Last Will and Testament

Abraham Mendes de Castro

1752

Sensitive Content

This text includes mention of the ownership and sale of people of color. It provides insight into Jewish history; however, The Posen Library does not condone or promote human trafficking or oppression of any kind.

Realizing that life is not in the hands of man but is governed by the only living God Almighty in whom I believe and adore, whose Divine Mosaic Law I, His slave, follow and venerate with all my heart and soul and His greatness and mercy profess, I Abm [Abraham] Mendez de Castro, son of Abm Mendez de Castro and Mrs. Ester Mendez de Castro, of Jewish…

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Creator Bio

Abraham Mendes de Castro

1689–1762

In 1751, Abraham Mendes de Castro, a Sephardic Jew who lived on the island of Curaçao, donated the wooden beams needed to expand the Holy Ark in the Mikvé Israel-Emanuel Synagogue, the oldest continuously used synagogue in the Western Hemisphere. In 1760, de Castro commissioned the first bilingual Hebrew–Spanish Bible from publishers in Amsterdam. While the proceeds from sales of this edition were intended to go to Jewish communities in Hebron and Jerusalem, he died before the work was completed.

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