ABSTRACT
This article traces the development of the concept of port Jews, stressing its value for the comparative study of communities (port Jewries) as well as social types (port Jews). Focusing on the eighteenth-century Habsburg Free Port of Trieste and its Jewish community engaged in international maritime commerce, it emphasizes utility as a key factor in the perception of a port Jewry and analyses constructions of utility in Enlightenment, reforming absolutist and Haskalah discourses. Further, it argues that comparative study of port Jews and Jewries facilitates analysis of the respective roles of economics, society, and culture in Jewish history.
