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Amersfoort circumcision books from the 18th and 19th century.
Introduction
At the auction at Christie’s on the 11th of 1988 in Amsterdam, the Dutch
Jewish Community of Amersfoort obtained a circumcision book of Abraham
Mozes Levits (1773-1838) and his son Mozes Abraham (1802-1875), of the
years 1812-1873 (Flehite, 19:53,1988)
The manuscript is -as customary- bound together with a printed version
of David Ben Arjeh Leib’s book ‘Sod Hasjeem’, from which the front cover
and the introduction are missing.
From the register are missing the notes 23 until 36, of the years
1819-1822. They where written on the front and back of the same page.
The remaining register consists of 19 pages.
It is written in ink on paper in two Hebrew handwritings, each in both
Ashkenazi cursive and printing characters (Christie 1988).
In total there are records of 183 circumcisions, which found place in;
Amersfoort, Amsterdam, Baarn, Beusichem, Buren, Culemborg, Deventer,
Doorn, Weesp, Hilversum, Leerdam, Maarssen, Nijkerk, Rhenen, Tricht,
Utrecht, Wijk bij Duurstede, Veenendaal en IJsselstijn. Each
registration states the Jewish and (in Latin letters) regular date, the
location of circumcision, the Hebrew name of the boy and his father and
the blessing ‘may he grow up to (the study of) the Torah, to getting
married and (the performance of )good deeds’. Usually also family names
and (Yiddish) forenames are added. In a few rare cases it was noted that
the boy was a relative or a guest and in two cases it was stated that
the circumcision take place in the synagogue of Amersfoort.
As requested by the Jewish Community Amersfoort the whole Mohel book was
translated into Dutch. Then, as many registrations as possible were
compared with the concerning birth certificates of the Civil Registry (
burgelijke stand)., as from 1811. This provided proof of the family
name, kept or chosen, the Civil Dutch forenames of the child and the
father, the names of the mother, the occupation of the father, (usually)
the age of both parents and two local witnesses of the registration. So
a kind of lexicon was formed, that can act as a go-between between the
names in the older registers of the Jewish community and the civil names
in later acts of the authorities.
A short summary of the importance of this circumcision book was given
during the workshop on genealogy and tombstone-documentation held on the
21st of November 1988 in Amsterdam, as part of the Fifth International
Symposium on the history of Dutch Jewry.
In the State archives in Utrecht one can find , authorized by the
Parnassiem of the Jewish Community of Amersfoort, “Copy Translations” of
four Amersfoort’s circumcision registers , those of Isaac Auerbach, Wolf
Cohen, Avraham Jacob van Gelder en Isaac Weijl, who’s circumcisions
respectively found place in 1753-1792, 1789-1811, 1791-1808 en
1808-1811. Together with the currently obtained Moheel-book they form a
continuous series from 1753 until 1873, a total period of 120 years.
Also earlier, before the year 1753, circumcisions took place in
Amersfoort, proof of this are a circumcision curtain and circumcision
chair, which have been donated in respectively 1728 and 1750 to the in
the year 1727 initiated synagogue (both portrayed in J.Zwarts 1927).
Although the original versions of the circumcision books mentioned above
were assumed to be lost, I found to my greatest joy (I found) Abraham
Jacob van Gelder’s register in the municipal archive of Amsterdam.
Comparison shows that it is not complete, the ‘Copy Translation’ gives
evidence that numbers 50 up to 68 (1800-1808) are missing. But the
original manuscript had more data than the ‘Copy Translation’. For
example the ‘Copy Translation’ states as the seventh registration:
“Friday the first of June 1792- Marcus son of Hartog of Amsterdam” and
in the Hebrew manuscript” No.7 Amsterdam, The 1st of June 1792 Lemazal
tov I have entered in the holy covenant at the New Schul of the
Ashkenazim on Friday 11 Siewan 5652 the son of my brother, Mordechai
named Gimpel, son of Naphtalie Hisch, at the age of 8 days.” The
circumcision register of Abraham van Gelder was attached to the book “Sod
Hasjeem”, from which incidentally the front-page does exist, giving S.
Proops, Amsterdam 5505 (1745) as the edition published.
According to the registration of Jews, who got civil rights in
Amersfoort (1661-1805)(attachment II of J.J.Herks 1967; see civil books
of the municipal archives of Amersfoort), the register of names
adoptions (the Jewish Family Archive), the authorized ‘Copy Translation’
of the Register of the Living (1759-1811), the register of Marriages
(1759-1810), the register of Birth and Naming of the Children of female
descent (1749-1811) of the Israelite Community of Amersfoort ( in the
State archives of Utrecht), the census of 1830 and 1840 (municipal
archive of Amersfoort), the register of Marriages before the Court of
Amersfoort (1720-1810), the cemetery register of the Jewish cemeteries
at the Soesterweg in Amersfoort and the Civil Registry (burgelijke
stand) (from 1811 up to today), it should be possible to make an almost
complete reconstruction of the Jewish population of Amersfoort, one of
the oldest kehillot in Holland from the beginning of the 17th century
until today and the genealogical and demographical analyses based on
that information. The described moheel-books of Van Gelder and Levits
can be crucial in researches of this kind. Da Silva Rosa (1931) rendered
proof of the importance of the old moheel-books.
1700 initiation of cemetery, 1722 initiation of synagogue
1728 circumcision curtain, approx. 1750 circumcision chair
Moheel-books:
(1) Isaac Auerbach (1753-1792)
(2) Wolf Cohen (1789-1811)
(3) Abraham Jacob van Gelder (1791-1808)
(4) Isaac Weijl (1805-1811)
(5) Abraham Mozes Levits and Mozes Abraham Levits (1812-1873)
