ABSTRACT
Although emancipation meant that Jews could in theory choose any occupation available to them, the economic profile of the community changed only slowly. As in the rest of society, most young Jewish people took up the same line of work as their parents. In Amsterdam that included the diamond industry, and all over the country Jews traded goods on a small scale. They were trusted as stallholders, sold their wares in towns and cities as hawkers, or moved through rural areas as pedlars with their goods on their backs. They carried mainly manufactured items and textiles, spending several days at a time calling at farms and hamlets. ‘Such Jews are to be found everywhere in our country, since they earn their living by buying, selling or bartering old and new goods,’ a contemporary wrote.
