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Timestamp: 2019-04-21 04:12:37+00:00

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Relations to the State After 1648.
The End of the Eighteenth Century.
Country of western Europe, bounded by the North Sea, by Belgium, and by the Prussian provinces of Hanover and Westphalia, and the province of the Rhine. Since 1815 it has been a kingdom under the house of Orange. The members of this house, who, since 1581, have been almost uninterruptedly at the head of the state, have exerted an unusually great influence on the history of the Jews there. In consequence of the great dominance of the capital city, the story of the Jews of the Netherlands is chiefly concerned with the community of Amsterdam. For the colonies See Surinam and West Indies, Dutch.
Jews seem not to have lived in the province of Holland before 1593; but a few references to them are in existence which distinctly mention them as present in the other provinces at an earlier date, especially after their expulsion from France in 1321 and the persecutions in Hainaut and the Rhine provinces. Jews have been settled in Nimeguen, the oldest settlement, in Doesburg, Zutphen, and in Arnhem since 1404. In 1349 the Duke of Gelderland was authorized by the Emperor Louis IV. of Germany to receive Jews in his duchy. They paid a tax, granted services, and were protected by the law. In Arnhem, where a Jew is mentioned as physician, the magistrate defended them against the hostilities of the populace. At Nimeguen, Jews are mentioned in 1339 as paying taxes; Reinold the duke received 132 "pond" (317 dollars) in this way annually. In 1385 Zalichmann Nathanswen van Berck and his son David were allowed to live in Roermond ten years for 20 gulden (8 dollars) annually. In 1382 the Jews of Nimeguen had a cemetery, in 1426 a synagogue. When Jews settled in the diocese of Utrecht does not appear. In 1444 they were expelled from the city of Utrecht, but they were tolerated in the village of Maarsen, two hours distant, though their condition was not fortunate. Until 1789 no Jew might pass the night in Utrecht; for this reason the community of Maarsen was one of the most important in Holland. Jews were admitted to Zealand by Albert, Duke of Bavaria. There exists a letter, dated 1359, in which the duke promises Italian merchants to give no authorization to any Jew to reside in Goes for the space of four years. In 1361 is mentioned a Jew of Geertruidenberg, not far from Goes.
In 1477, by the marriage of Mary of Burgundy to the Archduke Maximilian, son of Emperor Frederick IV., the Netherlands were united to Austria and its possessions passed to the crown of Spain. In the sixteenth century, owing to the cruel persecutions of Charles V. and Philip II. of Spain, the Netherlands became involved in a series of desperate and heroic struggles. Charles V. had, in 1522, issued a proclamation against Christians who were suspected of being lax in the faith and against Jews who had not been baptized in Gelderland and Utrecht; and he repeated these edicts in 1545 and 1549. In 1571 the Duke of Alba notified the authorities of Arnhem that all Jews living there should be seized and held until the disposition to be made of them had been determined upon. In Wageningen, in 1572, there were three Jewish families which were expelled on the occasion of a papal indulgence. In 1581, however, the memorable declaration of independence issued by the deputies of the United Provinces deposed Philip from his sovereignty; religious peace was guaranteed by article 13 of the "Unie van Utrecht." As a consequence the persecuted Jews of Spain and Portugal turned toward Holland as a place of refuge.
In 1593 Maranos arrived in Amsterdam after having been refused admission to Middelburg and Haarlem. These Jews were important merchants and persons of great ability. They labored assiduously in the cause of the people and contributed materially to the prosperity of the country. They became strenuous supporters of the house of Orange and were in return protected by the stadholder.
At this time the commerce of Holland was increasing; a period of development had arrived, particularly for Amsterdam, to which Jews had carried their goods and from which they maintained their relations with foreign lands. Thus they had connections with the Levant (Janiçon, "Etat Présent," i. 445; Lusac, "Hollands Rijkdom," i. 340) and with Morocco. The Emperor of Morocco had an ambassador at The Hague named Samuel Palache (1591-1626), through whose mediation, in 1620, a commercial understanding was arrived at with the Barbary States.
