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Description
In many aspects, the Sephardi diaspora functioned as a combination of overlapping circulations and networks, its many levels of communication and interaction involving family ties, economic partnerships, and official intercommunal links. Whereas the question of intercommunal networks has recently attracted some topical studies, little attention has been paid to the articulation between these various levels of circulation and interaction. I propose to explore this idea of a multiplex diaspora through a selection of documents emanating from the Amsterdam and London Sephardic community, essentially letters, addressed to Bordeaux, Safed, Surinam and Ferrara : these documents describe several paradigmatic situations of interaction between communities and delineate networks of information, of halakhic authority, of diplomatic intercession. The articulation between merchant and community networks will be approached through the role played by two Sephardic community agents, Francisco Pereyra in London and Abraham da Costa in Amsterdam. The case of diplomatic interaction relates to the defence of Polish Jewry faced with ritual murder trials in 1753, and through the involvement of Polish communities, as well as various and Sephardic kehilot, it shows an instance of interconnection between Ashkenazic and Sephardic networks, thus allowing us to reflect on the broader issue of community and communication in the early modern Jewish world.
This presentation is for the following text(s):
- Copiador de cartas/Letter copybook (1): Resolution by the Mahamad of the congregation Shaar Hashamayim of London, 8 July 1705- 16 tammuz 5465.
- Copiador de cartas/Letter copybook (2): A letter to the parnassim of Kahal Kados Beraha Vesalom in Surinam by Abraham da Costa, 1723
- Copiador de cartas/Letter copybook (3): Letters from the Amsterdam parnassim to Bordeaux and Safed, 1728
- Copiador de cartas/Letter copybook (4): A letter from the Amsterdam parnassim to their financial agent in London, Francisco Pereyra, 1733.
- Copiador de cartas/Letter copybook (5): A Letter from Amsterdam to Ferrara on behalf of Polish Jews, 1753
Event Website
http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/emw/emw2010/
Start Date
17-8-2010 9:00 AM
Location
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
Included in
Diplomatic History Commons, European History Commons, History of Religion Commons, Jewish Studies Commons, Political History Commons, Social History Commons
Communication and community : multiplex networks in the 18th Century Sephardi Diaspora
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
In many aspects, the Sephardi diaspora functioned as a combination of overlapping circulations and networks, its many levels of communication and interaction involving family ties, economic partnerships, and official intercommunal links. Whereas the question of intercommunal networks has recently attracted some topical studies, little attention has been paid to the articulation between these various levels of circulation and interaction. I propose to explore this idea of a multiplex diaspora through a selection of documents emanating from the Amsterdam and London Sephardic community, essentially letters, addressed to Bordeaux, Safed, Surinam and Ferrara : these documents describe several paradigmatic situations of interaction between communities and delineate networks of information, of halakhic authority, of diplomatic intercession. The articulation between merchant and community networks will be approached through the role played by two Sephardic community agents, Francisco Pereyra in London and Abraham da Costa in Amsterdam. The case of diplomatic interaction relates to the defence of Polish Jewry faced with ritual murder trials in 1753, and through the involvement of Polish communities, as well as various and Sephardic kehilot, it shows an instance of interconnection between Ashkenazic and Sephardic networks, thus allowing us to reflect on the broader issue of community and communication in the early modern Jewish world.
This presentation is for the following text(s):
- Copiador de cartas/Letter copybook (1): Resolution by the Mahamad of the congregation Shaar Hashamayim of London, 8 July 1705- 16 tammuz 5465.
- Copiador de cartas/Letter copybook (2): A letter to the parnassim of Kahal Kados Beraha Vesalom in Surinam by Abraham da Costa, 1723
- Copiador de cartas/Letter copybook (3): Letters from the Amsterdam parnassim to Bordeaux and Safed, 1728
- Copiador de cartas/Letter copybook (4): A letter from the Amsterdam parnassim to their financial agent in London, Francisco Pereyra, 1733.
- Copiador de cartas/Letter copybook (5): A Letter from Amsterdam to Ferrara on behalf of Polish Jews, 1753
https://research.library.fordham.edu/emw/emw2010/emw2010/10
Comments
The Keynote Address and individual presentation audio files are also available through iTunes U