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I have been delving into this too as I was surprised how many of the female family members going back for the last 3 generations had married Jews or men who were Black and Jewish mixed. Most of them are descended from Portuguese Jews who came to Jamaica during the Spanish era.
Last year I went to visit my aunt who was in the hospital in New York. The rabbi (based on the family surname) came in. He looked confused when he came in and saw a room full of Black people. He asked me if he could pray for her. I said yes, we are accepting all prayers. He prayed. When he was finished he asked me "What is your faith tradition anyway?"
Last edited by Tropicana; 04-06-2016, 05:35 PM. -
http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/intern...in-slave-trade
In Dutch Guyana, 40 Jewish-owned plantations were home to at least 5,000 slaves
An outspoken Dutch rabbi is about to publish a book reminding Dutch Jews of their ancestors’ deep involvement in the slave trade.
“Money was earned by Jewish communities in South America, partly through slavery, and went to Holland, where Jewish bankers handled it,” Rabbi Lody van de Kamp told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “Non-Jews were also complicit, but so were we. I feel partly complicit.”
Van de Kamp, 65, is among the best-known Orthodox rabbis in the Netherlands, being the author of several books on Dutch Jewry and making frequent media appearances.
His forthcoming book, a historical novel entitled “The Jewish Slave,” follows an 18th-century Jewish merchant and his black slave as they investigate Dutch-owned plantations north of Brazil in the hope of persuading Jews to divest from the slave trade. In researching the book, van de Kamp discovered data that shocked him.
According to the JTA report, published Tuesday by The Times of Israel, in one area of what used to be Dutch Guyana, 40 Jewish-owned plantations were home to a total population of at least 5,000 slaves, he says. Known as the Jodensavanne, or Jewish Savannah, the area had a Jewish community of several hundred before its destruction in a slave uprising in 1832. Nearly all of them immigrated to Holland, bringing their accumulated wealth with them.
At one point, Jews controlled about 17 percent of the Caribbean trade in Dutch colonies
On the Caribbean island of Curaçao, Dutch Jews may have accounted for the resale of at least 15,000 slaves landed by Dutch transatlantic traders, according to Seymour Drescher, a historian at the University of Pittsburgh. At one point, Jews controlled about 17 percent of the Caribbean trade in Dutch colonies, Drescher told JTA.
Jews were so influential in those colonies that slave auctions scheduled to take place on Jewish holidays often were postponed, according to Marc Lee Raphael, a professor of Judaic studies at the College of William & Mary.
In the United States, the Jewish role in the slave trade has been a matter of scholarly debate for nearly two decades, prompted in part by efforts to refute the Nation of Islam’s claim that Jews dominated the Atlantic slave trade. But in Holland, the issue of Jewish complicity is rarely discussed.Comment
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We're the Jews any more involved than the Dutch thr Danesan es or the Swedes? Denmark had the second largest fleet at the turn of the 18th century. ....,,,Comment
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Yes I think historically the Jews were the biggest players in African slavery Both on the Islamic and Christian side.
Just as how today in inner cities Koreans virtually monopolize the "Green Grocery" and the "Black Hair Care" business so it was the Jews monopolize the business of slavery in the past.
Today Media and Entertainment ( and Precious Stones) is pretty much a Jewish run industries
The Dutch Involvement in African Slavery was largely done by JewsLast edited by franksterr; 04-13-2016, 08:51 AM.Comment
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That would be difficult to quantity wouldn't it? More involved as in total numbers, percentage of the population, share of profits? For those Jews not directly involved in slavery, I'm sure they bankrolled trading companies and related activities.Originally posted by Wahalla View PostComment
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A much higher percentage of Black Jamaicans are descended from Portuguese Jews than we realize. At one time, Jamaica had more synagogues than parishes.
Uncovering Jamaica’s Jewish PastAlthough the stones had been there for centuries, we were working at a break-neck pace. That meant abandoning my summer camp superstitions about not talking (or breathing) in or near cemeteries. Islanders have them, too: adults tell Jamaican kids their fingers will fall off if they point directly at a grave.We’d guess at the significance of the stone carvings: did a book image indicate a scholar? Then nod at familiar last names: De Costas, De Cordova, and Lopez. Most stones bore inscriptions in English and Hebrew, the oldest stones, laid here from a different cemetery, also had long passages in Portuguese.
As we rested in the shade of the sanctuary, David Matalon, a community member, joined us to practice a time honored Jewish tradition: “kibitzing” or, as it’s known in the Caribbean, “liming.”
“This is the future of the Jewish people right here,” he said, looking through the Star of David window bars, past pink blooms into the desolate cemetery, without irony. “If you don’t manage your past, how are you going to care for your future?”