In particular, the relations between the Dutch and South America were established by Jews; they contributed to the establishment of the Dutch West Indies Company in 1621, of the directorate of which some of them were members.
The ambitious schemes of the Dutch for the conquest of Brazil were carried into effect through Francisco Ribiero, a Portuguese captain, who is said to have had Jewish relations in Holland. As some years afterward the Dutch in Brazil appealed to Holland for craftsmen of all kinds, many Jews went to Brazil; about 600 Jews left Amsterdam in 1642, accompanied by two distinguished scholars—Isaac Aboab da Fonseca and Moses Raphael de Aguilar. In the struggle between Holland and Portugal for the possession of Brazil the Dutch were supported by the Jews.
With various countries in Europe also the Jews of Amsterdam established commercial relations. In a letter dated Nov. 25, 1622, King Christian IV. of Denmark invites Jews of Amsterdam to settle in Glückstadt, where, among other privileges, the free exercise of their religion would be assured to them.
Moses Curiel was the representative in Amsterdam of the King of Portugal, John IV.; his brother acted in a similar capacity at Hamburg. In fifty years, more than 400 Jewish families lived at Amsterdam in 300 different houses. A Jewish quarter existed in Amsterdam, though it was not a ghetto of the kind existing in Frankfort-on-the-Main or in Rome.
At the peace of Münster, 1648, it was stipulated that the inhabitants of the States of Holland, and those from Spain and Portugal, might reside and traffic in those countries, on sea and land, under protection of the law. The question was raised whether Jews also were included. The Spanish minister declared in 1650 that Jews might manage their interests in Spain only through an attorney. In 1652 the States repeated their request that Jews might be admitted to Spain, but the Spanish king refused. In 1657 a declaration was issued that Jews were subjects of the States of Holland; the Spanish king, however, persisted in his refusal, and the French reproached the Dutch minister for the indulgence shown to the Jews. At the same time Cromwell was desirous of attracting Jews to England; negotiations to this end were conducted by Manasseh ben Israel and the English ambassador, and in 1656 the question came to a practical issue.
Besides merchants, a great number of physicians were among the Spanish Jews in Amsterdam: Samuel Abravanel, David Nieto, Elijah Montalto, and the Bueno family; Joseph Bueno was consulted in the illness of Prince Maurice (April, 1623). Though great practitioners, they did little to promote medical science. Uriel Acosta and Spinoza were exceptions in the intellectual sphere; their Christian contemporaries resorted to them eagerly for a knowledge of the Hebrew language. Josephus Justus Scaliger ("Epistolæ," p. 594) relates that a Jew was his teacher in Talmudical literature. Vossius secured Manassch ben Israel as teacher in Hebrew to his son Dionysius. Leusden published an edition of the Bible with an approbation by the rabbis of Amsterdam; and Surenhuis translated a part of the Talmud with their help (1698-1703). The attraction of their features for Rembrandt, who lived in their quarter (Joden Bolestraat 6), is known. Vondel seems to have been influenced, in some of his dramas, by their manner of speaking (Busken Nuet, "Land van Rembrandt," iii. 4, 14).
Jews were admitted as students at the university, where they studied medicine as the only branch of science which was of practical use to them, for they were not permitted to practise law, and the oath they would be compelled to take excluded them from the professorships. Neither were Jews taken into the trade-gilds: a resolution passed by the city of Amsterdam in 1632 (the cities being autonomous) excluded them. Exceptions, however, were made in the case of trades which stood in peculiar relations to their religion: printing, bookselling, the selling of meat, poultry, groceries, and drugs. In 1655 a Jew was, exceptionally, permitted to establish a sugar-refinery. It was about this time that the German Jews (Ashkenazim) arrived at Amsterdam, in a condition, mostly, of extreme poverty. For their history see Amsterdam.
