Paper short abstract:

This paper will describe and analyze the oppositions between a local and a global identity pertaining the Portuguese Jewish Diaspora in the context of rabbi Moisés Rafael de Aguilar's efforts to attract and integrate conversos to the official Jewish communities.

Paper long abstract:

In 1663, rabbi Moisés Rafael de Aguilar, from Amsterdam, received a letter sent by an anonymous group of Portuguese men living in Bayonne, in Southern France. The correspondence they exchanged, debating on the validity of circumcision, sheds light on the methods used by the Sephardic rabbinical authorities to attract non-openly Jewish conversos, as were those of Bayonne, to the fold. Nevertheless, the set of letters exchanged also indicates, if not the arguments, at least the wish of those conversos to create an alternate Jewish orthodoxy, particular to those who did not want to officially integrate the rules of the rabbinical Judaism of Amsterdam. The same kind of behavior can be identified among conversos living in Dutch Brazil (1630-1654). While there was a rabbinical constituted community in Recife, some local Judaizers chose to remain on the side, maintaining their own ceremonies. This paper will describe and analyze these oppositions between a local and a global (rabbinical) identity pertaining the Portuguese Jewish Diaspora in the context of the rabbis' efforts to attract and integrate conversos to the official and Orthodox communities.