David Nieto and Some of his Contemporaries

<plain_text><page sequence="1">THE JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND. David Nieto and some of his Contemporaries. By Israel Solomons. Paper read before the Jewish Historical Society of England, March 15, 1915. [Editorial Note : Mr. Israel Solomons was a noted bibliophile who formed a collection of Anglo-Judaica, especially strong in pamphlets, prints and portraits, for the study of the modern period. He con? tributed two papers to the Transactions (" The Jews' Naturalisation Bill of 1753/' vol. vi., and " Lord George Gordon," vol. vii.). At the time of his death, in July 1923, he was engaged in completing the bibliography of the writings of Haham David Nieto, and the final revision of this paper was carried out by Dr. Lionel D. Barnett, Dr. C. Duschinsky, Dr. Cecil Both, Mr. Elkan N. Adler and Mr. J. M. Kich. The collections mentioned in this paper have now been dispersed, those of Mr. Solomons and Mr. Elkan Adler having gone to the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, whilst most of the MSS. formerly in the possession of Haham Dr. M. Gaster are in the British Museum.] One of the most eminent of the Babbis who have ministered to a Jewish Congregation in this country was unquestionably David, son of Phineas Nieto. He was born in the city of Venice on Sunday, the 29th day of Tebeth 5414 (January 18, 1654).1 Little is known of his family history 1 Dr. M. Gaster, in his " Presidential Address," Transactions, vii. 299, gives 28 Tebeth 1658 as the date of birth. VOL. XII. B</page><page sequence="2">2 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. or early career. In a volume of Responsa,2 by Samuel Aboab, the Haham of Venice (1650-1690), No. 180, dated 1674, is headed " To R. Phineas Nieto," at Rome,3 and No. 192, undated, bears the same super? scription. Dr. Meyer Kayserling, in a footnote to page 76 of his Biblio teca Espanola-Portugueza-Judaica, 1890, suggests that he was probably the father of our Haham.4 Francisco da Silva, in a paragraph on " David Neto" in his Diccionario Bibliographico Portuguez, i. 128, suggested that his parents were New Christians, who had fled from Portugal in consequence of the persecutions under Dom Pedro II (brother of Queen Catherine, the consort of our Charles II). The Nietos may have been Portuguese Marranos, but it is obvious that, as they were already settled in Venice in 1654, when the future Haham first saw the light, the persecution under the rule of Dom Pedro was not the cause of their emigration. David Neto, a physician, who died April 6, 1617, one of the first Presidents of the first synagogue in Amsterdam, and Abraham de Joseph Netto, a printer at Venice circa 1622 (Kayserling, ibid., p. 76), were probably related to them. The Rev. Daniel Lysons, in his Environs of London, 1735, iii. 478, writes that Mr. Daniel T. de Castro, the Secretary of the Bevis Marks Synagogue, informed him that Nieto had studied at the University of Padua, where, on account of his religion, he took his degree in Physic. In a Hebrew letter to Christian Theophilus Unger (1671-1719),5 theologian and bibliophile, dated Tamuz 5479 (now in the Stadtbiblio thek, Hamburg), Nieto writes that before coming to London he resided in Leghorn, exercising the functions of Dayan, Preacher, and Physician, and there in the year 1693 composed a work in Italian, his native language, entitled Pascalogia. It is a discourse about Easter, in which are shown the reasons for the discrepancies in the time of its celebration between the Greek and Latin Churches as well as between these and the Hebrew Synagogue. From the introduction " Al Benigno Lettore " we gather that the work was occasioned by the celebration of the Easter of the Roman Church on March 22 and of Passover on April 21 in the 2 VfcO?ttf -DT *1D0 Venice, 1702. 3 fl?T)1? W?a DJ12D YTD1? [4 According to a document in the collection of Dr. Cecil Roth, Phineas Nieto was in 1657 a member of the Mahamad (governing body) of the Portuguese com? munity in Rome.] 5 See p. 38.</page><page sequence="3">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 3 year 1693, contrary to the usual occurrence, which is that Passover precedes Easter. The Pascalogia is divided into five parts, in the form of dialogues between " Pascalogo " and " Filomate." The first dialogue treats of the " Explanation of the Terms necessary for the understanding of the work." The second, " Of the differences which have occurred between the Universal Church and the Synagogue con? cerning the time of the celebration of Easter from the Council of Nice in 325 to the date of the Gregorian Keformation, 1582." The third, " Of the discrepancies which have arisen between the Church and the Synagogue, concerning the time of celebrating Easter, from the year of the Gregorian Keformation 1582, to the year 1700 exclusive." The fourth, " Of the new differences which will arise between the Church and the Synagogue concerning Easter, from the year 1700 exclusive, and so on in perpetuity." The fifth, " In which are shown the grave discrepancies which have arisen and will arise between the Latin and Greek Churches concerning the time for the celebration of Easter, since the Gregorian Keformation." The dedication, dated from Leghorn, March 2, 1700, is addressed to Cardinal Francesco Maria de' Medici.6 It is pleasing to note the amicable relations of Rabbi and Cardinal at this early stage of the eighteenth century. Nieto brought the manuscript with him to London when he came over to fill the office of Haham at the Bevis Marks Synagogue, and he had it printed here in the year 1702.7 It was his purpose to conceal the origin of the work, and, in the letter to Unger, he writes that the author and the city were considered heretical, and therefore " Colonia " (Cologne) was substituted for London on the title-page, as he was under the appre? hension that the Christians in Italy would otherwise not receive it favourably. This argument would have been convincing had it been an anonymous or pseudonymous work, but as the imprint proclaims the author to be David Nieto, Kabbi and Professor of Medicine, the sub? stitution of " Colonia " for " London " seems inconsequent and purpose? less. Neither can I appreciate why " Colonia " was supposed to avert suspicion ; surely there were other cities in Europe whose loyalty to Kome was absolute. The dedication to a high dignitary of the Church, 6 Third son of Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1670 to 1723. 