Dutch
Tzedakah
Stories of “Righteous Ones” in the Netherlands
during World War I
Chapter
5
Mokum
During the thirteenth century,
there were some Jewish folk
living in the south east of the Lowlands, but
somehow disappeared by the middle of the fourteenth century following a severe
time of Roman Catholic persecution throughout the country. Two hundred and
fifty years later, towards the end of the sixteenth century, came a new wave of
Hebrew arrivals in Amsterdam.
The new Protestant
Republic of the United Netherlands had
finally freed itself from the barbarous Church of Rome rule, and the resultant
climate was very different to that of any other European nation. Amsterdam was
experiencing a period of great economic prosperity, and became rapidly the main
centre of European trade. This is a scriptural principle, for the LORD God, blessed be His holy
Name, had promised in His Word that, “Those who love Israel shall prosper” Psalm
122: 6.
Montelbaans Tower
The religion and rule of Spain had
finally been overthrown, and now there was a new measure of freedom in the Republic.
The Union of Utrecht was clearly the important motive for Jews coming to Amsterdam, however, the
flourishing trade also proved a strong inducement for Jewish merchants to
settle there. For the poor Jews, the Netherlands offered a safe and a
much-improved lifestyle. The Dutch were becoming increasingly wealthy and their
purchasing power made the potential for selling by small Jewish traders and
hawkers greater than elsewhere in Europe.
First, to arrive were the Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal. Most were
“Maranos” or pseudo-catholics, who had converted under the threat
of death. With understandable fears, they did not openly live as Jews in the
beginning, in spite of the freedoms of the Netherlands. In 1598, the
magistrates of Amsterdam
at first determined that Spanish, and Portuguese Jews could receive Dutch
citizenship. Around the year 1600, a Rabbi from Emden,
Rabbi Uri Ha Levi, arranged to meet a number of Sephardic refugees at the Montelbaans Tower (built in 1512 and it still
standing today). After meeting them, he took them to the nearby Jonker Street where
they lived, and held the very first Hebrew religious services in a warehouse.
This street is about five minutes walk from what was soon to become the Jewish
heart of Amsterdam,
the city that would be soon known as the “New Jerusalem of the
West.” The new arrivals found a prosperous city, immense yet compact,
intersected by canals and narrow streets. It was a city, which would provide
the kind of home, which the Jewish people dreamed about for over fifteen
hundred years. In Amsterdam,
they could freely live as Jews, practising the Torah (the Law) openly without
fear.
Large numbers continued to arrive, but soon
housing came to be in short supply. As Jews preferred to live as close as
possible to the Synagogue to accommodate them, the authorities sought a
suitable site to build homes for the new arrivals. The site chosen was
Vlooyenburg. In 1593, a square island was raised from the waters of the Amstel River
on the eastern side of the city. Prior this section being filled in, there had
already been a raised section on the bottom of the river over on which, more
often than not, water would flow. Thus, it being called Vlooyenburg since
“vlooyen” means “to flow.” Any suggestion (by certain
anti-Semitics in the modern age), that the name was related to the other
meaning of the Dutch word, “vlooyen” – “fleas,”
is totally unfounded, for fleas do not swim very well!
Oudekerk Jewish Cemetery dates back to 1614
Vlooyenburg would afterwards be bordered by
Zwanenburgwal (Swans’ Rampart), Leprozengracht (Lepers
Canal) named after a nearby
home for lepers, and the Houtgracht (Wood Canal),
so called for the area was used by timber merchants. Later came the two
intersecting streets, Lange Houtstraat and Korte Houtstraat (Long and Short Wood Streets), which
divided the island into four equal parts. The Island
provided ample accommodation for the new arrivals. Daily services as well as
those for the Sabbath, and all the Feasts were still being held in private
homes or warehouses, as the authorities had not as yet granted permission to
build Synagogues. Then in 1614, the Burgomasters (Mayors) of Amsterdam
approved the purchase of a plot of land at Oudekerk on the Amstel River,
close to the city to establish a Jewish cemetery. This cemetery can still be
visited, with old gravestones that tell its story of the poor, rich, and famous
Jewish of their time. In spite of all the foregoing, there were a few
restrictions imposed. It was decreed that Jews could not “by spoken or written word, bring the
Christian religion, to even the smallest degree, into contempt or scorn, nor
attempt to convert or to circumcise any person of the Christian
religion.” This was the extent of restrictions imposed on the
Jewish people in the Netherlands.
