The JEWS OF NEW AMSTERDAM [Hardcover]

Costabel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 1988

Beginning in the 1500s in Europe and continuing through the settlement of what was to become New York, this tells the story of the descendants of Spanish and Portuguese Jews, their customs, and accomplishments. Full-color and black-and-white illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-4 The author/illustrator of A New England Village (1983) and The Pennsylvania Dutch (1986, both Atheneum) turns her attention to the entrance of a small Jewish population into the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam in 1654. Costabel discusses their flight from the Inquisition in Brazil; their introduction into the daily life of the colony; the conditions under which they lived; the trades that they were allowed to practice; and their adherence to to their religious traditions despite the fact that Stuyvesant did not allow them to build a synagogue. She concludes with the British takeover in 1664, adding that not until 1727 were the full benefits of citizenship allowed to Jewish members of the now-British colony. The information is compactly arranged in two-page units, most including a full-page illustration, either in color or pen and ink. Costabel's styleboth in her text and picturesis undistinguished, evoking the facts but not the feelings or events, but her information is well researched. Jacqueline Greene's Out of Many Waters (Walker, 1988) is an effective historical novel on this topic for older readers. Costabel's book serves to introduce the same subject to younger children in an entertaining, if not particularly inspiring, fashion. Christine Behrmann, New York Public Library
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum (September 30, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689313519
• ISBN-13: 978-0689313516
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #195,856 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Early discrimination, September 8, 2001

By 

Alyssa A. Lappen (Earth) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The JEWS OF NEW AMSTERDAM (Hardcover)

This book may be out of print, but my children's public school managed to acquire a few dozen copies--and a good thing too. It shows that even before there were slaves in America, there was discrimination.

The account of New York's early Jews begins with the suffering of the Marranos in Spain, the Spanish Inquisition and the Sephardim's flight to Brazil, where they lived for 150 years.

But when the Portugese captured Brazil from Holland, the Dutch and the Jews who had prospered under their rule were forced to leave.

Thus it was that Jacob Barimson arrived in New Amsterdam. Governor Peter Stuyvesant did not want Jews in his colony, but when the Sainte Catherine sailed into the harbor from the West Indies, the passengers included 23 Jews from Recife, Brazil. They had been shipwrecked and saved by the French vessel.

Back then, New York was God-forsaken, with only 750 inhabitants. With nothing to pay their passage, the Jews were jailed for penury. Stuyvesant wrote to his corporate headquarters--the Dutch West India Co.--requesting permission to expel the Jews, who were unwelcome (like Quakers, Baptists, Lutherans and Presbyterians).

The Jews petitioned the company to stay, and stay they did. Still, there was no equality. Jews couldn't travel to Fort Orange on the Hudson or down the Delaware River to trade. Their cemetery had to be outside the city walls, they could not own homes or shops, build a synagogue, join the army, or guard the city, though they were taxed for it anyway. In 1655, six Jewish families brought a Torah to New Amsterdam from Holland.

When the British took over, in 1664, they were allowed to form a congregation, Shearith Israel, and in 1730 they built the first Temple in New York.

---Alyssa A. Lappen