Netherlands: New rabbi makes cemeteries a priority

The European Jewish Press reported on the newly appointed Chief Rabbi of the Netherlands, Rabbi Binyamin Jacobs.


Jacobs detailed his two main priorities in the article. The first is to seek out Jews who were adopted by Christians during WWII (read more on this issue at Tracing the Tribe) and the second concerns Jewish cemeteries:

Another issue Rabbi Jacobs wants to raise is the restoration and maintenance of Jewish cemeteries dispersed throughout Holland.

These cemeteries were first created as early as in the 17th century when Jews settled in Holland, mostly escaping oppression and inquisition from the Iberian Peninsula.

The rabbi believes that the Dutch government ought to participate in the funding of the preservation and maintenance of these cemeteries because of their special historical value.

Rabbi Jacobs is one of the Netherlands' veteran rabbis and a member of the Rabbinical Centre of Europe (RCE), the prominent rabbinical body. He's the first to serve in this position since 1986.

Netherlands: 1639-48 Jewish burial register online

The Municipal Archives of Amsterdam has published the "Burial Register of the Portuguese-Israelite-Municipality Talmud Torah in Amsterdam, 1639-1648" (Comessado em Pesah do Anno 5399 em Amsterdam, in Portuguese). Introduction, text and index: Lydia Hagoort, with W.Chr. Pieterse.

This transcription is the first both printed and digital book by Amsterdam's Municipal Archives. The download is free.

The website is in Dutch, as is the information about the register. With a smattering of languages, I got through a quick overview, but I know missed many important details. However, as in most genealogical books, lists of names are not dependent on language. A name is a name, and this register is a goldmine if you are searching Sephardic names.

The homepage links to an article about the register, and in the article is the download link for the book, which text is mostly in Portuguese with some Hebrew. Other portions are in Dutch.

Entries offer data concerning each burial: name, family relation, burial date and a list of people attending the burial with indications of the amount they paid - I am not sure if these figures were as contributions to a particular burial or as general donations to the cemetery. Sometimes the family relationship is mentioned: son, grandson or uncle of the deceased. Data includes Jewish and/or secular dates.

There are also lists of people who paid for burials or for gravestones. Annual expense accountings are included.

An earlier burial register over the years 1615-1630, was published previously: Livro de Bet Haim do Kahal Kados de bet Yahacob (1970, original text), by Wilhelmina C. Pieterse. The next register, beginning in 1680, has not yet been published.

On page 8, find a note on names and variants, including changes in initial, middle or endings of certain names. I have added some others not in that note:

Barrasa, Baraza, Barazza, Barassa, Barraza, Barasa
Curiel, Corial
Paache, Palache, Pahache, Payache
Bivas, Bibas
Palasios, Palacios
Mendes, Mendez
Anar, Nar, Naar
Valerio, Valeirio
Barbanel, Abarbanel
Yessurun, Yezurun, Ysarun, Ysurun, Yisurun, Juzurun, Esarun

First names also offer variations. For example, Jacob may be listed as Yahacob, Yacob, Jacob, Jaquo, Yaquo and others.

There is a glossary of Hebrew terms, with explanations in Dutch. A bibliography of useful texts is on page 10, and the cross-referenced Name Register starts on page 198. The introduction reveals there are some 165 hand-written pages in the original.

For a very detailed article (in Dutch) about the 1614-1943 Jewish community archives, click here. The book is available free for download at the links above.

Netherlands: Portuguese-Jewish Cemetery, Ouderkerk

Henk van Kampen of the Netherlands has just contributed to the blog about Utrecht's Jewish cemetery. I would like to follow on with our first artistic contribution.

My knowledge of the "Portuguese-Jewish Cemetery, Ouderkerk, near Amsterdam - founded about 1615 - is based entirely on Jacob van Ruisdael's famous 1655 picture from the Dresden Art Gallery which was exhibited in London two years ago.

There is a twin painting in Detroit, which I have not seen.

Unfortunately, the famous cemetery is now a shadow of its former self.

Goethe was so impressed, that he wrote an essay about the picture and Constable also regarded the picture highly. Ruisdael's painting is largely allegorical and includes an imaginary landscape.

Many famous people were buried in this Sephardic cemetery and the graves were documented by David Henriques de Castro.

This JewishGen site discusses the cemetery under "Amsterdam."

Note the impressive tomb in the centre of the picture. There is an amazing story behind it here.



It is that of Doctor Philotheus Eliahu de Luna MONTALTO [aka Felipe Rodrigues de Castelo Branco.] Maria de Medici in Florence, where Dr MONTALTO was a respected practising physician, arranged for his body to be embalmed after his death in 1616 and sent to Ouderkerk for burial:

It is so sad we have no photographs of the early cemeteries in London which have been destroyed for ever but we do have two glorious paintings of this historic Amsterdam Sephardic cemetery.

Thank you, Jacob van Ruisdael.

Philadelphia: Abandoned Jewish Dutch cemetery

I’m glad this week that I paid attention to my postal mail. I received a missive from Stanley Barer, president of the Association for the Preservation of Abandoned Jewish Cemeteries in Philadelphia. I had barely remembered the role of Dutch Jews in the early history of Philadelphia. According to the literature, Philadelphia Dutch Jews founded the Ashkenazi synagogue, B'nai Israel Congregation, or the Hollander Synagogue, in 1857.

In the same year, they founded The Hebrew Mutual Burial Society Cemetery in Southwest Philadelphia. The cemetery was abandoned in the 1970s due to the society’s lack of membership and funds, and taken over by the city. For years, residents living near the cemetery complained about the dilapidated conditions, but there were no means for caring for this piece of history.

Now there is a way to honor the memories of the 440 Jews buried at The Hebrew Mutual Burial Society Cemetery and celebrate the history of Dutch Jews in America. In conjunction with the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, and the VAAD, Board of Rabbis, there is now an organized effort to restore and preserve the cemetery.

I encourage you to go to: http://savejewishgraves.org/index.htm to learn more about Dutch Jewish Philadelphia, and the plans for rebuilding this historical landmark.
Rabbi Gary M. Gans

Below are some pictures from the web site:

Photos are by
Community Design Collaborative

Netherlands: Utrecht's Jewish cemetery

Henk van Kampen, of the Netherlands, is the author of The Graveyard Rabbit of Utrecht and Het Gooi, and he's recently posted about Utrecht's Jewish cemetery, with exterior photographs and a link to others.

Visit his site to see the photographs and other postings.

On my way to the first cemetery visit since I'm a graveyard rabbit, I passed the Jewish cemetery of Utrecht. I can't read the Hebrew (I assume) text above the door, but the Dutch text on the door is clear: Toegang verboden, no admission (litt. access forbidden).

Many Jewish cemeteries are walled in and inaccessible - probably the consequence of many centuries of European antisemitism. Maybe at a later date I will ask permission to visit and photograph, but for the time being I only have a few photos from the outside. Fortunately, there are also several photos on the website of the Utrecht archive.

Henk's destination and the subject of his next post is the graveyard of Oud Zuilen.

We hope Henk asks for permission to visit and photograph the Jewish cemetery.

He's also the author of Trace your Dutch roots, a blog about Dutch genealogy.