Yehonatan Elazar-DeMota April 17, 2016

THE CARIBBEAN SEPHARADIM IN THE ḤALUQAH SYSTEM: FROM JERUSALEM TO THE WEST INDIES AND BACK

There exists a belief among Jews that if prayer ceases for a moment from Jerusalem, the

world will return to its primeval chaos. In order to ensure that this never happens, no matter how

small the population, Jews must be ever-present in the Holy City. Before the 15th century, the

Jewish population in the Holy Land was miniscule, nevertheless, significant. After the Expulsion

of the Sepharadim from Spain and the forced conversions in Portugal, the Jewish presence in

Ereṣ Israel increased considerably. Almost simultaneously, the Sepharadi diaspora communities 1

developed into economic centers, whether in Europe or in the Americas. The now-neglected

Caribbean Sepharadi communities were at the forefront of trading and wealth. Through their

money and influence, the Caribbean Sepharadim managed to send continual financial support to

the Jews living in the four holy cities. The capital of the Ottoman Empire served as the center of

a “far-flung philanthropic network in support of the Jews” in Ereṣ Israel, “linking Jewish

communities throughout the empire and beyond, from the Caribbean in the west to India in the

east, and from England in the north to Yemen in the south” (Lehmann 1). Rabbinic emissaries

were sent throughout the Jewish world, collecting pledges and contributions, which were then

sent to Istanbul, and distributed to Jerusalem, Safed, Ḥebron, and Tiberias (Lehmann 2). This

paper will detail the historical accounts of the emissaries, their missions, their plights, and their

The Land of Israel.1

successes. The primary focus will entail a survey of the Caribbean Sepharadi communities that

played a significant role in the ḥaluqah system.

THE HEBREWS OF THE PORTUGUESE NATION IN THE NETHERLANDS

In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, some Portuguese anusim 2

established themselves in the Netherlands. Their first community was founded in 1602 in

Amsterdam, with the help of an Ashkenazi rabbi from Emdem. Later in 1608, a Venetian

rabbinic scholar named David Pardo also settled there. He was appointed Ḥakham of Beth 3

Jacob. A year later, the Morrocan born ambassador, Samuel Palache started a second

congregation called Neweh Shalom. The time for the establishment of these communities was

opportune. As a result of the trade treaty between the Dutch and the Portuguese, many

opportunities were forged for the Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation, henceforth, a gente da

Nação. Thus, the elite of this newly found community were brokers and merchants. The elites of

this group formed part of the Ma’amad, which was often time labeled as oppressive autocratic 4

regime. The Ma’amad was comprised of seven parnassim. Ultimately, they were responsible for

the identity and vision of the community. In 1639, the communal leaders united under one roof to

form Kahal Kadosh Talmud Torah. By that time, the community had “demographic strength,

wealth, and rabbinic stature” to trek forward (Bodian 51).

Forced converts, also known as conversos2

Rabbi.3

Governing body of the synagogue4

THE CARIBBEAN SEPHARADIM

Brazil was discovered by the Portuguese navigator Pedro do Noronha. Soon after, many

Portuguese anusim were banished there. In 1630, the Dutch invaded and took possession of the

entire territory by 1635. It was during that time that a Jewish congregation in Recife was founded

called Sur Israel. Those former anusim were able to practice their ancestral faith openly.

Talmud Torah of Amsterdam sent Ḥakham Ishac Aboab da Fonseca, the first rabbinic scholar to

the Americas, as the spiritual guide of this outpost. Unfortunately, the Portuguese took over the

Dutch administration in northwestern Brazil in 1654; many Jews returned to Amsterdam.

Another group dispersed throughout the Caribbean, including, but not limited to Jamaica,

Curação, and Barbados (Gerber 4). Soon thereafter, Curação became the hub for Caribbean

Sepharadim and the center where Iberian anusim could revert to the Jewish tradition (ibid 68).

By the end of the eighteenth century, the Dutch trading system had provided the Portuguese Jews

a golden opportunity to gain prominence and wealth, not only in the “New World,” but also as

far as India (ibid 30). Their knowledge of the Romance languages and sense of peoplehood gave

them the upper hand in the Caribbean trading market of cash crops—sugar, indigo, tobacco, and

more. Some of the anusim who reverted to Jewish tradition in Protestant European territories,

used their liminal identities to take advantage of the trading markets throughout the New World

and the Mediterranean. Yerushalmi asserts, “Outwardly Christian, they could penetrate into areas

from which professing Jews were excluded. Already in the sixteenth century we find them in

Southwestern France, in London, in Spanish Flanders, and throughout the far-flung Spanish and

Portuguese overseas empires (Yerushalmi 177). They established communities in congruence

with the trading posts throughout the British and Dutch West Indies. Such was the case with Port

Royal, Montego Bay, Santo Domingo, Willemstad, and Bridgetown. All of these Jewish

communities were linked with a gente da Nação in London, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Livorno,

Istanbul, and ultimately, Jerusalem.

