Thursday, June 30, 2011

A working mohel's list arranged by age order; 18th century Sephardic organization.

This is pretty interesting. It's some pages from the book ברית יצחק (Amsterdam 1768), published by Selomoh Levy Maduro. In addition to the complete service for a bris milah, a nice part where everyone is supposed to pledge donations for the poor of Eretz Yisrael and Pidyon Shevuim according to one's ability, and a section for a service to say for a conversion - Amsterdam being the one place in Europe where it was legal to convert to Judaism - it also includes three pages listing all the mohelim currently serving the Sefardic communities of Western Europe and New World colonies. Not only that, it lists each one's year of birth, for the convenience of parents who want to know about such things. Among the list of 33 (!) mohelim in Amsterdam alone appears David Franco Mendes who is otherwise famed for his poetry and being Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto's closest disciple in Amsterdam. I did not know that he was a mohel also. I don't think it appears in his biographies.




5 comments:

  1. Selomoh Levy Maduro's family name has been immortalized in an unusual way. The miniature model city Madurodam, near The Hague,"was named after George Maduro, a Jewish law student from Curaçao who fought the Nazi occupation forces as a member of the Dutch resistance and died at Dachau concentration camp in 1945. In 1946 Maduro was posthumously awarded the medal of Knight 4th-class of the Military Order of William, the highest and oldest military decoration in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, for the valor he had demonstrated in the Battle of the Netherlands against German troops. His parents donated the capital to start the Madurodam project." (Wikipedia)

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  2. "Not only that, it lists each one's year of birth, for the convenience of parents who want to know about such things."

    wouldn't you prefer a mohel that is less likely to have shakey hands (or on the other hand, a mohel who likely has more experience)

    woodcut is great. and i like the chronogram

    btw the volume also contains prayers and instructions for special circumstances besides converts, eg, orphans, mamzerim, anusim and slaves (the latter a nod to new world users?)

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  3. " listing all the mohelim currently serving the Sefardic communities of Western Europe and New World colonies"

    well not all the colonies

    "Not only that, it lists each one's year of birth"

    i never paid attention to those years, thanks for pointing it out. why not listed for all of them? and i don't think it's birthdays, as this would make some of the mohalim 3 years old. perhaps year of certification or appointment?

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  4. "i don't think it's birthdays, as this would make some of the mohalim 3 years old"

    S., Abba is right. So what do you think the years really indicate on?

    ReplyDelete
  5. "i don't think it's birthdays, as this would make some of the mohalim 3 years old"

    S., Abba is right. So what do you think the years really indicate on?

    ReplyDelete

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