Meanwhile Jewish congregations had been formed in various other towns. Thus Jews resided in Alkmaar in 1604; in 1602 Portuguese Jews had secured a burial-place there. In Rotterdam, Jews lived from about 1618; between 1609 and 1627 several Jews from there were buried in the cemetery of Amsterdam. In 1609 a Portuguese synagogue in De Bierstraat is mentioned; in 1647 a family named De Pinto went to Rotterdam from Antwerp, and a ḥakam named David Pardo was appointed. In 1669 the synagogue ornaments were given to the Ashkenazic congregation. In 1681 a contract was made by which the cemetery was given to this congregation, which built a large synagogue in 1725 at a cost of 30,000 gulden; it was enlarged in 1791. The names of the chief rabbis of Rotterdam are: Judah Salomon (1682); Solomon Ezekiel (1725-35; his salary was 305 gulden); Judah Ezekiel, son of the preceding (1738-55); Abraham Judah Ezekiel, son of the preceding (1755-79); Judah Akiba Eger (1779; left in 1781); Levie Hyman Breslau, author of "Pene Aryeh" (1781-1807); Elijah Casriel, from Leeuwarden (1815-33); E. J. Löwenstamm, grandson of L. H. Breslau (1834-45); Joseph Isaacson (1850-71; removed to Filehne as a result of dissensions in the community); B. Ritter (since 1884).
At The Hague ('s Gravenhage) a Jew by the name of Jacob Abenacar Veiga settled in 1698, whotaught Hebrew to children there; he founded the Congregation Ḥonen Dal and built a synagogue (1703). In 1675 a German Jew, Alexander Polak, was admitted as citizen of The Hague and was sworn in on Dec. 10 of that year. He was the progenitor of the Polak Daniels family, and gave the congregation a cemetery in 1697; for his epitaph see Veegens," Mededeelingen," p. 174.
In 1707 another congregation was founded, by the Pereira family—the Beth Jacob, of which David Nunes Torres was appointed chief rabbi in 1712. Aug. 9, 1726, a synagogue like that of the Sephardim at Amsterdam was built at the Princessegracht. After many efforts, in 1743 the two congregations united under the name Ḥonen Dal. The Jewish population at The Hague is of great importance, and includes the Teixeira, De Pinto, and Suasso families. The chief rabbis of Beth Jacob have been: David Nunes Torres (1712-27); Daniel Cohen Rodrigues (d. 1751); Solomon Saruco (1752-84); Sadik Cohen Belinfante (1784-86); David Léon (1786-1826); Jacob Ferares (1842-84); A. R. Pereira (has lived at Amsterdam since 1902). The chief rabbis of the Ashkenazim at The Hague have been: Zalman Löwenstein (1725-28); Jacob Sjalom (1735); Abarjeh Levie (1735); Jehosjoeang Oeben (1738-48); Saul Halevie (1748-85); Löb Mesrieto (1785-1807); Joseph Sofer Lehmans (1808-42); B. S. Berenstein (1848-93); T. Tal from Arnhem (1893-98); T. Leeuwenstein from Leeuwarden (1898-1903); A. van Loen from Gröningen (since 1903).
In Gröningen and Friesland Jews lived about 1650, but from the latter they seem to have removed to Holland. Jews are not mentioned again until 1754, when a family (from which descended the painter Joseph Israels) migrated from Mappel Drenthe to Gröningen, and obtained permission to build a synagogue, a cemetery, and a miḳweh. The members of this family lived in Veendam, Hoogezand, and Appingedam, and had a flourishing trade with Emden and other parts of Germany. In Friesland, especially in Leeuwarden, Jews have lived since 1645; the town council made lists of their names; in 1670 Jacob de Joode was permitted to establish a cemetery in the Boterhock. Two rich Jews in Dokkum were brokers, and traded in East-Indian products.
