The Phoenix of Amsterdam: Sephardic Resilience in a 1612 Siddur

1612

Title page with text in various sizes and a drawing of a phoenix surrounded by a border of text. — The Jews of Amsterdam founded a thriving community after living almost a century as New Christians in Portugal. Their experience of religious oppression and Inquisitorial persecution shaped many aspects of the Jewish society they chose to build in their new home. They decided on the symbol of the phoenix, a mythic bird of fire that continually rises from its own ashes, as one of the main icons of their community. Here we see the phoenix on the title page of the second volume of a prayer book with the liturgy for the holidays of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. The title of the book reads, in Spanish: “Second part of the Siddur. Contains the holidays of Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot, and Shemini Atzeret (lit., eighth day). With all the things that, in them, one must say, at home and in the synagogue.” Surrounding the illustration of the phoenix are the words: “*Who is like You?*” (Exodus 15:11) and “Neve Shalom,” the name of the congregation for which the siddur was printed. Neve Shalom was one of three Sephardic congregations in Amsterdam. It was founded sometime between 1608 and 1612 and merged with the other two in 1639.

Credits

From Segunda parte del Sedur (Amsterdam: Isaac Franco, 1612), title page.

Portrait of Shabbetai Tzvi

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Print of man holding up tablets on mountain before crowd of people on top of page, people around long table in the middle of the page, Hebrew title in center, and people sitting around round table on the bottom of page.

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The frontispiece of this book of penitential prayers published in Amsterdam, Tikun li-kro’ laylah va-yom (A Tikkun to Read Day and Night) has a three-tiered illustration. The top level depicts Moses…

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Minhage de-kehilah ha-kedoshah Vormaiza (Customs of the Holy Community of Worms): On the Sabbath

27. On the eve of the Sabbath they light the oven in the home of the beadle, where they bake cakes and roast what is required for the Sabbath. They also boil the pots for the needs of…

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El Tiempo Celebrating 400 Years of Sephardic Life in the Ottoman Empire

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Psalm 126

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Discussion Questions

Why would this prayer book be in Spanish? What does that tell you about the community that used it?
Can you think of other Jewish communities that maintain a separate Jewish vernacular language?
Why is the phoenix an apt symbol for this community? What events in their historical experience would resonate with it? Is it an inspiring image for the community?