— THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Amsterdain
540
like tlieir predecessors, held honorable positions ns seholiirs. In 1037, under Ssiul Levi >Iorteini.tlie.Iewisli school "Kz lliiyvim" « us founded; Solomon de Olivevm, in lOySt. introduced ii rule that the pupils of the highest class should The " 'Ef work out legal decisions every month, " When Abendana became president of this institution, he had these exercises School. printed and published every month. Through them liis reputation spread far and wide. The collection of his responsa was entitled " Peri 'Ez Hayyim" (Amsterdam, 17is-isi l.l.") volumes). After Abeudana's death the rabbinate remained vacant for a short time. In 1763 Solomon Salennborn at Adrianoplc 1717, died 1781) was called from Sofia to Amsterdam, lie presided in the rabbinate nearly twenty His years, and became well known as an author. successor was David Acohen de Azcvedo (installed son Daniel 1782, died 179i),who was followed by his (installed 1790), during whose perioil of ollice the eniancipalinn <if llir .lews in Ilnlland took place. II. The Ashkenazim Until 1795 : Even less is known about the tirsl settlements of German Jews in Holland than about tho.se of their Portuguese In the beginning of the seventeenth cenbrethren. tury a few German .Jews seem to have dwelt in Amsterdam, for in the burial-lists of the Portuguese congregation several " Tedcseos" (Teutons. Germans) congregation was not formed until are mentioned. 163o. Araelander. in his " Scheerit Israel," relates that in a book about which there exists no other information (perhaps a manuscript) by JIaharam Maarsen, he read that the Germans Iield divine worship for the
to succeed him. Ilis particii)ation in the preparation of Judieo-German Bible translations is described by Griltz, "Gesch. d. Juden," x. 298. He was a cabalist, and gave instruction in the Cabala to Knorr von Rosenroth. In 1679 he was called to Cracow, but died en route at Niederwesel; his successor in Amsterdam was David Lida (formerly chief rabbi of Maj'ence), who came to .Vmsterdam in 1680. In the very first years of his rabbinate Lida engaged in a dispute with Nisan b. .ludah I>oeb. the brother inlaw of R. Wolf, then chief rabbi in Herlin. whose work he hiinscir had published in Amsterdam, Lida left Amsterdam, but the P<irtugu<se rabbinate interested it.self in his behalf. Later he seems to have become suspected of Shabbethaism, and thus arrayed against himself not only the Ashkenazic authorities, but also the Portuguese. Then the "Four-Lands' Synod " (see AVa'.vd Aun-' Ak.vzot) took up his caus<', with the result that he made his peace with the Amstenhmi congregation and returned there. He was appointed, with the approbation of the magistracy, as chief rabbi, for three years; but at the expiration of the term his contract was not
time on New Year, r>X)G (September, 1635). The Portuguese congregation helped its German sistercommunity in every way. and it grew rapidly also. It soon (1642) purIts first rabbi was Moses Wahl. chased in Muiderberg, about twelve miles from Am-
his rabbinate city riots oceurre<l (1096); the mob turned its attention to the Jew s, and several houses
These two,
^ayyim
A
first
sterdam, the burial-ground
ond rabbi was
was followed Joshua of
Lsajtc
still
in use.
The
ben Joshua of Emmerich,
shortly
by
his brother
sec-
who
Abraham ben
Worms (died 1678). Soon after the persecu-
tion of the Jews in Poland under C'hmielnicki, and especially during the massacres of 1().")4 and 16o5, many Jews came by sea to Amsterdam, and founded a
Their separate Polish congregation. rabbi was .Judah Loeb ben Solomon of Wilna. They pvirchased(1660)acemetery also in Muiderberg. In 1673, owing to fiis|)utes between the Polish and German communities, the magistrates stringently forbade the former to have separate communal institutions; they accordingly joined the Ashkenazim,
Influx of Polish Jews. •
and Judah Loeb went to Rotterdam, where he became chief rabbi. The German congregation had been presided over since 1667 by Isiuic b. Simeon Deckingen of Worms. During his term of office the great Synagogue was built and consecrated on the first day of Passover, .'5431 (1671); its construction In spite of this sum of cost 33,000 gulden (S13,200) money, considerable for those days, the German congregation was by no means so wealthy as the Portuguese, and in the ensuing period appeals for as-sistance had frequently to be made to the city authorities. In 1672. the forces of Louis XIV. advanced to the neighborhood of Amsterdain. which was rendered unsettled by the encampment of French soldiers nearby. The road to the cemetery in iluiderberg being blocked, the magistrates granted to the Jews another burial-place within the city limits, where, from 1672 to 1674, more than ninety persons were interred, among them Chief Rabbi Isjuic Deckingen (died 1672). In 1677 Meir Stern of Fulda was appointed .
renewed. He left Amsterdam, and went to Lemberg, where he died, 1696 (David Lida, "Beer Esek," 1684; responsa, " Ohel Ya'akob," Nos. 74-76; .Jacob Emden's edition of the "Kizzur Zizat Nobel Zebi," p. r)9'(, Altona, 1757; Buber, "Anshe Shem," p. .56). While he was in Amsterdam the notorious Eisenmenger visited him ("Entdecktes Judenthimi," i. 843, KOnigsberg, 1711). Lida's successor was Moses Judah ben Kalonymus Cohen (died 1705), or, as he is generally styled, "Rabbi Leib Harif." During
were plundered. and prompt steps
The
authorities took
energetic
to jtrotect the Jews, and the disturbances soon sub.sided. The.se outbreaks have been described in " Historic van den Oproer te Amsterdam, 31 Januari, 1696." Amsterdam, 1725, and in
a similar work
in
Juda'o-German by Joseph Maarsen;
see Steiusehneider. "Cat, Bodl." No. 59.54, No. 1. After Leib Harif's death, Saul of Cracow was called to Amsterdam; while on the way he died in Glogau (1707). In the interim the duties of the office were discharged by Judah Loeb b. An.schel, formerly rabbi in London, then chief rabbi in Rotterdam. In addition, the Amsterdam congregation employed at this time three rabbinical as.sociates
Josef ben Reuben Judah Cohen. Isjiac ben Solomon of Zamosc, and Pinchas Selig ben Moses of Poscn. But soon thereafter, about the end of 1708. there was again a chief rabbi, Aryeh Judah Kalisch. He was destined, however, to i)reside over the congregation for only a .short time .Jacob Emden tells in his autobiography ("Megillat Sefer." p. 28) that quarrels in the congregation threw him upon a sickbed, where he died (1709). His successor was Zebl Hirsch Ashkenazi, or, as he was universally known, Hakam Zebi; he was called from Altona. In the beginning he was regarded not alone by the Ashkenazim, but also by the Scphardim. as a superior being; owing, however, to his incorruptible honesty and unselfishness he soon had many enemies. Nehemiah Hiyya Hayyun. already mentioned, managed to render his position in the congregation untenable. Hakam Zebi. by his outspoken opposition to this unprincipled man, had drawn upon himself the illwill of the Portuguese congregation, and of the au;
thorities of his
own community. The
latter
brought
the matter before the magistrates, who, in order to obtain full information upon the subject, consulted not only the theological professors of Amsterdam, Utrecht", Leyden, and Harderwyk, but also the
