The Portuguese Jews of the Caribbean

Aviva Ben-Ur, Miriam Bodian, Judah M. Cohen, Eli Faber, Rachel Frankel, Noah Gelfand, Jane S. Gerber, Josette Capriles Goldish, Matt Goldish, Jonathan Israel, Stanley Mirvis, Gérard Nahon, Joanna Newman, Ronnie Perelis, Jackie Ranston, James Robertson, Jessica Roitman, Dale Rosengarten, Barry L. Stiefel, Hilit Surowitz-Israel, Karl Watson, Swithin Wilmot.

List of Illustrations
Note on Transliteration

Introduction
JANE S. GERBER

PART I The Historical Background of the Caribbean Sephardi Diaspora
1 The Formation of the Portuguese Jewish Diaspora
MIRIAM BODIAN
2 Amsterdam, Curaçao and the Rise of the Sephardi Trade System in the Caribbean (1630–1700)
JONATHAN ISRAEL
3 To Live and to Trade: The Status of Sephardi Mercantile Communities in the Atlantic World during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
NOAH GELFAND

PART II Authority and Community in the Dutch Caribbean
4 Amsterdam and the Portuguese Naçao of the Caribbean in the Eighteenth Century
GÉRARD NAHON
5 ‘A Flock of Wolves Instead of Sheep’: The Dutch West India Company, Conflict Resolution, and the Jewish Community of Curaçao in the Eighteenth Century
JESSICA ROITMAN
6 Religious Authority: An Americas Perspective
HILIT SUROWITZ-ISRAEL

PART III Material and Visual Culture
7 Jonkonnu and Jew: The Art of Isaac Mendes Belisario (1794–1849)
JACKIE RANSTON
8 Testimonial Terrain: The Cemeteries of New World Sephardim
RACHEL FRANKEL
9 The ‘Sacred Lights of Israel’: Synagogue Construction and Architecture in the British Caribbean
BARRY L. STIEFEL

PART IV Jews and Slave Society
10 The Cultural Heritage of Eurafrican Sephardi Jews in Suriname
AVIVA BEN-UR
11 Shifting Identities: Religion, Race, and Creolization among the Sephardi Jews of Barbados, 1654–1900
KARL WATSON
12 Sexuality and Sentiment: Concubinage and the Sephardi Family in Late Eighteenth-Century Jamaica
STANLEY MIRVIS
13 The ‘Confession made by Cyrus’ Reconsidered: Maroons and Jews during Jamaica’s First Maroon War (1728–1738/9)
JAMES ROBERTSON
14 Jewish Politicians in Post-Slavery Jamaica: Electoral Politics in the Parish of St Dorothy, 1849–1860
SWITHIN WILMOT

PART V Reassessing the Geographical Boundaries of Caribbean Jewry
15 The Parameters of Early American Jewish History
ELI FABER
16 Port Jews and Plantation Jews: Carolina–Caribbean Connections
DALE ROSENGARTEN

Part VI. Personal Narratives
17 The Strange Adventures of Benjamin Franks, an Ashkenazi Pioneer in the Americas
MATT GOLDISH
18 Daniel Israel López Laguna’s Espejo Fiel de Vidas (London, 1720) and the Ghost of Marrano Autobiography
RONNIE PERELIS
19 ‘My Heart is Grieved’: Grace Cardoze—A Life Revealed through Letters
JOSETTE CAPRILES GOLDISH

PART VII The Formation of Contemporary Caribbean Jewry
20 Refugees from Nazism in the British Caribbean
JOANNA NEWMAN
21 Inscribing Ourselves with History: The Production of Heritage in Today’s Caribbean Jewish Diaspora
JUDAH M. COHEN

Notes on Contributors
Index