7 Dr. Gaster, ut supra, p. 301, gives 1704.</page><page sequence="4">4 david nieto and some of his contemporaries. which one may surmise was accepted, should have been a sufficient guarantee as to the orthodoxy of the work for followers of the Roman Catholic faith. My copy, I am inclined to think, was the author's own. It is ex? quisitely bound in contemporary red morocco, with gold gauffered edges. The gold tooling of the cover is in the Harleian manner; upon it is impressed " david neto " in gold letters. The spelling of the author's name, which means grandson or descendant, varies. Neto is Portuguese, Nieto 8 is Spanish, but Neto has been frequently used by the family, and occasionally it is spelt Nietto. In 1765 Isaac de Pas 9 issued a second edition at Leghorn, in the preface of which he writes : " Most benignant reader, it has seemed to me that I could do nothing more conducive to the public welfare, than to reprint the Pascalogia of David Nieto, Rabbi, and doctor of medicine, one of the most celebrated authors of his century, by whom it was given to the world in the year 1702. By the sublimity of its conceptions and the erudition of its period, it has deserved the esteem of all those who have a perfect discernment of the subject of which it treats, the proof whereof is that copies of this work are ever very scarce because everyone wishes to possess it; therefore for the advantage of all, and encouraged by those best qualified to do so, I resolved to issue a fine new edition. I must first caution you not to be surprised when in reading this work you find the word pasca times out of number when according to the present usage it should be pasqua, but I was minded not to alter so much as a syllable of what I found written in the first edition, and therefore I thought proper to use the same word as the author, calling it Pasca, as it was likewise called by the Greeks and Latins, which word is not derived from the Greek word Ilacr^a as Lactantius imagined but rather from the Hebrew word nOD as others maintain; leaving your subtle wits to discover the true arguments?May you live in happiness." The first edition is very scarce?only a few copies exist, and these are in the large public libraries ; but of the second edition, which is first alluded to by Giovanni Bernardo de' Rossi (1742-1831), the biblio? grapher, in his Dizionario Storico degli Autori Ebrei, 1802, ii. 78, no copy is to be found in any public library, and it is evidently rarer 8 Under the name of " David Nieto Redivivus," Heinrich Deutsch published Beleuchtung der Dogmentheorie. Leipzig, 1871. * See Dr. M. Kayserling's Biblioteca Espanola-Portugueza-Judaica, p. 85 (where, however, there is no mention of the Pascalogia).</page><page sequence="5">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 5 than the first edition. I have traced two copies in private collec? tions, one in the library of Mr. E. N. Adler and another in that of Dr. Samuele Colombo, Chief Rabbi of Leghorn. A transcription of this edition, from the Almanzi Collection, is in the British Museum MSS. department. (Add : 27, 226.) Haham Abraham Benedetto Piperno (1793-1863) published a collection of Hebrew poems by Italian Jews, entitled V)p [Leghorn, 1846]. In the notes and additions on p. 78 he states that Nieto was n?Dn TWiH T\TVP ttNH (an institution no longer extant) in Leghorn; and that a tablet10 still exists there upon which are pictured a light and two hands kindling a taper from it; and below it a Hebrew poem, which is printed in the notes and additions, appealing to the wealthy to support the Study of the Law, signed and dated, T'inn TWD ]'"T. ]""T are the initial letters of the author's name, l?^ TTT. This is the first instance (1694) of this pen-name, which subsequently became famous by his works, p H?? and p uytf ? The first six lines of the poem rhyme alternately, and end in a rhymed couplet. I have found a coloured sketch of the design and the poem in the British Museum [MS. Or 8140], in a collection of manuscript poems and riddles formerly bound up with some of Nieto's printed sermons, etc. There are very slight variations in the poem, and the sketch has the additional inscription, TIN mim mSfc and on a label behind the light, -JOHN KV, which give the design meaning. The whole is enclosed in a double-lined square, and signed as in the Leghorn tablet, *?d3x ]'"T, but without the date. There are six other pages of poems and riddles, some without a signature, and others signed *?d3k p and *?d3x p p. They were missed by the British Museum cataloguer, and first referred to in the late Dr. Michael Friedl?nder's biography of David Nieto in the Dictionary of National Biography, 1905.11 With the exception of a few lines in Spanish Rabbinical script, all the poems and riddles are in square characters, apparently the work of a professional scribe. The first page is headed : : mtrr? -pn man m pm? *atro rvnrwi mim kVi nrnn rrns 10 Dr. Carlo Bernheimer of Leghorn has kindly, at my request, made searching inquiries for this tablet, but without success. It apparently has been destroyed. 11 But see Gaster, History of the Ancient Synagogue, 1901, pp. 102^.