Skulls, Shields, and Narratives: Using sepulchral imagery in Beth Chaim Cemetery to understand
the degrees of acculturation in the Portuguese Sephardic community in Amsterdam in the
seventeenth century by Natalie Zeldin
A cemetery is one of the richest places to glean historical information, not only about
genealogical records, but also about societal values. The Sephardic tombstones that I studied in
the Beth Chaim Cemetery in Amsterdam were generally commissioned during the lifetime of the
deceased, and therefore reflect his or her ideals about life and death and how he or she wished to
be remembered. Furthermore, tombstones are not created only for the dead, but perhaps even
more so for the living, as a tool for reflection on the past. While there is much information
available about the Portuguese Sephardic community during the Dutch Golden Age, there has
been sparse scholarship on its historic cemetery.
The imagery on these tombstones can best be understood by evaluating the unique
background and complex cultural conditions of the Portuguese Sephardic community in
Amsterdam during the seventeenth century. As a consequence of the Inquisition, the surviving
Jews on the Iberian Peninsula were forced live as secret Jews, known as Crypto-Jews. These
Crypto-Jews were unable to practice Judaism publicly, and therefore relied on crypto-Jewish
practices to continue their Jewish tradition. Reliant on oral tradition, they read from the Five
Books of the Torah in their Catholic Bible, and that was their only written connection to their
Jewish history and traditions. For three generations, this group gradually became more estranged
from Jewish thought and simultaneously more comfortable with the Catholic world around them.
By the latter part of the sixteenth century, this secret Jewish community found a haven
for an open expression of their Jewish identity. When the earliest group of Portuguese Sephardim
came to Holland, they finally found a climate of partial religious tolerance, and they were able to
practice Judaism freely again. In just a short period, this group reclaimed many of their forgotten
1 traditions, from the celebration of holidays to the revival of the practice of circumcision. Even
so, the community had strong ties to their Catholic past on the Iberian Peninsula. Furthermore,
they rapidly absorbed many elements of contemporary Dutch culture. This complex
manifestation of Jewish, Catholic, Calvinist, Dutch, and Portuguese elements within the
Sephardic community in Holland can readily be seen on the sepulchral monuments in Beth
Chaim.
The Second "Commandment" explicitly states:
"Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image, nor any likeness of that which resides
in the heavens, nor that which is in the earth beneath.”
Certainly, throughout Jewish history, there have been different interpretations of this
Commandment. In any given era, there is a wide spectrum of Jewish beliefs, and this was
reflected in the varying Halachic or legal interpretations. It is important to note that the
tombstones in Beth Chaim reflect a wide spectrum of aesthetic tastes and religious adherence.
Certainly, as reflected by this range, the Portuguese Sephardic community of the seventeenth
century had a "melting-pot character" of many different factions with diverse interests and
identities.
Most of the tombstones found in Beth Chaim are actually quite plain, with the minimal
amount of text needed to convey information of who was buried in that plot and his or her birth
and death dates. The aesthetic quality of most of the tombstones reflects the most literal
interpretation of the Second Commandment. This point is emphasized by the fact that the rabbis
and scholars in the community, even if they were wealthy, still had simple tombstones with
virtually no images. For example, the tombstones of Baruch Spinoza’s parents and of Rabbi
Menasseh ben Israel are plain.