Jamaica. The first Jewish settlement in Jamaica began in 1530, by Spanish and Portuguese

anusim who fled the Inquisition. Although Spanish America was closed to them, Portugallo

Colon had inherited the island from Columbus’ granddaughter. After the Jews met with him, he

agreed to allow them to settle there (Arbell 7). Diplomat Mordechay Arbell asserts, “Various

cases show that the Jews continued to arrive from Spain and Portugal directly to Jamaica,

sometimes passing through France” (Arbell 8). Those Jews made every effort not to be identified

as such. On May 21, 1577, a repeal of the edict prohibiting the emigration of the anusim went

into force. Delevante states, “From then on, with the payment of 1,700,000 cruzados, conversos

and Jews in the colonies were allowed freedom of residence and trade, if not religious

practice” (Delevante 9). With the English conquest of the island, the anusim therein could

practice the Jewish tradition openly. Spanish Town (originally St. Iago de la Vega) saw the first

official Spanish-Portuguese Jewish community of Jamaica. This time period coincided with the

meeting between Ḥakham Menashe Ben Israel and Oliver Cromwell. In 1655, Jews were

allowed to settle back in England since the 13th century. Arbell states, “This led to the new

settlement of a number of Amsterdam Jews in Jamaica. They were joined by Jews from

Bordeaux and Bayonne, transit points for Jews leaving Portugal and seeking safe places to live.

These Jews settled in Port Royal for the most part” (Arbell 11). In 1692, a Spanish-Portuguese

congregation was founded there, and the synagogue, Neve Shalom was built in 1704. This

synagogue served as the center for Jamaican Jewry.

Barbados. In 1628, the first Jews arrived on Barbados. After the final evacuation of Jews from

Brazil in 1667, many of them went directly to Barbados or came via Suriname or Guyana. Yet,

some of them went to the island from England. Those early pioneers cultivated sugar plantations.

By 1656, after having received protection, they sent emissaries to the mother community in

Amsterdam to bring back Torah scrolls and other religious paraphernalia. Their main settlements

were in Bridgetown and Speightstown. This community flourished throughout the 18th century

and received full rights in 1802. However, the Jews therein were not always at peace with their

non-Jewish brethren. Darnell Davis notes the following in 1846:

Whereas upon the humble Petition of Antonio Rodrigo Rigio, Abraham Levi Regio,

Lewis Dias, Isaac Jeriao Coutinho, Abraham Pereira, David Baruch Louzado, and other

Hebrews, made free Denizens by His Majesty’s Letters Patents, and residing at

Barbados…divers persons of said Island do endeavour to deprive them of the benefit

thereof, and refuse to admit their testimony in Courts of Judicatures, and expose them to

all sorts of injuries in their Trade…(Davis 131).

After the destruction of coffee plantations in 1831, many Jews left for England and the United

States of America. By 1928, the original synagogue Nidḥe Israel was no longer in use.

Curação. Jewish settlement on Curação begins in 1651, when João Yllan was given a permit to

settle on the island, along with other Jews. A year later, Joseph Nunes de Fosenca was also issued

a permit to settle there. By 1746, the Sepharadi population on the island had reached its

demographic peak of circa 2,000 people (Gerber 87). The wealthy Jews therein were brokers,

large-scale merchants and international traders, whereas the lower class were small tradesmen.

Thus, there were two communities: one in Willemstad for the rich and another in Otrabanda for

the lower class. Miqweh Israel was the synagogue built in Willemstad. The original by-laws were

drafted in 1688. The parnasim permitted in 1732 a second synagogue in Otrabanda called Neweh

Shalom. By 1746, the membership had a visible presence in the Jewish community(88).

