Abraham Capadose

The Revd Dr Abraham Capadose or Capadoce (22 August 1795, Amsterdam – 16 December 1874, The Hague) was a Dutch medical doctor and Calvinist writer. A Jewish convert to Christianity from 1822 onwards, he was part of the Dutch Réveil circle that also included Isaac da Costa and Willem de Clercq.

Life

Youth He was born to the wine merchant Isaac Haim Capadose and Esther Mendes da Costa (both from prominent Portuguese-Jewish families). In 1796 the position of the Jews in the Netherlands was - at least in the social respect - considerably improved by the middle-class equalization. The Capadose family forms a good example of an emancipated and finally assimilated family.

Little is known of Abraham's youth, except that he was a good pupil of the Latin School. After two years at the Amsterdam Athenaeum studying medicine, he went to the University of Leiden. In 1866, Capadose left the Dutch Reformed Church, seeing it as not strict enough, and for the rest of his life attached himself to no particular religious community.

Writing Among Capadose's writings the most noteworthy are: (1) Aan Mijne Geloofsgenooten in de Ned. Hebr. Gem. The Hague, 1843; (2) Overdenkingen over Israel's Roeping en Toekomst, Amsterdam, 1843; (3) Rome en Jerusalem, Utrecht, 1851.