2 The atypical imagery in Beth Chaim, adopted largely from Christian practice, can only be
seen on a small percentage of the tombstones. Some of these tombstones belonged to the
merchant families who not only had the most money, but also the most sustained connections to
the Christian world because of their business dealings. There is a unique group of tombstones in
Beth Chaim with striking iconographic characteristics, particularly for a Jewish cemetery. There
are tombstones with Northern European Christian iconography, with great interest in memento
mori symbolism and vanitas imagery, demonstrating the rapid absorption of Dutch culture, even
in the Sephardic sepulchral iconographic language. Some of the tombstones were also crafted in
a grandiose style, sculpted of the most expensive material available with an emphasis on crests
and heraldic imagery. This taste for a highly ornamented style presumably came from their
Iberian background. There are also depictions of biblical narratives on the tombstones that echo
a Catholic consciousness by alluding to the concept of saints, while simultaneously
demonstrating a sense of Jewish pride. The Portuguese Sephardic sepulchral legacy is a
testament to the community’s ability to appropriate an iconographic language from a wide range
of sources and therefore forge their new Jewish identity in Amsterdam. In a sense, their preexisting Catholic background made them more receptive to ideas outside of traditional Judaism,
and this openness facilitated their social and financial success.
Traditionally, Jewish discourse is more concerned with life rather than death, and while
there are discussions of death and afterlife in the Talmud, this is certainly not the emphasis.
However, this is not the case within the Portuguese Sephardic community in Amsterdam, as they
seemed to have a very strong interest in death and the afterlife. This fixation may well have been
traced to their Catholic background in Spain and Portugal, where the religious emphasis is on
death and judgment, and the eternal life in Heaven or Hell. There was a particularly large
3 interest in the fate of the soul in the "olam ha-ba" (world to come) and "techiyat ha-metim”
(resurrection of the dead). In 1651, Rabbi Menasseh ben Israel who was one of the most
influential figures from this community, wrote Nishmat Chaim, a treatise on the reincarnation the
soul. The subject of death and after-life was perhaps the most widely discussed religious subject
among the Portuguese Sephardim, and it was often divisive and even controversial. Indeed, even
Spinoza technically excommunicated because of his controversial views on afterlife.
Naturally, these ideas about death were most relevant in practice at Beth Chaim. The
meaning of Beth Chaim, "The House of Life", seems to have been chosen with a clear intention
to evoke the notion of afterlife. In the 1660s, Dutch Christian iconography referring to death
started to appear on the tombstones in Beth Chaim. Memento mori, the “reminders of death”,
were symbols used by Dutch Calvinists to remind the viewer of the temporality and fragility of
life. The Dutch Christians had a large iconographic vocabulary to allude to death, dating from
the early Renaissance. Essentially, Dutch Calvinist sepulchral iconography is concerned with
reminding the viewer about the transience of earthly existence.
The Sephardim in Amsterdam, in a matter of a few generations, adapted and absorbed
these symbols from their new environment and incorporated them into their own practice. This
imagery and the Calvinist ideals that it reflects are actually quite compatible with the Portuguese
Sephardic emphasis on the afterlife. Hourglasses, skulls, and crying putti (cherubic figures) are
the most common examples of memento mori imagery seen on the tombstones in Beth Chaim.
There is nothing intrinsically "Christian" about a skull or an hourglass, and it is a testament to the
Sephardim that they were able to absorb the Northern Christian symbolic language and use it to
build a base for their own funerary aesthetic.
4 The earliest use of these symbols representing the transient nature of life in Beth Chaim
appears on the tombstone of Judith Bat-Abraham Israel Pereira in 1656 which shows a skull, cut
flowers, and an hourglass. The carving is quite simple, and there is little attention to the
aesthetic aspects of the sculpture, but more on the iconography itself. In this early example of
the use of memento mori symbols, they are not well incorporated on the tombstone.
In just one decade, the use of the Dutch symbolic language not only became more
prevalent but also more developed in sculptural form. The tombstone of Ester Levi Madoero de
Paz from 1666 showcases this rapid absorption of Christian iconography. Instead of an
hourglass hanging on the bottom of the composition from a decade earlier, the hourglass is now
flanked by two winged putti and surrounded by vanitas garlands. The skull, at the center of the
tombstone, has a much more realistic quality, as it recedes deeper into the relief, creating
a more sculptural form. Here, too, the symbol of the skull is better incorporated into the
composition, as it is surrounded by garlands and vanitas vases. On this tombstone, there are
even banderoles with archaic lettering, where the letters are more angular.
