A Polish Jew

When I was born, I was given the name Manuel, after my grandfather, Manuel Alvares Pinto, as was said earlier. For this reason and because I was my father’s eldest son, my grandfather always had me…

As for myself, I was constantly going back in my studies as well as in manners and conduct. After a while, my father decided to send me to Prague, which was a day’s journey. My older brother was also…

I will print this book in ink as a remembrance and a sign, a memorial for my dear children. For now I will reveal their strength with words, as a reminder for them and their children…

[ . . . ] Let us return to my maternal grandmother, Matte, of blessed memory. After she married off my late aunt Ulk, she was left penniless with the fatherless child my mother, may she live…

To satisfy your doubt concerning my signature, I have to tell you, in all philosophical frankness, that I was born with a burning desire and the greatest curiosity to know, more as a way to get to…

Without warning, on the 20th of April, 1749, at the end of the Passover Festival, Sunday, at about 17 hours [noon], I was kidnapped and taken away by force thanks to a false denunciation made against…