A charitable gift is usually motivated not only by a desire to ease the plight of the poor, but also by one or more of a variety of factors to do with the donor's background. Portuguese Jews of early modern Amsterdam made donations for a wide range of motives that, as their circumstances and perspective shifted, became more or less salient over time and were reflected in an increasingly diverse pattern of charitable giving.

Charity Sustained by Piety

The driving force behind much charitable activity was religious: above all, a strong desire to do penance for sins and save souls—one's own and others’. This tendency reflected not only the influence of Jewish tradition, but also Christian (and Islamic, for that matter) experience and practice: in the words of Yaacov Lev, ‘monotheistic sacred charity, whether Jewish, Christian, or Islamic, displays many features common to them all’. Indeed, the terminology used by the Portuguese was in keeping more with the Catholic than with the Jewish framework. In their wills, Portuguese Jews referred much more frequently and in more outspoken terms than the Ashkenazim to charitable acts as a means of doing penance and expressing remorse. Amsterdam Ashkenazim, who had been born and reared as professing Jews and so did not have to make a religious about-face, were far less wont to speak of salvation, sins, and resurrection. True, as death approached they too turned their attention to charitable acts, but their benevolence was not explicitly formulated in terms of doing penance or the salvation of their souls. Having said that, members of all three traditions were aware of a multitude of sins for which charity might help atone.

Religious attitudes to charity were constantly reinforced by the study of sacred books, the sermons of the spiritual leaders, and the appeals of the lay authorities, all of which made frequent allusion to caring for the poor, extending hospitality, and taking responsibility for one's neighbour in the context of one's religious duties.

The reading of works of an ethical and religious character was greatly encouraged within the Portuguese community. Many traditional writings with charity as a theme were translated into Spanish and Portuguese to make them accessible to the congregation.