View Message

Amsterdam had a well known Sephardic community. The great philosopher Benedict, or Baruch, Spinoza was born there. His name would have been Espinosa in regular Spanish. I think this particular community was made up of Conversos, or "New Christians", who had been forcibly converted to Christianity but continued to practice the Jewish religion in secret. The Netherlands were once Spanish, but it may have been that attitudes to religious observation were more tolerant there. After all most of the native population were Protestant and so suspect in the eyes of their Spanish rulers. That may have made Amsterdam attractive to the Conversos.