![]() ![]() The same day, at lunch, they listened to a talk by Edward Kritzler, a journalist and historian on the island who has spent over 30 years browsing local archives for Jewish pirate tales. Wandering the weed-covered rows of cracked headstones, delegates were confounded to see the skull and crossbones symbol carved onto a handful of them, right next to the expected biblical verses in Hebrew and epigraphs identifying the deceased in English or Portuguese. The graveyard, partially hidden beyond a dusty lane in a refuse-strewn part of town, had served Jews of the pirate capital of Port Royal, across the bay, at the height of this trade in the 17th century. This was especially so because a day earlier, the delegates boarded buses to the Hunt’s Bay cemetery. And when conversation turned to whether Jewish pirates are fantasy or actual history, there was much to discuss. They took photos against a painted backdrop of a burning pirate ship flying the Jolly Roger. The delegates played their parts the men donned black eye patches, tricornered hats and swords tucked into thick belts. There was Jean Laffite, known for flamboyant outfits-and terrifying raids into the Gulf of Mexico Subotol Deul, commander of the Brotherhood of the Black Flag, dubbed “the Hebrew Pirate” because his journal contained Hebrew characters Bartholomew the Portuguese, whose mishaps give his escapades a Woody Allen flair John Esquemeling, the Dutch surgeon of famed pirate Henry Morgan, who told his tale in the 17th-century book, The Buccaneers of America and Moses Cohen Henriques, reputedly responsible for the biggest haul in pirate history-the capture of the Spanish Silver Fleet in 1628. ![]() ![]() There had been talk of pirates-Jewish pirates no less-as part of new initiatives by local leaders to explore the history of Jews in Jamaica, including the restoration of an old Jewish cemetery and the creation of a small museum.Įach table at the conference’s farewell banquet was assigned a Jewish pirate, his name and story written on a card. ![]() But the hundred or so delegates attending the annual conference of the Union of Jewish Congregations of Latin America and the Caribbean, held last winter in the Pegasus Hotel, were intrigued. Kingston, Jamaica, is not customarily associated with a colorful Jewish past. ![]()
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