</page><page sequence="6">6 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. This riddle consists of thirty-four double lines in rhyme, followed on p. 2 by six lines rhyming alternately, ending with a rhymed couplet. This is unsigned, but is probably by a son of David Nieto, as the poems following on the same page are signed ?ojk p p. They consist of four poems on the occasion of the enlargement and decora? tion of a synagogue at Tetuan (Morocco). The first three consist of rhymed couplets, the first on the Ark, the second on the building of the House (of God), the third on the Eeading-desk; the fourth poem consists of six lines rhyming alternately and ending with a rhymed couplet, on the completed Synagogue. The donors were Jacob Cansino, who defrayed the cost of the Ark; Jacob Dias Arias and Emanuel Senior, who paid for the rebuilding and enlargement, and the 0*mn3 Phineas 12 and Isaac, the sons of H.H. . . . David Nieto, who pre? sented the Reading-desk in the year (5)408 = 1720. The dedication took place on a Sabbath, the 13th of II Adar, 5480. It is from here we gather that the Haham had a son Phineas, named after his own father. Page 3 is headed nmiS KTJ nKtl IYW *p HTnn miS, which is enclosed in a parallelogram with a very finely executed coloured border. It is a riddle on the Greek letter Chi, consisting of twenty-five double lines in rhyme signed *03tf p. The fourth page is headed mis dh?i? ?pk ??warn ? iwrn wp on ^a nrnn, a riddle set forth in twenty-eight double lines of rhyme extending on to the fifth page, also signed ?ojk p. Underneath this is the coloured sketch of the design on the tablet in Leghorn referred to above. This is followed on the same page by a poem of six lines rhyming alternately and ending with a rhymed couplet, again signed *02N p, apparently on the dedication of a synagogue, perhaps the one at Tetuan mentioned previously; it is headed: thV nVnn min1? ti?t?i ? msn bnpb ? mvb nat *?nn. On the sixth page are a number of epitaphs. The first is on H.H. Raphael Supino of Leghorn, consisting of six lines rhyming alternately, ending in a rhymed couplet; the second on Judah del Medico of Leghorn, con? sisting of a rhymed couplet; the third on Raphael Crispin, consisting 12 A Phineas Nieto appears as a subscriber to A New English Translation of the Pentateuch. . . . By Isaac Delgado, Teacher of the Hebrew language. Lon? don : . . . m.dcc.lxxxix. 4to, 11.+ xiv + 239 pp. (my collection). He, how? ever, was probably a son of Haham Isaac Nieto.</page><page sequence="7">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 7 of five double lines in rhyme; the fourth on Moses Vigevena, con? sisting of six double lines in rhyme ; the fifth on David Franco Mendes, consisting of four double lines in the alliterative style. The seventh page ends with an epitaph on H.R. Daniel Perez, consisting of nine double lines in rhyme. Two of these epitaphs have reference to persons buried in Leghorn, and although neither these nor the others bear any signature, I think we may assume that they were composed by Nieto in honour of certain distinguished men of that congregation, where he was Dayan before coming to London.13 In Piperno's volume, Vlp, referred to before, the first poem is headed in thh?d1?. It consists of ten eight-lined stanzas, the first six lines of each stanza rhyming alternately and ending in a rhymed couplet. In it the learned Haham bewails the neglect of the Muse. In the notes and additions, p. 78, the editor writes that he has other poems of Nieto, and would publish them, God willing, in a second volume. I am afraid this was never done, and I wonder where these poems are now.14 The Library of the Seminary o^n *^S7 of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam possesses a Responsum on business matters by Nieto, dated towards the end of 1700 ; he was then still Dayan in Leghorn. The last lines read : (Gen. ix. 9) p'D1? DDhX TVnn DN D^pD 'Wl rWll "HOD ynn ptn mVrni m-n&amp;n Triam yf?m to Another is on a discrepancy in Maimonides between vd 'd n?nn rroVn and t"? 'd nmoa rvrVsx? rvoVn [13 Daniel Perez was for 11 years, however, a teacher ("Ruby") to the London Congregation (Gaster, op. cit. p. 153). He was buried at Mile End in the autumn of 1715 (Bevis Marks Burial Register). John Strype in his 1720 edition of Stow's Survey of London (Vol. II, p. 100) prints the Hebrew epitaph of Perez (ob. August 30, 1715) together with a Latin translation, both of which had been furnished to him by Nieto. A David Franco Mendes had been interred at Mile End in the autumn of 1706. For Raphael Supino, see Roth's "New Light on the Resettlement" in Transactions, xi.] [u An attempt was made to trace them by Dr. Cecil Roth in 1923, but without success.]</page><page sequence="8">8 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. The last lines are : in??1? nm p nrnV nsnn "isa in? nm hd imam mawa *wk \t ivdt fpV win fan This one is undated, but both were transcribed in the Spanish Rabbinical script in 1767 by David Franco Mendes [1713-1792] and bound up in one of the series, published by the Seminary,15 entitled o^n nD rvnp. In the year 1701, Solomon Judah ben Jacob Ayllon (1664 (1660 ?) April 10, 1728), the Haham of the Bevis Marks Synagogue, vacated the office, having accepted a similar position in Amsterdam. On the fourth of Sivan 5461 (1701), a letter was addressed to the Haham Rabbi David Nieto of Leghorn, by the Mahamad?Isaac Israel Correa, Isaac Lopes Pereira, Abraham Vaes Martines, Isaac Israel Henriques, and Mordecai Francia, Gabbai?offering him the post if he would confine his energies to the spiritual needs of his flock and no more practise the healing art as he did at Leghorn.16 (Gaster's History of the Ancient Synagogue, 1901, p. 102.) He arrived in London towards the end of EM 1701,17 and was then in his forty-eighth year. On the 29th Kislev 5462 == December 19/30, 1701, following, he published a quarto pamphlet in Spanish, his first literary effort in this country. The English version of the introductory lines reads : "A fervid and humble prayer addressed to the Great and Omnipotent God of Israel by the Congregation of Jews in London, in which they implore the assistance and help of Heaven at the Deliberations of His Majesty the Invincible King William III, their Sovereign, of his Supreme Council, and of both the Chambers of his August Parliament." It is without the conventional title-page and without the writer's name ; none the less there is little doubt as to its authorship. The British 15 Information from J. S. da Silva Rosa, sub-librarian of the CPTI f 5? Seminary at Amsterdam. 