The Jewish communities on Curação had conflicts. The Ma’amad was given authority in

all matters of Jewish life within the Portuguese community of Amsterdam. This had implications

on Curação. The Curazoan Jews generally preferred Ḥakhamim from Turkey or Greece, since 5

they were more sympathetic of their laissé-faire lifestyle. Sometimes, members were

excommunicated from the community because they disobeyed or disrespected the orders of the

Ma’amad. Such was the case of David Aboab, an Italian Jew who was knowledgeable in Jewish

law. He clashed severely with Ḥakham Raphael Jesurun and with Ḥakham Samuel Mendes de

Sola over the duty of the deceased’s sons to provide for a tombstone (Emmanuel 120). Moreover,

by 1864, a group of reformed Jews wanted to include the pipe organ in the services. The result

was an offshoot community called Temple Emmanuel. Ironically, in 1964 Miqweh Israel and

Temple Emmanuel merged into to form Miqweh Israel-Emmanuel. Today, this community

identifies itself as egalitarian and reconstructionist.

Dominican Republic. The first Jews to arrive to the Americas did so during Columbus’ three trips

[to Hispaniola. Carlos Deive offers a detailed description of the presence of anusim in

Hispaniola. He states that during Columbus’ first trip to the West Indies, the crew was comprised

of 90 men, of which many were indeed anusim. He states further that at that moment, there was

no legislation prohibiting anusim from being part of the crew (Deive 57). Deive states the

following in regards to Columbus’ second trip, “about a dozen, or perhaps more anusim

Rabbis5

participated in Columbus’ second trip…the New Christians were Juan de Ocampo or del Campo,

Antonio de Castro, Efraín Bienvenido de Calahorra, Álvaro de Ledesma, Iñigo de Rivas, and

García de Herrera” (Deive 60). Deive affirms that criminals and incarcerated evildoers were

forgiven upon partaking of Columbus’ crew on his third trip. However, he states that the first

explicit mention that vetoes entry to the Indies of the harassed anusim by the Inquisition, is

found in the provision of June 22, 1497…(ibid 65). Later in May 1509, the same prohibition is

repeated in the instruction to Diego Colón. In fact, at least five anusim from Seville arrive to

Hispaniola aboard the Santa Maria Magdalena ship with him in 1502 (ibid 98). Deive states that

many anusim paid their way into the Indies; they used changing of names and the reordering of

their surnames to get out of Spain (Deive 68). By the time Fray Bartholomé de las Casas arrives

on Hispaniola, there was a large and powerful enough nucleus of anusim there in order to

compete with the “Old Christians” for the encomiendas (Deive 72). For this matter, Fray de las

Casas suggested for the inauguration of the Inquisition on Hispaniola, since the anusim were

reluctant of following the Christian principles (Bissainte 81).

The presence of Portuguese Jewish merchants was prevalent on Hispaniola, especially

during the 17th century. During the month of August, of the year 1596, a witnesses of the Hearing

of Santo Domingo wrote to the King expressing:

…that after having examined certain passports, that José Rodríguez, Portuguese, declared

that he had neighbors of in the aforementioned city (Santo Domingo) that were leaving

for England to the house of Duarte de Rivero, apparently affirming also that Simón

Herrera, Ramón Cardoso, and Juan Riveros, Portuguese men, leaving with their

plantations to England, and declaring that the witnesses were Jews, and were departing in

order to practice the Law (of Moses) in liberty; both were arrested and the other sent to

Puerto Rico, inferring that were many Jews living according their Law, not only in Santo

Domingo, but in other parts of the West Indies… (Ayala 56)

Kritzler asserts that “in the Treaty of Madrid in 1670, Spain acceded to Europe’s right to settle

the ‘New World’…and Jews were finally free to be Jews” (10).

Spanish and Portuguese Jews from Jamaica, Curação, Amsterdam, and St. Thomas began

arriving to Hispaniola in the early 18th century. They engaged in the sugar, tobacco, and coffee

industries. Some prominent families within their network helped the gain independence for the

Dominican Republic by supplying funds for artillery and ammunition. After the independence

from Haiti in 1844, many Jews came from Curação. They established a community called

Congregación Israelita by the end of the 19th century, led by the cantor Raphael Namias Curiel.

