National Jewish Book Awards Winner
of the Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy for Sephardic Culture, 2012.

Early modern
Amsterdam was a prosperous city renowned for its relative tolerance, and many
people hoping for a better future, away from persecution, wars, and economic
malaise, chose to make a new life there. Conversos and Jews from many countries
were among them, attracted by the reputed wealth and benevolence of the
Portuguese Jews who had settled there. Behind the facade
of prosperity, however, poverty was a serious problem. It preoccupied the
leadership of the Portuguese Jewish community and influenced its policy on
admitting newcomers: the struggle to keep poverty under control and ensure that
finances were available for welfare was paramount.



Tirtsah
Levie Bernfeld looks at poverty and welfare from the perspective of both
benefactors and recipients. She analyses benefactors' motives for philanthropy
and charts its dimensions; she also examines the decision-making processes of
communal bodies and private philanthropists, identifying the cultural
influences that shaped their commitment to welfare. At the same time her
detailed study succeeds in bringing the poor to life: she examines what brought
them to Amsterdam, aspects of their daily life in the petitions they sent to
the different welfare institutions, and the survival strategies offered by
work, education, and charity. She also considers the related questions of
social mobility and the motivation of the poor for joining the Amsterdam
Portuguese community. Her research takes her, finally, beyond the margins of
the established community to the small but active groups of Sephardi bandits
who formed their own clandestine networks. Special attention is also paid to poor
women, whether arriving alone or left behind and sometimes heading small family
units, who were often singled out for relief. In this way the book makes a
much-needed contribution to the study of gender, in Jewish society and more
generally.



This
ground-breaking, multi-faceted study of the dynamics of the relationship
between the rich and the poor adds a nuanced new dimension to our understanding
of Jewish life in the early modern period.