16 Eliakim Carmoly, in Histoire des Medecins Juifs Anciens et Modernes, i. 227, and Dr. Michael Friedl?nder, in his biography of David Nieto in the Dictionary of National Biography, state that he did continue to practise medicine in London. 17 Goodman Lipkind, in his biography of David Nieto in the Jewish Encyclo? pedia, and Dr. M. Seligsohn, in his biography in the Hebrew Encyclopedia, "ISDN *?N*1t2T, state that he received a call to London in 1702.</page><page sequence="9">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 9 Museum copy is apparently a special one, printed on stout paper, and is bound up with several other tracts, and the manuscript poems and riddles I have referred to. This volume was probably the author's own copy, and from an inscription in Portuguese on one of the blank preliminary leaves, it apparently passed into the possession of one of his sons, who has written Foi Ds de Israel recolher a meu Amado Pae de esta . . . n? em 29 de Tebeth 5414 j s? em 29 de Tebeth 5488 J Sua Santa Gloria18 The only other copy known is in the collection of Mr. Lucien Wolf, from the library of the well-known scholar and bibliophile, the late Haim Guedalla. On the second day of Passover 5463 (1703) Nieto delivered a sermon on the following texts : Psal. Ixviii. 6 : Wlp ]w?3 DVtVk IV??Vx pi d^VT? x"d Tibm mod: riV1 iV*o niron vbv nVs?? wa -pm Dirr Vnan in celebration of his appointment as " Ros Yessiva " and the founding of the first Jewish orphan asylum in this country, which institutions were named " Sahare Ora Vaavi Ietomim." It is dedicated to the "Parnassim," Abraham de Mercado and Isaac Senior Henriques. and the " Tesorero " Isaac Jesurun Mendez. On the Sabbath, the 28th of Nissan following, one of the orphans, Isaac Henriques Lopes, gave an oration, and the " Talmidim Moseh,19 e Yshac 20 Nieto, Hijos del Senor Haham," held forth in a " Dialogue in the' Yessiva ' of the Institution on the texts "? Leviticus xi. 44: Wlp Orpm DDttnpnm r\rh ms? irVtt in??m naxw msan *?d hid npis nVipw *?ox m im x"d n"i roo? : msa kVk 10x2 x1? mso rwa Vpwn nur?1?? irVs? 18 " The God of Israel gathered unto Him my beloved Father from this . . . born on 29 Tebeth 5414 j _ buried on 29 Tebeth 5488 J His Sacred Glory." 19 Born at Leghorn Iyar 1, 5446 (April 25, 1686) (extract from the Synagogue Archives by Dr. Carlo Bernheimer) ; buried at Mile End, 2 Elul 5501 (1741), No. 23 Settima Carera Grande (extract from the Be vis Marks Synagogue Burial Register). 20 For Isaac Nieto, see Appendix I.</page><page sequence="10">10 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. Only two copies of this sermon can be traced. One is in the British Museum, and the other in the collection of Mr. Lucien Wolf (from the library of the late Haim Guedalla). James Picciotto, in his Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History, 1875, p. 151, refers to a Moses Netto, who begged permission of the Mahamad to publish a translation of the prayer book in English, and was refused. I am inclined to think that he is identical with the son of the Haham. The following year was one of stress and storm for the learned Haham. On the Sabbath, when the portion of the law was " Vaiesseb Jahacob" 21 (23 Kislev 546422 = November 20, 1703), he delivered a discourse in the Yesiba on the subject of " Divine Providence." Many of his hearers were alarmed at the doctrines expounded. It was pantheism, it was in accord with the philosophical speculations of Spinoza, it was rank heresy, they contended. Dissensions arose in the congrega? tion.23 On the 6th of II Adar following, a Mr. Joshua Zarfatti,24 a guest at the wedding of a Mr. David de Avila, declined to enter the house, as he refused to be under the same roof as the Haham, con? sidering him to be a heretic. This he told Mr. Moses de Medina, another of the guests, who reported it to the Gentlemen of the Mahamad. Zarfatti was sent for, reiterated his charges, and challenged them to submit the matter to any congregation in Israel. If in the wrong, he would be willing to forfeit ?100.25 His challenge was declined, and it was announced from the Tebah that he would not be permitted to enter the Synagogue. He called on the Parnassim to protest against his exclusion from a building towards whose erection he had contributed.26 He was told that he did not understand the sermon, and that he had better put his case in writing before the next meeting of the Mahamad. 21 Gaster's " Presidential Address," loc. cit., p. 300, gives " Shabbat Vayetse." 22 Carmoly in his biography of David Nieto (Histoire des Medecins Juifs) states that this occurred in 1712, and Gaster's History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 106, gives 5420 (1760) as the date. 23 George Alexander Kohut, in " Early Jewish Literature in America," p. 112, vol. iii. Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, 1895, writes, " David Nieto was temporarily deprived of his office on the suspicion of Spinozism in his discourses." 24 Buried at the Bet Holim ground, " Principio de la 16 Carera," Jeosuah Sarphaty 23 Tebeth 5583. Folio 21, Bevis Marks Synagogue Burial Register. 