Brieven van eenige Portugeesche en Hoogduitsche Jooden aan den heer de Voltaire

Abstract

The book Brieven van eenige Portugeesche en Hoogduitsche Jooden was presented as a defence of Judaism. The book seems to be composed of letters written by several members of different Jewish communities in the Netherlands. The author of the book, however, is a French priest; Antoine Guénée. Leading for my thesis is the following research question: In what way have the letters contributed to the protest against the antireligious ideas of Voltaire and why did a Catholic priest write this book in the name of Portuguese and German Jews? The book appears to be a mixture of facts and fiction as some parts have been written by genuine historical figures such as Isaac de Pinto whereas the parts of the book with reasoning against Voltaires anti-Judaic ideas were written by Antoine Guénée. This defence of Judaism, whether it was written by Jews or by Guénée, seems to defend several religions.