Identity Dilemmas: Nation, Religion and Race Among the Portuguese Jews from Holland to Colonial Brazil

Ronaldo Vainfas

doi:doi:10.11648/j.history.20210901.13

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Identity Dilemmas: Nation, Religion and Race Among the Portuguese Jews from Holland to Colonial Brazil

Ronaldo Vainfas

Published in History Research (Volume 9, Issue 1)

Received: 5 January 2021 Accepted: 22 January 2021 Published: 2 February 2021

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Abstract

This article discusses the identity dilemmas of the Sephardic community settled first in Amsterdam, after in the Colonial Brazil during the 17th century. It reviews the the classical historians dedicated to research on the Sephardic Diaspora in Early Modern History, like Arnold Wiznitzer, Daniel Swetschinsky, Jonathan Israel, Mirian Bodian and, mainly Yosef Kaplan, who proposed the concept of "new Jews" to designate the New Christians who returned to their ancestors Judaism in Amsterdam and Brazil. It is based on sources from the Kahal Kadosh Zur Israel, the Jewish congregation founded in the city of Recife under the Dutch rule during the 1630s, particularly the records and also the regulation of 1648. It analyses, mainly, several Holy office's charges against Jews who, during the Dutch rule in Brazil, converted themselves to Judaism, comiting the crime of apostasy from Catholicism. Many of them tried to scape from Pernambuco after the Dutch defeat, in 1654, but were catched by the Portuguese Inquisition during the 1650's and the 1660's. The focus of the discussion lies on the relationship between the concept of Men of the Nation (Gente da Nação in Portuguese) and religious and race identities adopted by this diasporic community. A community persecuted in for religious and racial reasons in the Iberian world, but that also owned his proper prejudices against some minorities, like the mulattos and the Ashkenazi Jews, whether in Holland, whether in Colonial Brazil.

Published in	History Research (Volume 9, Issue 1)
DOI	10.11648/j.history.20210901.13
Page(s)	21-30
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Sephardic, Men of the Nation, Judaism, Amsterdam, Dutch Brazil, Racial Prejudices, Conscience Dilemmas

References

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[2]	ASSIS, Ângelo. Macabeias coloniais: criptojudaísmo feminino na Bahia. São Paulo: Alameda, 2012.
[3]	BLUTEAU, Rafael. Vocabulário Português e Latino. Lisboa: Oficina de Pascoal da Silva, 1721.
[4]	BODIAN, Mirian. Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation. Conversos and community in early Modern Amsterdam. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1999.
[5]	BOER, Harm den. La literatura sefardí de Amsterdam. Alcalá: Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, 1995.
[6]	BRAUDEL, Fernand. O Mediterrâneo e o mundo mediterrânico na época de Filipe II. Lisboa: Martins Fontes, 1983.
[7]	CARNEIRO, Maria L. Tucci. Preconceito racial no Brasil Colônia. São Paulo: Brasiliense, 1983.
[8]	GORENSTEIN, Lina. A Inquisição contra as mulheres. São Paulo: Humanitas, 2005.
[9]	HASSAN, Iacob (org). Introducción a la Biblia de Ferrara. Madrid: Ediciones Siruela, 1994.
[10]	HERCULANO, Alexandre. História das origens e do estabelecimento da Inquisição em Portugal. Lisboa: Presença, 1979, 3 vols.
[11]	ISRAEL, Jonathan. The ‘Marrani’ in Italy, Greek lands and the Ottoman Near East (1540-1580). In: Diasporas within a Diaspora. Leiden-Boston-Köln: Brill, 2002.
[12]	LIPINER, Elias. Terror e linguagem: dicionário da Santa Inquisição. Lisboa: Círculo de Leitores, 1999.
[13]	NAHON, Gerard. “Exception française et réponse au modele ibérique: Marie de Médicis et la ‘Déclaration qui expulse les juifs du Royaume de France’ du 23 avril 1615”. In: Daniele Iancou-Agou (org.). L’expulsion des juifs de Provence et de l’Europe mediterranéee. Leuven: Peeters, 2005.
[14]	NETANYAHU, Benzion. Motivos o pretextos? La razón de la Inquisición. In: ALCALÁ, A. (org.) Inquisición Española y mentalidad inquisitorial. Barcelona: Ariel, 1984.
[15]	KAPLAN, Yosef. Judíos Nuevos en Amsterdam. Barcelona: Gedisa Editorial, 1996.
[16]	RITTER, Harry. Dictionary of concepts in history. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1986.
[17]	SALOMON, Herman P. Os primeiros Portugueses de Amsterdão. Documentos do Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, 1595-1606. Braga, 1983.
[18]	SCHWARTZ, Stuart. Cada um na sua lei: tolerância religiosa e salvação no mundo atlântico ibérico. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras/EDUSC, 2009.
[19]	SICROFFT, Albert. Los estatutos de limpieza de sangre. Madrid: Taurus, 1985.
[20]	SOARES, Mariza de Carvalho. Devotos da cor: identidade étnica, religiosidade e escravidão. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 2000.
[21]	SWETSCHINSKI, Daniel. Reluctant Cosmopolitans. The Portuguese Jews of seventeenth-century Amsterdam. Oxford: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2000.
[22]	VAINFAS, Ronaldo (org.). Confissões da Bahia. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1997.
[23]	VAINFAS, Ronaldo. Jerusalém colonial: judeus Portugueses no Brasil holandês. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 2010.
[24]	WIZNITZER, Arnold (ed). Actas das congregações Zur Israel, em Recife, e Maghen Abraham, em Maurícia, Brasil, 1648-1653. Anais da Biblioteca nacional do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro: Biblioteca Nacional, 1953, volume 74, 1953.
[25]	WIZNITZER, Arnold. Os judeus no Brasil Colonial. São Paulo: Pioneira, 1966.

