Levie Daniels - Ashkenazi or Sephardic?

On what record is his father's language listed as Portuguese? The family is listed in the Ashkenazi records of Amsterdam.

HI Roberta. Thank you for your response. The languages of his father, Dan, are Nederlands, and Portuguese. The Son of Levie Daniels, Abraham Levy, self-identifies as Portuguese/Sephardic after his immigration to Virginia. One Son of Abraham Levy becomes Hazzan of Sephardic congregation Beth Shalome; Another son Lewis, becomes a senior member of Truro (Sephardic) synagogue in New Orleans.

If Levie Daniels was Sephardic he would've been buried at the Portuguese cemetery, but he wasn't

Kahal Kadosh Beth Shalome was established in 1789 and was the only synagogue in Richmond when the Levy family arrived. The Ashkenazic Beth Ahabah was not founded until 1841, and the Levy family made donations to that congregation in 1848 when/after their first building was erected.. His membership in Beth Shalome doesn't prove he was Sephardic. However, his son, Jacob, was president of Beth Shalom c 1849-1867. I can't explain that. It may be based on his being Sephardic, or based on Beth Shalome being where the other Dutch Jews worshipped vs Beth Ahabah started mostly by Germans. Culture/language vs Sephardic/Ashkenazic. After 30+ years in Virginia and worshiping at the same synagogue, it seems to me that cultural background would be the stronger pull as they would not remember the Ashkenzic liturgy and tunes from before emigration. In Richmond, Dutch Jews intermarried with other Dutch Jews regardless of their original Ashkenazi/Sephardic background in the Netherlands.

Abraham Levie could not sign his own name on the 1812 name adoption papers in Amsterdam. On what document does he self-identify as Portuguese/Sephardic in Virginia? Please add that document to his profile.

good points. thanks

Rabbi Robert Samuels, in his book "Stepping Up to the Plate: Building a Liberal Pluralistic Israel" states: "His [Abraham Levy] Jewish Portuguese family had been in Holland now for 300 years, since the Church expelled them from Portugal in 1497." The bibliography references a family collection of letters archived in Texas. (Two of Levy's sons settled in Texas). It would be interesting to know what exactly is in that collection.

Hi Roberta,

I noticed you also manage the site of Dan (Father of Levie Daniels); on that site, Dan's language is listed as Portuguese. Do we know of any documents regarding Dan?

I suggest that you find a male Levy or Richter to take a BigY DNA test through FTDNA. That result would show that Levy came into his haplogroup about 7,000 years ago and would indicate a Sephardic connection or the line isn't Sephardic regardless of what records say. However, if there was a non-paternity event along the way we wouldn't know unless multiple men test. They should be almost exact matches.