In Leeuwarden the community was frequently burdened by transient coreligionists from Poland; at the community's request, therefore, the states of Friesland passed, in 1712, a resolution forbidding persons who had no fixed residence to remain there. Since 1735 the following have been chief rabbis at Leeuwarden: Jacob Emmerik (d. 1735); Naḥman b. Jacob (1749-69); Kuseiel b. Judah Löb (1770-92); Shabbethai b. Eliezer; Jehiel Aryeh Löb b. Jacob Moses Löwenstamm (1795-1802); Samuel Berenstein (1808-13); Abraham b. Isaac Deen (1821); Ḥayyim b. Aryeh Löb Löwenstamm (1822-36); B. Dusnus (1841-86); L. A. Wagenaar (1886-94; went to Arnhem); T. Leeuwenstein (1895-1900; left for The Hague); S. A. Rudelsheim (since 1900).
At this time Jews were not permitted to live in Utrecht (see above), but there was a wealthy congregation of Sephardim in Maarsen. In 1713 they were expelled because of an epidemic; they came back again in 1736. There has been a synagogue in Amersfort since 1726; L. B. Schaap, who came from Maastricht, was chief rabbi of Amersfort from 1848 to 1859. Jews have lived in 'sHertogenbosch since 1767; in Haarlem, since 1764; in Dordrecht, since 1760.
But to return to the general history in 1672, when, after an interval of twenty-two years (1650-72), William III. was reelected stadholder. This began a period of exceptional prosperity for the Jews; for until that time, though citizens, they had been oppressed by the clergy, who, as Koenen supposes, resented their influence, and who, in fact, were irritated by the presence of any not of their own faith. At this epoch, too, the Jewish partiality for the house of Orange displeased the Dutch. But with William III. many ameliorations were effected. The prince praised the attachment to his family shown by his subjects of Jewish faith; he commended their fairness in commerce, their religious constancy, and their industry. He clearly manifested his sentiments, and his influence affected even the Jews in South Netherlands, where the newly appointed governor, De Villa Hermosa, accorded them many privileges.
William III. employed Jews in his negotiations with foreign kings (see England), especially members of the Belmonte family, Moses Machado (who rendered important services to the army in Flanders; Koenen, "Geschiedenis," p. 207) Isaac Lopez Suasso (who lent two million gulden to William III. for his descent upon England), David Bueno de Mesquita (general agent of the Prince of Brandenburg), Moses Curiel (at whose house William stayed three days when he visited the Portuguese synagogue at Amsterdam in 1695). Jews were very rich at this time; many among them lived in palaces more magnificent than those of princes (Tallander, "Historische Reisen," v. 794). The number of Portuguese Jews who then resided in the Netherlands is estimated at 2,400 families.
After the death of William III. in 1702, a new epoch begins, the year 1713 marking the beginning of a period of decline for the Jews throughout Europe, and especially in Holland. Commerce had produced riches, riches luxury, luxury idleness; religion was undermined by French ideas; French customs and manners were propagated; trade often deteriorated into stock-jobbing. These influences affected the refined Portuguese Jews more powerfully than the German Jews, who were poorer and simpler. Portuguese Jews were attached to their old manners; their younger women were not permitted to go abroad unattended, and they seem also not always to have known the Dutch language; their daughters married in their twelfth year. There exists a resolution of the burgomaster of Amsterdam refusing (1712) to Benjamin (alias Jean) da Costa permission to marry his niece Sara Suasso because neither had reached the age of twelve years. Marriages between relatives were common among Portuguese Jews, who desired to prevent the division of family fortunes; perhaps they were moved by their aversion for the "Todescos" (the Ashkenazim); but, whateverthe reason, the result of such marriages was that the ensuing generations deteriorated physically and morally (comp.Hersveld,"Nederlandsch Israelietisch Jaarboekje," 1853).
At this period the German Jews attained prosperity through retail trading and by diamond-cutting, in which latter industry they retained the monopoly until about 1870. When William IV. was proclaimed stadholder (1747) the Jews found another protector like William III. He stood in very close relations with the head of the DePinto family, at whose villa, Tulpenburg, near Ouderkerk, he and his wife paid more than one visit. In 1748, when a French army was at the frontier and the treasury was empty, De Pinto collected a large sum and presented it to the state. Van Hogendorp, the secretary of state, wrote to him: "You have saved the state." In 1750 De Pinto arranged for the conversion of the national debt from a 4 to a 3 per cent basis.