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Ronaldo Vainfas. (2021). Identity Dilemmas: Nation, Religion and Race Among the Portuguese Jews from Holland to Colonial Brazil. History Research, 9(1), 21-30. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20210901.13

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Ronaldo Vainfas. Identity Dilemmas: Nation, Religion and Race Among the Portuguese Jews from Holland to Colonial Brazil. Hist. Res. 2021, 9(1), 21-30. doi: 10.11648/j.history.20210901.13

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Ronaldo Vainfas. Identity Dilemmas: Nation, Religion and Race Among the Portuguese Jews from Holland to Colonial Brazil. Hist Res. 2021;9(1):21-30. doi: 10.11648/j.history.20210901.13

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@article{10.11648/j.history.20210901.13,
  author = {Ronaldo Vainfas},
  title = {Identity Dilemmas: Nation, Religion and Race Among the Portuguese Jews from Holland to Colonial Brazil},
  journal = {History Research},
  volume = {9},
  number = {1},
  pages = {21-30},
  doi = {10.11648/j.history.20210901.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20210901.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.history.20210901.13},
  abstract = {This article discusses the identity dilemmas of the Sephardic community settled first in Amsterdam, after in the Colonial Brazil during the 17th century. It reviews the the classical historians dedicated to research on the Sephardic Diaspora in Early Modern History, like Arnold Wiznitzer, Daniel Swetschinsky, Jonathan Israel, Mirian Bodian and, mainly Yosef Kaplan, who proposed the concept of "new Jews" to designate the New Christians who returned to their ancestors Judaism in Amsterdam and Brazil. It is based on sources from the Kahal Kadosh Zur Israel, the Jewish congregation founded in the city of Recife under the Dutch rule during the 1630s, particularly the records and also the regulation of 1648. It analyses, mainly, several Holy office's charges against Jews who, during the Dutch rule in Brazil, converted themselves to Judaism, comiting the crime of apostasy from Catholicism. Many of them tried to scape from Pernambuco after the Dutch defeat, in 1654, but were catched by the Portuguese Inquisition during the 1650's and the 1660's. The focus of the discussion lies on the relationship between the concept of Men of the Nation (Gente da Nação in Portuguese) and religious and race identities adopted by this diasporic community. A community persecuted in for religious and racial reasons in the Iberian world, but that also owned his proper prejudices against some minorities, like the mulattos and the Ashkenazi Jews, whether in Holland, whether in Colonial Brazil.},
 year = {2021}
}

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PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20210901.13
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T2  - History Research
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AB  - This article discusses the identity dilemmas of the Sephardic community settled first in Amsterdam, after in the Colonial Brazil during the 17th century. It reviews the the classical historians dedicated to research on the Sephardic Diaspora in Early Modern History, like Arnold Wiznitzer, Daniel Swetschinsky, Jonathan Israel, Mirian Bodian and, mainly Yosef Kaplan, who proposed the concept of "new Jews" to designate the New Christians who returned to their ancestors Judaism in Amsterdam and Brazil. It is based on sources from the Kahal Kadosh Zur Israel, the Jewish congregation founded in the city of Recife under the Dutch rule during the 1630s, particularly the records and also the regulation of 1648. It analyses, mainly, several Holy office's charges against Jews who, during the Dutch rule in Brazil, converted themselves to Judaism, comiting the crime of apostasy from Catholicism. Many of them tried to scape from Pernambuco after the Dutch defeat, in 1654, but were catched by the Portuguese Inquisition during the 1650's and the 1660's. The focus of the discussion lies on the relationship between the concept of Men of the Nation (Gente da Nação in Portuguese) and religious and race identities adopted by this diasporic community. A community persecuted in for religious and racial reasons in the Iberian world, but that also owned his proper prejudices against some minorities, like the mulattos and the Ashkenazi Jews, whether in Holland, whether in Colonial Brazil.
VL  - 9
IS  - 1
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Author Information