25 Relacion del Caso de Jehosuah Zarfatti. 26 Gaster's History of the Ancient Synagogue, subscription lists, pp. 74, 76, 78, 92, 94 and 96.</page><page sequence="11">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 11 This he did, and the matter was discussed, but the Parnass, Mr. Jacob Nunes Miranda, returned the document, telling him to go to the Haham, who would satisfy his scruples. To this he objected, and was therefore declared to be no longer a Yahid of the congregation. The petition, which was subsequently printed with other papers in connection with the case, is dated London, 6th Ab 5464.27 Zarfatti, in his petition, says : " I have this day come to learn that the said Haham has presented to you Gentlemen the said pro? positions proved by numerous passages from the Holy Law. ... It is just and right that you Gentlemen furnish me a copy of the said document." This was the famous treatise De la Divina Providentia. It was printed a few weeks after Zarfatti's petition in the month of Elul by " James Dover en Tower Hill." It is in the form of two "Dialogues" between "Reuben" and " Simhon." The subject is identical with that of the alleged heretical discourse, but enlarged and simplified for the enlightenment and pacification of his congregants. In the Hebrew letter to Unger that I have previously quoted Nieto mentions this work, and says that his name was not openly associated with it in consequence of the dissensions in the congregation, but that the printer's register (at the foot of the pages) reads " Sr H.H.R. David Netto Rab de K.K. de Londres." 28 The publication of this treatise failed to appease the Yehidim who were in accord with Zarfatti's convictions. They refused to be coerced and were excommunicated. The opinion of the Attorney-General was taken as to such excommunication.29 It was not alone the narrow minded zealots who doubted the orthodoxy of the sermon, for we find that, in consequence of the violent attack on the Haham, the Mahamad dismissed Riby Joseph Ben Jacob Ben Moses Ibn Danon 30 (d. 1740), 27 Relation del Caso de Jehosuah Zarfatti. [28 The letters and numerals at the foot of pp. 1-83 actually spell out:? "S* HH DAVID NETO RAB DEL KK DE LONDRES YLUL ANNO 5464 in."] 29 Gaster's History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 127. 30 Buried at the Bet Holim ground " Principio de la Carera 19 Riby Joseph Abendanon 25 Kisleu 5500." Folio 25, Burial Register of the Bevis Marks Syna? gogue. His wife Ribca was buried at his side 9 Si van in the same year. Isaac Broyde, in his biography of Joseph Ibn Danon in the Jewish Encyclopedia, states that he was born at Belgrade about 1620, and died towards the end of the seven? teenth century, both of which dates are obviously incorrect.</page><page sequence="12">12 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. a scholar and a poet of some distinction, from the office he held in the congregation. In an historical sketch of the Alderney Road Cemetery (Laws and Bye-laws of the Burial Society of the United Synagogue, 1902, p. xvi), by Mr. Philip Ornstein, he records the interment there in the year 1705 [23rd Tamuz, 5465] of a Rabbi Joseph Eliau Ha-Cohen D'Azevedo. In my rambles among the tombs I have come across his grave. It is situated at the far end of the ground, near the wall, and is marked by an imposing altar tomb with long Hebrew inscriptions, which have in the course of time become obliterated. Other members of the Bevis Marks Synagogue were buried in this ground, and were no doubt either seceders or excommunicates. At last the Mahamad yielded, and agreed, at the request of a number of Yehidim, to submit the matter to an independent authority, as had been desired by Zarfatti. The case was drawn up in Spanish,31 and placed before H.H.R. Solomon Ayllon andH.R. Solomon de David Israel d'Oliveyra (d. 1708), who constituted the Beth Din at Amsterdam. In the meantime certain Yehidim, in their private capacity, had also addressed a communication to the Parnassim of the Amsterdam Congregation?David de Pinedo, Aaron de Jacob de Pinto, Abraham Mendez da Costa, with the Gabbai Isaac Henriques Farro?requesting that they should place the matter before their Beth Din for an authoritative judgment as to the orthodoxy of Nieto's sermon.32 Whether they were merely seekers after truth, or eager for an opinion adverse to the Haham, to serve their own selfish ends, can best be judged from two letters in Spanish that I discovered in the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana at Amsterdam (from the library of David Henriques de Castro ; No. 777 in the auction sale catalogue of his books). Each letter bears fourteen32* signatures, and they are dated about two months and four and a half months respectively after the publication of De la Divina Providencia. The Chairman of Jews' Col? lege (Mr. Joshua de Moses Levy) has kindly prepared the following English version of the letters :? " To the very magnificent Gentlemen, the Parnassian and Gabbai of the Holy Congregation of Talmud Torah : " It must be known to your Excellencies that this Holy Congregation is at present in a turmoil through the doctrine which was preached in our 31 Gaster's History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 106. 32 Information from J. S. da Silva Rosa. 32a The first letter has thirteen signatures.]