In 1939, the German Rabbi Henry Ṣebi Ucko fled to Amsterdam and then immigrated to the

Dominican Republic, leading after Curiel’s death. Ucko left the Dominican Republic to the

United States of America in 1956. It would be another 53 years before this community saw their

next spiritual guide. In 2009, some the descendants of the Congregación Israelita founded

congregation Nidḥe Israel (Santo Domingo), led by American-born Ḥakham Yehonatan Elazar-

DeMota, of Dominican Sepharadi parents. In 2013, he was appointed Ḥakham of the Spanish-

Portuguese Jewish community in La Romana, called Beth Midrash Ele’azar. Today, only the

latter community continues to gather on a daily basis for prayer and study, under the direct

leadership of Ribi Gadiel Mota. 6

Title given to teachers in the Spanish-Portuguese communities.6

THE SEPHARADIM IN THE HOLY LAND

After the expulsion of the Jews from Sepharad and the forced conversion in Portugal in

1497, the Sepharadi exiles filled the lands of the Mediterranean basin. Their presence helped

reinforce the extant Jewish communities therein, while they founded new settlements. After these

devastating events, the eminent centers became: Istanbul, Salonika, Fez, Naples, Ferrara, and

Cairo (David 64). Mehmet’s son, Bayazid II (1481-1512) saw the Expulsion of the Spanish Jews

as an opportunity. Thus, he gave the exiles refuge and hope (Zohar 152). Some of these exiles

passed through Cairo and Salonika, eventually settling in the Holy Land. Upon arriving to the

Holy Land, they established themselves in Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias, and Ḥebron.

Jerusalem. Before the 15th century, there were not many Jews living in Jerusalem. It was not

until after the Sepharadi exiles went to the Holy Land, that Jerusalem became a center of Jewish

scholarship. According to Abraham David, “Starting from 1510, additional information is

available on the presence of Spanish exiles in Jerusalem, alongside their counterparts form the

other kehalim ” (David 65). He also affirms, “From the 1520s to the mid-to-late 1570s, however, 7

the Sepharadim rose to dominance with the communal structure [Jerusalem], even absorbing

some of the other kehalim” (David 65). There were so many Sepharadim in Jerusalem that the

Arabic-speaking Jews therein adopted the Sepharadi culture and languages. Furthermore, Levi

Avigdor states, that the influx of Iberian scholars and Kabbalists to Jerusalem revitalized

Jerusalem as the center of Jewish scholarship (Levy 39). Sixteenth century Jerusalem witnessed

prominent scholars such as: Levi ibn Habib (ca. 1483-1545), David ibn Abi Zimra (ca.

1479-1573), Beṣṣal’el Ashkenazi (ca. 1520-1591) and Ḥayyim Vital (ca. 1479-1573) (ibid).

Congregations.7

Hence, the tragedy of the expulsion from Sepharad brought a blessing in disguise for the

Jerusalemite Jewish communities.

Ḥebron. Ḥebron is one of the four holy cities on the Holy Land. The Hebrew patriarchs are

buried therein at the cave of Maḥpelah. According to Abraham David, Ḥebron’s Jewish

population in the 1480s was comprised of about 20 families (David 24). After the Expulsion

from Sepharad, a few families went to Ḥebron by way of Salonika. A contradictory source states,

“Ḥebron’s sixteenth-century Jewish population fluctuated between eight and twenty

families” (ibid). Most important, there was a prominent yeshibah there called Talmud Torah.

Ḥebron birthed many outstanding rabbinic scholars throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth

centuries including: Isaac Ḥayyim Carigal, Ḥayyim Yosef David Azoulay, David Melamed, Meir

Gedalia, Mordekhay Zoabi, Ḥayyim Yehudah Gomez Patto, Ḥayyim Raḥamim Bagiaio, and

Isaac Ṣedaqah, to name a few (Yaari 580). In 1929, the Ḥebron Jewish community suffered a

massacre, due to rumors that they were planning to take hold of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Many of the 435 Jews who survived were saved by the local Arab families. Overall, the Jewish

community in Ḥebron has been small in number, yet important in Jewish scholarship and

leadership.

Safed. Another important holy city in the Land of Israel is Safed. This city became the bedrock of

the kabbalistic tradition in the Holy Land. It had 18 yeshiboth and 21 synagogues. The oldest 8

synagogues therein reveal the strong presence of the Sepharadim. The architecture and interior

Rabbinic seminaries.8

design evidence this fact. Various sources mention that the point of aliyah was Salonika in 9

Greece. In 1523, a messianic pretender by the name of David ha-Reubeni was responsable for

instigating a mass movement of Sepharadim from Salonika to Safed (David 16). The vast

majority of these Sepharadim were ex-anusim from Portugal (ibid 17). David also asserts that the

Iberian exiles had a preference for Safed, as early as 1504 (ibid 65). Furthermore, he states:

With the marked increase in immigration following the Ottoman conquest, our

knowledge of the various kehalim in Safed, including the Sefardi one, is enhanced. Only

a few short years after the inception of Ottoman rule, the Sefardi kahal, composed of

expellees from the Iberian Peninsula who reached Eretz-Israel from various points in the

Sefardi diaspora—Turkey, the Balkans, North Africa, Egypt, and Syria—dominated

Safed” (David 102).

