The Role of Yiddish in Early Dutch-Jewish Haskalah

Abstract

Amsterdam after 1675. An increasing number of immigrants arrived from Germany and Poland, lured by the economic possibilities and religious freedom of the city and mother in Israel'. The influx of Ashkenazim continued until the mid-eighteenth century and Amsterdam became by far the largest Jewish community in the Ashkenazi Diaspora. In 1675, the Sephardim still outnumbered the Ashkenazim by 2,230 to 1,830, but in 1750, the Ashkenazi population of Amsterdam had grown to 14,000, while the Sephardi community stood at 2,800 that year.1 Most of the immigrants adapted quickly to their new environment.