Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam Acquires Rare 17th-Century Jewish Prayer Book
The Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam has announced a significant acquisition: a unique 17th-century Jewish prayer book, known as a Haggadah, printed by David Abenatar Melo. This acquisition marks an important addition to the museum's world-renowned Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana, a collection dedicated to Jewish cultural history. The newly acquired prayer book offers unique textual features, including a rare Portuguese bedtime prayer, distinguishing it from previously known copies.
A Rediscovered Treasure for Amsterdam's Jewish Heritage
For many years, only one copy of Melo's Haggadah was known, held within the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana. This original copy was tragically lost during World War II when the collection was looted. The recent discovery and acquisition of this second copy is therefore of immense historical and cultural significance. It not only fills a void left by wartime loss but also introduces new insights into early Jewish printing.
The Spanish-language prayer book contains a Portuguese bedtime prayer bound before its title page, a feature believed to be unique and possibly an original composition by David Abenatar Melo himself. The presence of such a printed Sephardi prayer is exceptionally rare for the period before the 20th century, making this a particularly striking find.
David Abenatar Melo and Sephardi Printing in the City
The printer, David Abenatar Melo (1569-1632), was a Portuguese converso who, after fleeing the Inquisition, re-embraced Judaism in Amsterdam. In 1616, he established a printing house to serve the liturgical needs of the city's thriving Sephardi community. This acquisition underscores over four centuries of the Portuguese-Israelite community's involvement in Amsterdam and their substantial contributions to Jewish printing during the 17th and 18th centuries. The Portuguese-Israelite community recently celebrated the 350th anniversary of its monumental synagogue in Amsterdam.
Rachel Boertjens, a curator at the Allard Pierson, highlighted the acquisition as an "exceptional opportunity" to strengthen the museum's collection of 17th-century Amsterdam Jewish printed books and manuscripts. She noted that this unique liturgical material will significantly contribute to research into the development of the Sephardi Jewish community in early modern Jewish Amsterdam.
Strengthening the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana Collection
The Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana, the Allard Pierson's dedicated Jewish Cultural History Collection, is recognized as one of continental Europe's foremost heritage collections in its field. It boasts a globally renowned collection of Jewish printed books and manuscripts from Amsterdam, including a distinctive array of Haggadot from the 17th and 18th centuries. The Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana itself received recognition in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 2023.
The successful purchase of this valuable Haggadah was made possible through the generous support of the Stichting Levi Lassen, the Rosenthal Fonds, the Steenbergen Fonds/Amsterdams Universiteitsfonds, and the Vrienden van het Allard Pierson.
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