Livro de ascamot: A List of the Books in Yeshivat ‘Ets Ḥayim

The Spanish and Portuguese Jewish Community of Amsterdam

1639

Manuscript page of Roman text in numbered list.
Established in 1616 as part of a yeshiva in Amsterdam, the Ets Ḥayim library continues to function to this day, making it the oldest operational Jewish library in the world. It moved to its current premises, inside the Esnoga complex that houses the city’s Portuguese synagogue, in 1675. In 1889, the collection was further enriched when librarian David Montezinos donated his personal library, and since then the library has been known as the Ets Ḥayim-Livraria Montezinos. During World War II, the library’s holdings were seized and transferred to Germany. Most of the books were returned in 1946, although some had suffered damage. The library’s collection today includes 560 manuscripts, the earliest dating to 1282, many of which were copied or written by teachers and students at the yeshiva. It also holds 30,000 printed books. The holdings are in many languages, among them Hebrew (65 percent), Yiddish, Ladino, Spanish, Latin, and Portuguese. The works encompass all branches of Jewish literature and scholarship, as well as general topics such as history, science, belles lettres, music, and more.

Credits

The Portuguese Jewish Community of Amsterdam, Livro de Ascamot (Book of Regulations). Municipal Archives of Amsterdam: PA 334, no.19 fols. 407, 551, 606.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.

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The Spanish and Portuguese Jewish Community of Amsterdam

Toward the end of the sixteenth century, as the Netherlands was engaged in a war to free itself from Spanish rule, New Christians began to settle in Amsterdam. There they found religious freedom and personal safety. The first to arrive did not live openly as Jews, but a group that settled in Amsterdam in 1602 conducted religious services in a private home. Initially, the legal status of the Jews was unclear; the Reform Church opposed their residence in the city, while civic authorities favored it. The first congregation, Beth Jacob, was founded in 1607. Another was founded the following year, and together the two established charitable foundations. Amsterdam became a center of Jewish learning and intellectual life, and its Talmud Torah (religious school) gained a reputation for excellence. Likewise, many works intended for Sephardic communities were written and published in the city. Many Spanish and Portuguese Jews engaged in international trade, tobacco production, printing, and the diamond industry.

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