areas.

[@zafirjoe18]

Nijmegen had a sizable Jewish community in the middle ages . Jews were basically uprooted and eradicated from the lowlands after the black plague of 1349. When the Nederlanders were Catholic they were very hostile to jews . The Maharil calls the people of Hollant and Brabant אנשי בליעל. They brought on calamities to the Jews of Germany while passing the Rhineland to crush the Hussites (בני חושים)of Bohemia. A student of the Maharil had this to say about them , when they took on the calling to fight the Hussites(בני חושים) in Bohemia . The Maharil ordered a 3 day consecutive fast with the prayers of Yom Kippur in 1419. ״ויהי אנשי בליעל במדינת הולאנט ומדינת ברבאנט (בלגיה) אשר שונאים בני ברית שנאת מות נתנו לבם להרוג ולאבד את כל היהודים על נהר ריינוס בדרך הליכתם , ואומרים אנו נוסעים למרחקים לנקום נקמת אלהות ואלה אשר המיתו אותו אנו עוברים עליהם ?.בכן נפל פחדם על כל בני ברית שהיו יושבים במדינת ריינוס ועל כל הארץ אשר שמעו עולים דרך ארצם יאחזמו רעד ופחד. download.hebrewbooks.org/downloadhandler.ashx?req=29089 Pages 68-78 מהרי׳׳ל וזמנו

[@mver191]

Some of my ancestors came from the Brummen/Winterswijk area and they've been living there from atleast the early 1700s.

[@jrutt2675]

So you are saying that they thought Jews were of the devil and killed them?

[@mver191]

@@jrutt2675 Yes, until the protestant faith arrived and the Catholics started killing protestants too which triggered the 80 years war/uprising. The protestants won the 80 year war and said they would never kill people over faith again because that would make them like the Catholics. Protestantism became the main faith of the country but other religions were tolerated as well. However it was not until the arrival of Napoleon that Jews got the same rights as Christians. Jews were tolerated before Napoleon but were still banned from certain occupations and many villages and cities had rules how many Jews were allowed to live there. Which was still better than being killed or chased away like in most other Christian countries.

[@jrutt2675]

@@mver191 OH, thanks for the reply. I feel like Jews know more about Christian history than we Christians do! I know nothing about Christian history.

[@NarnianLady]

@@jrutt2675 I have studied Christian history quite a bit, but these lectures from the Jewish perspective have taught me so much.

[@laurenannkattner7030]

Did the Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews worship together and have similar ways of life?

[@mver191]

No both had their own synagogues. Sephardic Jews were the wealthy jews (traders, merchants, doctors etc), Ashkenazi were usually the poor Jews (streetvendors, butchers, dealers in 2nd hand clothes etc).

[@laurenannkattner7030]

@@mver191 oh I see. I hadn't thought of links to economic standing.

[@NarnianLady]

@@mver191 So basically, Sephardic Jews would consider meat purchased from Ashkenazi butchers to be kosher enough, or how did it work out in practice?

[@mver191]

Here is some general info about it, the 2nd part goes more in depth about Kosher food and how it worked between the groups. "After the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands came into existence, Sephardic Jews (from Spain and Portugal) began to settle here. In the 17th century the wave of immigration intensified and many Ashkenazi Jews came to our region. In broad outline these are Jews from Central and Eastern Europe, whose rites and symbols differ somewhat from those of the Sephardim. The Portuguese were the earlier immigrants in the Netherlands, and were also of a higher social standing. In the course of the following centuries Ashkenazis surpassed Sephardic Jews in number and eventually also in influence. The communities existed alongside each other, each with their own synagogues, cemeteries, marriage ceremonies, registration, circumcisions, etc. Intermarriage between the two communities hardly ever occurred in the first generations." About Kosher food : "Adherence to the rules of kashrut made the control of Jewish supervisors in cheese and milk factories and in bakeries a necessity, certainly for large communities. This also created extra jobs for those community members able to carry them out. Here should be mentioned the existence of a special butchers’ hall in Amsterdam and other places for kosher meat, again separately for the Ashkenazim and the Portuguese." Story of an Ashkenazi butcher family working for the Sephardi community : "The first printer and publisher of the Kurant was the Ashkenazi Uri Faybesh (Phoebus) Halevi (1627-1715), who was born in Amsterdam. His grandfather and father had come from Emden to Amsterdam at a time before many Ashkenazi Jews lived there. They moved in Sephardi circles, working as kosher butchers among other things. The story goes that they retaught Jewish customs to Sephardi immigrants who had been forced to convert to Catholicism. Uri Faybesh Halevi thus soon came to be familiar with the Sephardi community."

[@mver191]

@@NarnianLady So yes, Ashkenazi kosher meat was ok. They just did not go to Ashkenazi markets to buy it but if an Ashkenazi was selling it a Sephardic market it was ok.

[@AaronMiller-rh7rj]

I certainly am not recommending it but I read in the chat per Halakhah that a Jew who converts is not Jewish. Just read under Chabad that (Me) a Jew that converts can still be considered Jewish. I am glad I have enough problems.

[@amoswittenbergsmusings]

@@stephaniedietz A Jew who converts to another religion remains a Jew, albeit an erring one. We do not count him for a prayer quorum (minyan), we do not accept generlly his testimony before a rabbinical court (bet din) and he is disqualified in many other respects. However, if he returns to the G-d of his fathers, he does not require conversion - he was always a Jew. In my own experience most Jews who profess another religion are woefully uninformed of Judaism. Genuine exposure to authentic Jewish source material can open their eyes and lead them back to where they belong: in the unbreakable covenant relationship between Alnighty G-d and His people.

[@AaronMiller-rh7rj]

@@stephaniedietz hi, converts to a different religion; if I read it correctly.

[@dorisheilbut9788]

I really love your lectures. However in this one I didn't like the end. You didn't mention that Portuguese and Ashkenazi Jews had separate communities. Another point that about 80% of Dutch Jews were killed by the Germans.