AmericasEvent
Isaac Aboab da Fonseca Appointed First Rabbi of the Americas (1642)
- When
- 1642
- Where
- Recife, Brazil
- Episodes
- 1
In 1642, Isaac Aboab da Fonseca was invited to serve as rabbi at the Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue in Recife, Pernambuco. This appointment established him as one of the first rabbis in the Americas during the period of Dutch rule in Brazil.
Episodes
Background and detail
The 1642 Appointment. In 1642, Moses Cohen Henriques invited Aboab da Fonseca to become the rabbi of the Portuguese Jewish community in Recife. This role made him the first rabbi on Brazilian soil and one of the first in the Americas, alongside his companion Moses Raphael de Aguilar.
People involved
- Isaac Aboab da Fonseca · Rabbi and Scholar
- Moses Cohen Henriques · Inviter of Aboab da Fonseca
- Moses Raphael de Aguilar · Rabbinic Companion
Sources
- Isaac Aboab da Fonseca Wikipedia, revision of 2026-06-14
- Pernambuco Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-20
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.