Immigration to Safed gained importance because of the Zohar’s teaching that the Messiah will

first appear in Galilee (ibid 104). All in all, Safed was primarily developed by Portuguese ex-

anusim Spanish exiles who thought the Messianic Era to be at hand after the Expulsion in 1492.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR THE HOLY CITIES BEFORE THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Before one can understand how the ḥaluqah system in Jerusalem developed in the late

nineteenth century, it will be necessary to survey the history of financial support from the Jewish

Diaspora communities to the Holy Land, before the nineteenth century. Lehmann states, “Jewish

financial support to the Holy Land before the seventeenth century was haphazard” (Lehmann

18). Before Istanbul became the center of movement between Asia, Europe, and the New World,

Going up to the Holy Land.9

Venice was the center of fundraising. There was a fund in many congregations for the ransoming

of captives, especially among the Portuguese Jews, having family members captive by the

Inquisition or by pirates. The Portuguese Jews also had a “dowry” society for the poor brides.

Special voluntary associations in charge of collecting money for pidyon shebuyim were 10

established in the Western Sepharadi communities in Amsterdam, London, and Hamburg. All of

the contributions were sent to Venice (Lehmann 20). Therein, the funds were collected by the

gibber kelali . 11

When the Ottoman Empire took over the region of the Holy Land, they began charging

the Jews taxes, due to their dhimmi status. In the latter part of the sixteenth century, when the 12

Ottoman Empire began experiencing a revenue crisis, taxes increased on the Jews, thus the task

of taking care of the poor became heavier. “As a result of all these changes, more centralized

community structures began to make their tentative appearance” (Levy 65). For the purposes of

taxation, the function of Ḥakham Bashi was instituted according to sectors that the Ottomans 13

set apart. This concept was also used in medieval Islamic Spain (ibid 45). A lot of money was

given to the poll tax for non-Muslim citizens, and bribing of Ottoman officials in the Holy Land.

This created a deficit that haunted the Jewish communities therein. Sometimes the qadi (Islamic

judge) in Jerusalem asked for more money. This became an increasing problem throughout the

17th and 19th centuries. According to Raphael Mordecai Malki (d. 1702 ), the Jews of Jerusalem

Rescue of the captives. 10

Literally man of the community, i.e., the caretaker.11

Non-Muslim citizens. 12

Chief Rabbi13

were paying about 5,000 kuruş a year in taxes, even though Ottoman documents suggest that

only about 2,000 kuruş of djizya were collected in the early 1700s. Malki also provided an

estimate of the financial needs of the Jerusalem community, indicating, on the one hand, that the

bulk of the budget was needed to keep up with the poll tax and other payments to the Ottoman

provincial authorities and, on the other hand, that only the ongoing support from the Jewish

Diaspora could sustain the Jerusalem community financially (Lehmann 24). This is the context

that led Sepharadi scholars from the Land of Israel to the tropics of the Caribbean.

THE MESHULAḤIM

Almsgiving and charity are at the core of the Jewish tradition. The Torah states, “Poor

persons will never disappear from the earth. That’s why I’m giving you this command: you must

open your hand generously to your fellow Israelites, to the needy among you, and to the poor

who live with you in your land (Deuteronomy 15:11). Furthermore, the Talmud states, “that the

giving of ṣedaqah is equal to all the other commandments combined” (b.B.Bath.9b). In order to

ensure that this precept is guarded, Jews have the custom placing ṣedaqah boxes everywhere, but

the restroom. In fact, it is customary to have a box for charity in every home. Many business

owners have charity boxes at their restaurants and offices. At the synagogue, it is customary for

men to give place money in the charity box on a daily basis, except for the Sabbath, when money

is not handled. These funds are distributed to the yeshiboth, orphan asylums, hospitals, and needs

for the poor in the Holy Land. The board of trustees is entrusted with the collecting of the funds.

