Posts by Mark Te Pon
74 posts
# **Apotheek De Castro - De Castro Pharmacy **In 2019, Apotheek De Castro disappeared from Muiderstraat 14 in Amsterdam. This pharmacy was an icon of Jewish pharmacists and Jewish Amsterdam and one of the oldest in the city. The pharmacy changed owners, was deemed too small and inaccessible for disabled people, and moved to Roetersstraat 19.In 1832, Daniël Henriques de Castro (Amsterdam, January ...
# ALLARD PIERSON ACQUIRES UNIQUE JEWISH PRAYER BOOKThe Allard Pierson has acquired an outstanding Haggadah: the Melo Haggadah. This liturgical book for the festival of Pesach was printed in Amsterdam in 1622 by the Portuguese-Jewish David Abenatar Melo. It is the first Haggadah to have been printed in the Netherlands.
Tomorrow the exhibition Mokum, the biography of Jewish Amsterdam will open in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam."De Nieuwe Kerk concludes Amsterdam’s 750th anniversary year with Mokum, the biography of Jewish Amsterdam. This exhibition, made in collaboration with Jewish Cultural Quarter, highlights the multifaceted and turbulent history of Jewish life in the city. From the first Jewish refugees in the ...
**Candles for the Synagogue **On July 19, 1622, notary Laurens Lamberti knocks on the door of the Portuguese Symon Franco. Symon lives in the second house on the Turfsteeg in Amsterdam (see map). Notary Lamberti is at Franco's house at the request of the city's candle leaseholders. Franco has 24 large and small white wax candles in a side room. The notary wants to know who owns these 24 candles an...
This is the toll slip (tolbriefje) of merchant Jeudah Senior Henriques, 17 december 1706 (img 1).In 2025 , Amsterdam celebrates its 750th anniversary. The anniversary is based on the “Toll Privilege” dated 27 October 1275 (img 2). In this document the Amsterdam's residents were granted the right to sail toll-free with their merchandise across the rivers of Holland. This applied to all 'poorters' (...
Dr. Samuel Sarphati (1813-1866) has been chosen as the 'Biggest Amsterdammer of All Times' by the readers of Amsterdam's newspaper Het Parool. https://www.parool.nl/amsterdam/samuel-sarphati-uitgeroepen-tot-grootste-amsterdammer-aller-tijden~b6e97754/Jaap Cohen: “We live in the age of Donald Trump and Elon Musk, a time when the super-rich are in charge. Sarphati represents the antithesis: a man w...
Volunteers cleaning the Portuguese-Jewish cemetery at Jodensavanne, Suriname.
Working in the Amsterdam City Archives is a privilege of course, especially if you occasionally have the chance to browse around the depots. This week I stumbled on this little work of art behind glass by then 15 year old Matatia de Ishack Aboab (1672-1703) for his father Ishack de Matatia Aboab (1631-1706), dated 15 de Menahem 5448. Read more about Matatia de Ishack Aboab and his Calligraphic Art...
In a 18th century book about very old people, I came across some Dutch Sephardim. What do you think Ton Tielen, were they really that old? Can you confirm (parts of) Anna Freesko's story?* Aron de Paz, died 1756 in March in Amsterdam, in the Portuguese Jewish Old Men's House, aged about 106 years.* David Fernand Mendez, died on April 28, 1756 in the Jewish old Men's House in Amsterdam, at the age...
In Dutch, but this is a must read for everyone working on early modern Amsterdam. https://www.walburgpers.nl/nl/book/9789464563177/verloren-wereld-in-de-amstelbocht
Almost a year after the birth records (see: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheSepardicDiaspora/posts/3411504015775882/) now the Surinamese death records are also online. A valuable source for Sephardic genealogy. For example: 6 Januari 1861, Jacob Nassy reported the death of Joseph Nassy (son of Samuel Nassy and Roza Baruch Louzada). Joseph was a civil servant, and lived in the Saramaccastraat in...
April 8, 1927 - Honoring Jacob de David Blanes, on his 25th anniversary as cantor of the Portuguese Israelite Congregation. Jacob was a son of David Blanes and Sophie Buitenkant. In Juli 1943 Jacob Blanes was murdered in Sobibor. First photo: Internationaal Persfoto Bureau N.V. / Collection Amsterdam City Archives Second Photo: Joodsmonument (Jewish Monument) https://www.joodsmonument.nl/nl/page/1...