Under the government of William V. the country was troubled by internal dissensions; the Jews, however, remained loyal to him. As he entered the legislature on the day of his majority, March 8, 1766, everywhere in the synagogues services of thanks-giving were held. William V. did not forget his Jewish subjects. On June 3, 1768, he visited both the German and the Portuguese synagogue; he attended the marriage of Isaac Curiel and Abigail de Pinto, that of Moses de Pinto and his cousin Elizabeth (1768), and that of Sarah Teixeira and Jacob Franco Mendes, at The Hague (March 30, 1771); and in Oct., 1772, he visited the Pereira family at Maarsen.
But the opposition to William V. increased. On his flight from The Hague he stopped at Amersfort, in the house of Benjamin Cohen, a native of Nimeguen, who was grandfather of T. D. Meier. The next time the prince stayed in Cohen's house he donated a considerable sum for a new menorah, while the princess presented to the community a curtain for the Ark of the Law. During the riots incited by the patriotic party the Jews defended strongly the rights of the prince. They celebrated as holidays the dates Oct. 15, 1787 (when the Orange party took possession of the town), March 7, 1788 (the birthday of the prince), and Oct. 4, 1791 (the marriage-day of William's son, later King William I.). The relations between the Jews and the Christian population, however, were not altogether friendly. In general, Jews were citizens, and were free to perform their religious duties; but the magistrates of the towns never favored them. Marriages between Christians and Jews were forbidden under pain of banishment. Their civil rights were not respected; the proclamation of Amsterdam, dated March 29, 1632, that Jews could not be members of the gilds, was never abolished, and was continually pressed. In trade, industry, and even in study, they were restricted. The Asser family was, as a special favor, allowed to engage in navigation between the Netherlands and the colonies, but this was conceded only after a long struggle, extending from April 15, 1773, to 1794—21 years, as Moses Solomon Asser declared in the assembly of Feb. 11, 1795.
Justus van Effen, in his "Spectatorial Essays" (xii. 74), complains of the contempt with which Jews were treated. In the well-known "Spectatorial Essays" of Hoefnagel all kinds of meannesses are imputed to them. The common schools of the Netherlands were closed to them, with the result that they usually did not speak Dutch. Even the wealthiest Jews did not think of establishing schools for their coreligionists.
The year 1795 brought the results of the French Revolution to Holland, including emancipation for the Jews. The National Convention, Sept. 2, 1796, proclaimed this resolution: "No Jew shall be excluded from rights or advantages which are associated with citizenship in the Batavian Republic, and which he may desire to enjoy." Moses Moresco was appointed member of the municipality at Amsterdam; Moses Asser member of the court of justice there. The old conservatives, at whose head stood the chief rabbi Jacob Moses Löwenstamm, were not desirous of emancipation rights. Indeed, these rights were for the greater part of doubtful advantage; their culture was not so far advanced that they could frequent ordinary society; besides, this emancipation was offered to them by a party which had expelled their beloved Prince of Orange, to whose house they remained so faithful that the chief rabbi at The Hague, Saruco, was called the "Orange dominie"; the men of the old régime were even called "Orange cattle." Nevertheless, the Revolution appreciably ameliorated the condition of the Jews; in 1799 their congregations received, like the Christian congregations, grants from the treasury. In 1798 Jonas Daniel Meier interceded with the French minister of foreign affairs in behalf of the Jews of Germany; and on Aug. 22, 1802, the Dutch ambassador, Schimmelpenninck, delivered a note on the same subject to the French minister ("Journal de la Haye," Nov. 10, 1835).
