Justiça e litigação na comunidade judaico-portuguesa de Hamburgo, 1652-1682

Abstract

This article deals with the fertile but still largely unexplored topic of communal justice in the Portuguese-Jewish congregations of the Sephardic diaspora during the seventeenth century. Focusing on the Portuguese community of Hamburg during the years 1652-1682, the study will try to answer some central questions regarding this particular case: how was justice administered within the Portuguese community of Hamburg? What where the main threats to its authority and how was litigation dealt with, internally? The treatment of this subject takes into consideration the broader multiconfessional and multijurisdictional reality in which it occurs, considering both internal reforms and occasional criticisms from inside the community. Finally, it aims to explore important facets of the relationship between institutional dynamics and private initiative, as well as to understand how the administration of justice serves as a broader reflection of the community’s social, economic and religious life. This article is part of the special theme section on Portuguese Jews in Europe and the Caribbean, 17th-18th Centuries, guest-edited by José Alberto Tavim.

Keywords

• Hamburg
• Sephardi diaspora
• new-christians
• Jewish community
• Portuguese nation