</page><page sequence="13">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 13 pulpit on 23rd of Kislev 5464 corresponding with 20th November 1703, on the Perasa of Vayeseb Yahacob, and it is as follows : ' They say that I have said in the Yesiba, that God and Nature and Nature and God are the same. I did say so. I affirm it, and I will prove it, since King David confirms it in Psalm 147 : " Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving ; who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains," &amp;c. (pay attention to this, ye Jews, because it is the principal point in our religion). But necessarily the word Tebah = Nature is the invention of our modern authors of about 400 to 500 years back, since it is not to be found in the literature of our ancient sages, who used to say : " The blessed God causes the wind to blow," " God causes the rain to descend," " God sends the dew," from which we may infer that God does all that which the moderns ascribe to Nature. Thus it may be said there is no Nature, but that which is Providence, which people call Tebah, Nature, and this is why I said that God and Nature, Nature and God, are all the same thing. This doctrine is devout, pious, and holy, and those who do not subscribe to it are heretics and atheists.' " And as the said pronouncement has been rejected by some and embraced by others, it is necessary that we should trouble your Excellencies, pray? ing that as zealous and God-fearing men you should give orders to the gentlemen Hahamim of the Beth Din of your noble Congregation that they should declare to us and expound the truth of our Holy Law on the point in question, so that we may by their decision know that which should be believed, and so obviate different opinions in such an important matter, before they become deeply established. We therefore beg your Excellencies with all submission to favour us with an answer, so that our minds may be relieved and our consciences remain quiet. And may God keep your Excellencies, and may He cause you to prosper for the conservation and for the augmentation of our Holy Laws. " London, the 7th of Hesvan in the year 5465. " Isaac Lopes Pa Aron Pacheco Abraham Nunez fonca Abraham arias Abraham fonca da Costa Dauid De Caseres Pinedo Jacob fonseca da Costa Ishac R? Brandao moseh da sllua abraham lopes de cordoba Joseph Cohen d'Azevedo Phineas Gomes Serra " Jeosuah Gomez Serra " To the very magnificent Gentlemen, the Parnassim and Gabbai of the Holy Congregation of Talmud Tordh : " We are informed that Mr. Aron Levy Rezio delivered to the President our petition of 7th Hesvan last, and that your Excellencies, as zealous and</page><page sequence="14">14 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. God-fearing men, committed it to the Beth Din, so that they should determine the matter (for which we render to your Excellencies our best thanks). Our intention was none other than to emerge from the confusion which it appeared to us would be the result of the words preached to us, and we insisted and prayed your Excellencies to remit it to the said gentlemen, so that we might be free from the heavy responsibility which weighs on us as Jews. By the last mails which have arrived it has been learned that the Hahamim have not been able to settle the point (no doubt not without good and sufficient reasons). We feel that our consciences are relieved, considering that we have done our duty in submitting the point to the greatest Beth Din which is known to us in Europe, a Beth Din which is well aware when and how we are responsible one for the other. We do not ignore how pernicious and sinful it is to originate dissensions in a Congregation. We also know that this truism is made the pretext by some men to suppress the truth. As we also recognise the integrity and the zeal with which your Excellencies always act, we assure you that as far as we are concerned this matter comes to an end, as regards the Beth Din of your holy Congregation, whose eyes may God open in his Holy Law, and may your Excellencies prosper and increase in number so that the name of the Almighty may always be exalted at your hands. Amen. " London, the 17th Tebett, the year 5465. " Isaac Lopes Pereyra Jeostjah Gomez Serra Abraham fonseca da costa Jahacob Gomes Serra Abraham Nunes da fonca Aron Pacheco Moseh da Silua Abraham dias arias Jacob fonseca da Costa Datjid De Caseres Pinedo Joseph Cohen d'Azevedo Abraham Lopes de cordoba Ishac R? Brand ao Phineas Gomes Serra " There is nothing in the letters showing prejudice ; the case seems to be very fairly and concisely put, apparently with an honest desire for a true and faithful decision. From the second letter it may be gathered that judgment was withheld, as " hostile influences were at work at Amsterdam."33 The Mahamad of the Bevis Marks Synagogue objected to a few individuals being held of more account than a whole congregation, and resented such treatment. They accordingly passed a resolution that in future no Mahamad, for any reason hitherto or hereafter imagined, may request a Din or any other judgment from the Beth Din or Mahamad of Amsterdam. This but added fuel to the fire, 33 Gaster's History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 106.</page><page sequence="15">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 15 and the feud increased in bitterness. An anonymous pamphlet34 was circulated, and considered to be a libel on the treatise De la Divina Providentia. The reputed authors were barred the Synagogue, and threatened with excommunication. The following thirteen Yehidim : Isaac Lopes Pereira, Aaron Franco Pacheco, David de Caseres Pinheiro (Pinedo ?), Phineas Gomes Serra, Abraham Fonseca da Costa, Moseh da Silva, Jacob Fonseca da Costa, Joshua Gomes Serra, Abraham Nunes da Fonseca, Elijah Salom Morenu, Joseph Lopes de Britto, Joseph Coen d'Azevedo, Abraham Dias Arias, protested against the action of the Mahamad, contending that an anonymous publication could not be considered libellous, and, furthermore, that it was written in the interest of the Sacred Law.35 Eleven of these thirteen signatories were among those who signed the two letters addressed to the Parnassim and Gabbai of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, Amsterdam, and one of them was the Joseph Coen d'Azevedo, who was interred