Update on the archeological excavations on Jodensavanne, Suriname.
# **Ben jeluy jooden [Are you Jews?]****Three Sephardic street musicians were involved in a violent incident on the Stromarkt in Amsterdam, 1789. One of them does not survive. Was it a hate crime?**Mark PonteIt is August 1789, the month when revolutionary France proclaimed the general *Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen*, the first declaration of human rights. On Tuesday night 18 Augu...
The Sephardic merchant Daniel Bueno of Amsterdam died on 14th of Tishrei, 5490 (October 7, 1729), one day before the beginning Sukkot. A couple of weeks later a inventory of his possessions was made by notary Mathijs van Son, and sworn appraiser Catharina Muilman. On his country estate Porto Bueno, not far from the Beth Haim cemetery in Ouderkerk, we find a sukkah (loofertent) worth 75 guilders. h...
BREAKING NEWS - Jodensavanne new UNESCO World Heritage Site.Today the World Heritage Committee, at its 45th extended session in Riyadh, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, inscribed the Jodensavanne Archaeological Site of Suriname as a new UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Archaeology volunteer project Jodensavanne 2023A six-day volunteer project kicked off today on Jodensavanne, with the aim of carrying out conservation and archaeological activities on the former 17th century Jewish settlement Jodensavanne, and to make young people aware of what archaeology is.Thirteen volunteers are participating in this project, which is being organized for the first time by the ...
# PDF: The Portuguese Synagogue in AmsterdamThis monograph was published in 2013. It tells the story of the building and the people who have worshipped there through the centuries. I just found out that the book is available in PDF for free.https://www.cultureelerfgoed.nl/publicaties/publicaties/2013/01/01/the-portugese-synagogue-in-amsterdamPhoto taken last friday
In need some help with this ketuba: 5 Sivan 5429 (4 June 1669) Abraham Frois married Raquel Cavalha. The ketuba was signed by Abraham and David Drago moso. Why did Drago sign,? And not her brother Jacob who was present at City Hall? What was his relation to the couple? Is a notary mentioned?Link to the ketuba: https://archief.amsterdam/inventarissen/scans/334/5.2.6.3.6/start/0/limit/10/highlight/7...
Great news from the National Archives of Suriname. The digital index on the Birth records 1828-1921 is now online. https://nationaalarchief.sr/onderzoeken/alle-genealogie/genealogie-burgerlijke-stand/personsIn this example on the left the registration of Judith Jessurun and on the right Moses Joseph Fernandes born the 5th and the 3th of June, 1831.
"My attachments for this Country are great, and my Esteem for the Government and the present chief magistrate there of, cannot be exeeded. but I find the climat of Surinam more congenial to my constitution", wrote dr. David Nassy (1747 - 1806) just before his return to Suriname from the United States, 2 March 1795.
Interesting documentary (unfortunately in Dutch) - Translation: "Painter Josef Nassy (1904-1976) witnesses the horrors of the Second World War. While imprisoned in an internment camp, he records the hard, hopeless lives of the people around him. Nassy knows how to capture suffering in powerful brush strokes. But how did this Surinamese painter of Jewish descent, who lives in Belgium but has Americ...
Notarial deeds from Amsterdam can be of great value for family research. Below is a (probably still incomplete) list of 113 names and aliasses mentioned in a 'boedelscheiding' (estate separation?) of **Jacob Hisquiau Machado **and **Moses alias Antonio Alvares Machado** (notary Jan Willem Smit, 18 June 1763). Including the names of **12 notaries** in Amsterdam, the Hague, London and Maarssen, a la...
# **Sephardic painter and art dealer Jacob Carpi (c. 1685-1755) from Verona**Only a few Jewish painters are known from 17th- and 18th-century Amsterdam. In 1637, Samuel d'Orta, 'Portuguese painter', bought an etching plate depicting Abraham's repudiation of Hagar and Ishmael from Rembrandt. D'Orta bought it on condition that Rembrandt himself would not sell any more prints of it. In 1639, Abraham...