ABSTRACT
In 1641 the prominent rabbi Isaac Aboab da Fonseca travelled from Amsterdam to Recife in Brazil. He became the spiritual leader of the first Jewish congregation on American soil, the Portuguese Kahal Kados Zur Israel. Jews, mostly from Amsterdam, had settled the northern part of Brazil when it was taken from the Portuguese by the Dutch and held by them from 1630 to 1654. The Dutch West India Company (WIC) promised freedom of religion, facing down criticism on that point from the Reformed Church in Brazil that was motivated mainly by a fear of competition.
