ABSTRACT
Not all Jews lived in the major cities. In the eighteenth century they could increasingly be found in smaller urban settlements and in the Dutch countryside. The first indication of a Jewish presence in Brielle and other towns and villages on the island of Voorne-Putten dates back to the early eighteenth century. In 1756 a number of wealthy Jews approached the local authorities in the small port town of Brielle, requesting freedom of religion and appealing for equal civil rights. They also campaigned to be allowed to run shops selling whatever products they chose, and to work as tailors, shoemakers, watchmakers and barber-surgeons a list that gives us an insight into the ways Jews had of earning a living in the Dutch Republic.