Those that traveled to distant lands in search of these funds are called “Meshulaḥim.” In fact, 14

Emissaries.14

“Recife, the first Jewish community of the Western hemisphere, used to make regular

contributions to the Holy Land via Amsterdam…” (Emmanuel 482). Many a time, the

meshulaḥim were rabbinic scholars, men of renowned wisdom and reputable character. Historical

letters and synagogue minutes detail the travails of how they acquired funds for the respective

charities in the Holy Land and abroad. Yaari states, “Thus, it is known to us about emissaries

from the Land of Israel that served as rabbis in distant and dispersed communities, from India

and Bokhara, until Barbados in the West Indies” (Yaari 131). Such was the case of the Sepharadi

luminaries that reached North and South America via the Caribbean, namely: Ḥakham Ḥayyim

Isaac Carigal and Ḥakham Aharon Yehudah Corcos. According to Carigal, in the 17th century,

there were only three rabbis in the New World, one each in Jamaica, Surinam, and Curação, but

none in North America (Lehmann 146). The details of the Jewish communities in these places

and the emissaries from the Holy Land will be the focus of this section.

Ḥakham Ḥayyim Isaac Carigal. One of the most preeminent and extraordinary meshulaḥim was

Ḥakham Ḥayyim Isaac Carigal, born in Ḥebron on the 15th of the month of Tishri, of the year

5493 (October 4, 1732). According to Ḥakham Emmanuel, his father was Moshe de Abraham

Carigal, the prolific author of rabbincal works and the administrator of the yeshiboth Vaz and

Drago in Jerusalem. (Emmanuel 482). Isaac studied under theSages of Ḥebron, including: David

Melamed, Meir Gedalia, Mordekhay Zoabi, Hayyim Rahamim Bagiaio, Hayyim Yehudah

Gomez Patto, and Isaac Ṣedaqah. In 1750, at the age of 17, he was ordained by David Melamed

(Yaari 580). Others state that, “Having traveled very extensively in the Eastern world and being a

man of observation, learning and intelligence, his conversation was highly entertaining and

instructive (Kohut & Parry 124). The next twenty-five years of his activity would gain him the

honor of the emissary that covered more distance than any other of that era (Emmanuel 482).

Three years later (1753), he was sent on his first mission to Egypt as a fund-raiser for the

Holy Land. Shortly thereafter, he went from Egypt to Izmir and Constantinople. Next, he stayed

in Thessaloniki and Adrianopolis for two years. Then, he returned to Izmir. He then moved on to

Aram Soba and Damascus in Syria. Then he returned to Aram Soba, and then to Europe,

Baghdad, and Isfahan. Finally, he returned to Aram Soba, then to Ḥebron (ibid). These are the

accounts of his first mission.

Some years later in 1757, he went on his second mission, taking him to Western Europe.

He sailed from Alexandria to Leghorn. The following are the details of the accounts of his travels

on this mission: Leghorn, Florence, Rome, Bologna, Milano, Padua, Venice, Vienna, Prague,

Nuremburg, Augsburg, Frankfurt, Metz (Mainz), Amsterdam, and London. Upon completing this

mission, he returned to Ḥebron.

Carigal embarked on his third mission in 1761, having sailed to Curação, where he served

as Ḥakham for two years. Carigal filled the position of spiritual guide in the place of Ḥakham de

Sola’s death. The Ma’amad immediately took him on as rabbi and teacher at the prodigious

salary of 750 pesos yearly (Emmanuel 483). He also served as the shoḥet of the community and 15

“instructed the houesewives how to salt and clean the meat properly” (ibid). Moreover, his

religious tolerance, vast knowledge, and refinement allowed him to reflect honor on Ḥebron and

Ritual slaughterer.15

American Jewry, in particular Curação, “then the largest, wealthiest community of the Western

world” (ibid). Ḥakham Emmanuel asserts:

Curação most likely gave funds for the four Holy Cities ever since Ḥakham Pardo’s time

(1674-1683). It showed special favor toward Ḥebron where the Patriarchs repose. As a

matter of fact, two brotherhoods of Curação had as their main object the sending of

moneys to Ḥebron. They were the Ḥonen Dalim founded before 1726 and the Neweh

Ṣedeq founded in 1742 (Emmanuel 482).

Carigal would take these funds back to the Holy Land at the end of his mission. In 1764 he

returned to the places of his second trip, namely: Amsterdam, then to Frankfurt, then to

Nuremburg, then to Augsburg, then to Leghorn. Finally, he sailed from Leghorn to the Land of

Israel, arriving to his home in Ḥebron in August 1764 (Yaari 581).

