"[...] Capitulaciones del modo que se deve governar la hebra de casar huerfanas y donzellas [...] de nuevo reformadas, y acresentadas este año 5466" ["Regulation governing the form of management of the Dowry Society for the Marriage of Female Orphans and Maidens... reformed and added this year, 5466 (1706 CE)]." Livorno: Jacopo Valfisi, 1706. Spanish.
Booklet of rules and regulations for the dowry society of the community of Jews of Spanish-Portuguese extraction in Livorno (Italy), "la hebra de casar huerfanas y donzellas" ("Society for the Marriage of Female Orphans and Maidens"), reformed and ratified in 1706.
Rare. Not in OCLC.
Handwritten addendum (Spanish) dated 17th of Nisan, 5471 (April 6, 1711) on back flyleaf.
The society known as "la hebra de casar huerfanas y donzellas" ("Society for the Marriage of Female Orphans and Maidens") of the community of Jews of Spanish-Portuguese extraction in Livorno, was established in 1644 with the approval of Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. The Livorno society modeled itself after earlier, existing funds for dowering brides in Amsterdam and Venice, and in its founding rules and regulations, it expressly declared its intention to operate in accordance with the Venetian example. Although the name of the society underscored the charity work it had conducted, it fundamentally functioned as a mutual aid society; it was, in effect, an instrument in preserving the social and financial status of the community's wealthier members. Membership in the society served as an indicator of wealth and social status in the Jewish community, and was passed on as an inheritance from one generation to the next. Society members were required to deposit a significant sum of money in its coffers, and after a number of years of unblemished membership, their daughters and female family members would qualify for generous dowries, even if the family had lost its personal wealth in the meantime. If sufficient funds were still available in the society's treasury after dowries had been granted to brides with priority status, dowries would also be granted to orphans and brides from poor families; even then, however, priority would be given to young women who had worked as servants in the homes of the society's members.
Among members of the Italian merchant class at the dawn of the Modern Era, the dowry represented the financial cornerstone of the family business, and by granting a respectable dowry to the next generation, the joint fund would be giving the younger generation a fiscal head start. The society's code included an extensive section that dealt in great detail with the manner in which the society's money would be invested; it listed numerous stipulations and provisos ensuring that the fund's assets would not be squandered through risky or potentially harmful investments. For instance, an investment in maritime commerce would necessitate the purchase of a comprehensive insurance policy. In addition, the society's liquid assets would be kept in a house secured with three separate locks, with the keys kept in a locked room in the synagogue, which also had a triple lock.
The society's rules and regulations reflected, among other things, its wish to strengthen adherence among its members and beneficiaries to Judaism; it was forbidden to invest in merchant ships destined for the Iberian Peninsula (where practicing Judaism was banned); society members who renounced their Jewish faith, or returned to Spain and Portugal and remained there for over a year – an act considered tantamount to converting to Christianity – had their membership revoked. If it was discovered that a couple had carnal knowledge of each other prior to the actual Jewish wedding ceremony, the husband would be compelled to return the dowry money he had been granted.
The historical records indicate that the actions of the society's founders – their financial acumen and their insistence on conducting the society according to their own meticulous rules and regulations – proved themselves over time; the society steadily augmented its assets, and functioned until the outbreak of the First World War, when the state finally expropriated its holdings and diverted them to assist war orphans.
67 pp., 20 cm. Parchment binding. Good condition. Stains, mostly minor. On p. 22, a printed strip of paper was pasted on as a means of amending the text at the time of printing. Worming to endpapers. Minor blemishes. Blemishes and stains to boards.
References:
1. Nourit Melcer-Padon, "Charity Begins at Home: Reflections on the Dowry Society of Livorno." In: Religious Changes and Cultural Transformations in the Early Modern Western Sephardic Communities, 2019.
2. Moises Orfali, "The Portuguese Dowry Society in Livorno and the Marrano Diaspora." In Studia Rosenthaliana, Vol 35, 2001.