From the fifteenth century, Dood (“Death” in Dutch) is represented as a skeleton carrying
a scythe. As the most instantly recognizable memento mori symbol, skulls and skeletons are
among the most common images in Dutch Calvinist iconography. The depiction of Dood
appears on many tombstones in very prominent ways by the end of the seventeenth century.
This traditional Dutch personification of death is seen on the tombstone of Daniel BenDominicus Pereira de Castro from 1701, where the skeleton carries a sickle. An even more
dynamic representation is that from the tombstone of Rachel Athias Duarte from 1679, where
Death takes a more prominent role in the composition as a muscular and dominating figure. In
this curious case, the figure of Death is not depicted as a traditional skeletal form. Instead, Death
5 is more figural and sculptural, akin to a god from antiquity. Dennis Ouderdorp, the current
groundskeeper at the cemetery, suggested that the figure is a hybrid between the Dutch Dood and
Cronos, the ancient Greek father of time.
6 Through the first part of the eighteenth century, the role of the putti becomes much more
compelling than in its earliest appearances on tombstones from the 1680s. In earlier tombstones,
they are typically depicted as just a winged head framing the top or bottom edge of the stone.
Later, the putti became better incorporated in the composition of the tombstone, for example,
those showing putti holding drapery bearing the epitaph. The faces of the putti become much
more expressive and dynamic over time, and in some cases they not only hold the cloth but use it
to wipe their tears of mourning. Indeed, the sculptural attention to the expression on the puttis'
faces became much stronger over time.
There is a strong connection between the iconography that is seen in Beth Chaim and
contemporary Dutch Calvinist tombs. The most obvious tombs for comparison are those on the
floor of the Oude Kerk, the contemporary Calvinist church in downtown Amsterdam. These
tombs share not only the same iconographic language of memento mori symbolism, but are also
portrayed in a similar style. A strong example of this relationship is seen with the putti, who are
depicted strikingly similarly, leaning in a gesture of mourning. Even the faces of the putti have a
similar emphasis on their expression of grief. The winged hourglasses and skulls are close in
appearance, and they usually appear in the same location, on the center top or bottom of the
tombstone. Another similarity is that the tombstones often have the illusion that the text and
images are being hung, usually on some sort of drapery. In some cases, the tombstones look so
similar that if it weren’t for the difference in language, it would be difficult to tell whether it was
from Beth Chaim or from the Oude Kerk. The Portuguese Sephardim even took the concept of memento mori imagery to create
their own unique symbol for the transient nature of life: The “Tree of Life” being cut down,
representing a “life cut too short”. There is a wide array of representations of this subject in Beth
7 Chaim; the Tree is often shown being ripped from the roots or cut with an axe. While it is fairly
common in Dutch memento mori symbolism to see cut sheaths of wheat or picked flowers to
signify the coming of death, the cut or ripped tree is unknown. There is not very much
information on where this image came from, but Fieke Konijn of Vrije Universitat points to a
print from Madrid in 1610 with similar imagery. The Sephardim took a concept that was
Calvinist and fused it with their unique Iberian Jewish tradition to create a new iconography.
This demonstrates the strength of the Portuguese Sephardim to use elements from their
surroundings to forge their own identity.
The Portuguese Sephardic taste for the extravagant can also readily be traced to the
Iberian Peninsula. Their synagogues, later converted to churches during the Inquisition, were
opulent in their expensive materials and highly detailed ornamentation. Even several centuries
later, this taste for the extravagance carried into the life of the Portuguese merchants in
Amsterdam, and with their financial success, many were able to pay for it. The tombstones of
many merchants buried in Beth Chaim suggest they aimed to impress and overwhelm the viewer.
Many of the merchant tombstones were carved of Carrara marble, considered the most
luxurious sculpting medium available. Wealthy merchants buried in Beth Chaim invested a
fortune into their tombstones.