In 1768, Carigal left Ḥebron on his own mission. He sailed from the port of Yaffo to

Marseille. Then he went to Paris, totaling four months. Next, he went to England for two and

half years, where he taught at the Beth HaMidrash for a salary. Later in 1771, he sailed to

Jamaica and spent a year there. Arbell asserts:

Relations with Shearith Israel in New York were very close, as were those between

Jamaica and other Spanish-Portuguese Jewish communities in North America—Newport,

Savannah, Philadelphia, and Charleston; in the area—Barbados, Curação, Nevis, and

Surinam; and in Europe, particularly in London, and North Africa” (Arbell 37).

Also, Delevante states, “The community in Jamaica maintained regular contact with the Holy

Land as well as with other Sepharadi communities in Amsterdam, London, New York and

Curação” (Delevante 52). Apparently, Ḥakham Carigal was influential in linking these

communities together.

A year later, he sailed to North America. He arrived at Philadelphia, and stayed there for a

month. Afterwards, he went to New York for five and half months. Next he went to Newport,

being the trading center of New England (Yaari 581). During his stay in Newport, he built a

beautiful relationship with theologian Ezra Stiles. During Stiles’ first visit to the synagogue

Yeshu’ath Israel, he beheld the majestic emissary, Ḥakham Carigal. He described the following

during the Purim morning service:

He was one of the two persons that stood by the ḥazan while the Book of Esther was 16

read. He was dressed in a red Garment with the usual phylacteries and habiliments, the

white silk Surplice; he wore a high brown fur Cap, had a long beard. He has the

appearance of an ingenious and sensible man (Stiles).

One can gain a sense of Stiles’ and Carigal’s friendship through their correspondence. Therein,

one can read about their theological and cultural discussions. Interestingly, one learns how open

and diplomatic was Ḥakham Carigal, being that he had visited various churches in Europe and

even sat through a sermon at Stiles’ church. It is through their correspondence that one learns

about Carigal’s travels.

Ḥakham Ḥayyim’s journey ends in Barbados. On the 21st of July, of the year 1773, Carigal sails

from Newport to Suriname. After having spent six months there, he leaves to Barbados, being the

Cantor.16

center of trade in the West Indies. Carigal was appointed as the Rabbi of the K”K Nidḥe Israel,

which had been without a Rabbi for 12 years, after the passing of their rabbi (Meir Cohen-

Belifante), on the 19th of June, of the year 1774. The world lost a great human during the

summer of 1777 in Barbados, when he passed (Yaari 582).

Liebman argues that earlier historians note that Carigal was sent the Americas to raise

fund for the Jewish community in Ḥebron. However, she believes that they ignore the religious

aspect of his missions. She believes that, “Sepharadi itinerant rabbis who traveled from the Holy

Land to the Diaspora during the eighteenth century had two intertwined missions: to raise funds

to support Torah scholars and Jews in the Holy Land and to ensure normative Sepharadi religious

practice in the Diaspora in the wake of the failed messianic movement of Shabbatai Ṣebi and the

ongoing return of conversos to the Sepharadi life” (Liebman 78). She argues further, “That one

of the goals of Carigal’s sermon is to meld the disjunctures between the communities’ fractured

identities and alliances. Notably, Carigal insists that the identity that unites all of the community

(the Kahal) is that of Rabbinic Judaism that supports the Jewish community in the Holy

Land” (Liebman 76). Thus, it is important to not limit Carigal’s career to an emissary who

collected funds, but to view him as a fundamental figure that worked the redemption of the

Jewish People (ibid 78).

Ḥakham Aharon Yehudah Corcos. Another emissary that made his way to the Caribbean in order

to collect funds, was Ḥakham Aharon Yehudah Corcos. The Corcos family was originally from

Spain and went to Italy and Morocco after the Expulsion. One of those branches left from Italy to

Egypt, then from Egypt to Jerusalem. It was in the holy city of Jerusalem that Corcos was born.