in the Ashkenazi Cemetery in the Alderney Road. On the 25th of Tebeth 5465, eight days after the date of the last letter, the Parnassim and Gabbai of the Bevis Marks Synagogue re? ceived another petition 36 signed by thirteen Yehidim (probably the signatories of the previous petitions), declaring that their intention was, and ever would be, to seek peace, but that they desired the case should be submitted to some Beth Din of Israel, and that the decision should be published, that everyone might know whether the doctrine preached was conformable to the Law or not. The Mahamad were now in a quandary. The appeal to Amsterdam, as we know, was a fiasco. Hamburg, the next Sephardi community of importance, was at that time without a Haham,37 Advice and assistance were tendered from quite an un? expected source. The Parnass of the Synagogue of the Ashkenazim in Broad Court, Mitre Square, Abraham of Hamburg, or Reb Aberle (b. ante 1650, d. post 1721), as he was called, was a man of wealth and learning, and persona grata with the exclusive and aristocratic members 34 Gaster's History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 106. No copy of this pamphlet is known to exist. 36 Ibid. p. 107. 36 Decision del ... H.H. ... R. Zevi Asquenazi . . . Elul 5465, p. 3. 37 Gaster's History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 107.</page><page sequence="16">16 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. of the Bevis Marks Synagogue. It was probably he who suggested that the case should be placed in the hands of the Haham Zevi of Altona 38 (1658-1718). Reb Aberle 39 was empowered to open up negotiations, and received a letter from the Haham dated September 28, 1704, stipulating that any documents forwarded should not be written in the Spanish Rabbinical script.40 On the 29th of Tamuz 5465, the Gabbai of Sedaka, Moses de Medina, at the request of the Parnassim, Solomon Mendes and Joseph Israel Henriques, forwarded the docu? ments as requested,41 and the Haham's judgment in favour of Nieto, 38 Carmoly, in Histoire des Midecins Juifs, p. 227, Dr. M. Friedl?nder, in his article on David Nieto in the Dictionary of National Biography, 1905, and Dr. M. Seligsohn, in his biography in the Hebrew Encyclopedia, all describe Haham Zevi as Rabbi of Amsterdam at that time, a position he did not occupy until 1710, about six years later. 39 Gaster, in History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 107, asserts that negotiations were opened up with Haham Zevi through the intermediary of Joseph Vieira, the Parnass of the Altona Congregation. 40 " Rabbi Zevi Ashkenazi and his Family in London," by Dr. David Kauf? mann, in Transactions, iii. (pp. 107-8). It is also curious to note that when David Nieto wrote to LTnger he requested that the reply should not be in the Ashkenazi Hebrew cursive characters, which he was unable to read. 41 Decision del ... H.H. ... R. Zevi Asquenazi . . . Elul 5465, p. 1. The justificatory documents of Haham Zevi and his coadjutors were issued in quarto pamphlets, Hebrew and Spanish, in 1705. My copy is from the press of 44 James Dover en Tower Hill," who printed De la Divina Providentia. This issue is unknown to bibliographers. The edition known, of which there is a copy in the British Museum, was printed by " Tho. Hive en Aldersgate Street," who subse? quently printed other works of Haham Nieto. Joseph Jacobs and Lucien Wolf, in Bibliotheca Anglo-Judaica, 1888, p. Ill, No. 774, and Kayserling, in Biblioteca Espanola-Portugueza-Judaica, 1890, p. 14, quote an edition printed by Thomas Hine. Kayserling, in " Additions and corrections," points out that " Hine " should be Hive. I only know of three copies, which are in each instance bound up with (a) Relation del Caso de Jehosuah Zarfatti, and (b) De la Divina Providentia. In my copy all are on similar paper, and although the Zarfatti pamphlet and Haham Zevi's Responsum, in Hebrew, bear no printer's name, one may assume that they are also from the press of James Dover. In the British Museum copy, De la Divina Providentia (of which there is only one quarto edition, that of James Dover) is bound up with the Tho. Hive edition of Haham Zevi's Decision ; and the original Hebrew of the Decision and the Zarfatti pamphlet, although without name of printer, are no doubt, by the type and paper, from the press of Tho. Hive. They were republished in octavo form, and, although issued to? gether, the Decision is dated 5472 and De la Divina Providentia 5476. In the British Museum copy of this edition, obtained in the year 1854 from Elias Haim</page><page sequence="17">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 17 dated Friday 17 Ab (August 7, 1705), was sent to London. In the last two paragraphs of the decision he writes : " We must thank H.H.R. David Nieto, whom God preserve, for the sermon he preached to warn the people not to allow themselves to be led away by the opinion of philosophers who treat on Nature, because great injury arises therefrom, and he enlightens the eyes with the true belief, which is that everything comes from the providence of God. I say, may God fortify his strength and valour, and all, who, after having seen these words, shall think hardly of him, in my opinion, incur sin. And although all these things are clear and plain, that they do not require corroboration, yet, not to give the opportunity to murmurers and disputants, I have chosen two of the principal Hahamim of this City to join with me, and after discussion we all three agreed, that all the foregoing are true and just. " Zevi ben H.H. Jacob Ashkenazi Solomon ben Nathan 42 Aryeh ben H.H. Simha of the holy congregation of Wilna." 