In 1618, Jose Pinto rented from a pastry
baker, Jan Thivart, a warehouse situated on the Houtgracht (by now renamed Waterlooplein). It
was used for the “Beth Yisroel” (House of Israel) Congregation, one of Amsterdam's three Portuguese Hebrew
congregations at the time. The other two being, “Beth Jacob” (House of Jacob) and “Naveh
Shalom” (Abode of Peace),
they also obtained quarters nearby in the same street. In 1639 the three
congregations merged into one, and enlarged the warehouse, creating the first
Synagogue in the Netherlands,
now named the “Talmud Torah
(Study of the Law) Congregation.”
Above: These were the first “House Synagogues” in Amsterdam. Baruch de
Spinosa actually lived in one of these. Later it housed the underground
Catholic Church, and was rebuilt to become the “Moses & Aaron
Church” which still stands today.
It would be in this Synagogue that the
philosopher and lens grinder, Baruch de Spinosa was excommunicated for his
non-traditional Biblical exegesis in 1656, aged twenty-three. Spinosa became
famous as a philosopher for his emphasis of the human aspects of religion. He
rejected the revelation as laid down in the Scriptures, as a guideline for
human actions, and replaced it with reason, thus denying the authority of the
Word of God.
As a point of interest, he was born in one of
the houses known as the “Moses and Aaron” houses, one of which was
also the place of worship for the congregation, “Naveh Shalom”
until 1639. Stone tablets depicting Moses and Aaron decorated two of the houses
that eventually became the site of the secret Catholic Church in Amsterdam. Today a grand
building built in 1841, known as the Moses and Aaron Church occupies the site,
and is now used solely as a concert and meeting hall by the city of Amsterdam. The original
tablets have been placed on the rear wall.
However, Amsterdam’s
very first Synagogue was built in 1639 and was named the “Talmud
Torah.” It was located just down the Road from the three House Synagogues
at Waterlooplein Vlooyenburg.
Talmud Torah
Synagogue as built
In 1642, Prince Fredick Henry came to the
Tulmud Torah and honoured the Synagogue with a special visit. On this occasion
Rabbi and famed printer Menassah ben Israel delivered a festive address
comparing the Commander in Chief, to Judah of Maccabee. Sadly the first
Synagogue of Amsterdam had a coloured history thereafter. When a new much
larger Synagogue was opened in 1675, the “Talmud Torah” was renamed
“De Herschepping” (the
re-creation). From 1675 to 1875, it was used as the Hebrew wedding hall,
and from 1875 to 1931 as a general meeting place, but only for the very poorest
of Jews. Sadly, this fine building with such a rich history was purchased by
the city of Amsterdam
in 1930, with the intention of
tearing it down to construct a new police station. “De
Herschepping” was demolished in 1931, but remained a vacant site until
long after the war. Eventually an housing complex was built on it, with no
reminder left to remind us of its past.
