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The traditions of the Jews from the Netherlands (Holland)
 

Jewry in The Netherlands (Holland) 
Ashkenazi Judaism in the Netherlands has developed a very specific tradition over many centuries. 

Emerging Ashkenazi Jewry
Since late Roman times, a distinct Jewish tradition evolved
in the 'Rhine river estuary', comprising of present-day Switzerland,
the eastern parts of north-east France, western Germany and 
the Netherlands. 

Historians claim that the first Jews in the Franco-German
Rhine river-estuary entered this area, originating from north and
mid-Italy. The famous and influential Roman-Jewish Kalonymus
family from the City-state of Lucca, played a prominent role in the
establishment of Jewish life in this area. From the Jews of
Italy we know that they already established strong Jewish
communities before the destruction of the second Temple in
Jerusalem. The Jewish communities of Rome and other Italian
cities were closely connected to the Jewish Sages in the Land of Israel, bringing their religious traditions from the Land of Israel with them. This as opposed to Jewish communities in North Africa and later Spain, from which is claimed that they were closer connected to the extensive Jewish communities of Babylonia, the Babylonian Sages and the Babylonian Jewish religious traditions. 

Although the Roman Titus Caesar Vespasianus destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70 CE, during the reign of his father, the Emperor Vespasian, many Israelites subsequently migrated to the Roman empire. From there a small group of Roman Jews, under the leadership of the Kalonymus family, invited by the great rulers of Europe, Charlemagne or Otto II, migrated to the heart of the “Holy Roman Empire”. Some of them eventually settled in the Provence and Normandy and another small group settled in England. At that time the center of the Roman empire had moved to the old German cities as Aachen, Trier, Cologne and cities in the Frankish area, like Reims and Strasbourg. 
The center of the new Jewish settlement in that area became the 3 cities of Speier (Shpira), Worms (Warmaisa) and Mainz (Magenza). Many of the original Kalonymus family lived in these cities for generations. They were successful money-lenders and international traders with direct connections to many European rulers and even the Roman church leaders. 
                                                                                                      As religious Jews, they also started and maintained a
                                                                                                      scholarly religious Jewish live in their new territories: the                                                                                                 the Franco-Germanic region, the Rhine river-estuary or
                                                                                                      -basin.  
                                                                                                      Eventually this would evolve in what we now know as
                                                                                                      ‘Ashkenazi Jewry’. 

                                                                                                     Names of a group of important rabbis, 'Tosafot', the
                                                                                                     'Chasidei Ashkenaz' (no connection to nowadays
                                                                                                     chassidim) with giants as Rabbi Yehudah heChasid, his
                                                                                                     father Rabbi Shmuel heChasid and his student, Rabbi
                                                                                                     Eleazar of Worms (The Rokeach) and great individual
                                                                                                     rabbis, from Isaac ben Eliezer Halevi,  Rabbenu
                                                                                                     Gershom, Rashi, Rabbenu Tam, the Rosh to the Maharil
                                                                                                     are forever connected to ‘Mesora Rheinus’, the Jewish 
                                                                                                     Rhine-River-traditions.  

The Nusach (tradition of the prayers), most of the minhagim (the specific distinct practices) and even nigunim (melodies) find their origin in the North-Italian and Roman forms of Judaism. This connects this Jewish tradition directly to the Churban, the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the old traditions of the Land of Israel. 
It is generally confirmed that the Jews of the Rhine River area have preserved their traditions very precise and carefully, over the centuries. 

Eastern European Jewry 
Eastern-European Ashkenazi Jewry developed
slight differently after the Franco-Germanic Jews
spread out eastward, during the devastating
crusades, when the Ashkenazi Jews started
settling in countries like Poland, Lithuania,
Ukraine, Belarus, Hungary, Romania and Russia. 
Yet, they never lost the most important proof of
their connection to the Germanic countries, they
originated from: they took their Germanic Yiddish
language with them to these new places in
eastern-Europe.

Origin of the Dutch Jewish traditions
Many people don't realize that official government- and church-records mentioning Jews living in several Dutch cities, date from as early as 1235 CE. There were Jews living consistently in cities as Arnhem, Goch and Roermond at that time. The "Jodenstraat" (Jew street) in the city of Maastricht, dating 1295 CE, is considered the oldest evidence of the occupancy of Jews in the Netherlands. During the plague epidemic, which raged between 1347–1349 CE, most of them were expelled as scapegoats and numerous pogroms were carried out across Europe, killing tens of thousands of Jewish victims. We read from the records that in the Dutch cities of Deventer, Zutphen, Arnhem, Nijmegen and Utrecht the Jewish population was held accountable for the plague and massacred in 1349 CE.
The assumption is that only a very small number of Jews have since lived in a limited number of Dutch cities. These predominantly Ashkenazi Jews become more visible and prominent after the first Sephardi (from Spain & Portugal) Jews arrived in Amsterdam, around the year 1600 CE. 

The tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews in the Netherlands is referred to as the ‘Hoog-Duitse ('High-German') Israëlitisch Ritus (rite)’, which points to the fact that it has its origin in the so-called ‘Yekkishe’, Germanic tradition. 
The original, authentic traditions of north-western, south-western and central Germany, the Alsace-Lorraine region of France, Switzerland and the Netherlands are all very closely connected. 

                                                                                            Although there are remarkable and surprising differences, in                                                                                                many cases the tradition of important Germanic Jewish                                                                                                        centers as Hamburg/Altona (which used to be Danish) and                                                                                                  Frankfurt am Main and specifically little Bavarian towns                                                                                                        known for holding on strong to their old traditions, show
                                                                                            great similarities to the different Dutch traditions. Not
                                                                                            surprising, realizing that many Dutch Jewish families 
                                                                                            originated from the Germanic territories. 
                                                                                            The Dutch Jewish tradition oftentimes is very similar to the 
                                                                                            traditions of the Jewish community of Frankfurt am Main. 

                                                                                            Due to the devastation of the Holocaust in which Franco-
                                                                                            Germanic Jewry was practically destroyed, Jewry of the
                                                                                            Netherlands is one of the last groups where these Rhine-river
                                                                                            traditions are still being practiced, until today. 

                                                                                            Post-Holocaust 
                                                                                            During the Holocaust Nazi Germany and its European
                                                                                            henchmen annihilated almost 85% of Dutch Jewry. After Poland and the Baltics this is the highest percentage of destruction of Jewish communities. Until today that disaster is very tangible in the Netherlands. Were there vivid Jewish communities in almost any little town in the Netherlands before the war, memorials, empty shuls, remembrance books and cemeteries are virtually the only current attests of once thriving Jewish life. 

We hope to feed and revive the interest in this unique Mesorah (tradition). Especially for Jews of Dutch heritage, nowadays living their Jewish lives elsewhere in the world.

We find it important for this website to offer the perspective of the Jewish-halachic life around and guided by Torah and Mitzvot, the so called ‘orthodox Jewish observant’s’ perspective.
 
The minhagim, nigunim, commentaries and articles we publish on this website adhere to the Halachic standard. If possible, we always try to include the Halachic sources.

We invite everyone to give feedback, ask questions and send us your remarks. 

We are also open to receive content, when connected to the Dutch or -more broad- "Yekkische" tradition.