On the third day, we boarded a comfy bus and peeled away from the city’s corrugated metal and oil drum roadsides to penetrate the lush backcountry and the distant past.
We pulled in at dusk to Alligator Pond, a tiny community within striking distance of Rowe’s Corner, a once-lost cemetery that Rachel’s group had documented the previous year.
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Jewish Jamaica
Next to Christianity, one of the oldest religions practiced in Jamaica is Judaism. Jamaica’s Jewish heritage dates back to the settlement of the island by the British. Jamaica’s Jews have played a vital and dominant role for over three centuries in the social, economic and political development of the country. Today, many of the island's leading professionals, businessmen, artists and politicians can trace back their Jewish ancestry.
Places of Worship
The arrival of Jews on the island dates as far back as 1530. Synagogues were erected in Kingston, Port Royal, Spanish Town and Montego Bay between the 1600s and 1800s however were all destroyed either by hurricane, fire, earthquakes or simply abandoned; remains of these old synagogues can still be found on the island.
Today there is only one active synagogue in Jamaica, The Shaare Shalom Synagogue, located at 92 Duke Street. One of five functioning synagogues with sand floors in the world and the third oldest synagogue in the Caribbean, it was built by the two Jewish congregations in Jamaica at the time the Ashkenazi (English and German descent) and the Sephardim (Spanish-Portuguese descent). The two lights burning on either side of the Synagogue's mahogany Ark symbolise this union- now the United Congregation of Israelites. Inside the Ark are 13 scrolls of Jewish law from former Jamaican synagogues, some date back over 200 years.
Ainsley Henriques, historian, indicates that "One of the outstanding aspects of Jamaica is the enviable relationships between all religions, each respecting the right of each other and the right of each to believe as they wish. This and the history of many Jamaicans after 350 years who have Jews as ancestors need to know this history, in fact desire to know their history and so share it with whomsoever and whenever they please, visitors and locals alike."Comment
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History of Jews in Jamaica:
In 1494, a Marrano named Luis de Torres arrived on the island of Jamaica as the interpreter of Christopher Columbus. Jamaica was a Spanish colony from the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1494 until the British conquest in 1655. Numerous Portuguese Jews first settled in Jamaica during the Spanish colonization. In 1530, the first ship load of Portuguese-Spanish Jews entered Jamaica. They settled in Spanish Town (formerly St. Jago de la Vega), the only operating town at that time. Many of the Jews that arrived were Conversos, fleeing Europe to openly practice Judaism.
After the British gained control of the island, Jews were permitted to worship in public. In 1660, Jews were granted citizenship by King Charles. Shortly thereafter, in 1662, Jews arrived from Brazil, England (1663), British Guiana (1664), and Surinam (1673). Jewish communities began establishing synagogues, schools, Jewish markets and shops. Most of these immigrants were Sephardim. During the 17th century one of the greatest Sephardic poets of the period, David Lopez Laguna (1635-1730), lived in Jamaica. Laguna is most recognized for converting biblical Psalms into poems. His book of poems, Espejo Fiel de Vidas (“The True Mirror of Life”), was the first book published in Jamaica under British rule in 1720.
In 1671, the citizens of Jamaica petitioned the British officials to expel the Jewish community from the island, but Governor Lynch opposed this request and it was not enacted. In 1693, however, a special tax was imposed on the Jews. By 1700, Jews were considered second-class citizens because of their religion. In 1703, Jews were forbidden from using Christian servants. Finally, in 1783, Jews were prohibited from holding public office, they were required to work on the Sabbath, and again had to pay extra taxes.
Despite all of these restrictions, the Jewish community continued to grow and prosper. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Jews were very involved in sugar and vanilla industries of the island. As early as 1530, the Jews had introduced sugar cultivation to the island. They were also leaders in the island’s international trade and shipping companies.
For many years, the Jewish community demanded emancipation and full political rights. On December 19, 1831, the Privy Council in England granted the Jewish community official recognition and equality on the island. Jews were then permitted to vote in the elections and, by 1849, eight of the 47 members of House of Assembly were Jewish, including the Speaker of the House. Jews became so prominent in society that in 1849, the House of Assembly did not gather on Yom Kippur. By 1881, the Jewish population reached 2,535.
Synagogues were erected in Kingston, Port Royal, Spanish Town and Montego Bay. Two synagogues were built in Spanish Town, the Sephardi K.K. Neveh Shalom (Habitation of Peace) consecrated in 1704, and the Ashkenazi K.K. Mikveh Yisrael (Hope of Israel) erected in 1796. In 1844, the two congregations merged due to the exodus of Jews from Spanish Town to Kingston. The first Haham, or spiritual leader, of Spanish Town Jewry was Josiahu Pardo, who arrived from Amsterdam in 1683. The synagogue in Montego Bay was built in 1840, but destroyed by a hurricane in 1912. The Kingston congregation is believed to have begun after the earthquake of 1692, but the old Portuguese synagogue in Kingston, Shaar Hashamayim, was not completed until 1744. The Kingston Ashkenazi synagogue was completed in 1787. Both were destroyed in the Great Kingston Fire of 1882.
