LOPES DA FONSECA, JAHACOB. Sermao Moral e Panegirico que no K.K. Mikwe Israel, pregou o H.H.R...em Curacao

(AMERICAN JUDAICA)

J. Proops

Amsterdam

1780

Uncut copy. Text in Hebrew and Spanish

Kayserling 46

A sermon delivered by the first Rabbi born in the Americas The author born in Curacao in 1736, was sent aged 25 to Amsterdam, to study at the Ets Haim Seminary to prepare himself for the Rabbinate of Curacao. Upon his return two years later, Lopes da Fonseca assumed spiritual leadership of this community in the West Indies - a position he held for more than fifty years. The sermon delivered on Simchath Torah, records one of the Festival’s honorees as David Morales, a Parnas of the Community. During the American Revolution Morales assisted in sending arms and supplies to America. See I.S. Emmanuel, Precious Stones of Curacao (1957) p.343. The sermon is quite scarce. George Kohut failed to note it in his Early Jewish Literature in America (AJHSP, 1895 p.118)