Isaac Aboab da Fonseca

Aboab Isaac da Fonseca ( born 1 February 1605 Castro Daire, Portugal, † April 4, 1693 in Amsterdam) was a rabbi, scholar, kabbalist and writer.

Life

Aboab Isaac da Fonseca was born in Castro Daire Portugal, the son zwangsgetaufter Jews. Despite the external conversion these so-called Marranos continued to be pursued so that the family in 1612 emigrated to the liberal Netherlands to Amsterdam. There, the family returned to Judaism. Isaac was raised Jewish, and received together with Menasseh ben Israel lessons with Isaac Uziel. At age 18, he became the rabbi of Beth Israel, one of the three Sephardic communities in Amsterdam, was appointed.

When the Dutch in 1630, the Portuguese conquered Captaincy of Pernambuco, many Jews emigrated from the Netherlands and Portugal to Dutch Brazil. Many Jews in the Netherlands, lived in poverty and were hoping for a better life in the New World. To guide the growing community, Isaac da Fonseca Aboab was sent in 1642 to Recife, where he is the first appointed rabbi of the New World as Rabbi of Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue. He has authored numerous papers in Hebrew and Spanish, and thus became the first Hebrew writing writers of the New World.

After the defeat of the Dutch against the Portuguese in 1654, he returned to Amsterdam and took leadership roles in the community talmud Torah. In 1656 he was involved as a church elder at the excommunication of Baruch Spinoza because of its philosophical statements about the nature of God. At times, he was a leading supporter of Shabbtai Zvi.

Under the direction of Isaac da Fonseca Aboab the Jewish community in Amsterdam experienced a period of prosperity. 1675 the Portuguese Synagogue ( Esnoga ) was inaugurated.

Works (selection)

• Zekher Asiti le- Nifla'ot El (first Hebrew printing in the New World )
• Parafrasis Commentada sobre el Pentateuco. Amsterdam 1688.