Cardoso, Elijah Aboab

Philanthropist and founder of the Hamburg synagogue; lived in that city in the first half of the seventeenth century. He was descended from the Spanish family of that name, and was one of the first Jewish settlers in Hamburg. In 1630 Cardoso founded the first Portuguese synagogue in the city. In so doing he risked the displeasure of the senate, which did not care to grant the Jews permission to build a synagogue, lest the attention of the fanatical population of Hamburg should be attracted to them.

Bibliography:

  * Schudt, Jüdische Merkwürdigkeiten, i. 373;
  * Grätz, Gesch. der Juden, x. 18;
  * Feilchenfeld, Aus der Aelteren Gesch. der Port.-Isr. Gemeinde in Hamburg, p. 8.



J. I. Br.