The interior of the Talmud Torah
Returning to the story of the migration, Jews
from other parts of Europe began to arrive, and by 1648, there was a growing
influx of Ashkenazi Jews from Germany
and Eastern Europe. They also settled in the
area around Vlooyenburg and the Jodenbreestraat (Jewish Wide Street). The Ashkenazi, or the so called High
German community, soon outnumbered the comparatively few but influential
Sephardim, especially when one of the most tragic outbursts of persecution
raised its ugly head throughout Eastern Europe,
in the middle of the seventeenth century. The rebellion of the Ukrainian peasants
led by the evil Bogdan
Chielnicki, 1595 – 1657. He
was a Greek Orthodox Cossack, who stood against Polish Roman Catholic rule in
the Ukraine,
and he was the cause for Jews to flee their homes. Chielnicki and his rebels
vented their fury upon the Polish rulers and nobility, members of the Roman
Catholic Church, and Jewish
communities. As A Jew was such a easy target, thus they suffered the most. The
hideous massacres that took place over a ten-year period, between 1648 and
1658, were responsible for the torture and murder of over one hundred thousand
innocent Jewish men, women, and
children. This indiscriminate slaughter remained unparalleled until Hitler's
insanity, the Holocaust. Many who fled, came to the “safe city,” which they had heard about, the “New Jerusalem of the West”
the city of Amsterdam.
The number of Sephardic Jews in Amsterdam levelled off at
around three thousand during the course of the seventeenth century, whereas in
contrast, in the eighteenth century the Ashkenazi Jews numbered almost twenty
thousand. In 1635, Ashkenazi services were being held in the home of Canter
Anshel Rood in the heart of Vlooyenburg. With numbers now rapidly increasing
due to the Ukrainian rebellion, a more permanent home, a Synagogue became an
important matter for the Ashkenazi community. At the same time, the
“Talmud Torah” was also considering building a new place of
worship.
These projects did not commence until 1670,
why? One of the main reasons was that many Jews throughout Europe, as well as
in the Netherlands
tragically believed that the long awaited Messiah had finally come in the form
of Sabbatai Zevi. He had proclaimed himself as the long awaited Messiah in the Holy Land, amid the blowing of trumpets and the adoration
of his followers. Dutch Jews, including many Rabbis believed that he indeed
could be the Messiah, but very quickly, they were disillusioned when Sabbatai
betrayed his Judaic faith, and under force he converted to Islam on September 16 1666.
Life
soon returned to normal in Amsterdam
having learned a powerful lesson and communities commenced the planning of
their respective Synagogues in 1670.
Rembrandt's House
A Man named van Rijn. In the Jodenbreestraat
(Jewish Wide Street) there is a house that was built in 1607. From 1639 to
1660, this was the home and workshop of the world famous painter, Rembrandt van
Rijn. He chose to live in the very heart of the Jewish quarter, were he would
find many excellent subjects to paint and draw. Next door, was a house, which
was owned by another artist, Hendrick
Uijlenburg, who operated an art
school. Rembrandt himself was associated with this school for four years from
1631. It was there, where he met Mr Uijlenburg’s niece, who became his
wife. Rembrandt loved to paint Jewish subjects, which is evident in his many
works on display in Amsterdam’s
“Rijksmuseum” and in Rembrandt’s home today. Jews would often
commission him to paint their portraits. Rabbi Manasseh ben Israel, famed for
being the first printer in Amsterdam, had his portrait painted and four
etchings made for his book “Piedra
Gloriosa,” a tract written in Spanish concerning the coming of the
Messiah. Some of Rembrandt's other works were entitled. “Jews in the Synagogue,” “a Jewish Wedding” and “the Beggars,” depicting
a Rabbi giving alms to the poor. Rembrandt, although not Jew, is very much part
of the history of Jewish Amsterdam, even to this day.
The Jewish influence made such an impression
on Amsterdam and the Netherlands
that it continues to persist in Amsterdam
today. In the Netherlands,
everyone knows the name “Mokum” which is the Yiddish word for “City.” Its usage
reflects the importance Jews attached to Amsterdam.
Yiddish also influenced the way the people of Amsterdam speak to this day. They use the
word “mazel” for “luck,” “meshuche”
for “crazy,” to
name just a couple of examples. In addition, the Hebrew population has
influenced the Dutch sense of humour and cuisine. Salt meats, gherkins,
pickles, and mey cheese are all part of Amsterdam’s
Jewish heritage. Then there are the grand buildings built from 1670, the four
Synagogues, to be described in the next chapter, all visible evidence of the
once flourishing Jewish community, which were acclaimed as the builders of the “New Jerusalem of the West.”
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