Isaac Aboab da Fonseca was born into the
Aboab family in the Portuguese town of
Castro Daire as Simão da Fonseca. His family and parents were
Conversos, Jews who had been forcibly converted to Christianity. Although the family had ostensibly converted to Christianity, this did not put an end to local
antisemitic suspicions. In 1581, the
Dutch Republic secceded from the
Spanish Empire, this caused significant immigration of
Sepheradic Jews to the
Netherlands. In 1603 it was made legal in the Netherlands to practice
Judaism in the open. Aboab and ben Israel disagreed in 1629 about writings by
Joseph Solomon Delmedigo and there were lingering ill-feelings. At the age of eighteen, Isaac was appointed
hakham (rabbi) for Beth Israel, one of three Sephardic communities in Amsterdam, which later merged. In order to be distinguished from his cousin
Isaac ben Mattathiah Aboab, he added his mother's last name (da Fonseca) to his own. In 1642, Aboab da Fonseca was invited by
Moses Cohen Henriques appointed rabbi at
Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue in
Recife, in
Pernambuco,
Dutch Brazil.
Portuguese Jews from Amsterdam were a significant segment of the European population there. Many had first emigrated to
Amsterdam due to persecution by the
Portuguese Inquisition and opportunities to pursue commerce in the
Atlantic World. By becoming the rabbi of the Portuguese Jewish community in Recife, Aboab da Fonseca was also probably one of the first appointed rabbis of the Americas, along with his rabbinic companion
Moses Raphael de Aguilar. Kahal Zur Israel congregation had a synagogue, a
mikveh and a
yeshiva as well, one of the first in the
New World. Still during Fonseca's tenure as rabbi in Pernambuco, the Portuguese attacked the Dutch colony. The Portuguese who were animated in part by the
Jesuit priest who said "have their open synagogues there, to the scandal of Christianity" calling for the reconquest of the colony and the destruction of the Jews. The Portuguese re-occupied the capital of
Recife in 1654, after a struggle of nine years. The Jews fought alongside the
Dutch army which refused to surrender until the Portuguese guaranteed they would allow the safe passage of Jews. Aboab had mystical kabbalistic leanings, publishing texts on it. He was one of many fervent Sephardic supporters in Amsterdam 1665-66 of messianic figure
Sabbatai Zevi, until Sabbatai's
apostasy in September 1666. During the tenure of Aboab da Fonseca, the Sephardi community flourished. The construction of the new
Portuguese Synagogue (the
Esnoga) was prompted by a sermon delivered by him in 1671. It was inaugurated less than four years later, on August 2, 1675 (10
Av 5435). Isaac Aboab da Fonseca died in Amsterdam on April 4, 1693, at the age of 88. ==Works==