ABSTRACT
As a widow, Sara Dias de Fonseca ran her husband’s tobacco concern for twelve years. She employed fourteen people and made enough money to support two families. Then in 1692 she went bankrupt and died not long afterwards. In the written histories, the role of women within the Jewish community of the Dutch Republic has often received less than due attention. Both Sephardi and Ashkenazi women were actively involved in trade and industry. Spanish culture, itself influenced in turn by Islam, becomes clearly visible in the Dutch Republic when we examine the position of Portuguese women. They often took refuge behind a male representative, but were nevertheless active and independent. Johebed de Casseres carried on her husband’s cotton trade and Guiomar Henriques ran an international trading company dealing in sugar. The wife of Abraham Nunes helped her husband with the manufacture of candles and after his death transferred the business to her son-in-law. Rachel Preto ran a tobacconist’s shop. Clara Musaphia supplied flour for the production of matzos and many other women, especially those born into a normative Jewish milieu, took on work that supported the life of the communi- ty, whether in the ritual baths, in the production of kosher bread or in healthcare.
