Letter of Recommendation for Chacham Isaac Carigal

Atypical for the Amsterdam Community, which usually conducted its affairs in Spanish or Portuguese, this letter of recommendation is in Italian for the benefit of the Italian community to which it was dispatched. The letter recalls the woeful situation of the Jewish community in Hebron as narrated by Chacham Chaim Rachamim Bajayo, Shaliach (Emissary) of Hebron. It then goes on to extol the virtues of the Yeshiva in that town, in which are studied Talmud, Maimonides, and Beth Joseph (by R. Joseph Caro, author of Shulchan Aruch). On behalf of the Yeshivah, “His Excellency Signor Chacham Isaac Carigal of the city of Hebron, is to fundraise in the welcoming community.” This was Carigal’s second voyage to Western Europe on behalf of the Jewish community of Hebron. Carigal (1729-1777) became a prominent figure in Colonial American history. On a later voyage, to America in 1773, He visited the affluent community of Newport, Rhode Island, where he was befriended by the first President of Yale University, the Hebraist Ezra Stiles. (This explains the Hebrew words “Urim ve-Thumim” on Yale’s emblem). Carigal was honored with preaching in the newly founded Congregation “Jeshuath Israel.” The sermon he delivered (in Spanish) in the synagogue on Shavu’oth of 1773, was subsequently translated into English and published in Newport that same year. After spending several months in Newport, Carigal embarked for the West Indies. He died in Curacao in 1777. Chacham Chaim Rachamim Bajayo had been one of Carigal’s teachers in Hebron. See Abraham Ya’ari, Shluchei Eretz Israel, pp. 580-583; EJ, Vol. V, cols. 179-80