From 1806 to 1820 Holland was ruled by Louis Napoleon, whose intention it was to so amend the condition of the Jews that their newly acquired rights would become of real value to them; the shortness of his reign, however, prevented him from carrying out his plans ("Lodewijk Napoleon Geschiedkundige Gedenkschriften," i. 169, ii. 48). For example, after having changed the market-day in some cities (Utrecht and Rotterdam) from Saturday to Monday, he abolished the use of the oath "More Judaico" in the courts of justice, and administered the same formula to both Christians and Jews. To accustom the latter to military services he formed two battalions of 803 men and 60 officers, all Jews, who had been until then excluded from military service, even from the town guard. In 1807, advised by Asser, Louis Napoleon issued a "reglement" entitled "Kerkbestuur der Hollandsche Hoogduitsche Gemeente Binnen Amsterdam" ("Jaarboeken," 1838, pp. 369-392). A consistory was established.
The union of Ashkenazim and Sephardim intended by Louis Napoleon did not come about. He had desired to establish schools for Jewish children, who were excluded from the public schools; even the Maatschappij tot Nut van het Algemeen, founded in1804, did not willingly receive them or admit Jews as members. Among the distinguished Jews of this period were Meier Littwald Lehemon, Asser, Capadose, and the physicians Heilbron, Davids (who introduced vaccination), Stein van Laun (tellurium), etc.
On Nov. 30, 1813, William VI. arrived at Scheveningen, and on Dec. 11 he was solemnly crowned as King William I. Chief Rabbi Lehmans of The Hague organized a special thanksgiving service and implored God's protection for the allied armies on Jan. 5, 1814. Many Jews fought at Waterloo, where thirty-five Jewish officers died. William I. occupied himself with the organization of the Jewish congregations. On Feb. 26, 1814, a law was promulgated abolishing the French régime. On June 12, following, a regulation was issued providing for twelve Hoofdsynagogen, with six chief rabbis. It determined the powers of the parnassim for the Hoofdsynagogen, and of manhigim for the small ones, and settled the mode of elections, the powers of chief rabbis, marriages, the poor-relief, etc. Between 1814 and 1817 the "reglements" were revised in the communities and submitted to the ministry to be sanctioned.
The question of education, which had been neglected by the rich Jews, was taken up by William I.; teachers without diplomas and foreign rabbis were prevented from taking office, and gold and silver medals were promised for the best school-books and sermons in Dutch. The Amsterdam community received from the hands of William I. the rights which had been refused to them formerly; this concession was due perhaps to the influence of the chief rabbi, Samuel Berenstein, who did not agree with his predecessor and father-in-law and who was very much esteemed by the king ("Tal Oranjebloesems," p. 122). William I. took a personal interest in his Jewish subjects. Thus he accorded to Hersveld, the chief rabbi at Zwolle, who desired to send his sons to the university, the same privileges as other clergymen.
The Nederlandsch Israelietisch Seminarium, formerly the Sa'adat Baḥurim, founded by Aryeh Löb Löwenstamm in 1738, was reorganized in 1834. The congregation at Maastricht had no synagogue; by order of William the necessary ground was given by the magistrate, with a sum of 6,400 gulden from the treasury of the state. The following chief rabbis have officiated there: L. B. Schaap (1846-48), S. Con (1848-60), L. Landsberg (1860-1904). In 1840 William I. abdicated, William II. succeeding him. The latter also interested himself in the Jews. On Sept. 20, 1845, a resolution was passed giving to the widows of chief rabbis the same allowance as to the widows of the Protestant clergy. He bestowed upon the chief rabbis Hersveld and Ferares of Amsterdam the Order of the Netherlands Lion, in those days of high importance. In 1848 the separation of Church and State was carried through. The Hoofd-synagogen had to be reorganized, which reorganization was not accomplished until 1870. The congregation consists of a number of autonomous communities, obliged to resort for the election of chief rabbis and of deputies to the Centrale Commissie of 21 members.
The Portuguese Jews have two communities, those of Amsterdam (chief rabbi T. J. Palache, since 1902) and The Hague (chief rabbi A. R. Pereira, living at Amsterdam, where he is dayyan), with a Hoofdcommissie of three members to maintain their interests.
