525
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
community. Though the exact date of the erection of the synagogue in Bridgetown has not been ascertained, it is likely that one was erected before 1679. This continued in existence until destroyed by the hurricane which devastated the island in 1831. The ministers of the congregation were all Ministers selected by the vestry of the Spanish of the and Portuguese synagogue in LonCongrega- don, and until 1844 all offerings and tion, 1752- prayers for government were said in 1834. Spanish. For a time previous to 1752 Rev. Mel'r A. Cohen Belinfante was the minister of the congregation (called " Kahal Kadosh Nidhe Israel"). He died Sept. 25, 1752, and was succeeded by Rev. Raphael Haim Isaac Carrigal, who retired in 1772 and died May 5, 1777. His successors and their times of service were: Daniel Baruch Louzado, 1772; Israel Abbady, 1772 to 1794; David Sarfaty de Pine, till April 14, 1797, when he died;
Emanuel Nunes Carvalho, March, 1799 to when he left for the States; Abendana, Janu-
1808, ary, 1809 to 1813;
Moses H. Julian, October, 1819, to December, 1820, when he died Moses Belasco, November, 1824, to November, 1834. In the intervals between the elections of ministers members of the congregation read the services (Daniels). Toward the end of the eighteenth century and at the beginning of the nineteenth, various grants were made by the Jews of Barbados in aid of suffering congregations and brethren in different parts of the world. The first of these was in November, 1772, to
Dutch "West Indies, for the rebuilding of the synagogue at that place. In June, 1792, they sent £25 for the building of a synagogue in Charleston, and in March, 1819, §500 for a similar purpose to the Congregation Mickve Israel in Philadelphia. In 1791 they contributed £15 in aid of the Jews of Tetuan, and in 1798 the members of the congregation subscribed £1,152 to assist the home government in carrying on the war against NapoIn 1801 £25 was appropriated for the relief of leon. suffering Jews in Tiberias, and in 1840 £50 to those St. Eustatius, in the
in
Damascus and Rhodes (see Daniels, I.e.). The period of greatest prosperity extended from
1792 until the hurricane of 1831. In the former year the congregation at Bridgetown had a Prosperity contributing membership of 147 perand De- sons, with an income from dues of £116 clineofthe perannum. Seventeen pensioners were then supported at an outlay of £18 per Community. month. In 1831, previous to the devastation wrought by the hurricane, the income of the congregation was £387. From that time dates the decline of the community though a new synagogue was built and consecrated in March, total
1833, in the presence of the chief dignitaries of the and in January, 1844, the first Jewish relig-
island,
ious school was established, with Mrs. Judith Finzi Many emias superintendent ("Occident," ii. 102). grated to the United States, principally to PhiladelIn 1848 there were but 71 Jews in Barbados, phia. 38 of whom belonged to the congregation. In 1873 they petitioned for the relief from taxation of prop-
which was devoted to the support of the needy poor and the synagogue; and in the following year the peti-
erty held
by the congregation, the income
of
was granted.
tion
In June, 1899, the number had including women and children. the activity of E. K. Daniels, the synagogue
dwindled to 17 or
Through is is
Barbados Barbary States
18,
kept open on Saturdays and holidays, though he often the only person in attendance (Daniels, I.e.).
Bibliography
Robert H. schomburgk. History of the Barbadoes, London, 1847 E. S. Daniels, Extracts from Various Records of the Early Settlement of the Jewsin the Island of Barbadoes, W. I., privately printed, Bridgetown, 1899.
a.
H. F.
BARBARY
STATES: region comprising the northwest of Africa from the Mediterranean to the Sahara, including Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, and
A
The words " Barbaria " (&0"U"O) and " Barbarians " (D'-D-D) are found in the Midrash in Gen. R. Ix. the Barbarian is the neighbor of the Ethiopian W3); and in Sifre, Deut. 320 (ed. Friedmann, p. 137(f) Barbaria and Mauretania are mentioned side Tripoli.
The Arabs also (Yakut i. 543, 9) called this Barbara " and this name has become comin Europe. In later Jewish writings, however,
by side. region
mon
"
the region is commonly called " Africa " (Abraham ibn Daud, in "Sefer ha-Kabbalah," ed. Neubauer, pp. 68, 73), but occasionally also " the land of the Philistines " (I.e. p. 60; Ibn Ezra on Dan. vii. 4), because, according to the legend found in the Byzantine writer Procopius, the Canaanitish (Palestinian) races who fled before Joshua afterward settled in North Africa. Sometimes " Africa " means only the former Roman province of Africa while the rest of Barbaiy " is distinguished from it under the name " Ma'arab (Maghreb; Abraham Zacuto, in " Yuhasin, " ed. Lon don, p. 209a, 2116). Occasionally the name " Libya " occurs (Benjamin of Tudela). The inhabitants are called " Maghrcbim " (D'DIJJD) or " Mustharbim " (DUIJWIDO), and by a Spanish designation, "Moriscos" (DlpD'TlD; Sambari, ed. Neubauer, p. 116 an anonymous writer of the year 1495, in " Jahrbuch f iir Geschichte der Juden," hi. 218). Maghrebin Jews are now living in Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, but always retaining this name. The
Moors "
call
them "Yahoodi," and
their
language
Hebrani."
No
historical records
remain of the
first
immigra-
Jews into Barbary. The legends of the counsay that they came direct from Jerusalem and,
tion of try
in fact, they
were found
all
over north-
Settlement, ern Africa at the time of the Roman dominion (Schiirer, "Gesch." 3d ed., In gaonic times Barbaiy was one of the iii. 19-26). The Jews sided with the centers of Jewish life. conquering Arabs against the Christians, though it occasionally happened that the Berbers and Jews Legends combined against the Arabs, as in 688. mention in this connection a Jewish tribe called "Jerooa," under a Jewish queen. Many Arabian tribes bear unmistakable traces of their Jewish origin, and these are still treated with a certain contempt. In addition to the Jews from Palestine, the Jewish population of Barbary is largely composed of immigrants from Spain and Portugal. The " Spagniols," indeed, constitute the better class, and live while the others lead a nomadic life cities
mostly in
mountains and beyond, being found far within the Sahara and even among the Kabyles. In
in the Atlas
