ABSTRACT
Foreign rabbis were a source of exasperation both to the government and to the Jewish elite. They spoke Yiddish or German and therefore hindered the integration of Dutch Jews. Although the contracts they signed when they were appointed now stated that they must quickly learn Dutch, far from all rabbis did so. Moreover, foreign countries were increasingly seen as a potential source of discord. Dutch Jews had stayed together as a single community, but many Jewish communities in central Europe had split into Orthodox and Reform congregations. It was feared that foreign rabbis might bring schismatic ideas of a similar kind with them to the Netherlands.
