By Michael Waas

In the world of history and genealogy we are relying on bits and pieces of paper once living memory ends and the shrouded mists of time begin. British author L. P. Hartley (1953) famously wrote in the opening to his novel The Go-Between, “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.” Hartley’s melancholy is a metaphor for how the past feels just beyond reach the further and further we traverse time. For me, genealogy in particular serves to give context and nuance to history, allowing me to follow characters in a story as they navigate the world around them. Sometimes, these characters have left an incredible wealth of materials for us to see how they maneuvered through their world. Oftentimes, though, we are left with but pieces and scraps, a mention here, a signature there, and have to methodically piece the puzzle back together again.

The past is never a straight line as living memory fades and documents remain. Photo by Ricardo Frantz on Unsplash.

This is the story of a man, a Portuguese Jew living in Amsterdam who left only a fleeting trace on the world other than his bones buried in the Portuguese Jewish Beth Ahaim (House of Life) at Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, just outside of Amsterdam. There is almost nothing known about this man beyond an epitaph and a few ephemeral documents. Yet the precious few clues that remain tell a rather remarkable story of just how similar our world today is to the one he once inhabited in the 17th century.

People are people.

On March 29, 1662, a 70-year old man named Abraham Vaes testified in Amsterdam in front of notary Hector Friesma. Alongside him also appeared 26-year old Eliau de Liaõ and 23-year old Eliza Israel. All three were testifying about a certain incident they had witnessed in the “op Vloijenburgh” (the Vlooienburg island, where the early Jewish community was centered in Amsterdam. In the 19th century, it was connected to the neighboring island, where the Portuguese Synagogue is today). But who was Abraham Vaes?

(Before I continue with the story, I must give you the disclaimer that the name is spelled multiple different ways, depending on who was recording it, but it’s all the same name. So you will see Vaes, Vas, and Vaz in this and all of them are correct.)

The signature of Abraham Vaes to the left and Eliau de Liaõ to the right.

Searching the deep archives of the Portuguese Jewish Community of Amsterdam, there is almost nothing recorded about this man. Yet, drawing from the financial registers of the community we can begin to draw a picture. On the 9th of Heshvan 5418 (October 16, 1657), the community recorded which people in the community received peat for the coming winter, and the amount that they received.

Beginning of the sedaca list. You can see to the left the religious leaders of the community at the time, Haham Saul Levi Morteira and Haham Isaac Aboab. This is page 241 of Manual (5413- 5436), a financial register of the community.

At the beginning of this list are religious leaders and teachers of the community, receiving this portion of their salary. After them are the poor members of the community in need of Sedaca (charity). The list is in alphabetical order and can be quite helpful when trying to track individuals and families. At the end of the list, are all of the new people admitted to sedaca, including an “Ab[raham] Vas o velho”. In Portuguese, o velho means “the older”.

Two pages later, on page 243, we see Ab Vas o velho for the first time. He is three rows from the bottom.

This is significant because that means that there was another man named Abraham Vas in the community who was younger. The Portuguese community added descriptors such as name of the father, age indicators, and sometimes even a descriptor like o cego "(the blind) to differentiate between people within the community with the same name. And in another story for another day, I will discuss Abraham Vas “the younger”.

From this point on, we see Abraham Vas o velho on the various sedaca registers in the community until his death. The first time that Abraham Vas o velho received portions of massot from the community was the 11th Veadar (Adar II) 5418 (March 16, 1658). He received 8 portions, indicating he was the only member of his household, with no wife or children.

The last time that Abraham Vas o velho appears in the sedaca registers is in another volume, known as the Livro Longo. His name has been crossed out and he is no longer receiving sedaca from the community.

Page 246 of the Livro Longo for ~1663-1670

It appears that our Abraham must have died a short time later. The last mention of him is his epitaph in the Portuguese Jewish cemetery. David Henriques de Castro, an absolutely fascinating character in his own right, took it upon himself to uncover the sunken tombs of the cemetery, record and map their locations, and document their epitaphs for posterity.

Found on page 151 of his Henriques de Castro’s first register (Kartons 1-20).

The epitaph reads:

Sᵃ
do honrado velho
Abraham Vaes
que faleceo em
2 de Tamus de
5428

Grave

of the honored elder

Abraham Vaes

who died on

2 of Tamus of

5428

So now we understand that our Abraham Vaes was born around 1592 according to his testimony and that he died on June 11, 1668. He may or may not have had a family, but by the time we meet him, he is an old man and living on communal support. Like many Portuguese Jews at the time, it is rather likely that he was born in Portugal or Spain before escaping northward and returning to Judaism. He may have even been related to one of the other Vaz families in Amsterdam at that time. Whatever his precise origins were, we may never know.

People are people.

On March 29, 1662, Vaes and the two other witnesses testified about a fight they witnessed on the street between two Portuguese Jews. One was a certain Abraham da Souza Mendes. Vaes and the other two witnesses all testify that they did not see him draw a knife during the fight with Isaac Baruch.

Folio 62 and 63 of Friesma’s inventory 3072.

Did I mention that people are people?

Translation provided by our friend and colleague of Sephardic Genealogy, Ton Tielen.

Folio 62
Today, 29th of the month of March of the year 1662 appeared before me Hector Friesma, public notary appointed by the Court of Holland residing in Amsterdam and the witnesses to be named hereafter, Abraham Vaz, circa 70 years old, Eliau de Liaõ circa 26 years old and Eliza Israel, circa 23 years old, all living in this said city, attested, witnessed and declared at the request of Abraham da Sousa Mendes with true Christian words and according to their conscience instead of a solemn oath – which they promise to follow up with a sworn oath to be the sincere truth when invited first the said Vaz and Liaõ, that the said witnesses on the twenty first February of this running year, were present at and saw that on Vloyenburgh the appellant was in a fight with Isaac Baruch, which the witnesses saw until the end, but did not notice nor heard that the appellant drew a knife or had one on him the reason they know this is that the said Vaz arrived with the said appellant and the said Eliau had been sick and – from his window – had seen it all happen. Signed by Abraham Vaz, Eliau de Liaõ.
Folio 63
And the said Eliza Israel declares that the witness saw the said appellant and the said Baruch came out of the said house on Vloyenburgh and that as long as the fight took place, the witness was present, the appellant drew no knife and the witness noticed no action of the appellant that (betrayed that) the appellant had a knife on him, with which he, witness, finally sustained that this is the truth. Done in this City of Amsterdam in the presence of the witnesses Barent Hermans and Hendrick Everts this is the mark put by Eliza Israels declaring that he could not write. Signed by B. H. Appeldoorne and H. Everts