The PIK was founded in 1814 under the reign of Willem I, although the first steps towards a central organization of Jewish communities in the Netherlands were already taken in 1808, under command of the Napoleonic king, Louis Bonaparte. Both the Ashkenazi as well as the Sephardic communities were included. This lasted until 1871, when the PIK removed itself from the Ashkenazi community and became a fully independent segment within Dutch Judaism. Center of Sephardic life in the Netherlands was Amsterdam, although throughout time, communities also existed in places like The Hague, Rotterdam, Middelburg and Naarden. At the eve of the Holocaust, some 4,300 Sephardic Jews were living in the Netherlands, the majority of them in Amsterdam. Most of them were killed; at the end of the war, an estimated 800 were still alive.
Today
Currently the PIK, or PIG, has some 270 families affiliated to it. The community regularly holds services in the monumental Esnoga synagogue or Snoge in downtown Amsterdam near Waterlooplein. There is also a small PIG-Sephardic synagogue in Amstelveen with weekly activities. Almost all community members live in Amsterdam and surroundings. The PIG also has a youth group, called J-PIG . Chief Rabbi of the community was S. Rodrigues Pereira, one of the few rabbis that survived the Holocaust. Since he died the community has been led by rabbis B. Drukarch, S. Haliwa and since about 1998 by Rabbi Dr. P.B. Toledano, who lives in London but visits Amsterdam frequently.
Cemeteries
Several Sephardic Jewish cemeteries have been founded since the first Jews settled in the Netherlands in the 16th century. Some of them have grown to be huge monuments of a once lively community. On the most well-known is Beth Haim in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel. Jews have been buried there since the year 1614 ; until 1642, several Ashkenazi Jews were also buried at the cemetery, before buying their own piece of land to bury their dead near the village of Muiderberg. Throughout history, some 28,000 Sephardic Jews were buried at Beth Haim, making it one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in the Netherlands. Among the ones buried at this monumental site are rabbi Menasseh ben Israel, diplomat Samuel Pallache and the parents of philosopher Baruch Spinoza. Other Sephardic cemeteries are found in Middelburg, Amersfoort, Rotterdam and The Hague.
