For my book report, I chose the book Out of Many Waters by Jacqueline Green. The book was about a girl named Isobel who was enslaved by monks as part of the Inquisition. She escaped by boarding a ship headed to Amsterdam, but on the way the ship was caught by a Spanish caravel and the Jews on board were taken to Cuba. Fortunately, a French ship came a long and brought them to the American colony of New Amsterdam.
This book taught me many things about the Jews of the time. An interesting fact that I did not know was that during the Inquisition, children were taken Jewish families and brought to live as slaves in monasteries. This was to give them a Christian upbringing so that their minds were not corrupted by the Jewish religion. The children were poorly treated, however, which was shown when Isobel's sister was whipped and then made to walk many miles in the hot weather.
Torah inside of the former Glockengasse Synagogue ...
In this Rosh Hashana greeting card from the early ...
Jews praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur. (1878...Another thing my book showed was that Amsterdam was a place where Jews could go and live safely during the Inquisition. That is why Isobel and her sister were trying to go there. It also showed how the ships allowed Jews to go on board. The Jews did not lose faith while running from the Inquisition, but kept the Sabbath and all Jewish traditions while on board. The family that took Isobel in, the Levy's, taught her blessings and prayers.
The Spanish caravels was another example of what it was like to be Jewish during that time. The Spaniards would come on ships and take all the Jews on board and give them to the Inquisitors. They would receive a lot of money for doing this. The example in my book has the caravel threatening...