Leon, David de Ishac, de. Sermaõ da Boa Fama Moralmente Simbolizada. Pregado no K.K. de T.T. em quarta feira, em 27 Sivan Anno 5527 [sermon]

(DUTCH JUDAICA)

Jansen

(Amsterdam

1767)

Portuguese and Hebrew text

Kayserling, p.57

De Leon (1740-1826), a native of Bayonne and the son of Maranno parents, was appointed Chief Rabbi of the Portuguese community of The Hague in 1786. He was an active member of a society for the "lovers and practioners of the Hebrew and Dutch languages." De Leon delivered this sermon in the Talmud Torah of Amsterdam in 1767. (His father lived in Amsterdam, when he published a Jewish textbook there.) See Memorbook, p. 427. Appended to the sermon is a Hebrew poem composed by Isaac Cohen Belinfante in honor of de Leon. Belinfante (d. 1780), a businessman, cultured scholar and biblliophile, was "one of the most active members of that illustrious group" of Amsterdam Hebraists. He preached on occasion at the Talmud Torah. See H.G. Enelow, Isaac Belinfante in: Studies in Jewish Bibliography and Related Subjects in Memory of Abraham Solomon Freidus, pp. 6-30 (the above-mentioned poem is listed as no. 36 in the Freidus's bibliography)