Pinkas of The Jewish Congregation of Plymouth, England

(ANGLO JUDAICA)

Plymouth

1760-1826

Manuscript in Judeo-German in Aschkenazic cursive script with a smattering of English

Historic Ledger of Plymouth Jewish Congregation. Plymouth is a city in the county of Devon in South West England and overlooks one of Europe's largest natural harbors, Plymouth Sound. The city has a rich maritime past, and is still home to the largest naval base in Western Europe. It was from Plymouth that the Pilgrims left England for the New World in 1620 aboard the Mayflower. The Jewish community in Plymouth dates from the mid-1700's, and the Plymouth Synagogue is the oldest Ashkenazi  synagogue still standing in the English-speaking world The first part of this Ledger is an alphabetical arrangement of the names of the members of the congregation. Many are identified by the towns in which they reside, e.g. Bideford, Bristol, Dartmouth, Falmouth, Gosport, Portsmouth, Tavistock, Truro, all in the vicinity of Plymouth, and of course Plymouth itself. Under the letter "Sh" we read of "Shimshon bar Lima, Chazan Rishon." Cantor Lima was appointed "chazan" of the Congregation in 1796. On the following leaf, we have a chart of "aliyoth" for the High Holidays and Sukoth, detailing the names of the honorees. There follows a list of pledges to various charities made by the congregants, starting in the year 1760, and continuing through the year 1826. There is a separate account for each member. We read that one of the congregants "nasa mi-kan li-medinath Amerika bi-shenath 5579 bi-sephinah" [sailed from here to America by ship in 1819]. One of the the family-names which figures prominently in this Plymouth Pinkas is that of Emdon. Along with J J Sherrenbech, Gompert Michael Emdon, was one of the two founders of the Plymouth synagogue. Apparantly, the Emdons were close relatives of the famed Rabbi Jacob Emden of Altona