William III. (1849-90) often gave proofs of his good-will toward the Jews; on two occasions he visited the Portuguese synagogue at Amsterdam (April 2, 1844, and in April, 1882). Since 1850 the state has enjoyed the fruits of the liberty given to Jews, who have developed rapidly. In 1850 the Maatschappij tot Nut van Israelieten in Nederland was founded by De Pinto, assisted by Goodermir (later professor at Leyden), Godefroi (later minister of justice), Sarphati (an economist), A. S. van Nierop, and others. As soon as possible Jews entered the universities and studied law and medicine. Among Jewish artists the names of Israels, Verner, and Bles are prominent, and in no branch of science have Jews failed to reach the front rank. In the army, however, there have never been many Jewish officers. A great number of journalists are Jews. In Amsterdam the diamond industry and commerce are in their hands; the number of stock-brokers and tobacco-traders is considerable. The lower class lives by retail trading; it refuses obstinately to learn handicrafts. In the provinces the trade in cattle is chiefly in the hands of the Jews. Since 1860, however, nearly all the provincial towns have been deserted by Jews, who have generally removed to Amsterdam. Until recent times the older Jewish settlers of Amsterdam have held aloof from the later arrivals.
The law of 1887 declares that no one shall be molested for his religious convictions and that the followers of all creeds shall enjoy the same rights and the same claims to office. The legislature likewise gives the Jews liberty to celebrate their holy days and Sabbaths without disturbance. Thus, the law of May 5, 1889, permits them to rest on Saturday instead of on Sunday; and the law of Aug. 31, 1886, permits Jewish prisoners to work on Sunday instead of Saturday. As to the oath, the Jew must cover his head when taking it, but the formula is the same for all creeds. According to an order of the minister of war Jewish soldiers may be garrisoned only in places where Jewish congregations are established, and may not be compelled to ride by railway to the drill-hall on Saturday.
Dutch Jews have never come under the influence of Reform. In 1859 and 1860 an effort was made by several Amsterdam Jews to found an association, to be called "Sjochre Dea." A certain Chronik went to Amsterdam to preach Reform under the disguise of Orthodoxy. But his effort, especially designed to remodel the service and abolish many unessential details, failed. At that time the Amsterdam community was torn by dissensions. There was no chief rabbi; the day-yanim A. Susan and J. Hirsch had no adequate authority. Susan died in 1861, and in 1862 Joseph Hirsch Dünner was appointed rector of the seminary.Supported by the Lehren family, he soon eliminated undesirable elements from the school. In 1874 he was nominated chief rabbi of Amsterdam, and his influence is now (1904) felt widely. All the present chief rabbis in the Netherlands, with the exception of Dr. Ritter at Rotterdam, have been trained in Dünner's seminary. His Orthodoxy is respected even by the more lax, who always act in concert with the Orthodox (see "Joodsche Courant," 1903, Nos. 18, 19).
Netherlands counts 99 congregations, of which 13 have less than 50 souls, 24 less than 100, 48 under 500, 9 under 1,000, 2 under 5,000, 1 about 10,000, 2 more than 10,000. Amsterdam has 51,000 with 12,500 paupers, The Hague 5,754 with 846, Rotterdam 10,000 with 1,750, Gröningen 2,400 with 613, Arnhem 1,224 with 349 ("Joodsche Courant," 1903, No. 44). The total population of the Netherlands in 1900 was 5,104,137, about 2 per cent of whom were Jews.
Streter, in Wetzerand Welte's Kirchenlexikon, s.v. Juden, Freiburg, 1889.
Willem van Leer, in Bijdragen van Gelre, 1901, iv.
Veegens, in Mededeelingen van de Ver. ter Beoefening der Geschiedenis van 'sGravenhage, ii, 173 et seq., The Hague, 1876.
idem, Nederlandsch Israelietisch Jaarboekje. 1867-1868, p. 108, Rotterdam, 1867.
For Gröningen and Friesland: See Nederlandsch Israelietisch Jaarboekje, 1855, v. 10.
Seeligmann, Die Juden in Holland, in Im Deutschen Reich, 1901, vii. 6, 7.

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