Founded
in the sixteenth century by international merchants,
the Sephardic community in Amsterdam became the first
European Jewish community with secular – rather
than religious –leadership. As former Marranos,
their leaders were largely untutored in the language
and rituals of traditional Jewish life. In the early
years, they turned to Venice – an established
Jewish community with a Sephardic cultural base –
for a religious and institutional model. Venice provided
a source of Jewish authority for the developing Dutch
Jewish community.
