The Jews of Eighteenth-Century Jamaica: A Testamentary History of a Diaspora in Transition

by Stanley Mirvis

An in-depth look at the Portuguese Jews of Jamaica and their connections to broader European and Atlantic trade networks

Based on last wills and testaments composed by Jamaican Jews between 1673 and 1815, this book explores the social and familial experiences of one of the most critical yet understudied nodes of the Atlantic Portuguese Jewish Diaspora. Stanley Mirvis examines how Jamaica’s Jews put down roots as traders, planters, pen keepers, physicians, fishermen, and metalworkers, and reveals how their presence shaped the colony as much as settlement in the tropical West Indies transformed the lives of the island’s Jews.

304 pages, Hardcover

Published May 18, 2020

Reviews

[Sasha (bahareads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

The Jews in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica has a great primary source section. Stanley Mirvis has many of the wills he used for his analysis at the end of the book. Each chapter of
The Jews in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica covers a section of Mirvis analysis; Port Royal and live there, Plantation Jews, End of the 1700s, Jewish Communal Life, Ethnic Identity of Jamaican Jews Households, and Creole Jews of Jamaica. Readers can get a timeline of Jamaican Jews history in Jamaica. Mirivis goes through religious toleration, the social outlook of a tolerated minority, trading persecution, and race perceptions, I personally really enjoyed The Jews in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica. It could read pretty dry because Mirvis developed this from his PhD dissertation. Mirvis worked well with the limited resources that were available for research. Somethings we will never truly know because of a lack of sources. If you want to learn about the Atlantic Jewish Diaspora, Jamaica Jews, Jamaican history, or Jewish involvement in slavery and the slave trade The Jews in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica is a great book.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am giving this very specific work four stars for research (extensive and perhaps grueling), information and innovation. To be honest it required a fair amount of discipline to get through this scholarly but informative text, especially the wills at the end, but that should in no way reflect negatively on the comprehensive effort of Mr. Mirvis' pioneering work on the subject.

Obviously one has to have an interest in either Jamaican Jews, the Jewish diaspora, or Jewish or Jamaican history in order to undertake the commitment of reading (or writing) a work such as this. It is unclear whether the author was determined to document the lives of 18th century Jamaican Jews regardless of the existence of historical sources, or whether he figured that wills could serve as an adequate, unique or interesting basis for an exploration of this under-documented aspect of Jewish/Jewish diaspora/Jewish-Jamaican/Jamaican history.

I believe Mr. Mirvis addressed as many aspects of 18th century Jamaican Jewish life as he could: roots/origins, diaspora, anti-Semitism, marriage/endogamy, taxation, integration, slavery/manumission. But I was hoping, even hungry for more non-academic detail about their daily lives in specific/quotidian terms: rituals/routines, language, interaction with non-Jews, how they felt about their new/adopted homeland, food? But Mr. Mirvis is an academic, and this is a scholarly work primarily limited to the source material at hand: the documents of testators (wills).

It is an admirable text and the only work on the subject, but I can't help wanting to see these people. I have been to Jamaica eight times so I have an idea of the physical environment, and I want to see them in it, then. I want to know what they looked like. How they dressed. I want to see them going about their lives, hear them speaking Portuguese and English, and see them at temple. I want to see them eating and drinking, and know what they ate! But I suppose I have to look elsewhere for that (where?).

Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the book was that of slavery. I knew that Jews were involved in the slave trade and it was sobering, eye-opening and necessary to be reminded that Jamaican Jews owned, bought and sold slaves, and often treated them quite poorly.

I suppose I always look for humor in books and there was a moment that was funny for me but probably for me only: his reference to to the Ashkenazi enclave of Black River is so specific and obscure I had to chuckle. I mean, how many people know about the Ashkenazi enclave of Black River? I didn't... Now I have to go there, over 200 years later, and inquire. "Excuse me, miss. Can you tell me where I can find the Ashkenzai Jews?" "The what?"

Mr. Mirvis is to be commended on a considerable contribution to the understanding of Jamaican Jews and and the Portuguese-Atlantic Jewish diaspora.

[Nicholas Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't read it yet but I'm sure it's good. I am one of the descendants of these Jews that came to Jamaica centuries ago from Portugal.