ABSTRACT
One of the most important facts in the growth of modern economic life is the removal of the centre of economic activity from the nations of Southern Europe—the Italians, Spaniards and Portuguese, with whom must also be reckoned some South German lands—to those of the North-West—the Dutch, the French, the English and the North Germans. The first synagogue in Amsterdam was opened in 1598, and by about the middle of the 17th century there were Jewish communities in many Dutch cities. The Jews themselves called Amsterdam at that time their grand New Jerusalem. In England the Jews found a protector in Cromwell, who was actuated solely by considerations of an economic nature. The Dutch in the 17th century required no such recommendations; they were fully alive to the gain which the Jews brought.