43 On two occasions at least this famous Rabbi placed his profound scholarship at the service of Anglo-Jewry, which he later on honoured with a visit, and three members of his family held high office in our community. Zevi Hirsch ben Jacob, ben Benjamin Zeeb Ashkenazi of the p"T family, was born in Moravia, a descendant of a long line of eminent Rabbis. He pursued his studies under the direction of his father and of his maternal grandfather, Ephraim ben Jacob Ha-Cohen (1616-1678), the Rabbi of Alt Ofen (now incorporated as the Third District of Buda-Pesth). He then went to Salonica and Constantinople, Lindo, the author of The History of the Jews in Spain and Portugal, there will be found bound up with it an English translation he had made of a part of the Decision. The late Chief Rabbi, Dr. Nathan Marcus Adler, exhibited at the Anglo Jewish Historical Exhibition, 1887 (Catalogue, p. 34, No. 811), a quarto manu? script in English by the same translator, dated 1853, of Nieto's De la Divina Provi? dentia, together with the Zarfatti and Zevi Tracts. It is now in the library of Mr. Elkan Nathan Adler. The case is also reported in the Responsa of Haham Zevi (Amsterdam, 1712), p. 23, ? 18. [Translation since published by Leon Roth in the Chronicon Spinozanum, i. 278-282.] 42 Solomon ben Nathan Hildesheimer, Dayan at Altona, was buried there on Wednesday, Tebeth 6, 5479 (December 28, 1718). 43 Aryeh L?b Lodzker ben R. Simchah of Wilna, Dayan at Altona, died on Friday, Heshvan 17, 5479 (November 2, 1718), and was buried on the same day. VOL. XII. C</page><page sequence="18">18 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. to continue the study of Talmudic dialectics under Sephardi teachers. His erudition and astuteness were such that, although an Ashkenazi, he was termed Haham, a title reserved by the Sephardim for their own Eabbis. The honour conferred evidently nattered his vanity, for he was known throughout his career as the Haham Zevi. During his stay in the East he was an eye-witness of the moral ravages engendered by the Sabbetai Zevi delusion, to the followers of which he was ever after an unrelenting foe. On returning to Alt Ofen he married the daughter of a prominent citizen of the town. In 1686 the place was besieged,44 and he suffered the horror of seeing his wife and daughter killed before his eyes and his father and mother dragged into captivity by the Prussian mercenaries. In consequence he went to Sarajevo, where he remained as Kabbi until 1689. The following year he went to Altona, where he held the com? paratively obscure position of Klaus Rabbiner, occasionally assisting the first Rabbi of the United Congregations of Altona, Hamburg, and Wandsbeck (vn'K), Meshullam Zalman ben Jacob David Neumark, of the Mireles family (1620-1706,) whose daughter Sarah he had taken for his second wife. In 1705, as we have seen, he was called upon to give his opinion concerning the orthodoxy of Haham Nieto's sermon on Divine Providence. The following year the Ashkenazi community of London was, in its turn, in a ferment. Rabbi Aaron Hart (1670-1756) had granted a divorce, it was alleged, in an illegal manner. He was denounced by one Mordecai Hamburger45 (1660-1703 ?). Rabbi 44 It was taken by the Imperial troops on September 2, 1686. This was an incident of the " War of the Holy League " (Austria, Poland, and Venice) against the Turks. 45 Known as Marcus Moses. His father, Moses ben Loeb, was one of the founders of the Altona community. Mordecai married Freudchen (Fradche), daughter of the celebrated Glueckel von Hameln (1646 ?-1724) (Kaufman, I.e. p. 112). Their eldest son, Moses (b. 1701), became a Christian (" The Origin of the Hambro Synagogue," by Lucien Wolf, in the Jewish Chronicle, November 18, 1892, p. 7), and was the author of The Principal Motives and Circumstances that induced Moses Marcus to leave the Jewish and embrace the Christian Faith . . . London . . . m.dcc.xxiv ... 8?, xxi + 126 pp. It has been translated into Dutch : De voornaamste beweegredenen en omstandigheden die aanleyding hebben gegeven tot het verlaaten van den Joodschen Godsdienst . . . uit</page><page sequence="19">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 19 Aaron Hart suggested that the matter should be adjudicated upon before a Beth Din of which he should be a member. To this Ham? burger agreed, provided it was the Sephardi Beth Din; but when Haham David Nieto and his Dayan David Perez, with Rabbi Aaron Hart, were in attendance, he failed to put in an appearance, and was ex? communicated. Hamburger belonged to a Continental family that wielded great power and influence, and they endeavoured to get the ban annulled by an ecclesiastic of higher rank and authority on the ground that it was unwarranted. Haham Nieto advised Rabbi Aaron Hart to appeal for support to Rabbi Jacob Moses Judah ben Kalonymos Hakohen (Loeb Charif) [d. Sabbath, Tebet 13, 5467 = December 18, 1706] of Amsterdam, but it was not accorded to the extent desired. The Hamburgers for their part enlisted the services of Haham Zevi, who was still Klaus Rabbiner in Altona, and of Rabbi Jehudah Loeb ben Ephraim Anschel (d. 1720) of Rotterdam 46 (the predecessor of Rabbi Aaron Hart in London). Zevi, as Mr. Lucien Wolf, in his paper, " The Origin of the Hambro Synagogue " (Jewish Chronicle, November 18, 1892, p. 7), tells us, paid a special visit to London to make his opinion known. The Herem was annulled, and accordingly on Tuesday, September 14, Tishri 6, 1706, Mordecai Hamburger was released from its pains and penalties.47 Rabbi Meshullam Zalman died on November 28, 1706, and was succeeded in the Rabbinate by his son-in-law the Haham Zevi, who held the office jointly with Rabbi Moses ben Mordecai S?sskind (Alexander) Rothenburg (1665-1712). The arrangement was an unpleasant one, and, finding the conditions intolerable, Zevi resigned, and again became Klaus Rabbiner; but not for long, for, on January 10, 1710, he was invited to become the Rabbi of the Ashkenazi Jews in Amster? dam. Here he enco