Isaac Aboab da Fonseca | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Rabbi Isaac Aboab da Fonseca. This work is a translation of the Pentateuch into Spanish, with a commentary by Rabbi Fonseca. It was prepared for Jews in Dutch Brazil, who because of their Iberian heritage would be able to read Portuguese. | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | Simão da Fonseca (1605-02-01)February 1, 1605 |
| Died | April 4, 1693(1693-04-04) (aged 88) |
| Children | Judth Aboab da Fonseca and Rabbi David Aboab da Fonseca |
| Parents |
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| Dynasty | Aboab |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Judaism |
| Position | Rabbi |
| Synagogue | Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue |
| Began | 1642 |
| Ended | 1654 |
| Dynasty | Aboab |
Isaac Aboab da Fonseca (orIsaak Aboab Foonseca) (February 1, 1605 – April 4, 1693) was arabbi, scholar,kabbalist, and religious writer. In 1656, he was one of several elders within the Portuguese-Jewish community in Amsterdam and for a time inDutch Brazil before the Portuguese reconquest.[1] He was one of the religious leaders whoexcommunicated philosopherBaruch Spinoza in 1656.
Isaac Aboab da Fonseca was born into theAboab family in the Portuguese town ofCastro Daire as Simão da Fonseca. His family and parents wereConversos, Jews who had been forcibly converted to Christianity.[2][better source needed] Although the family had ostensibly converted to Christianity, this did not put an end to localantisemitic suspicions. In 1581, theDutch Republic secceded from theSpanish Empire, this caused significant immigration ofSepheradic Jews to theNetherlands. In 1603 it was made legal in the Netherlands to practiceJudaism in the open.[2] In 1612 When Isaac was seven, the family moved toAmsterdam. From that moment on, the family "reconverted" back toJudaism, and Isaac was raised as a Jew from that moment on. Together withManasseh ben Israel, hestudied under the scholar, doctor, poet and mathematicianIsaac Uziel, Uziel would open atalmudic school of his own.[1] Aboab and ben Israel disagreed in 1629 about writings byJoseph Solomon Delmedigo and there were lingering ill-feelings.[3]
At the age of eighteen, Isaac was appointedhakham (rabbi) for Beth Israel, one of three Sephardic communities in Amsterdam, which later merged. In order to be distinguished from his cousinIsaac ben Mattathiah Aboab, he added his mother's last name (da Fonseca) to his own.
In 1642, Aboab da Fonseca was invited byMoses Cohen Henriques appointed rabbi atKahal Zur Israel Synagogue inRecife, inPernambuco,Dutch Brazil.Portuguese Jews from Amsterdam were a significant segment of the European population there. Many had first emigrated toAmsterdam due to persecution by thePortuguese Inquisition and opportunities to pursue commerce in theAtlantic world. By becoming the rabbi of the Portuguese Jewish community in Recife, Aboab da Fonseca was also probably one of the first appointed rabbis of the Americas, along with his rabbinic companionMoses Raphael de Aguilar. Kahal Zur Israel congregation had a synagogue, amikveh and ayeshiva as well, one of the first in theNew World. Still during Fonseca's tenure as rabbi in Pernambuco, the Portuguese attacked the Dutch colony. The Portuguese who were animated in part by theJesuit priest who said "have their open synagogues there, to the scandal of Christianity" calling for the reconquest of the colony and the destruction of the Jews. The Portuguese re-occupied the capital ofRecife in 1654, after a struggle of nine years. The Jews fought alongside theDutch army which refused to surrender until the Portuguese guaranteed they would allow the safe passage of Jews.[2] Aboab then returned to Amsterdam. Some members of his community immigrated to North America and were among the founders ofNew Amsterdam.
Back in Amsterdam, Aboab da Fonseca was appointed Chief Rabbi for the Sephardic community. In 1656, he was one of several scholars who excommunicated philosopherBaruch Spinoza, whom Aboab knew first as a student in the yeshiva and then in the evening discussions whichSaul Levi Morteira, Menasseh, and Aboab oversaw.[4]
Aboab had mystical kabbalistic leanings, publishing texts on it. He was one of many fervent Sephardic supporters in Amsterdam 1665-66 of messianic figureSabbatai Zevi, until Sabbatai'sapostasy in September 1666.[5][6]
During the tenure of Aboab da Fonseca, the Sephardi community flourished. The construction of the newPortuguese Synagogue (theEsnoga) was prompted by a sermon delivered by him in 1671. It was inaugurated less than four years later, on August 2, 1675 (10Av 5435).[7]
Isaac Aboab da Fonseca died in Amsterdam on April 4, 1693, at the age of 88.
Aboab translated from Spanish into Hebrew the works of the kabbalistAbraham Cohen de Herrera,Sha'ar ha-Shamayim andBeit Elohim (Amsterdam, 1655).[6]
In 2007, the Jerusalem Institute (Machon Yerushalaim) in Israel published a book about Rabbi Fonseca's works, including the author's expositions about the community of Recife at that time. The book is calledChachamei Recife V'Amsterdam, orThe Sages of Recife and Amsterdam. The Dutch historianFranz Leonard Schalkwijk who researched the history of the Jews of the Dutch colony also wrote of Fonseca.
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