Bikurei ha-Yam : The First Fruits of the West, and Jewish Monthly Magazine; A Periodical, Specially Devoted to Jewish Interests, Edited by the Rev. M.N. Nathan, and Lewish Ashenheim, M.D. First four issues: Vol. I, Nos. I-4

(AMERICAN JUDAICA).

R.J. de Cordova, February-May

Kingston

1844

Four issues bound in one volume

Rosenbach 528

According to Rosenbach, a total of ten issues of The First Fruits of the West appeared, designated Vol. I, nos. 1-10. Though short-lived (under a year), the journal is significant as a source of historical information concerning Jamaica's Jews. Thus, in the very first number, we have a sermon delivered at the consecration of the temporary synagogue of the English and German Congregation, Kingston. In the second issue, we have a sermon delivered by the Haham Joshua Hezekiah de Cordova at Spanish-Town. In the third issue, we read of the first examination of the pupils in the Beth Limmud. Not wishing to confine the magazine to just Jamaican news, the editors include in the fourth issue a communiqué from the magazine's correspondent on the neighboring Caribbean island of St. Thomas concerning the Jewish community there. Although the Jewish population of Jamaica never surpassed a couple of thousand souls, there were times in Jamaican history when they were reckoned as a sizable minority. See M. Arbell, The Jewish Nation of the Caribbean (2002), p.243