The Jews of Amsterdam were long compelled to pay a tax, for every corpse, to the churches past which the body was carried. On the whole, they were at first not tolerated officially, their presence was only connived at. They were distrusted as Catholic spies in the service of Spain, plotting treason disguised as Jews. Even when the authorities and the population in general had become convinced of their genuine hatred of Spain and Portugal, they were still far from being recognized and tolerated as an independent, religious body. For a short time the synagogues were closed, and public worship prohibited. Jewish refugees from the Spanish peninsula, on arriving in Havre, were thrown into prison. This intolerance in the country destined to be the first where religious freedom was to raise its temple, was chiefly caused by the passionate conflict between two parties of Reformers—the Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants. The former were more gentle in their exposition and practical application of Christianity than their opponents, the gloomy Calvinists, Dutch Independents. In Amsterdam the latter party predominated and persecuted their opponents, considered secret, treacherous adherents of Spain. Although the Remonstrants had cause to try to effect toleration for all sects, it was they who came forward as the accusers of the Jews. They complained to the chief magistrate of Amsterdam that all kinds of sects, even Jews, were tolerated in the capital of Holland, they being the sole exception.
The governor, Prince Maurice of Orange, was certainly favorable to Jews, but he could do nothing against the spirit of intolerance, and the independence of the cities and states. Consequently, even in Holland the Jewish question came up for discussion, and a commission was appointed for its settlement. Finally it was decided (March 17th, 1615) that every city, as in the case of Amsterdam, could issue a special regulation about Jews, either to tolerate them, or to expel them; but in those cities where they were admitted, they were not to be forced to wear a badge. Upon the repeated complaints of the Remonstrants, the burgomaster, Reinier Pauw, laid before the council (October 15th, 1619) the question as to what was to be done in the case of the numerous fugitive Portuguese Jews who had intermarried with the daughters of the land, thereby causing great scandal and annoyance. Hereupon it was decided (November 8th), that intercourse between Jews and Christian women, even prostitutes, was to be strictly forbidden. On the other hand, permission was granted to Jews freely to acknowledge their religion.
As Amsterdam was not so wealthy as it afterwards became, it could not do without Jews, who had transferred to it their riches and their knowledge of affairs. The old-established prejudices against them disappeared more and more upon closer acquaintance. The Jews from Portugal betrayed neither by their cultured language, their demeanor, nor their manners, that they belonged to a despised caste; on the contrary, their carriage was that of people of rank, with whom it was an honor for many a Christian burgher to be acquainted. They were, therefore, treated with a certain amount of consideration. Their number soon increased to four hundred families, with three hundred houses in the city, and before long, a Hebrew printing press was set up in Amsterdam, without fear of the Argus eye of the censor.
The prosperity of Amsterdam, caused by the influx of Portuguese Jews, excited the envy of many Christian princes, and they invited the Jews into their dominions. Christian IV, king of Denmark, addressed a letter to the Jewish Council of Amsterdam (November 25th, 1622), asking them to encourage some of their members to settle in his state. He promised them freedom of worship, and other favorable privileges. The Duke of Savoy invited Portuguese Jews to come to Nice, and the Duke of Modena offered them the right of residence in Reggio, both granting them extensive privileges. Thus, in the midst of the gloomy persecution of Christendom, whose two religious factions were drawing the sword against each other in the Thirty Years' War, the Jews found pleasant little oases, as it were, from which they could recover their lost liberty, and gradually raise themselves from their heavy bondage.
[CHAPTER XX.]
THE DUTCH JERUSALEM AND THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR.
The Amsterdam Jewish Community—Its Wealth, Culture, and Honored Position—Zacuto Lusitano—Internal Dissensions—The Talmud Torah School—Saul Morteira, Isaac Aboab, and Manasseh ben Israel—The Portuguese Congregation in Hamburg—The First Synagogue—Lutheran Intolerance—John Miller—Jewish Colony in Brazil—The Chief Communities in Germany—Persecution in Frankfort—Dr. Chemnitz—The Vienna Congregation—Lipmann Heller—Ferdinand II's Zeal for the Conversion of Jews—Influence of the Thirty Years' War on the Fortunes of the Jews.
1618–1648 C.E.
The Jewish race during its dispersion of nearly two thousand years may fitly be compared to a polyp. Though it was often wounded and cut to pieces, the parts severed from the whole did not die, but began an independent existence, developed organically, and formed a new rootstock. Driven from their original Palestinian home, the scattered members of this peculiar national organism assembled on the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris and in the palm district of Arabia. Doomed to ruin there, they emigrated to Spain with the Arabs, the most cultured people of the Middle Ages, and became the teachers of Europe, then plunged in barbarism. Expelled thence, weakened in heart and numbers, they proceeded eastwards, and, as again they found no resting-place, they settled in the north, always following advancing civilization. The admission of Jews to Holland was the first quivering dawn of a bright day after dense gloom. Amsterdam, the northern Venice, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, had become a new center for Jews; they rightly named it their new, great Jerusalem. In time this city became an ark of refuge for the Jewish race in the new deluge. With every trial conducted by the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal on account of the Judaizing practices of the Marranos, with every burning pile set ablaze for convicted or suspected persons, the numbers of the Amsterdam community increased, as if the fanatics aimed at depopulating and impoverishing the Catholic countries to render the heretical states of the Netherlands populous and wealthy. The Amsterdam Portuguese community, consisting of more than four hundred members, already possessed three hundred stately houses and palaces in this city, raised by them to a flourishing seat of commerce. Their capital enabled them to carry on trade, for the most part on a large scale, and they were interested in the East and West India Companies, or conducted banking houses. But to usury, which made the Jews of other countries so hated, they were sworn foes. The synagogue dues imposed upon themselves give an approximate idea of the extent of their capital and trade. For every pound of goods exported or imported by them they were accustomed to pay a doit, and these taxes, exclusive of those on the receipts of merchants interested in trading companies, amounted to 12,000 francs annually.