Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Figures
- Note on Transliteration and Orthography
- Note on Monetary Units
- 1 Setting the Scene
- 2 Migration of the Poor
- 3 Demographic Outline
- 4 The Organization of Welfare
- 5 Financing Charity
- 6 The Motives behind Charity
- 7 The Daily Life of the Poor
- 8 Epilogue
- Appendices
- Glossary of Terms and Names
- Notes
- Archives Consulted
- Bibliography
- Index of Persons
- Index of Subjects
2 - Migration of the Poor
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Figures
- Note on Transliteration and Orthography
- Note on Monetary Units
- 1 Setting the Scene
- 2 Migration of the Poor
- 3 Demographic Outline
- 4 The Organization of Welfare
- 5 Financing Charity
- 6 The Motives behind Charity
- 7 The Daily Life of the Poor
- 8 Epilogue
- Appendices
- Glossary of Terms and Names
- Notes
- Archives Consulted
- Bibliography
- Index of Persons
- Index of Subjects
Summary
Introduction
The early modern period saw thousands of people, Jews among them, emigrate from their home countries and travel in search of a new life. Some were forced to leave by war, persecution, or economic difficulties; others were attracted by the work made available by new state or mercantile policies. Thus in the pre-industrial era an influx of migrants swelled the populations of many European cities.
Amsterdam was a very desirable destination for these travellers: during the Dutch Golden Age, a period running from the last decades of the sixteenth century up to the end of the seventeenth, the city made a great impression on newcomers, opening its doors wide in an effort to satisfy an urgent need for manpower, not only on the local labour market but also in its army, on the ships of its naval and commercial fleets, and in its overseas territories. For Jews in particular, Amsterdam was more attractive than other European cities. As early as 1627 Haham Saul Levi Morteira confronted his Amsterdam kahal with its privileged position and put it in a global perspective:
Where are the taxes of Venice? The censorship of books that exists throughout Italy? The seizing of children for forced conversions? The sign of the [Jewish] hat? The ghettos? The need to request permission [to remain]? Being shut away at the evil time [Holy Week]? Where is the derision shown towards Jews in Rome, [forced to] go out naked on their holidays, forced to attend their [Christian] services, forced to bow down to the Pope? Where are the blood libels of Poland? Where are the humiliations of Germany? Where are the hours when they prevent us from attending the [commercial] fairs? The entrances through which we may not walk, the wells from which we may not drink? Where is the harsh oppression of Turkey? The poll tax that is levied there? The cruelty of the gentiles? The fire thrown into houses? The deadly tortures connected with the manufacturing of their clothes? Where is the degradation of Barbary? Where is the youngster who will strike an old man? Where are the animal carcases which they compel us to remove from their paths? And much more of the same, that our brothers, the entire house of Israel, suffer throughout their dispersion in exile. But God has brought us out from there.
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- Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2012