Ronaldo Vainfas

Department of History, State University of Rio de Janeiro, S?o Gon?alo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Ronaldo Vainfas. (2021). Identity Dilemmas: Nation, Religion and Race Among the Portuguese Jews from Holland to Colonial Brazil. History Research, 9(1), 21-30. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20210901.13

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ACS Style

Ronaldo Vainfas. Identity Dilemmas: Nation, Religion and Race Among the Portuguese Jews from Holland to Colonial Brazil. Hist. Res. 2021, 9(1), 21-30. doi: 10.11648/j.history.20210901.13

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AMA Style

Ronaldo Vainfas. Identity Dilemmas: Nation, Religion and Race Among the Portuguese Jews from Holland to Colonial Brazil. Hist Res. 2021;9(1):21-30. doi: 10.11648/j.history.20210901.13

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.history.20210901.13,
  author = {Ronaldo Vainfas},
  title = {Identity Dilemmas: Nation, Religion and Race Among the Portuguese Jews from Holland to Colonial Brazil},
  journal = {History Research},
  volume = {9},
  number = {1},
  pages = {21-30},
  doi = {10.11648/j.history.20210901.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20210901.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.history.20210901.13},
  abstract = {This article discusses the identity dilemmas of the Sephardic community settled first in Amsterdam, after in the Colonial Brazil during the 17th century. It reviews the the classical historians dedicated to research on the Sephardic Diaspora in Early Modern History, like Arnold Wiznitzer, Daniel Swetschinsky, Jonathan Israel, Mirian Bodian and, mainly Yosef Kaplan, who proposed the concept of "new Jews" to designate the New Christians who returned to their ancestors Judaism in Amsterdam and Brazil. It is based on sources from the Kahal Kadosh Zur Israel, the Jewish congregation founded in the city of Recife under the Dutch rule during the 1630s, particularly the records and also the regulation of 1648. It analyses, mainly, several Holy office's charges against Jews who, during the Dutch rule in Brazil, converted themselves to Judaism, comiting the crime of apostasy from Catholicism. Many of them tried to scape from Pernambuco after the Dutch defeat, in 1654, but were catched by the Portuguese Inquisition during the 1650's and the 1660's. The focus of the discussion lies on the relationship between the concept of Men of the Nation (Gente da Nação in Portuguese) and religious and race identities adopted by this diasporic community. A community persecuted in for religious and racial reasons in the Iberian world, but that also owned his proper prejudices against some minorities, like the mulattos and the Ashkenazi Jews, whether in Holland, whether in Colonial Brazil.},
 year = {2021}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Identity Dilemmas: Nation, Religion and Race Among the Portuguese Jews from Holland to Colonial Brazil
AU  - Ronaldo Vainfas
Y1  - 2021/02/02
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20210901.13
DO  - 10.11648/j.history.20210901.13
T2  - History Research
JF  - History Research
JO  - History Research
SP  - 21
EP  - 30
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2376-6719
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20210901.13
AB  - This article discusses the identity dilemmas of the Sephardic community settled first in Amsterdam, after in the Colonial Brazil during the 17th century. It reviews the the classical historians dedicated to research on the Sephardic Diaspora in Early Modern History, like Arnold Wiznitzer, Daniel Swetschinsky, Jonathan Israel, Mirian Bodian and, mainly Yosef Kaplan, who proposed the concept of "new Jews" to designate the New Christians who returned to their ancestors Judaism in Amsterdam and Brazil. It is based on sources from the Kahal Kadosh Zur Israel, the Jewish congregation founded in the city of Recife under the Dutch rule during the 1630s, particularly the records and also the regulation of 1648. It analyses, mainly, several Holy office's charges against Jews who, during the Dutch rule in Brazil, converted themselves to Judaism, comiting the crime of apostasy from Catholicism. Many of them tried to scape from Pernambuco after the Dutch defeat, in 1654, but were catched by the Portuguese Inquisition during the 1650's and the 1660's. The focus of the discussion lies on the relationship between the concept of Men of the Nation (Gente da Nação in Portuguese) and religious and race identities adopted by this diasporic community. A community persecuted in for religious and racial reasons in the Iberian world, but that also owned his proper prejudices against some minorities, like the mulattos and the Ashkenazi Jews, whether in Holland, whether in Colonial Brazil.
VL  - 9
IS  - 1
ER  -

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