Gravestone of Abraham Cohen Pimentel

1697

Tombstone in the shape of a triangular prism with carving of open book on short end with Hebrew and Portuguese inscriptions and decoration along length of stone.

This gravestone is inscribed in memory of Abraham Cohen Pimentel, who served as rabbi of the Portuguese Synagogue (Esnoga) in Amsterdam, and also as hakham in the Hamburg synagogue. A student of Saul Levi Mortera, he signed a letter of approbation for Shabbetai Tzvi. One narrow side of the gravestone contains an opened book; the opposite narrow side figures a pair of raised hands signifying that the deceased was a kohen (priest). As with many other tombstones in this cemetery, Pimentel’s stone includes both Hebrew and Portuguese inscriptions. Pimentel’s wife, Rebecca Cohen Pimentel, died in 1702 and was buried in the Sephardic cemetery of Altona Konigstrasse in Hamburg, the oldest surviving Portuguese Sephardic cemetery in Europe.

Credits

Photo by Kent Coupe. Courtesy of the Jewish Atlantic World Database.

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

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