Yosef Kaplan
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Book Recommendations:
Recommended by Yosef Kaplan
“Jewish society in colonial Jamaica, with all the political, ethnic, social, and cultural problems that troubled it, comes to vivid life in Mirvis’s study, which is one of the best ever written about the Jews in the colonial period.” (from Amazon)
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.