Certainly, the Portuguese merchants greatly desired to portray their material wealth.
Simply using a material that was expensive to buy and carve was not enough. Many of the
tombstones, even those without images, have texts written in embossed calligraphy. Embossed
carving is by nature more expensive because it requires the sculptor to carve away all of the
8 negative space. The cursive lettering not only reveal an attention to detail but also demonstrate
ostentation, as carving sinuous curves in stone is far more arduous and therefore far more costly.
Still, the most obvious indication of wealth and opulence on many of the most ornate
tombstones in Beth Chaim, is the presence of family crests. In many cases, a very elaborately
carved family crest is the only image on a tombstone. The merchants were interested in showing
off their ties to Portuguese aristocracy. The interest in family crests surely came from their
experiences in Portugal and Spain, where they were respected aristocratic families for
generations. It seems strange that the Dutch Sephardim, so estranged by the Portuguese
Inquisition, would want to associate themselves with that past. However, the Sephardim saw
themselves as the top echelons within Jewish society in Holland, and symbols of aristocracy
reflected this sense. They were very proud of the respect that they garnered in Amsterdam from
their successful international trade. A family crest was the most obvious means to show off their
stature.
Another common characteristic on the most expensive tombstones in Beth Chaim are the
sculpted biblical narrative scenes. Typically, the subject of the scene reflects the biblical
namesake of the person buried. For example, the tombstone of a woman named Rachel will
show a scene of the biblical Rachel. The implication is a representation of the deceased,
symbolized by his biblical counterpart. On the other hand, in a Catholic cemetery, it is fairly
common to see depictions of biblical scenes, particularly of those pertaining to a person's patron
saint. In some respects, this identification of the person with his or her biblical namesake is a
"Jewish variant of the Christian saint". The ease with which the Dutch Sephardim use this
representation on their tombstones certainly comes from their familiarity with Catholicism.
9 However, to say that their intent was to emulate the worship of Christian saints is a gross
misinterpretation. To the contrary, these narratives reflect a sense of Jewish pride among the
Sephardim, who used the reliefs to show off not only their knowledge of their history, but also
the ability to connect personally with the stories. After generations of banned Jewish practices,
the freedom to put their religious stories so publicly on their tombstones was surely an exciting
prospect. These reliefs reflect a robust interest in trying to tie their current lives in Amsterdam to
the long history of the Jewish people.
It seems that most of the tombstones with narrative scenes emerged a little later, from the
first few decades of the eighteenth century. A possible explanation is that it took some time for
the Portuguese community to develop an elite class that was wealthy enough to commission
complex sculptural reliefs on their tombstones.
The later biblical reliefs are of the highest artistic caliber, with complex folds in the
drapery and dynamic figural motion. The tombstone of Rachel Senior Coronel from 1722 shows
a particularly compelling use of a biblical narrative on a tombstone not only because of the
beautiful execution of the sculptural relief, but also because of the strong relationship of the
biblical story to the life of the deceased. This tombstone depicts the biblical scene where Rachel
dies just after giving birth to her son, Benjamin. In this case, there is a particularly compelling
connection between the biblical figure and the namesake; Rachel Senior Coronel also died in
childbirth. The relief shows several figures surrounding Rachel’s delivery bed, mourning both
biblical Rachel and Rachel Senior Coronel.
The cemetery in Beth Chaim contains some of the most important sculpture of the Dutch
Golden Age, and it deserves more attention and care. Because of their strong Calvinist belief
during this period, sculpture was not favored by Dutch Christians. While there are exquisite
10 exceptions, the Dutch Christian artistic practice centered on painting. For this reason alone, it is
critical to gain a better understanding of the funerary art on these tombstones not only because of
the unique cultural background that they represent but also because of the high quality of the
sculpture. However, at this point, the most important question to be addressed in Beth Chaim is
one of excavation and preservation, because without this, there will be little left to see of this
important monument.
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