During the 18th and early 19th century, Jews emigrated from Curacao and Germany. After that influx, immigration subsided, but rose again in the late 19th century with the arrival of Jews from Egypt and Syria. By the early 20th century, the economic prosperity witnessed during the 19th century began to decline; consequently, many Jews immigrated to the United States and England.
The Shaar Hashamayim Synagogue in Kingston was destroyed by a fire in 1882. Over the next several decades, many Jews began to intermarry and assimilate, causing the Ashkenazi and Sephardic synagogues to attempt to merge, but they were unsuccessful. In 1885, Shaare Shalom was built by the United Congregation of Israelites. The original Shaare Shalom was ruined by an earthquake in 1907 along with the Neveh Shalom synagogue in Spanish Town. In 1911, the community of Kingston reconstructed the Shaare Shalom building. In 1921, the Ashkenazim finally agreed to amalgamate with the Shaare Shalom congregation.
Approximately 200 Jews reside in Jamaica today, predominately in Kingston. While only a single synagogue remains, the Shaare Shalom Synagogue in Kingston, there are remains of the old synagogues on the island. The Shaare Shalom synagogue can accommodate 600 congregants, though only about 75 attend High Holiday services. In the 1970s, the congregation started counting women as part of a minyan for practical reasons. After the longtime lay leader Ernest de Souza died suddenly in 2000, community leader Steven Henriques held the reins until Rabbi Dana Kaplan was hired. Kaplan is thus the first rabbinically ordained leader the Jamaican Jewish community had had in three decades. In 2014, he said "we get a minyan 90 percent of the time."
The synagogue ark contains 13 Torah scrolls, many of which have been preserved from past synagogues on the island. The sand-covered floor makes it one of just 5 similar synagogues in the world today, among them St. Thomas. It is believed to be a tradition derived out of necessity, originating from conversos' Jewish traditions in the 1600s in northern Brazil, where Spanish-Portuguese conversos [forced converts from the Inquisition] needed to keep their religious practice secret from the ecclesiastical authorities. The sand or clay floors concealed the noise during prayer services.
Services at Shaare Shalom Synagogue are now done in English, while they once were Orthodox. Rabbi Kaplan was ordained at the Reform Movement's Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem, and he introduced Debbie Friedman's Mi Sheberach into the services in the 2010s; and aims to replace the classical American Reform organ music and British Jewish hymns now in the siddurim with more modern tunes from local Jamaican musical traditions - especially because the country is the birthplace of amazing reggae music. During every service, the congregation still recites the Portuguese prayer, “for our brethren who are imprisoned by the Inquisition.”
The Jews in the Jamaican community today are very diverse: they are Ashkenazi and Sephardic, black and white, and come from a myriad of geographic locations. Cantor Carl Estick is a black descendant from the Mendez family, one of the first Jewish families in Jamaica. Rabbi Kaplan has helped Jamaicans with Jewish ancestry who want to return to Judaism convert, though there is much skepticism and opposition from some other community members, who actually shut Kaplan's program down. As Kaplan sees it, "conversion is key," because the community is so small and there are many Jamaicans with Jewish heritage who want to convert. The Jamaican Jews, though small in number, are a highly respected minority group.
Various Jewish communal organizations are active, including WIZO, B’nai B’rith, a home for the elderly, and nondenominational Hillel Academy school, founded in 1969. However, there is no formal Hebrew or religious instruction for children in upper elementary grades or above. Twenty-one Jewish cemeteries are scattered across Jamaica. The oldest Jewish cemetery, Hunts Bay Cemetery, is located in Spanish Town, and maintained by dedicated groundskeepers. In the late 1990s, the Neveh Shalom Institute was founded to protect and purchase old Jewish remains from Colonial Jamaica.Comment
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Whoa. The source of that video is a Ku Klux Klan affiliate.Originally posted by j-kid View Post
Shame on all y'all.
Spend your time and energy focusing on real history, such as the untold story of Nat Turner. And go see Nate Parker's movie when it comes out in October.
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No one has the time to do a full work up on the source of every video or article they post. We are not being paid to post here...this is downtime activity for recreation.Comment
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I was hoping J-Kid would respond. He knows I want to spank him.Comment
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J-Kid has been spanked nuff times but to no avail.
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