Not much is known about Ḥakham Corcos, with the exception that he came from a rabbinic

family. According to a source, Corcos sails to Curação, then to New York. He arrived to New

York on the 12th day of August 1823. He was given a letter written by Reverend Moses Levy

Maduro Peixotto, which detailed his predicament. His mission was to collect funds in order to

redeem his wife and six children, being captured by the Greeks in Turkey (Yaari 712). In the

minutes of K.K. Shearith Israel (New York), there is an entry that states, “1823…Discourse of

M.M. Noah to collect funds for Rabbi Aaron Corcos. $175 made up. Resolved to give him letter

to Cong. in Charleston” (Cong. Shearith Israel 167). A few things can be inferred from these

pieces of information: the dangers presented when traveling, that the Greeks posed a threat to

people traveling through the coastlands of Turkey, that Corcos had to travel to faraway lands to

appeal to the wealthier communities, and that he went to visit the Sepharadi community in

Charleston, South Carolina. In the nineteenth century, the Sepharadi communities of Curação

and New York were among the wealthiest. The Portuguese community, K.K. Beth Elohim was

founded in 1749 and founded the Hebrew Benevolent Society in 1784. In the initial decades of

the nineteenth century, this community was America’s wealthiest. Most of its members came

from England and the Caribbean islands and did business as merchants. The conclusion of

Ḥakham Corcos’ family was not recorded in any known sources.

THE ḤALUQAH SYSTEM IN NINETEENTH CENTURY JERUSALEM

In the nineteenth century, the American Jewish community became the destiny of the

meshulaḥim (Lehmann 35). There was a shift from the communities in Constantinople and the

Caribbean due to economic decline. Levy states that, “the decline of the Jewish economic upper

class of Ottoman Jewry resulted in the gradual impoverishment, materially and

spiritually…” (Levy 79). In the second half of the 1870s, there was a temporary crisis for the

building outside of the walls of Jerusalem. As the difficult economy prevailed in the Holy City,

the ḥaluqah money became more important for the building funds (Ben-Arieh 314). Most of the

land was purchased through the savings of apartment buyers, who were supported by ḥaluqah

money. Increasingly, the Greek Orthodox purchased large portions of land, where they did not

even build at all. Thus, there was a continuous competition between Jews and Christians over the

acquisition of lands (Ben-Arieh 320). Ben-Arieh asserts that the majority of the Jewish

population living outside of the walls was living on ḥaluqah money (ibid 326).

The development of the agricultural settlements towards the end of the 19th century

eventually paved the way for the Zionists to fight against the ḥaluqah system. As the Zionists

organized themselves in the Holy Land and in Europe, they increasingly attacked the ḥaluqah

system. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda was among the constant attackers. The ḥaredim in Jerusalem 17

informed the Turkish government that he was planning insurrection, after he had detailed the

corruption in the distribution of charity. The Zionists primarily opposed this distribution of

charity because they believed that Jews should be self-sufficient and engage in productive labor.

With the rise of Zionism, the ḥaluqah system waned. Modern technology would prove to be of

great help to contemporary yeshibah students throughout the Holy Land.

THE END OF AN ERA AND THE DAWN OF ANOTHER

The rise of satellite technology commenced the magical era of the internet. For centuries,

Jews traveled great distances in order to bring back charity to the Holy Land. When the internet

became accessible to the masses, many institutions began creating websites and adding a donate

Ulta-Orthodox Jews.17

button on their pages. Today, one can donate any amount through PayPal, Venmo, or the various

secured-payment applications available. Currently, crowdfunding is the trend for raising large

sums in a few hours. Once upon a time, letters were sent with emissaries across the globe. Now,

one can send emails in a matter of minutes. Such was the case when Ḥakham Yehonatan Elazar-

DeMota sent his sister-in-law, to study at a women’s seminary in Jerusalem. He managed to raise

thousands of dollars by sending emails and by using the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform on her

behalf. The campaign lasted a month. At the end of the designated time, enough money was

raised in order to provide for her room and board, and miscellaneous expenses. Moreover, he

managed to obtained holy books from Jerusalem and other religious articles from other Diaspora

communities. In a sense, he managed to create his own “Jerusalem” in the Dominican Republic

through the use of the internet.

Despite the advancements made in the recent decades, there is one thing that cannot be

substituted by technology, namely, sand from the Holy Land for the purposes of burial. No

matter how much the telecomunications may evolve, Diaspora Jews will continue to bury their

deceased with holy sand. Hence, this fact will serve as a reminder to all Jews that the return to

Ereṣ Israel is eventual and ever-present.

The rise of Zionism and the modern use of technology have essentially outdated the

ḥaluqah system. Film-making has overshadowed the glorious adventures of the meshulaḥim who

traveled enormous distances, away from their families, in order to preserve a remnant of

prayerful and Torah-observant Jews in the Holy Land. While this may be the case, one thing is

certain, and will remain constant—the Portuguese Hebrews of the Nação in the West Indies will

never be forgotten.

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